Homemade Z plates

acadian · Feb 19, 2019

I've been contemplating what to do with my stock z plates for some time now as the rear extension has always bothered me (bike is a solo rider, and I don't need the lower exhaust mounts). I didn't want to go hacking away at the originals, and I can't afford some of the aftermarket versions available, so I picked up some alloy plate at a good price and tried my hand at fabbing up a custom set.

I'm pretty happy with the results, using the original as a template I got everything lined up just right, and they ended being 10oz lighter than the stockers.. it's the small things that personalize a bike, isn't it?

Craig · Feb 19, 2019

Those look real trick mounted up ! you will prolly start getting orders for them , good on you !

baz · Feb 19, 2019

They look really good
Do you have a photo of the gear change side?

jbruney · Feb 19, 2019

Sharp. Really nice. Like the brake pedal also. You've got some nice custom work going.

I wanna see it all. Don't tease please because if that looks good I'm wondering about the rest of it....

swooshdave · Feb 19, 2019

You could have just copied the Norvil ones but you would need the PR exhaust hangers.

oldbeezer · Feb 19, 2019

Very Nice!

alan hodge · Feb 19, 2019

cool!

acadian · Feb 19, 2019

TS finished

acadian · Feb 19, 2019

jbruney said:
Sharp. Really nice. Like the brake pedal also. You've got some nice custom work going.

I wanna see it all. Don't tease please because if that looks good I'm wondering about the rest of it....

She's is bits right now while I finish up with the new motor, but this is a fairly recent pic... the rearsets are from Don (Madass) who you can find on the forum

jbruney · Feb 20, 2019

….It looks really good is an understatement.

Fast Eddie · Feb 20, 2019

Nicely sized and spaced holes in your Z plates acadian.

And may I enquire about your seat? Is it from Glass From the Past?

Deets55 · Feb 20, 2019

Very nice !
I notice you have all kinds of stuff hidden in there. Don’s single cable carb plate, oil pressure sender and I like your oil pressure gauge. Never seen one mounted there on a Norton before. I bet somewhere in there is a Comstock reed valve too.

74ok · Feb 20, 2019

was gonna ask about the primary cover service/inspection hole plugs ..then stumbled on the info
https://www.eurojamb.com/products/norton-750-850-commando-belt-drive-plug-set-billet-vented

Norton 750 850 Commando BELT DRIVE Plug Set BILLET vented

acadian · Feb 20, 2019

Fast Eddie said:
Nicely sized and spaced holes in your Z plates acadian.

And may I enquire about your seat? Is it from Glass From the Past?

No, it's from Legendary, but a model they've discontinued, there's another member here who has the same seat. There was quite a bit of fabrication required to get it to fit right (basically chopping and re-glassing the entire front portion), and the provided pad did not fit properly so I had a custom one made. All in all, too much labour to get it where I wanted it, I could have formed a custom seat myself... but the integral LED taillight is cool!

Deets55 said:
Very nice !
I notice you have all kinds of stuff hidden in there. Don’s single cable carb plate, oil pressure sender and I like your oil pressure gauge. Never seen one mounted there on a Norton before. I bet somewhere in there is a Comstock reed valve too.

I mounted the gauge there partly because I didn't want to drill mounts into my aftermarket yokes, partly because I only had so much braided oil line, and mostly because I didn't want the temptation of staring at it while riding (I have Don's warning light for catastrophic failure).

There is a comstock sump-plug breather in that engine, but for the new motor I machined the cases for his rear mounted version. The sump plug version works great, but the only thing I don't like is that there's no provision for quickly draining the sump, I've got a sump plug with a small magnetic drain plug that I'm now able to reuse with the rear mounted breather.

swooshdave · Feb 20, 2019

Why would you need to quickly drain thy sump?

robs ss · Feb 20, 2019

Arcadian
Something for your consideration...
When I made some alloy modesty plates for my featherbed 500 single (needed to as the Commando primary cases shifted the gearbox forward) I found the plain plates to look a bit stark
So, copying the idea from Commando Z-plates, I carved a pattern into the alloy using a hand-held router with a timber bit - you can see it in one of the photos.
It actually works very well - the temperature of the plate gives fairly instant feedback if you're going too fast.
I finished of with emery cloth (not named after Les methinks), fine abrasive paper then polished.
I like the look of the final product (biased, of course!)

jbruney · Feb 20, 2019

That do look good.

NPeteN · Feb 20, 2019

Looking sharp. Nice organic shape, well done.

acadian · Feb 20, 2019

robs ss said:
Arcadian
Something for your consideration...
When I made some alloy modesty plates for my featherbed 500 single (needed to as the Commando primary cases shifted the gearbox forward) I found the plain plates to look a bit stark
So, copying the idea from Commando Z-plates, I carved a pattern into the alloy using a hand-held router with a timber bit - you can see it in one of the photos.
It actually works very well - the temperature of the plate gives fairly instant feedback if you're going too fast.
I finished of with emery cloth (not named after Les methinks), fine abrasive paper then polished.
I like the look of the final product (biased, of course!)

View attachment 8665
View attachment 8666
View attachment 8667
View attachment 8668
View attachment 8669 View attachment 8670

Very nicely done, and kudos on the router management. Is that walnut (or maybe Ipe?) you've used for the side panel?

vidar hjelm johansen · Feb 21, 2019

Homemade Z plates

acadian

Craig

baz

jbruney

swooshdave

oldbeezer

alan hodge

acadian

acadian

jbruney

Fast Eddie

Deets55

74ok

acadian

swooshdave

robs ss

Attachments

jbruney

NPeteN

acadian

vidar hjelm johansen

Attachments

Similar threads