Nortasakis' '71 long term restoration

Nortasaki · Oct 9, 2009

Well here I go, here is a picture of the bikes when I loaded them up to take home from my parents home about a year after Dad died. See the Dunstall with stock bits from an 850 parts bike ( which I will use on the '71) I brought these bikes home the spring of 2006, quick clean up and putting the Dunstall bits back on I was on the road on a Norton.

Now here's my '71 Commando.

Moved to the basement for winter restoration

Teardown begins

Engine has great compression, felt like more so than the Dunstall

Thought I might use the front disc from the '74 850 parts bike but then I think I may keep the drum because I like the look of the drum better. I will use the steel tank, oil tank w/filter set-up and side covers, cush drive hub and a few other bits.
This bike when finished is going to resemble a bike I liked a lot when I was a kid, a 1967 Schwinn Stingray , I'll be calling it my "NORTON STINGRAY COMMANDO". It will be painted coppertone, have Hi-rider handle bars with a Corbin saddle.

grandpaul · Oct 9, 2009

Looks like fun. Definitely a great "before" picture of it hanging from the rafters!

Jeandr · Oct 9, 2009

Your dad must have been a cool guy, TWO Nortons and one of them a Dunstall. It's good that you want to bring them back to life.

Jean

pelican · Oct 9, 2009

I like that blue!

RennieK · Oct 10, 2009

That's a nice load in that thar trailer! Musta felt good bringing that one home! Thanks for the pics.

Nortasaki · Oct 10, 2009

Jeandr said:
Your dad must have been a cool guy, TWO Nortons and one of them a Dunstall. It's good that you want to bring them back to life.

Jean

Yes my Dad was pretty cool, the '71 I purchased around '82, it came with a bad red paint job with a horrible free hand "norton" in yellow on the tank, lucky for us I didn't take pics :wink: The blue was chosen by a girlfriend at the time.

Nortasaki · Oct 13, 2009

I'm getting things together for the sandblaster, would It be unusual to blast the gas and oil tanks?
If you had the choice between the new style versis the old square box oil tank which would it be?

dave M · Oct 13, 2009

I definitely would NOT blast the oil and fuel tank. The blast medium is generally too fine and it will be impossible to remove every bit of it from these components. The possibility of Ingestion of abrasive particles into an engine through either fuel or oil is not something that you would want. Why not let the painter decide what he wants to remove the old paint with, or if you're doing it yourself, I would use paint stripper on the outside of metal parts and sand it off if the tank is fiberglass. You can clean the inside of the tank with kerosene and some loose nuts and bolts, if you shake vigourously you should remove most rust deposits on the inside of the tank - obviously block up the holes first. I would also recommend sealing the inside of the fuel tank before using it.

Nortasaki · Oct 15, 2009

dave M said:
I definitely would NOT blast the oil and fuel tank. The blast medium is generally too fine and it will be impossible to remove every bit of it from these components. The possibility of Ingestion of abrasive particles into an engine through either fuel or oil is not something that you would want.

I had a feeling someone would say just that.

norbsa48503 · Oct 15, 2009

I use paint remover on the outside of these tanks (aircraft stripper) works well on metal.Brass 1 1/4 scrappers knife. Otherwise the glass beading just takes too long. I use the black rubber corks and the rubbery tubing covers found a Lowe's and Home Depot to plug the cap holes and other openings. The inside of the tank gets Marine Clean and drywall screws for a couple of days I than go on to Metal prep (phosphoric acid) Then on finally to POR15 tank liner if the condition of the tank warrants it's use. Get the inside perfect before you play on the out side of course. Now if you find lace as you blast your going to have a mess so watch out for that. At that point some glass beads are the least of your worries.

Nortasaki · Oct 15, 2009

Hey NorBSA, The old fiberglass tank is going to stay on the shelf, I'll be useing the steel tank from the parts bike I have,you can see the black tank the Dunstall is sporting in the piocs above. :mrgreen:

Nortasaki · Jan 10, 2012

Like I said "Long term restoration" . I'm getting a bunch of stuff from Commando Specialties and one thing would be a fork tube rebuild kit. Is there some step by step instructions available? Still a lot to do , the resent economy slowed me down to a halt but now with the economy picking up I hope to have a roller by the end of February.

grandpaul · Jan 11, 2012

The best step-by-step for a fork rebuild is having teh shop manual and parts book side-by-side on your workbench, or in two windows on your screen (Kim the CD man), or printed out from the CD and set near your workspace.

