Just finished the restoration of my '30 101. Starts and runs great, but it is a bit noisy (in my opinion). I first thought it was valve noise. Checked the clearance on the tappets and everything was in spec. Decided to use a mechanics stethoscope to see if I could pinpoint where the noise was coming from. Started at the top of the motor and worked my way down. Everything sounded smooth (including the valves). When I got down to the cam case cover the noise got louder. As I dragged the stethoscope across the cam cover I definitely heard the "chatter", for lack of a better word. Seemed loudest at the end of the cam case where the magneto gear is. This is the first 101 I have owned so I really don't know if this is normal or not. Any ideas?
Did you check out closely the rollers on the lifters during assembly? I am losing my hearing as I grow older, and the noises don't bother me as much these days.
It has been so long since I put the motor together I don't recall whether I did or didn't with respect to the rollers.
Did you listen to the magneto, too? My NS2 has a bad noise in it, I also used a stethoscope and thought it was coming from the timing case, but once I touched the stethoscope to the magneto it was the same noise but much, much louder.
Thanks Harry. I did probe around a bit more with the stethoscope. While I do hear some noise in the magneto, the noise seems to be loudest on the right side of the cam case where the magneto gear sits.
Bill, chasing a noise myself and an easy check is to make certain your magneto mounting bolts are still tight, because if the mag moved at all the gear lash may have changed. I also doubled up the thin paper gaskets for the timing case cover, thinking that relieving the end clearance on the idler gears might quiet things down.
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