New To Me. Could Use An Education

A real 500 or 650 SS head is a good thing :)

I have seen people pay $500 plus for one in reasonable condition. (And one person ask $1000 !!!!! I didn't take it.)

This was the head on the Domiracer which set the first 100 mph lap for a 500 cc push rod bike around the Isle of Man. Classic racers love them. They were the standard head for the 500 and 650 SS machines but there just were not a lot of those bikes made.

I searched 5 years to collect two good ones plus two in poor condition. And I'm not selling them :)
 
Interesting.
At first I thought I had a well preserved original bike.
Now I am finding out I have a bike that seems to have had some period performance mods done.
More excited about that actually.

I would have tried to get spark on it last night.....but I don't own any Withworth tools....
Guess I need to do some shopping/
 
Dont know much about that model, but my slimline featherbed is similar being that some numbers are hard to read or half numbers. Hopefully getting it registered wont be a huge PITA.

Nice looking bike though
 
I would suggest you may have a Manxman that has had an engine blow up an either has had an engine replacement or if you are lucky just a crankcase replacement.
Al
 
That's a fantastic purpose built machine. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

Scott
 
jaguar said:
Anyone got anything to say about that head steady?
Click to expand...

If someone hadn't swiss cheesed it, I think it is stock.
Steel is strong, and its only stressed fore/aft, so its strength hasn't been compromised.
Lotta drilling for a TINY weight saving though !

Look forward to future pics as it progresses....

Have you located the frame number on the frame or paperwork yet,
to see what this puppy really is ?
 
kernel65 said:
That's a fantastic purpose built machine. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

Scott
Click to expand...
I really like the idea of a period type performance bike.
Will be great to have in my garage with my Seeley beater....lol


Rohan said:
jaguar said:
Anyone got anything to say about that head steady?
Click to expand...

If someone hadn't swiss cheesed it, I think it is stock.
Steel is strong, and its only stressed fore/aft, so its strength hasn't been compromised.
Lotta drilling for a TINY weight saving though !

Look forward to future pics as it progresses....

Have you located the frame number on the frame or paperwork yet,
to see what this puppy really is ?
Click to expand...

Only number that I can read 100% on the frame is the "18" so that points to it being a 650 twin.
I don't have any paperwork on it at all.

possm said:
I would suggest you may have a Manxman that has had an engine blow up an either has had an engine replacement or if you are lucky just a crankcase replacement.
Al
Click to expand...

Very well could be right.
 
Something to consider...

Everyone seems to think the bike is legit, back in the days, many were stolen and quickly painted a different color to look different, parts were swapped from one bike to the next and numbers were re-stamped. The first Norton my brother bought was one of those, we found out much later that the numbers were ground off, some parts were swapped, it was so well camouflaged that the police did not see anything wrong on a surprise inspection by a dedicated team. Experts these days can't be fooled unless they forget the dark days of the first MC clubs, before they found out they could make much more money on drugs than in chop shops.

Jean
 
True, it is a risk.
Will have to sort out those things before spending real money on the bike.
Emailed the seller to see if he could dig up any of the old registrations or something.
 
Since it has been repainted...You will probably have to lightly glass bead the frame vertically above the LH swing arm nut on the gussett plate to see the VIN.
If a 1961 650 it will have series:
18 then below...

9
2
X
X
X

at bottom
here swing arm nut

vin: 18 92xxx
 
Seller says his records show 95011 after the 18.

I need to really check better.
I see something 5811
 
It looks a lot like my old company ride-to-work 650SS. It's interesting that there's a single carb with it. N-V took it away from me for a few weeks so the Plumstead folks could test a single carb version for sidecar machines. We were getting a lot of crap from the sidecar community after they found out the Commando couldn't pull a chair.

I can't imagine that that old bird would've made it to the US. If it had and that is it, the odometer would read somewhere north of 130,000 miles! The last time I saw it was in the Marston Road experimental shop about the time N-V were starting preparations for the move to Andover. I was in the UK on a Boeing business trip at the time and had a 3-day weekend to wander about.
 
jaguar said:
Seller says his records show 95011 after the 18.

I need to really check better.
I see something 5811
Click to expand...

Could it be what you see as 5811 are the last four digits of 95011?

Unless you are trying to save the paint, I would apply paint stripper to the area, then rub in something like shoe polish or carbon black to try to bring out a faint impression.

Next question will be ... what to do to enhance the impression to show under new paint?

Slick
 
You can always carefully clean off the old paint, then mask the area very closely when/if you repaint it, then clear-coat the masked area.
 
Smoother then I would have thought.
New To Me. Could Use An Education


Gave the bike a bath.
New To Me. Could Use An Education


Cleans up well..... :roll:

New To Me. Could Use An Education

New To Me. Could Use An Education

New To Me. Could Use An Education

New To Me. Could Use An Education

New To Me. Could Use An Education

New To Me. Could Use An Education

New To Me. Could Use An Education

New To Me. Could Use An Education


Found some new numbers
Head has 22707 cast into it.
Transmission says 20966

Im starting to see how much of a huge project this bike really is going to be.
I don't have the set up to do much with it right now.
Kinda sad about that.
 
Did you look up that head casting number on Dyno Dave's site? (the link I posted)
 
I have seen that link.

The number is cast right into the head.
So that crosses one more component off the list....lol
 
New chain and a lick of paint, and ride off into the sunset !?
It is going to take a lot of work to get it pristine though....

At least the frame looks good, no rust creeping in there.
Its what the insides of the engine and gearbox and maybe forks (and tank) are like that will determine if this is viable or not. ?
A good paint job and some new fasteners will take care of much of the rust, and a new rim or 2.
Try (gently) some steel wool on some of the less rusty chrome bits, sometimes its only a rust stain that will polish off.
At least its mostly all there, so you have good patterns to know what replacement bits should look like.
We look forward to your adventure/discovery/magical mystery tour, keep with the pics.
Cheers.
 
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