Shed cleaning, Norton Commando style

grandpaul · May 8, 2010

After the fifth or sixth round of assembling Norton Commandos from various donor bikes, swap meets & parts sources, I found myself with nearly enough stuff to build yet another one. In order to clean off some shelf space, and consolidate a bunch of stuff into rolling form rather than hustling various boxes of bits around the shop, I assembled this:

...and still had this:

It all went up on e-bay along with a couple of other rolling projects, and didn't reach my reserve, so it just continued to gather dust.

Then, while delivering one of my latest client's bikes, he persuaded me to take all of his remaining spares home with me, which included most of a 750 Roadster, without the wheels, headers, carbs or lighting:

In one of those rare "right place at the right time" moments, I received an e-mail from a guy looking to buy a decent rolling project bike. So, off we went...

grandpaul · May 8, 2010

I had several different sets of pipes including peashooters, upswept with decibells, beancans, and shorty megaphones; the client picked the peashooters:

The latest batch of stuff included a nice set of meters, although the speedo has a cracked glass:

I had a real nice little High Rider tank in Black & Gold all set to install, but the client preferred the larger Roadster tank even though it's slightly tatty:

With options including a K&N double-neck filter, a pair of UNI foam "socks" and an OEM "ham can" air filter assembly, the client picked the ham can (without the central oil tank, different back plate):

grandpaul · May 8, 2010

It was easy enough to start with the frame as-is. The oil tank flushed out clean, and the wiring harness was in great shape:

The front end came straight off the last client's monoshock / USD conversion; plug & play:

I already had a complete rear wheel setup that was previously mocked up on my Silver monoshocker (also seen, above)

I installed a brand new set of stainles steel vernier adjuster isolastics with new PTFEs and rubber booties:

The hardest part was lifting the lump into place and wiggling everything into position:

grandpaul · May 8, 2010

My understanding with the client is that I'm doing a "basic, loose" assembly. Here you can see that the tranny adjuster is in place, but I' don't have the correct tranny mount bolts, and I also don't have a correct primary case stand-off. I'm building a fairly complete parts list for him to work from in order to properly complete the build on his time-table.

It's amazing, every time I look through my boxes, bins, buckets & shelves, I find more and more bits & bobs to add to the roller...

Meters, headlight shell & handlebars installed:

Going with points for now:

Complete powdercoated & cad plated top steady bits, no mounting bolts at the head (I have scrounged and re-scrounged, and come up empty on those particular 3 bolts):

grandpaul · May 8, 2010

Oil lines done, footpegs done but not mounted 'till the swingarm gets here:

Bodywork, controls & cables done:

Decent set of Amal 930s installed:

Coils mounted & wired up:

Mainly waiting on the swingarm to finish. I have the entire primary including cases, clutch, chain drive, and alternator with new woodruff keys, all ready to install.

At this point, I'm considering hooking up a decent battery and test-firing it once I install the primary, exhaust system & rear wheel. There sure isn't much else to stop me!

DogT · May 8, 2010

Go for it, you're hot.

Dave
69S

grandpaul · May 8, 2010

Having a semi-complete engine and both wheels & forks already sorted put me miles ahead.

Still, not too bad for 4 days work...

MarshalNorton · May 8, 2010

May just be me but client could have paid for you to powder coat or paint frame before you did all this assembly?
As I understand it the buyer will have to turn around and undo everything you just did in 4 days?
Oh well :roll:
The motor looks good I'd fire it up and see whay happens.
It looks like a nice solid assembly to build upon.
Were the frame and motor originally together?
The frame looked good w/o the usual rear frame loop repair.
You sure gotta allot of left overs

Marshal

swooshdave · May 8, 2010

MarshalNorton said:
May just be me but client could have paid for you to powder coat or paint frame before you did all this assembly?
As I understand it the buyer will have to turn around and undo everything you just did in 4 days?

You don't want to bolt cruddy parts on a newly powdercoated frame. At least that was my reasoning. By having Paul assemble it the buyer can get a better feel for what is or isn't there. And if he's not as familiar with the bike he'll know how things are suppose to go.

If not he joins up here and post ten thousand topics on how to assemble all the little bits. :mrgreen:

grandpaul · May 9, 2010

The whole deal started out as the buyer wanting a rolling project.

I had everything but a frame, and 95% of the engine, in a box.

I got a frame that came with wiring harness and oil tank. I also got an engine that was previously running (engine not in the frame).

I made the guy the offer to upgrade to a complete matching engine & tranny instead of a box of parts, which he was more than happy to do (if you've ever built an engine from a box of mismatched parts, you would be too).

So, it's really just a rough, rolling project, that MIGHT just happen to be running (although not complete) when delivered, strictly as a BONUS.

Not a bad deal for the buyer, not a huge effort on my part. I just couldn't stand knowing it was so close...

grandpaul · May 27, 2010

Swingarm arrived yesterday as I was doing the coon rescue, so I had to put off installing it till I got them released and fixed my ceiling.

"On the pins", the roller sees the light of day for the first time in several years (well, if you count either this engine in the frame it used to be in, or this frame with engine and wheels it once had, or whatever)

Primary all done, just need the right stand-off & spacers behind the inside case-

Basically just need to install the pipes, set the timing and dump in some oil & a decent battery to do a test-fire...

grandpaul · May 28, 2010

Installed pipes, mounted seat, installed remaining rear brake parts, cable & pedal, chain & adjusters, proper sidestand bolt & spring, timed the points & swapped 2MC capacitor for a better one, jumpered up a battery and dumped in some gas. Gave it a couple of kicks, got nothing. Swapped points wires at the coils, kicked again and got backfires. Temp in my shop has reached over 100 in the shade and I'm melting, that's all for now...

swooshdave · May 28, 2010

Are those 75 forks?

grandpaul · May 28, 2010

nortonspeed · May 28, 2010

swooshdave said:
Are those 75 forks?

If they are the same as above picture they are not. Only mounted like 75 forks (caliper on left frontside).

rgrigutis · May 28, 2010

What we you do for a title for that devil?

grandpaul · May 28, 2010

nortonspeed said:
If they are the same as above picture they are not.

They came off a '75 Mark III; forks, yokes, brakes, wheel & fender.

grandpaul · May 28, 2010

rgrigutis said:
What we you do for a title for that devil?

Texas Salvage Title. I've done 3 like that when I build them from parts.

You can also do www.its-titles.com for less $$$, but not all states accept them.

Texas accepts Maine registrations (its.com), but this buyer wants a Texas title (at his cost).

Tintin · May 29, 2010

grandpaul said:
......With options including a K&N double-neck filter, a pair of UNI foam "socks" and an OEM "ham can" air filter assembly, the client picked the ham can (without the central oil tank, different back plate)...

GP, if I'm getting this correctly you still have this central oil tank, do you? It looks to be in a reasonably good condition.

If you have, would you be willing to sell it to me? They're very hard to find in Europe....

Tim

grandpaul · May 29, 2010

I used the tank to mock up my Triton, but I may have another, I'll look...

Shed cleaning, Norton Commando style

nortonspeed

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