FRANK WESTWORTH FEATURE NAME
So! Cast your mind back to the dark days of only last month. The mighty American Commando was sitting pretty on the bench. It has a huge new battery and a mostly dimensionally correct replica ignition / lighting switch which works! As do most of the rest of the LT (low tension, in case you were asleep during primary school fizzix) circuits, including wonder of wonders - the starter motor. I'm still utterly astounded that a 1975 Prestolite starter motor spins with enough energy to rotate itself, never mind a Commando engine, but it does. Honest. OK, so the spark plugs were out at the time, but the motor whizzes the engine over easily, revealing that both the oil pump and crankcase breathing system work. The latter became obvious when I removed the oil tank cap and a filthy, thick black jet of gloop shot across the space between the Norton and me. Fortunately my pullover stopped most of it. Sigh…
A healthy oil pump does not a running engine make, sadly, so it was back to my not entirely favourite way of spending Shed time: searching for the spark.
As with every single non-running motorcycle I've acquired down the years (and there have been big lots of them), I attempt to discover why the previous owner(s) failed to get it going, and what stopped it going in the first place. Back in the cold, dark past, when old bikes were just old bikes and their main attraction was their relative worthlessness, I would buy non-running machines, preferably AMC twins, and attempt
