The well travelled Norton. UK-USA-BRD-NZ

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Apr 10, 2008
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So this started as an innocent exhaust port thread repair just on a year ago.
After taking the head off i thought i might as well take the barrels off and check the cam (barrels had never been off before).The motor only had 25,000 on the clock.
so the first thing i found was this;


Both top rings were broken,and one cam follower and cam lobe had wear so had to be replaced.

The decision was made to send the head to Mr Comnoz for his magic touch including
enlarged intake valves ,.040 taken off the head to raise the compression ratio.porting,
exhaust threads ,etc ,etc.
the followers and cam were also sent ,followers to become a 4" radius grind and the cam to be replaced with a Webcam 312a.
the old cam and followers where shown in a video from Jim doing his hardness testing,finding one soft follower, and corresponding worn cam lobe.
 
Since i had to split the cases anyway ,I decided to split the crank to clean the sludge trap,the journals were still in spec so were only polished.

The crank was then sent to a chap in Auckland (nz) to be balanced.

Barrels were sent off to be bored 20 thou over , and after much humming and hahring
i decided to buy these,

They are a lovely bit of kit.
These also arrived in the post,


And this

 
not to be out done by fast Eddie

finally back together,


[


installed a pazon altair that i had in the drawer, and after priming the oil system
it started on the fourth kick.
let it run for 15 mins for the cam break in.
next day re torque and started first kick ,went for a 50 km ride.
Fu#k what a difference ,i´m a very happy chappy.

hard trying to keep it under 4000 rpm for the initial break in.It spins up real quick.
crank balancing has made a huge difference in the vibration.

Big thanks to Mr Comstock for your time and workmanship.

Off to Macau and Thailand for 5 weeks ,(Bugger would rather be riding)
to be continued
 
Unfortunately only a few of your pictures work for me, dunno why.

Nice rocker end plates. Clearly a man of taste !
 
"Nice rocker end plates. Clearly a man of taste !"
does it not take one to know one ? 8)
Not sure why all the pics arent showing .
Forgot to mention also running a Maney belt drive with the rgm high torque clutch plates with narrow steel plates.
Great feel and no slipping (yet).
 
Looking very nice Blaise, I could collect it from Auckland airport and make sure it doesn’t wet sump while you are away??
 
Thanks Iain ,it took a wee while but finally got there.
I fly out lunchtime Saturday, I´ll leave the key at the information counter.
 
Blimey, I'm super jealous of both you guys...... Beautiful builds.... both the red one and the blue one!! I've just hit my one year mark with my new civil service job wrenching on Army H-60 Blackhawks over here in Japan. (Megumi and I sure miss my paychecks from back when I was doing contract work down range, but at least I'm home every night with our 6 kids and I'm currently riding a 1995 Honda 250 Fusion scooter (also known as a Helix) to get to and from work everyday. I got it for 200 bucks-----ziggs and zaggs like a champ thru traffic and I can park it behind our family van. I do get to pull the cover off of my MKIII and wipe it down from time to time, while my youngest two kids climb all over it. One day I'll be riding it around here though,,,, then adding some of the upgrades/mods that you two and many others are currently enjoying. I the meantime please keep posting so I can dream and drool a bit at the end of my day. CJ
 
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Blimey, I'm super jealous of both you guys...... Beautiful builds.... both the red one and the blue one!! I've just hit my one year mark with my new civil service job wrenching on Army H-60 Blackhawks over here in Japan. (Megumi and I sure miss my paychecks from back when I was doing contract work down range, but at least I'm home every night with our 6 kids and I'm currently riding a 1995 Honda 250 Fusion scooter (also known as a Helix) to get to and from work everyday. I got it for 200 bucks-----ziggs and zaggs like a champ thru traffic and I can park it behind our family van. I do get to pull the cover off of my MKIII and wipe it down from time to time, while my youngest two kids climb all over it. One day I'll be riding it around here though,,,, then adding some of the upgrades/mods that you two and many others are currently enjoying. I the meantime please keep posting so I can dream and drool a bit at the end of my day. CJ
Blimey CJ,
With six kids I would get that cover off and be riding that MK3!
 
hard trying to keep it under 4000 rpm for the initial break in.It spins up real quick.
crank balancing has made a huge difference in the vibration.

I had the same "problem" with my restomod. :cool:

Still really easy to spin it up to the red line...
 
I had the same "problem" with my restomod. :cool:

Still really easy to spin it up to the red line...
Yes many thanks David for the reference to Bob for the balancing ,He´s done a great job ,he said it (the crank) had a mis balance from the factory,hence all the holes .Hard to find the old school blokes anymore.
Happy as a dog with two tails.
 
A misbalance from the factory, crazy right? They went to all the trouble of developing and adapting the isolastic system because of vibration, then skimp or blow it on getting the cranks right.
 
I think that was the beauty of the isolastic system CJ .The Bike always had vibration (just like any Brit Twin) until it hit 3000 then it was all gone.
Now its just smooth the whole time.(it´s hard to explain the motor just feels lighter than it was before).
And don´t worry CJ the stars will align one day and you´ll get the mk3 back on the road !
 
Yes many thanks David for the reference to Bob for the balancing ,He´s done a great job ,he said it (the crank) had a mis balance from the factory,hence all the holes .Hard to find the old school blokes anymore.
Happy as a dog with two tails.


I was just about to say, I bet it was Bob Mead.... Fantastic job on the bike, looks better than new inside and out.
 
I was just about to say, I bet it was Bob Mead.... Fantastic job on the bike, looks better than new inside and out.
Thanks for the compliment Time warp, yes it was Bob (Mead) who did the balancing . And a Mr Stanwell from aero machinests who bored my Barrels for me ,spanner work has been completed from my shy self. {fitter welder, boiler maker) Now coffee machine fixer.
Cheers
 
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