Moly Coating

[mbracing]

Hi and an Happy New 2015 to you all.As Mr.Negus is (I think) retired, who's still doing the molycoat treatment on the rotary engines internals?Thanks,MBRACING

[Interpol2471]

Richard if you are a very lucky good boy and StartRights Leeds.

[mbracing]

Isn't Mr.Negus retired?

[Interpol2471]

Yes but does some hobby work from home. I am sure he will be on here soon

[mbracing]

Thank you. I received a private message from Mr.Negus already.MBRACING

[site admin]

Regular batch moly coating every 3 to 4 weeks.I need to keep the numbers up to keep the price down, machining the plates is the variable but I'll hold the price regardless.£175 per face including VAT.Graham.graham@startright.co.ukAnd.. it's not a hobby! and I'm not retired

[Richard Negus]

Thank you. I received a private message from Mr.Negus already.MBRACING

Was it too optimistic of me to expect a reply?

[site admin]

Hello Richard,Didn't receive a reply of any kind either.Are there strange forces at work on the R.O.C forum :-)Why do people post if they don't want to know the answer?Oh well, there's nowt as strange as folk.I don't post very often but I am pleased with the forum. Glad I started it!G

[Richard Negus]

Hi Graham,The Forum is a very useful means of communication and exchange of views, but it seems to be the same few posters who respond.I'd guess I wouldn't be wrong in thinking that those few are also paid-up members of the ROC, rather than members of the Forum only.I'd be interested to know how many of the former and how many of the latter.Unlike the NOC, for example, anyone can register on this Forum and post without having to actually be an ROC Member and contribute to the Club's running costs.The NOC allows anyone to read their Messages but requires membership in order to post. Do you think the ROC should adopt the same scheme?Rgds,R.

[tim harrison]

Hi AllFollowing on from Richards post, the main reason that the NOC restricts postings to members is so that it can require members to accept the club's rules with regard to content. Postings that are offensive are relatively few but can cause considerable damage to an organisation that owns the website. If necessary the NOC can take action in a fair and constitutional manner against a member who posts offensive material. It is also helpful that a member reading a posting can be sure that the originator is a fellow club member. In the case of the ROC the excellent forum is arguably the greatest benefit of Club membership but it is currently available to anyone and therefore there is a disincentive to join. The downside of restricting the ability of non members to post is that it will to some extent reduce the content of the forum and we are already operating on a limited pool of rotary owners.This all reminds me that I should have renewed my subscription at the beginning of the month.Best wishesTim

[johnbirchjar]

Bit of a "Catch 22" then,J.B.

[Wayne]

Are people aware that Graham funds and maintains this forum at his own expenceone thing i can say about this forum is the nice way its condcted compaird to the Noc, i have only seen one post that i thought was poorly worderd that may cause some offence to others.As richard once said most of us know each other personaly.Regards Wayne

[Wayne]

They would have stopped this thread on the Noc for going off topic, When graham asked me to help moderate the forum i was aprihensive but its been my plessure to do this along with a few others. i would not do the noc one if you paid me?Regards Wayne

[Joe]

Hello Graham, Seems like a bargain to me, only £175.00 per face if I've understood you correctly. So for that, the original suface will be machined to occomodate the Moly, the Moly will then be applied and finally machined flat, glad I'm not doing all this work for for so little, or am I just greedy? I'm busy prepairing a few parts now to forward to you soon. Kind regards, Joe.

[site admin]

Yes,For £175 per face, including 20% VAT I will take your endplates to a local engineer in Leeds, between us, we have written a CNC program to machine the trochoid shape at 0.6mm depth. I will then send off a batch of endplates to be metal sprayed and machined by the company that Norton Motors relied on. If I can't send more than one set, I only break even, two or three sets and I turn a profit.Hope that's honest enough :-)Graham

[site admin]

As for the forum;I believe that everyone eventually realises that being part of something is so much more rewarding than simply taking instead of giving.Personally I never want to force anyone to contribute to the R.O.C. in a purely monetary way. It CAN and WILL survive without members who don't think it's worth contributing to.That makes me pleased that the number of members has increased since I started the forum. Plus, it has drawn in a number of people that some of us would happily pay just to keep them on here! You know who you are :-)Keep up the good workGraham. (Site builder)

