67 N15CS Build

So the little badge bulges are filled like mine, I assume. I couldn't complain, my 2 tanks were worth 5x the price of the basket case. Only one person has ever noticed. Will you put a transfer on like this? Cool 60's colors you got going on there!

Oh - I had no battery side cover and waited a while to get one from Walridge, a repop from India. Not bad. The tanks were signed by Tim Bartee of Lake Elsinore - he has been there forever and has a ton of 'On Any Sunday' era photos and memorabilia in his garage. He painted my side cover to match, 30 years after he did the originals in '94. It pays to sign your work, so people from the past can haunt you.

When I first stripped my tank, I was really confused… there was a ton of bondo basically eliminating the bulges. Prior to that I didn’t even realize they were supposed to be there. Ultimately I chose to keep the screw holes filled and go with a Norton script, bulges now exposed.

My tank was in exceptionally good condition until I decided to pressure test it. 10psi is bad. So now I don’t feel bad if I bang it up in the dirt.

Chris

Chris Johnson said:

My carb choice was determined by finding a NOS 1-3/16” 689. Then I held out as long as I could to find a NOS 389, to no avail, and had to buy a new one. The only negative is the two carbs don’t match.

My original monoblocs were pretty well damaged and I didn’t want to do all this work and compromise on carbs.

Also, taper boring the inlets for the larger carbs found a respectable increase in inlet flow without hogging out the narrow part around the valve guide.

Being new/not filled with soot, now was the time to finish the exhaust. For the style I had in mind, either chrome or black would be appropriate. I chromed a Triumph exhaust and it took something like 6 months so I went with ceramic for this (I had them do my B50 exhaust previously). Also I didn’t metal finish the pipes for chrome - all the welds are present and visible. Ceramic isn’t much of a savings over chrome, for comparison. Oh, I want a finish that would last longer than paint.

Chris

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Tapered port match bore in the head intake ports is definitely the way to go for a street head. Makes a difference for those that can tell what a difference feels like. A dyno is not required to tell if a good taper bore works. Tuner experience will tell the tale.

Thermal ceramic is probably good, since the Silver does work on V8 headers. I don't know about black though. I think it might still go grey close to the head at the first bend on a Norton. I never took my P11 headers to a ceramic coater. Month(s) wait times are no fun. I used rattle can ceramic but it never worked for long. What ended up doing was stripping and sanding the headers and coating them with cooking spray. It mostly burns off but leaves behind a thin shellac like protective coat. My steel headers don't rust, but I do have to rub some cooking oil on them a few times a year. Not recommending it, just saying what I did and it works "for me".

I'm looking forward to seeing your bike finished.

Chris Johnson said:

Being new/not filled with soot, now was the time to finish the exhaust. For the style I had in mind, either chrome or black would be appropriate. I chromed a Triumph exhaust and it took something like 6 months so I went with ceramic for this (I had them do my B50 exhaust previously). Also I didn’t metal finish the pipes for chrome - all the welds are present and visible. Ceramic isn’t much of a savings over chrome, for comparison. Oh, I want a finish that would last longer than paint.

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Ohh, so the coating is at the exterior? I was under the impression you wanted to coat the interior, which promises som thermal / thermodynamic advantages to the engine as a whole.

- Knut

Jet-hot is doing the coating. Their marketing suggests internal and external coated, good to 1300 degrees. My main concern is durability beyond spray paint.

Chris