1962 650ss Build

First post for me more or less, and my first build, first experience working on a bike. It's been a lifelong love affair.

I'm calling this a partial back date build, as I've been working on this for the past year. I haven't done the best job documenting the entire process, but I've tried to hit some steps along the way. The next one will be better, is what I keep telling myself. It's quite inspiring seeing the wealth of information that's on this site.


This project for me began about one year ago with the purchase of a 1962 Norton 650ss, from eBay. Pretty much a total basketcase state, delivered in an actual basket. It’s taken about 500 different turns as far as final product goes, but I'm relieved to see that seems to be the normal course of action.

photos from the eBay listing




The positives, the four leading shoe grimeca front brake, laced to what looked like a really nice wheel. Conical rear. Arces/Ceriani GP forks. Lucas K2FC mag. Everything needing a full rebuild. I'm confident that I would like to take the more cafe approach to the build, and not try to replicate a fully stock machine.


The negatives. All the unknowns. Everything needing a full rebuild. Not taking into account how much all the other pieces would.

Took delivery of this crate, had to go pick it up at the local shipping docks as the 18 wheeler wouldn’t come down my driveway. Borrowed a friends van and trucked this puppy home. Had to disassemble the crate in the van and carry the individual pieces out. Was only by myself and couldn’t budge the crate.



Starting out just taking a once over of everything, and kept trying to take as many before photos as possible. It’s amazing how easy it is to skip some photos in the process.

Decided that the first step would be to send out the frame bits to be stripped in a large-scale blaster using glass media, then bring everything home to check, prime, and paint.

All of this was pre-covid.

Nice bunch of parts. I prefer doing it the Brough-Superiour way. First assemble everything and test run it. When satisfied, tear it apart and paint it. Then rebuild it with white gloves on. As the Brough people did when Rolls-Royce checked. Before allowing them to advertise as "The Rolls-Royce of motorcycles".
My reason is that there will always be scratches in the paint when assembling. Especially on a modified bike. It can happen that a bit of welding or grinding has to be done.
I seldom comes to the point of painting if the bike runs well. Much more fun riding the bike.

I agree, painting is best left to the last, if you can hold off. The method mentioned by Mike, full mechanical rebuild, assembly and fettling, then take apart and paint is ideal. Not many people do it that way as most of us want to see something painted right away. It's instant gratification and looks like a lot of progress.
Then you have to protect the paint finish thru the whole rebuild and fettling process, nearly impossible.
It's a bit like laying new flooring at the start of a major construction renovation.
This has been done!
One other thought on the restoration. The stock 650ss with its flat bars and minimalist styling is a cafe racer without adornment.
You have the big lumps there for a stock machine. If at some point in the future you want to sell the bike, the stock 650ss is getting quite valuable as there aren't a lot of them. There is no shortage of hybrid cafe racers of all sorts out there. I like homebuilt cafe racers too, have a couple of them here, but you might consider going the stock route, other than the Grimeca front brake, that has to be used.





Glen

Looks fun.

Keep posting!

Great project - keep posting please !
I am in NJ as well - I have a 1956 Dominator 99 basket case that I hope to start in on in the fall. I would suggest getting the Mick Hemmings engine And gearbox DVD’s available through the UK based Norton Owners Club .
Let me know if I can help . Rick Tool

The amount of effort to restore the to a stock 650SS would be tremendous. You probably bought this because you wanted a featherbed cafe racer, so build it that way.

That tank looks to be about 600 gallons!

If you get the frame powder coated you don't have to worry about scratches as much.

Looks like fun!

I defer to a lot of people - and this comment has no bearing on restoring your basket case to a beautiful bike - but if it's actually a '62 it's probably a Manxman and not a 650SS. Not much mechanical difference between the two, but the Manxman is a pretty rare beast. I don't think Norton was calling or selling the 650cc bike the 650SS in '62. Not sure although I suspect others will chime in.

Bodger said:

I defer to a lot of people - and this comment has no bearing on restoring your basket case to a beautiful bike - but if it's actually a '62 it's probably a Manxman and not a 650SS. Not much mechanical difference between the two, but the Manxman is a pretty rare beast. I don't think Norton was calling or selling the 650cc bike the 650SS in '62. Not sure although I suspect others will chime in.

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You could be right, but the pic from my beady eye sees the tank of a 650ss, (it could have been changed) cannot see if single or twin carb.
These were available from 1961/2, but delayed for one year in the UK as they were export only, only looking up the chassis number against the factory records will confirm this.

Bernhard said:

You could be right, but the pic from my beady eye sees the tank of a 650ss, (it could have been changed) cannot see if single or twin carb.
These were available from 1961/2, but delayed for one year in the UK as they were export only, only looking up the chassis number against the factory records will confirm this.

