1964 Norton n15 Lets get it running

DonOR

DonOR

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Jul 24, 2009
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I had a cylinder barrel break the same way when I was taking the stuck motor apart.
I decided to chance it, and have a master welder friend repair it, rather than a costly replacement. He did an excellent job using nickel rod. The machine shop was unhappy about boring it out though, the nickel was tough on the tools needed.
Over 5000 miles, a little redline shifting, and still going strong.

Nice project, best of luck to you.

Cheers,

Don
 
Thanks for the info! But I don't have the piece that is broke off... I'm not sure exactly when it happened but the break looks recent., its not oxidized like it would be if it was an old break.
 
That looks like it is clear of the piston rings. I would dress out the sharp edges and let it ride.
 
Thanks for the reply's, I was hoping to hear that :D it was going to be a real pain to source another jug and have it bored .30 over or find new piston. From the looks of it i thought it would still be usable but I have no clue on these old British engines, weather or not I was overlooking something. Ill work on getting it painted up and put on.
My next project is the head. I think it has been rebuilt in the past and never put on and has 30 years of rust and crud on it. How do the rocker arms come apart? Also what would be the best way to get the valve springs compressed? Big C clamp and notched pipe?
Thank Scott
 
A 'C' clamp & notched pipe works just fine as a valve spring compressing tool. As far as pulling the rockers & other disassembly/assembly practices with these engines goes, you'd be well advised to read the shop manual. There are some definite cautions & practices that apply. Manuals are available as a free download at http://www.classicbike.biz/Norton/Repai ... Repair.htm
 
I had a similar problem after overheating and fracturing a piston. The jug was repaired by "metal spraying", a process that I know nothing about, except that it has lasted about 30K miles with no problems.

Good luck with it!

Slick
 
A more accurate history of the N15 can be found at the NOC (Norton Owners Club) site.

The first few hundred Atlas Scramblers were stamped 'G15CS/10xxxx N' in late '63, mostly designated as '64 models. After that, most N15s were stamped 'N15CS/1xxxxx'. Some of the later bikes may be stamped as G15s, as I heard the factory shipped bikes with 2 sets of badges after AMCs collapse. The last regular production N15s came off the line in late '67 at around serial 124500. One small batch (5 bikes?) was built in '69 at the request of a distributor, at around serial 131xxx.

A guy I met at a show told me he worked at a dealer in the late '60s, and a customer came in looking for an N15. They had a G15 on the floor. The dealer told him they had just gotten an N15 in, and would be uncrating it that day if he wanted to come back. They wheeled the bike into the back and switched badges. When the customer came back, he bought the newly-christened N15.
 
It has been mentioned several places and several times that some of those bikes came with several sets of badges included in the crate,
so the dealer could badge it as the customer wanted, Norton or Matchless. So this is not as underhanded a practice as it first seems...

They didn't call it 'badge engineering' for nothing.
 
That service manual is great! There's tons of good info.
I'm definitely taking it slow on this rebuild, I've rebuilt other motors before but I'm out of my element on this one. I've been reading up as much as I can so I can learn as much about the motor and its components. But any help/tips are greatly appreciated.

Also the serial number on the frame and engine puts this bike as a 1964. Just as everyone explained that wiki page is wrong.
Thanks for all the Information guys!
 
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