Nortoniggy
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Time Warp said:
I bought mine new & there is no reference to 'Combat' on any of the paperwork.
Ian
Combat engine or not
- Thread starter hamiltom
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I bought mine new & there is no reference to 'Combat' on any of the paperwork.
Ian
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Hey LAB really don't want to alienate ya as I routinely save your archival postings on items and ways out of my Combat troubles. So what's your sense of how many 10 CR, 2S cam, milled head, low breather black barreled Combats produced-sold compared to the detuned almost Combats by factory or dealer or new owners? To actually appreciate a Combat over detuned versions means operating into damage level loads/rpms and not that much quicker than standard so cost- pay back comes into play like it did Norton.
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hobot said:
I've no idea, because I don't (as yet) think we know even approximately how many Combats were actually built, and subtracting 200976(allegedly the first production Combat number) from 211110(the last, supposedly) won't give us the answer as a significant number of Commandos built within that serial number range would have been standard models (all with low breathers).
http://www.classicbike.biz/Norton/Broch ... ochure.pdf
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Well as, "is it a full Combat or not" question will likely come up again here's main check list to refine.
Serial #'s 211110 (allegedly first production Combat number) to 200976
Barrels - in shiny' stove' black paint
Cases - bottom rear vent as secondary oil return hose with oil sump at front
Head- RH3 .040" milled, pn 063327, 750cc 10 : 1, 32mm port, narrow cylinder fin gap. Mine also had CHO cast in.
Carbs - Dual Amalsl 32 939 R/L with Combat jetting.
Cam- 2S to dial measure against DynoDaves charting or by powerband reline test.
Ignition set - 28' max or tends to back fire-injure to start and sluggish on more.
Brake - only Combats got 1st RH disc, standard retained a drum, maybe.
Gas tank - 1st 6 gallon Interstate + covers but also Roadster 2.5 gallon.
Good place to post the two page article on Combat Bomb history details but lost mine to digi doodoo.
Serial #'s 211110 (allegedly first production Combat number) to 200976
Barrels - in shiny' stove' black paint
Cases - bottom rear vent as secondary oil return hose with oil sump at front
Head- RH3 .040" milled, pn 063327, 750cc 10 : 1, 32mm port, narrow cylinder fin gap. Mine also had CHO cast in.
Carbs - Dual Amalsl 32 939 R/L with Combat jetting.
Cam- 2S to dial measure against DynoDaves charting or by powerband reline test.
Ignition set - 28' max or tends to back fire-injure to start and sluggish on more.
Brake - only Combats got 1st RH disc, standard retained a drum, maybe.
Gas tank - 1st 6 gallon Interstate + covers but also Roadster 2.5 gallon.
Good place to post the two page article on Combat Bomb history details but lost mine to digi doodoo.
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hobot said:
Or, 200976 to 211110
hobot said:
Any 750 engine within the stated serial number range (not all of which were Combats) or after it, should have this breather arrangement regardless, therefore it cannot be a deciding factor in my opinion.
hobot said:
Commandos usually have a "Narrower fin gap the barrel to head joint" so "narrow cylinder fin gap" means...? How narrow does it have to be? One could describe it as being a significantly narrower gap but I think that would still be open to interpretation.
hobot said:
932/18 & 932/19
hobot said:
That is a "maybe".
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L.A.B. said:
I think you mean imply (true or otherwise)...... you then inferred it.
Hi
I bought a BRG Combat Fastback new in 1972. I fell in love with it when I saw it in the Norton Villiers window in Brisbane. They had their own shop selling Nortons, AJS Stormers and industrial motors. I remember them telling me the disc brake bikes were all 1972 models and the drum braked bikes were unsold 1971 stock. They only sold Combats in Austarlia that year so I'm not aware of other offerings. They were great people but unfortunately they didn't sell direct to the public so I had to go to a dealer . A less than cheerful process.
However when the motor blew I took it directly to Norton Villiers and they rebuilt it in a couple of days. Never had a problem after that - except for that crappy advance retard unit - with the emphasis on retard. I guess someone will say they were ok - you just had to know how to fix them. Well not in 1972. They were crap. I use a Tri Spark now and I can't believe the diffrence. If Norton had done a decent job on this in 1970s - well who knows.