Tintin · Jan 11, 2012

grandpaul said:
The best step-by-step for a fork rebuild is having teh shop manual and parts book side-by-side on your workbench, or in two windows on your screen (Kim the CD man), or printed out from the CD and set near your workspace.

I'm printing the relevant pages out when I need them and run them thru the laminator - very handy. E.g. I'm using the parts book page for "inventory checking" ticking what I have and can reuse, what needs to be refurbished, ordered and so on. That makes 15-17 "work packages" and is quite rewarding once it goes to the assembly stage.

The good thing is that the marker pen loses against brake cleaner but the laminate stuff not so it can easily be cleaned afterwards and will be ready for next time.

Tim

rightshiftrick · Jan 11, 2012

Nortasaki said:
Well here I go
Now here's my '71 Commando.

Just a heads up for when you are trying to get parts. That bike is a 1969/1970 configuration. There are a lot of parts from '71 on that won't fit it without changing or modifying some bits (rear fender being on of them).

[EDIT: if you want to use the '71 on style side mounted oil tank, you'll need to get a matching battery tray, mounting hardware, and rear fender from a post '71 machine. If using stock air box, you'll need the later air box backing plate as well]

RSR

Nortasaki · Jan 11, 2012

rightshiftrick said:
Nortasaki said:

Well here I go
Now here's my '71 Commando.

Click to expand...

Just a heads up for when you are trying to get parts. That bike is a 1969/1970 configuration. There are a lot of parts from '71 on that won't fit it without changing or modifying some bits (rear fender being on of them).

[EDIT: if you want to use the '71 on style side mounted oil tank, you'll need to get a matching battery tray, mounting hardware, and rear fender from a post '71 machine. If using stock air box, you'll need the later air box backing plate as well]

RSR

Thanks RSR, I do have the fender that came on the bike and also a '74 parts bike that I'll be useing some bits from. And yes, I am aware of the '69-'70 config on this one.

DogT · Jan 12, 2012

I put a 71 rear mudguard on my 69, all it required was the drilling of 2 holes to mount it between the shock tops. The 69/70 guard is a C section where the 71 up is a D section, that is there is a flat area on the circumference. Also there are 2 styles 69/70 rear guards, the ones that mount between the shock tops like mine and the ones that mount off a bracket on the frame down below the battery tray and that guard has a flat spot on it at the front.

I wouldn't say there are a lot of parts that won't fit between the 69/70 and later ones, mostly the few parts around the battery tray and the side panels. The only part that is real hard to come up with is the narrow front guard and the shorter stays, but I think Andover has started making that now in stainless too. But then many people would rather have the possibility of putting larger tyres on the front so there are very few bikes around with the narrow front guards. I had my original front guard and stays re-chromed and found a 3.00-19 ribbed Avon Speedmaster II from Walridge to put on it.

The later (larger) front guards and stays will foul in the S type exhaust under hard braking, so be careful out there.

Dave
69S

Tintin · Jan 12, 2012

DogT said:
The only part that is real hard to come up with is the narrow front guard and the shorter stays, but I think Andover has started making that now in stainless too.

Yes, they have, I got one a few days ago: 06-0583.

Tim

DogT · Jan 14, 2012

Tim,
Do you know if there is any difference between the 06.0583 listed for the 68 Commando (early fastback) and the 25542A listed for the S type, 06.0619A listed for the R type and 69 Fastback and 25542 listed for the 70 Roadster only? I have always been curious about this.

Did you get the shorter stays with your front mudguard?

Dave
69S

Tintin · Jan 14, 2012

DogT said:
Do you know if there is any difference...

Sorry, no - I'm still in the process of figuring out what all the differences are between my 1970 Roadster and the 1971 in Joes's webshop.

Probably Joe can answer this actually.

Did you get the shorter stays with your front mudguard?

No, I actually forgot about them and they are on the list of things I'll pester our beloved huckster with next time (boy, that is a long and costly list...).

Tim

Nortasakis' '71 long term restoration

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