[site admin]

Just a quick PS:Yes we sometimes do have rogue posts, but there are plenty of moderators in such an open forum so the bad gets buried in seconds!G

[pete]

Hi All, At the risk of wrecklessly swerving back on topic again... How can you tell if an engine has been Moly coated or not ? I have a '90 Commander that I bought 7-8 years ago with very little history. It starts and runs well so I've never really worried if it's been Moly coated or not. I belive some of them were done from the factory. How could I tell without pulling the engine apart ? Pete

[Richard Negus]

Pete, There are Norton rotaries that have done tens of thousands of miles without needing moly. It seems to depend on how the bike is used/abused.With a few exceptions, molying was done by Graham at Startright, Norton Shenstone, Norton Rugeley, and myself, with the first customer ones done in about 1996. No Shenstone-produced rotaries had moly as original.Knowing the chassis and engine numbers (usually the same, but not always) I can refer to the Norton and my service records. These, unfortunately, are neither 100% accurate nor 100% complete.Graham often stamps an 'M' after the engine number for a moly'd engine.The only sure way, apart from dismantling the engine, is to remove a carburettor and inlet pipe and look minside with a torch and dentist's mirror-on-a-stick, or with a miniature camera and laptop.

[johnbirchjar]

I think that someone once told me that Shenstone stamped a "star" before the LE my Classic to indicate that the engine had been mollied,rgds,J.B.

[Interpol2471]

John I seem to remember my Classic has a 'star' ?? who knows...Richard

[Richard Negus]

A star indicating moly? Optimists!All Norton rotaries, except F1's, have a stamped asterisk before and after the stamped engine number.It's called the limit mark, and was intended to stop unscrupulous persons changing the engine number. I mean, no such person would have an asterix stamp would they ?In earlier days, Mk3 Commando's had a similar stamp before and after the engine number, but in their case a circle with two horizontal lines across it.

[johnbirchjar]

I bow to your superier knowledge ,J.B.

[NortonLE086]

I have recently bought a Norton Classic with 8500 miles on the clock. The records indicate it has been well maintained and serviced by the factory at 1000 miles and Richard Negus at 6000 miles. There is no record of it however receiving a Moly coating. It starts and runs OK so should I carry on using it as it is or have the coating done as a precaution? Any feedback welcome. Michael

[Interpol2471]

Hi Michael your bike was running sweetly with no noise or any signs of wear when I checked with my endoscope, use and enjoy a lovely bike.A few of us use Classic's on a regular basis me included and mine is not moly'd.Investigate if it starts to make the signs of a low compression engine unless you have lots of spare money you wish to spend.My personnal thoughts but others may agree or disagree..the more you use it the better it will be.

[NortonLE086]

Thanks for the feedback M

[johnbirchjar]

Not quite sure I agree withJoe about (the more you use them,the better they be)I covered 57,000 miles,in 13 years on my Classic (and by no means am I a slow rider ) by which time the engine was compleatly shaged ,everything had to be renewed,the only parts left of the original engine were the two chambers,I was with Malc Stanley when he pulled the engine appart(normaly about an hour)took us 2and a half hours!!an absolute pig of a job,when we/he finally had the engine appart his immediate comment was,"Bloody hell,with this much carbon cloging up everything it's a wonder the bike ran at all,In all my years of working on rotories I have rarely seen one as bad as this"(or words to that effect ) He later told me that as the chief machanic for the Derby Police rotories he striped the engines regularely at 30,000 miles. Talking to various rotary owners it would appear that there are no hard and fast rules as to how many miles the engine doe's before needing attention,(water cooled bikes seem to do a lot more than air cooled,)just my own thoughts on the matter,rgds,J.B.

[Joe]

Hello JB,Twasn't me that said that, me thinks it was Paul.Joe

[johnbirchjar]

So Paul is "2471"(I must put a "postick" on my computer to remind me,)appologise to all concerned,rgds,J.B.