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Again, it doesn't really matter, but I think the early tanks had the filler on the left so it could be a later tank.

I saw that listing, and ear marked it. I wanted to bid on it so much, but my life is not in a place where I could justify spending the $ & devoting the time required. I think it was a good deal and a great starting point for a build. With regards to the tank, I believe it is a better one to have since when the bike is on the side stand, it's lean puts the filler cap at the top.

NorLuck said:

Anyone know where this tank is from?

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Yep
It's from the 60s man !!!

NorLuck said:

Ahh so good.. Would be awesome and would fit all the electronics for my EV build!

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There were sooooo many of those tanks around of various styles and build quality
I'm sure it used to be compulsory to have at least one under your bench
Probably best not to put petrol in them anymore, well not the type that's served up in the UK anyhow

NorLuck said:

Would be perfect then since I don't want to put petrol into them!!
Anyone want to sell me a cool looking tank. Maybe I should post in the classifieds.

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Yep stick wanted ad up there must be a few out there still

Not sure how I missed this post, looks like a fun project...

NorLuck said:

Ahh so good.. Would be awesome and would fit all the electronics for my EV build!

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Just find a fiberglass tank you like the style of. The ethanol in fuel now eats thru them so they are pretty useless.

NorLuck said:

DONE!

Sorry to hijack your thread.. How's the build going? Hopefully better than the luck I'm having with my not in parts bike.

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funny to see this post. just saw your "wanted" ad in the classifieds, and was about to PM you with photos. Forgot that I had some photos here. This tank is sitting on my shelf, and I'll be going the aluminum route with my finished tank.

This one is a BEAST. No BS, I think it's gotta be at least a 7gal Manx tank. Would make a nice shell for your project for sure.

seanalex said:

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Wow! That is a biggie! Filling it with anything other than helium will be a major contributor to weird handling! Better to blame the equipment anyway...

I agree with @swooshdave in that the hurdles to a stock bike are almost too high to accomplish realistically. There are never too many well-built cafe Nortons out there!

Kevin at nortonraceparts.com is a good guy (bloke?) with good parts at reasonable prices. He's always treated me very fairly.

Those brakes are really good, but should be checked and set up by someone who knows how to set them up. After that, it'll be much easier to maintain. Looks like NYCNorton wouldn't be too far away.

that fiberglass tank I would BIN it ASP its knackered

annajeannette said:

that fiberglass tank I would BIN it ASP its knackered

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He’s got a punter for it !

It’s honestly amazing how fast time can go by. I’ve had this bike now for over two years, and I had a feeling it was going to take a while. I’m now really pushing myself to have this thing done by March of 2022. March 31st. I think it's possible.

After my first posting about this bike, and the past two years have gone by, I understand what some of you were saying. “Don’t paint the frame” has been ringing in my mind. Of course, I went ahead and painted everything I could get my hands on because it was so satisfying and felt like progress…

For some experience is only gained by failure. This project has also been an incredible test in patience, and it's amazing how hard it is to document the process. Maybe that also comes with experience.



Of course, now I look at the amount of scratches and chips in my paintwork, and how shitty it is in some areas and I chuckle. I also didn’t really take into consideration at the time that some of the tabs had to be taken off, and that additional brackets and tabs would need to be put on. I’m going to save the tabs that I take off, mostly because I’m a young hoarder. I do feel bad about taking them off, but I’m not making a chopper.


I am now taking the advice to mock up, and build the entire bike to running and functioning order. Then strip it back down and paint it. I have yet to decide if I will powder, or paint the frame. I’m really drawn towards not having to worry too much about scratching it. I will be outsourcing either option. As for most of the other alloy parts on this bike I'm going to leave them as is. I don't think I want them to have a super super mirror finish. Some of the parts that are on the bike are older, and I feel like have cool patina. Even if they've been vapor blasted they still show age. Here is the bike in its current mocked up form.





Rear sets, and fenders are now fully mounted too. No photos of that yet. It feel good to have things actually bolted to this frame, and not held in place with zip ties.

For the motor. The crank has been reground, and the cylinders brought to .20 over. I used Richter Machining (https://richtermachining.com) He did a fabulous job, and it was quite quick. I’ll be reassembling the lower half with some nice internals from Jim Schmidt of JS Motorsports. Going to go with the stage 1 cam, and street valves. Lightened pistons, and the Carrillo rods. The internals of the stock engine were all pretty shot to shit. With what looks like one of the pistons exploding. Cylinder head should be back to me soon from Mr. Comstock.



My plan will be to build the gearbox first, then the motor. Just cause I'm waiting for a few more parts to be delivered. Everything for the box is cleaned and ready to go back.