Gatsby's Rebuild

Hi Everyone,

This will be my rebuild thread. First off, I will little history on this bike and why it is special to me. This bike was owned by my Dad’s childhood friend. He was the second owner and purchased it from the original owner when the bike was six months old. It was on the road until 1983 (according to the stickers on the plate) where it was brought into a basement “for the winter” with 5900miles on it. Although I have never owned a bike before, my Dad’s friend new that liked his Norton, and I had told him to call me if he every planned to part with it. In a sad twist of fate, my Dad’s friend passed away two summers ago in a car accident. Two weeks prior to his death, he told his wife that if anything ever happened to him, I was to have his Norton.

A good family friend has done the below engine work. I am very happy with it. There is a lot left to do, but I am in no hurry. While I am no mechanic, this forum has given me the tools to understand this bike, and how to properly attack the rebuild.

Cheers,
Gatsby


After Bike was pulled from basement



Before Bead Blasting


After




This was replaced with Superblends


Oil Scavanger Mod




Relocated breather




Volia!

looks good

Looks marvellous. Good luck with the rebuild. Where did you get the finned tappet and points covers?

wow that thing has more fin's than a caddy :wink:

amazing how he said something to his wife just before the accident, funny how things happen like that.

crusadersports - The finned coveres were on the bike when I got it. I think they look pretty cool. I have no idea where the originals are There is a little road rash on the head fins. The PO got tapped by a car and broke a leg in the late 70's. I kind of like the battle scar. It makes you remember the past was real.

Kev - I was shocked that he said that. It had been almost a year since I had spoken with him about the bike. Almost a little spooky.

I forgot to metion that the bike is a 1972 combat.

Cheers,

Gatsby

Looking good. The finned covers are still available, the points ones are a little hard to source thou..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Norton-Finned-V ... 57&vxp=mtr

gatsby said:

crusadersports - The finned coveres were on the bike when I got it. I think they look pretty cool. I have no idea where the originals are There is a little road rash on the head fins. The PO got tapped by a car and broke a leg in the late 70's. I kind of like the battle scar. It makes you remember the past was real.

Kev - I was shocked that he said that. It had been almost a year since I had spoken with him about the bike. Almost a little spooky.

I forgot to metion that the bike is a 1972 combat.

Cheers,

Gatsby

Click to expand...

Thanks Gatsby, they really add a wee bit of sparkle. Thanks for the link Wolfie

Looking good.

I would not have relocated the breather. If you intend on leaving the breather there then toss the housing and get a reed valve.

+1 what Dave said, you need a reed valve (one-way valve).

The bike is almost finished. I take zero credit for the rebuild (except buying parts, and could not be happier with the job done on this bike by a fellow forum member. I am looking forward to taking delivery next summer!
Cheers,
Gatsby

Before

[album]467[/album]

After
[album]468[/album]
[album]469[/album]
[album]470[/album]

Your bike looks beautiful, great story & wish you all the best. One thing caught my attention though, the before & after pics of "bead blasting" the head & it looks like the cases as well.. I truly hope whoever did that understands how that blasting medium gets stuck in the pours of metal & little places you can almost never clean.. I've seen two supposedly pro rebuilt engines come into a friends shop after only 100 miles or so ruined by the first shop because they still had blasting stuff inside, unseen until they got hot and it was released. Some people will only blast cases if they know they are going to be coated to seal any possible sand or beads impregnated into the metal.. I'm NOT a pro at this just seen it's damage. Others here are pro's & maybe their knoledge of Norton rebuilds will help. Let them tell you but I would at the very least change the oil right after the first start up to be safe.

My "Ms Peel" Combat engine was done up essentially identical, crude finned covers, opened rear oil drain and the low down dirty oil baffle mounted at slight less lean angle with a Dreer sold Krane PCV valve up by the frame before tank entry and worked a wonderful no leak case evacuation even beyond redline rpm zone - a cotton Q-tip in the baffle or hose didn't show even a hint of oil residue. Realize there are 2 schools of thought on modifying/correcting Commandos, one existing for 3 decades or so before this forum created that only supports new age anything goes upgrades. Most dangerous thing to be watchful of for a few tanks of gas is leaking brake fluid that is blown away riding so check that till sure it holding up. Other damaging biggy is not to set primary chain loose enough cold it don't bend shafts when hot. Sand blast is known to embed grit that frees up when hot so be alert to that caution. If not familiar with weave/wobble/"Hinge" of isolastic rubber baby buggy I suggest an early ride with low air tires to get sense of what lurks and can onset blasting fine half in into a decent sweeper that goes nutzo and gets some worse on power cuts but can be delayed by staying on hard throttle till so wild and onset you can't recover it. Everything it takes to control a tire leaking down or blowing out is Identical to racer level skills and gets way worse just before putting feet down to fully stop one last whip lashing. Once that is experienced a slow leak of flat at either end will not catch you out of the blue. Best wishes continuing your Combat saga. If ballsy enough to stay in lower gears short of valve float Combats can lift front a few inches in grin spreading pull. Highly recoomend natural fiber thread laid in the case seams with favorite sealant that is not sillycon RTV. Also there is great controversy/Concern about oil drain from tank to wet sump and great pains to prevent it or empty it with way more fatal engine results of failed valve functioning - just to possibly prevent a weak or bad installed crank seal weeping engine oil to discolors primary fluid, which many find Ford Type F auto trans fluid works a treat. Wet sump may smoke a few seconds on first starts but only if ring seal going away so good way to monitor their state of health. Its not good to idle or run long below 2000ish rpm which is stated threshold to oil surf lifters on cam lobes so on initial start rev straight to above that soon as can take throttle or shut down fast to correct way it may not. It takes most a min - like 40+ seconds on inital break in start to see oil return to tank at 2000+ rpm, even after oil flooding head and crank hollow so don't freak out while protective assemblly lube being washed off. Not a bad idea to upgrade to a bit taller 850 2nd gear set or shifts to 1st can over rev and hop rear tire and run out of passing gear about 70 mph instead of 90 with a 20T tranny sprocket. If not racing about enjoying full Combat powerband its perfectly wonderful as it came from factory and kept my 2nd Combat that way and love it - but don't try to race with moderns but can hang with elite cycles having a blast in twisty swoopy hwys up over the ton as very few will dare use the extra power, fat tire and rigid frames advantage in public so may piss off some of then realizing their rocket ships ain't all much ahead of the game. You will be pestered center of attention no matter where you stop so don't let it go to your head too much with such exotica proving you are competent mechanic.

Sent a congrats PM, don't think it got there to you J. ?
Craig

gtsun said:

......... I truly hope whoever did that understands how that blasting medium gets stuck in the pours of metal & little places you can almost never clean.......because they still had blasting stuff inside, unseen until they got hot and it was released.......but I would at the very least change the oil right after the first start up to be safe.

Click to expand...

+1........worth a check if you can find out what type of media was used on your engine......A friend of mine who had a speed shop years ago building kz 900's & cb750's etc....only used crushed walnut shells in his media blaster. Now soda seems to be the media of choice. Your bike is looking good though, I like that seat