RAF interpol exhausts glowing red.

[nednortonrider]

Hi , I've been offered a Interpol which I am interested in . it's a non runner . the owner had it running but the exhaust pipes glow red when its been running !! My guess is an ignition fault . it was left standing for a long time previous to this . Anyone have any other ideas ??? I'll almost certainly buy it anyway as I sold my Commander and as we all know , once you've been bitten by the rotary bug your infected for life with no known cure .

[Richard Negus]

Ned,Have you seen them glowing red, or relying on what the current owner says? I presume he means the manifold, not the silencers?Retarded ignition on a piston engine often blues the exhaust pipes or, in extreme cases, can make them glow red.Rotary ignitions either work normally, misfire, or don't work at all; to run retarded is very unusual. I would suspect rich running from mal-adjusted carburettors, particularly the jet height set very rich.Having said that, rotaries do run VERY hot exhaust gases even when operating normally.R.

[kanonkopdrinker]

I used to ride home from a late turn shift on a W2000 up the M11.On the unlit section, I could look down and see the first couple of inches of exhaust header glowing a dull red when at speed.You'd have to have a very agile neck to see this on a Norton!!David

[gripper]

I suppose that if someone had left out the tubes from the rotor housing into the exhaust manifold then the pipes could easily get that hot. A few years ago I was passed at high speed by a members IP2 with reversed flow air and a trick scavenge exhaust. His complete exhaust system was bright red.

[gripper]

Also If the bike is just sitting running without airflow over the pipes then it won't be far off red hot.

[nednortonrider]

Thanks for the replies. Ive been to see it today.It's a rough example but it's been kept garaged. The speedo shows 41000 . It's got all it's RAF plod gear which I will probably sell on.The owner has messed about with it .Carbs and exhausts are off and he has replaced a part of the gearbox case which broke when the chain snapped. It hasn't been registered since leaving the RAF but it has paperwork from the RAF to say it has been taken out of service . the pipes glowed red when he got it going in his garage . He wants £900.00 so I figure it's worth a punt .

[Interpol2471]

Lovely I still have quite a lot of NOS IP2 parts for sale :-)