A new member with a first time Norton project

My US model 70 roadster came with a black barrel.

Nice Job and welcome.
My 72 combat is a work in progress much help found right here.
That is going to be a sweet Norton and you'll love the ride.
I shelved my orig. yellow fiberglass tank and side covers.
I saw white milky stuff in the fuel line and knew that would not be good for the pilot circuit.
I took it to a radiator shop and he washed out the inside of my tank to a brand new look.
He said he didn't like the fact that fiber strands in black were coming out still after many rinses.
I found an orig. metal tank and side cover set off ebay from a 72-73 era Norton. ($300 for a very nice tank stripped,$75.00 for side cover set)
I painted it yellow to honor the orig. color and have had zero problems.
You are doing a tremendous amount of work; to include engine work to have to worry about junk in the carbs issues.
Get a metal tank take the orig. to a great painter and let him find the right color match that's his job and they do it very well if they are good.
Keep it red as it's only fitting and enjoy many years trouble free riding.
Trying to play w/ the fiberglass tank is futile. It will last a couple years maybe more and then give you trouble.
A job done right once is a job only done once.
Again, stellar job on the old girl. I like the road tax badge still affixed on the seat rail. Classic!!!
Hope to save you a headache down the road my friend.
If ever in Penna area lets take a ride together
Marshal

norbsa48503 said:

Here ya go, your clocks faces can be changed over to this type during a rebuild.

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Man that is beautiful - I really hope mine turns out as nice. Where did you purchase the gauge faces? Do they offer the needles as well?

That's a dead stock machine you should see the before pics. Cleaning that bike was most of the work. That's another thread this ones all about you man. You can paint an alloy tank, no one needs to know that you are lighter and can carry more gas.Over here in the States we have Mark Bohman Gage builder extraordinaire. But he never had to touch these. Tooling up to handle the rims and glass and seals would make changing out the faces not so easy. We have done it and still use Mark.

Its been a while since an update so here we go. Still working on a few items at a time and storing them up stairs until everything has been rebuilt, polished, or refinished.

I dropped off most of the hardware and anything else that I felt that I could get away with at a local plater for some clear zinc and bake. The results were awesome and the price was very reasonable. Not sure if its exactly correct but everything came back looking great. I even threw the spokes in to see how they would turn out and they also turned out very nice and saved me from having to replace the originals. Everything was blasted with glass beads before I carried them over to have them plated. It definitely pays to clean the stuff up as much as possible since every little flaw will show up in the finished product.

My camera sucks so some of it looks cad plated but for the most part it looks like new hardware.








I was going to run a set of Works shocks that I had, but figured I would see if I could bring back the originals good enough to suit since they were in pretty good shape mechanically. A little black paint and some elbow grease and they actually turned out pretty nice.






So thats pretty much it for now. Everything has been completed and as soon and the DVD's get here from Mick Hemmings I'll get started on the motor and gear box rebuild. In the mean time I'll get the wheels built and try to get the rolling chassis completed.

By the way - what in the heck are these? The bag they were in is not ledgeble and I do not have a picture of where they came from. I assume part of the headlight assembly but I'm not sure.

They are the mounts on the Z-plates for the rear pegs for the back passenger.

You are making real progress there, I am going to Manassas tomorrow to see about painting or P/C my frame.

Where are you located?

Dave
69S

Hello Dave I'm in Raleigh NC - thanks for the heads up and compliments. It also makes allot of since since the Z plates and foot controls were removed before I took ownership.

Not sure if you have already done so or not but make sure you print out the Old Britts powder coating guide - I had no clue and would have really screwed up if I hadn't stumbled upon it one night searching through there technical articles.

Good luck on your build.

Wow, you're about 35 min from me

There is also Nelson in Charlotte NC, I think, he has a 69S recently restored.

Dave
69S

pelican said:

Wow, you're about 35 min from me

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Very cool pelican - what part of NC? Let me know if your interested and I'll give you a call the next time we go for a ride.

I polished and plated mine.



Dave

DogT said:

There is also Nelson in Charlotte NC, I think, he has a 69S recently restored.

Dave
69S

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You guys should head out to the GABMA event this summer for the British in the Blue ridge weekend. I have never been but my Powder Coater turned me onto it. Looks awesome - I'll be there on the Norton if everything goes right. If not I'll be on the Superhawk, but I'll be there.

http://www.gabma.us/

DogT said:

I polished and plated mine.

Dave

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Very nice Dave - what did you plate them with?

dog and pelican

you guys should do the three state ride we do every year in may. it is run from blowing rock and is a 200 mile loop with gas stops, lunch stop and a catered BB Q at the end. there is also a chase van for the triumph's and BSA's :mrgreen:


windy

I plated them with Caswell's copy chrome, its a nickel plate with some bluing agents in it, it looks just like chrome, but I think it is subject to yellowing, like any nickel plate. I did a lot of the small nuts and washers that are not unf or unc which I am going to replace with ss. Plated the front brake rods, the rear brake plate stay, the rocker arm cover acorn nuts, rocker spindle covers, banjo bolts, the big nuts on the oil tank, pressure release nut, gearbox adjuster bolts and nuts, the big washer under the fork crown nut, and a bunch of other small stuff. I used the plug n plate kit. it will only do smaller parts. I used the immersion method. If you want info let me know and I can help, it took a bit of experimentation. I just bought the solution since I had a good adjustable power supply for the current. I also got a 3/4 hp buffer from harbor freight and the wheels and compounds from Caswell. I used an orbital sander to get things polished to 320 and then buffed them.

http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/plugnplate.htm



Dave
69S project

That looks very impressive. I looked into the Caswell kit before I inquired about having it done locally. 420 pieces for 80 bucks seemed to be the way that I wanted to go this time. However, I would like to have a small kit since since they will charge you the same $80 for one piece if that all that goes into the basket. It also looks like you were able to partial plate with the kit which would be very helpful in certain occasions.

I'll definitely give you a shout when I decide to pick up one of their kits.

Waiting on a few parts to arrive before I begin building the engine so I began working on some of the smaller items.

Hand controls - Hardware replaced with ss where I was able to and the rest was plated.



Media blasted the gear box. The hardware are just plugs to try and keep most of the media.



Installed the plated screens with ss screws.





Gearbox layed out for inventory before assembly - waiting on a cam plate from old britts. The original was cracked between one of the this areas between the shifter fork slots.



Getting ready to re-assemble the tail light.



Checking the crank end float after installing the new superblends - .018" Ordered the shim kit this morning...

Very clean, Keep the pics coming, Chuck.

Hortons Norton said:

Very clean, Keep the pics coming, Chuck.

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Especially of the gearbox rebuild...