I bought a BRG Combat Fastback new in 1972. I fell in love with it when I saw it in the Norton Villiers window in Brisbane. They had their own shop selling Nortons, AJS Stormers and industrial motors. I remember them telling me the disc brake bikes were all 1972 models and the drum braked bikes were unsold 1971 stock. They only sold Combats in Austarlia that year so I'm not aware of other offerings. They were great people but unfortunately they didn't sell direct to the public so I had to go to a dealer . A less than cheerful process.
However when the motor blew I took it directly to Norton Villiers and they rebuilt it in a couple of days. Never had a problem after that - except for that crappy advance retard unit - with the emphasis on retard. I guess someone will say they were ok - you just had to know how to fix them. Well not in 1972. They were crap. I use a Tri Spark now and I can't believe the diffrence. If Norton had done a decent job on this in 1970s - well who knows.
The NV shop/showroom was in Balaclava Street, Woolloongabba . If you don't know Brisbane its an inner city suburb. As I said really decent blokes. After NV shut up shop they went on to open Serco Engineering which is still a distributor for performance parts.
Combat tank or not ?
On ebay there are interstate , roadster, fastback and combat metal petrol tanks , made in India. I didn't think the Combat had a different tank to the roadster.
The combat tank looks like a roadster tank but a shade squared at the back with the two bobbles so it can be attached at the rear by the rubber band method instead of the 'under frame' piece of metal as on the roadster tank. Perhaps its a metal version of the plastic tank or perhaps combats had plastic tanks for lightness.
Anyone know if there was a specific combat tank, as made by the Indian manufacturers?
On ebay there are interstate , roadster, fastback and combat metal petrol tanks , made in India. I didn't think the Combat had a different tank to the roadster.
The combat tank looks like a roadster tank but a shade squared at the back with the two bobbles so it can be attached at the rear by the rubber band method instead of the 'under frame' piece of metal as on the roadster tank. Perhaps its a metal version of the plastic tank or perhaps combats had plastic tanks for lightness.
Anyone know if there was a specific combat tank, as made by the Indian manufacturers?
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Engie said:
Simply a case of the Indian manufacturers not doing their homework properly as there weren't any specific "Combat" tanks, (check the parts list for 1972).
http://www.bigdcycle.com/book%20project ... index.html
Some of the Indian tanks are not particularly well made and often not made to the correct shape-especially their Roadster tanks.
Engie said:
Yes I think so.
Engie said:
Although steel tanks were beginning to be introduced during 1972, with the exception of the Fastback LR and Interpol models which normally had steel tanks, the vast majority of Roadster, Interstate, Fastback and Hi-Rider fuel tanks would have been made of fibreglass at that time.
Nortoniggy
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They did everything on the cheap so there's no way the petrol tank would be different. Original combats, & other Commandos of that era, had F'glass tanks either Interstate or Roadster and they switched to steel sometime in 1972.
Further to the advertising brochure that L.A.B. put a link to earlier. The original Combats didn't have the oil filter, they introduced the small sump plug which did away with the gauze filter but did nothing to replace it until the the oil filter started being fitted and that came at about the same time they switched to steel tanks.
Ian
Further to the advertising brochure that L.A.B. put a link to earlier. The original Combats didn't have the oil filter, they introduced the small sump plug which did away with the gauze filter but did nothing to replace it until the the oil filter started being fitted and that came at about the same time they switched to steel tanks.
Ian
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Nortoniggy said:
The changeover to steel tanks seems to have been a somewhat gradual process which continued on into 1973 ('73 parts list).
http://www.bigdcycle.com/book%20project ... index.html
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I have seen several references to the 72 model year, all refer to the brake disc option being linked to the combat spec, ie order the brake disc and you got the combat engine by default as both came together. What none of these references go on to say is which sales territories this rule was applied to, Roy Bacon is one of the sources and always wrote his books from a UK centric perspective and only mentions US variations in passing so it could be this only applied to the UK.
I have seen 72 bikes with fibre glass tanks in the UK, my own combat cannot be used as an example as the tank is steel roadster off a MK3 so is a replacement, what the original was is lost.
I have seen 72 bikes with fibre glass tanks in the UK, my own combat cannot be used as an example as the tank is steel roadster off a MK3 so is a replacement, what the original was is lost.
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