Norman White restoration manual......

Fast Eddie said:

Oldschool, how did you pay? Can you get any recourse from card company or similar?

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I paid by credit card, so that's my back-stop if all else fails.

I have learnt that AbeBooks is an 'agent' in that they do not hold stock but just sell on behalf of others. The trouble is, it would seem from my experience and comments on Trustpilot, that AbeBooks do not 'police' their sellers in the way that Ebay would. You pay AbeBooks and if you have a problem, they just pass the buck (book??) back to the seller. If the seller does not respond or is not helpful, the buyer is then left in limbo.
A credit card claim-back is then likely to be the only solution.

That kind of trading set up really should not be legal. If an organisation takes your money, they should take the responsibility to ensure you get what you paid for, and if not, that issues are resolved.

Bernhard said:

Blimey, you must have a rich household!
Hope Santa pays you another visit this year.. . .

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It is a temptation I shall resist, not least because I also bought a copy of the Thunderbolts & Lightnings book that was mentioned here a few days ago.

just a note - received my copy tuesday from ABE books. paid $48 and change (shipped). less than 2 week delivery.. for the little i got into it, seems very informative.

I received my copy of Norman White's Norton Commando Restoration Manual last week from the Book Depository.
Good price, free shipping.
I have spent a couple of hours with it. I'm very impressed.
I have a lot of books on Nortons, Commandos in particular, and I would say this is the best.
It has good balance of history and practical knowledge.
Norman was there at the time, knew the players, knows the bikes intimately, and still works on them. Amazing when you think about it.
The book is actually readable. Yet it contains a wealth of practical knowledge. The illustrations are clear and helpful.

Somebody on the forum will inevitably find a flaw. It's what we do. Let me throw you a bone: the book says there are no metric threads on a Commando. There, scratch that off the bitch list.

Great book. Good price. Every Commando owner should have a copy.

Got my copy today, day before christmas, couldn´t have been better timing!

My signed copy from Andover was specially wrapped for Christmas. About to open it now

I just got my copy today in the mail. 2nd Last day of 2020. A brief scan through the manual and it is full of great tips. Well worth the money.
All the best in the New Year.
Cheers,
Tom

OK I've read the book.
Couple of points: he says to use lube on the head and rod bolts when you torque and as far as I can see uses the factory torque values. Does this not change the torque?
Second one is I pulled my swinging arm off for inspection. He says that it isn't unusual to have to ream new bushes. There are illustrations and it does look like the reamer is lined up using a guide. I recall discussion in the past that reaming will "clog" the oilite bushes. No mention of this from him. And is not true line boring done set up on a lathe?
My pivot pin show wear forward on the timing side and aft on the drive side. My guess is that there is a small out of alignment of the two bushes.

Onder said:

He says that it isn't unusual to have to ream new bushes. There are illustrations and it does look like the reamer is lined up using a guide. I recall discussion in the past that reaming will "clog" the oilite bushes. No mention of this from him.

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pdf page 6,

"Machining Oilite presents no problems. There are a few basic procedures that should be followed to preserve the open-pore structure of the Oilite materials so it will retain its full self-lubricating qualities.

Cutting tools must be sharp. For this reason, tungsten carbide tooling is highly recommended since they hold a cutting edge much longer. This preserves the open-pore structure from which oil can flow freely. A dull tool will smear the pores, greatly reducing the self-lubricating qualities in the material.

Oilite bearings may be reamed provided a dead-sharp cutting tool is used. However, reaming does destroy porosity more than single point tooling.
Honing and grinding are never recommended on Oilite bearings on any surface which will become the bearing surface. These operations will smear the pores and will not allow the oil to flow freely."

Onder said:

OK I've read the book.

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Will oil change the applied torque over a dry fastener, yes. (That includes oil under the nut base) and the reason I reduced torque when I did my 850 crankshaft when using Loctite. (Loctite have a recommended % reduction for the product I used to compensate)
I guess it shows it makes little difference on Norton rod bolts (and why stretch instead of torque is more accurate) but the interface between the nut and cap (dry) is involved, not just the threads as far as end torque.

Would the drive chain load pull the bush up against the spindle ?
The swing arm has welded eyes for the bushes.
Those same bushes might be slightly out of round so that can have some input on roundness of the installed bush and spindle alignment. (Luck of the draw)
I did ream finish the bushes on my bike because I had the means to do so, that reamer is only ever used on that type of metal. (not steel etc) It might have taken off a 'poofteenth in one spot.

I would imagine most at home jobs would result in any bind spots should there be any being sanded off.
If you draw in new bushes and the spindle does not slide through nicely what do you do, we know what Mr White does.

Perhaps a book for next year, I wonder if he retorques the four 850 cylinder cap screws over a week period.

I also wonder if they (Mr White and co) were allowed to pick/select parts out at the factory or from the foundries etc and prep or finish machine them outside of the factory production lines.

As the con rod bolt is accessible you can torque to bolt stretch and this eliminates any error from using a lubricant on the thread.

I think I read on the ARP website that you can use blue locktite as a thread lube. On rods I can understand this but on
head bolts would not this only work for the first round of torque as later it has set?

Onder said:

I think I read on the ARP website that you can use blue locktite as a thread lube. On rods I can understand this but on
head bolts would not this only work for the first round of torque as later it has set?

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I agree, I think this is the best way. I also think applying green wicking thread-locking compound after torquing will work as well. I believe they have the same holding power.

I see no reason to use Loctite on either the connecting rod threads having locking nuts or the head bolts.
The crank shaft bolts, yes as already posted.

After looking at my crankshaft that had been sitting on the coffee table waiting for over 5 weeks I finally installed the connecting rods and torqued the fasteners today (AN bolts and nuts, RGM bearings)

I do not use locktite on rods or head bolts. My point was use of a lube. ARP has a graph showing the efficacy of many different lubes. But I believe that the % reduction of applied torque is only noted for ARP fasteners not stock ones. Seems to me that it is a good idea to use lube but not unless I knew how much reduction.

I know that lubrication on threads does change the torque vs dry threads.

But I don’t know by how much. And I do wonder what the actual problem is / would be on a Norton.

Has anyone ever has an actual failure casued by using stock torque settings and lubricated threads on a Norton?

I’ve always used lube and stock settings and never had an issue.

I've read that lube changes torque by 30%. I know that with an Oldsmobile V8 the factory specifically says to oil the head bolts before installation.

FE: what was your choice of lube? If you look at the ARP lube chart it doesnt talk about change in torque but rather how well each lube allows repeatability. ARP sells some poop which of course is claimed to be the best which it very well may be.
I have it and would use it if I could just find out what values I should use.
Any help here?