Newbie Restoring 75 MK3, First Post:

I've been reading a lot on here as I work on my bike, thought I'd sign in and participate.
I bought a new Norton in 75 and sadly must admit I haven't ridden it in over 20 years. I had it covered up with a sheet in the basement.
I recently drug it out and began to inspect.
The most apparent things were that both brake mc were foamed up with yellow crud. This appears to be my biggest problem, everything is corroded.
In rebuilding the calipers, I found that I could not unscrew the big side plugs. I made several spanner levers without success, so I finally made a tool that I'd like to share with you.
I took a 1/2 drive socket extension, cut it off short, and welded two hardened 1/4" dowels on it spaced to the holes in the calipers. Then I used a quick hit
with an impact wrench and they all backed out quickly and without any marking or damage of any kind. I'll try to post a pic.
Now I'm working to sleeve the corroded master cylinders.
JD

Neat tool, JD. Much better than a lever spanner. Since you are into the front brake, assuming it's stock, you may want to do a search of this site to see what some are doing for front disc brake upgrades. I don't know if you recall, but the stock Norton disc is a poor excuse for a brake. The single biggest improvement would be getting a master cylinder properly sized to the caliper. Since you mentioned sleeving the M/C, you may already have done the research. If not, there is some great info here. http://www.vintagebrake.com/mastercylinder.htm

Must be a nice ' shed ' as the thing looks pretty good after 20 years . You see most people go for a smaller bore on the master cylinder ?
Was one on English Ebay the shed had collapsed on years before . This one wasnt all that imaculate , rain hail sleet & snow , rust & mauhem .

Very clever solution.

I too faced front/rear master cylinders that had seen better days. Lacking skills for machining, I ended up using the typical Miles Classic Brake sleeved front cylinder, and purchased a new rear stainless cylinder that reuses the reservoir housing and pushrod (from pedal to cyl). Lots of reliable sources for these - mine came from either Clubman Racing or Rocky Point, I honestly forget at the moment.

You should take a look at the Old Britts website on tech articles to include transmission rebuilding and start on your next tool for dis/re-assembly - as you will want to change the layshaft bearing.

I am in the process of making and installing a brass sleeve for my front MC. I have a Harley rebuild kit that I am going to use for seals, etc. 1/2" bore.
Should be interesting.
Layshaft, I thought they corrected the problem on the Mk3. Is there something I should fix? I do have a leak at the middle joint, but I can live with it.

JD

jaydee75 said:

Layshaft, I thought they corrected the problem on the Mk3.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately not.

jaydee75 said:

Is there something I should fix?

Click to expand...

Search: "layshaft bearing"

http://www.doov.com/apps/nortoncompanio ... s&Itemid=8

Here is a pic of my layshaft bearing out of my MK3. Lets see some pics of the whole bike.

After seeing yours Doug, I am glad I changed mine when I was in there.

I only checked mine because I had a slight howl in 2nd gear that I wanted to correct. Glad I did!