Tin Man

Tin Man said:
..........I've really been slowed down on this project. First with the titling issue, which is now solved, and now my sailboat still needs to be repowered. The 40 year old 12hp diesel locked up over the winter (the salt water has not been kind to it), and now my father is in intensive care. Time and money are at a premium, as always. My apologies to Leo and Don for slowing down my purchases.
Ahh the old time and money part....it's kicked me in the butt on more of my projects than I care to think about. Great thread though, post what you can & best wishes to your father.
 
cjandme said:
Tin Man said:
..........I've really been slowed down on this project. First with the titling issue, which is now solved, and now my sailboat still needs to be repowered. The 40 year old 12hp diesel locked up over the winter (the salt water has not been kind to it), and now my father is in intensive care. Time and money are at a premium, as always. My apologies to Leo and Don for slowing down my purchases.
Ahh the old time and money part....it's kicked me in the butt on more of my projects than I care to think about. Great thread though, post what you can & best wishes to your father.

Thanks!
 
grandpaul said:
Tin Man said:
grandpaul said:
Man, that is one cruddy donor bike!

Yes, it is, but a lot of them are worse and they get brought back to life.

Don't I know it!
Tin Man

I was a little hurt when you called it a donor bike, an hope that you are not offended, but the chopper was.. well... hideous! Good save.
 
Tin Man said:
I was a little hurt when you called it a donor bike, an hope that you are not offended...
I meant no disrespect whatsoever; in my opinion, any major motorcycle rebuild project (whether it is an overhaul, refurb, restoration, or custom build) starts with a "donor" bike.

Only a "scratch" or "bitsa" build starts with no donor bike per se, but rather whatever parts were on hand to start with, or the initial significant parts purchase.
 
grandpaul said:
Tin Man said:
I was a little hurt when you called it a donor bike, an hope that you are not offended...
I meant no disrespect whatsoever; in my opinion, any major motorcycle rebuild project (whether it is an overhaul, refurb, restoration, or custom build) starts with a "donor" bike.

Only a "scratch" or "bitsa" build starts with no donor bike per se, but rather whatever parts were on hand to start with, or the initial significant parts purchase.


Thanks Paul.
 
grandpaul said:
Tin Man said:
I was a little hurt when you called it a donor bike, an hope that you are not offended...
I meant no disrespect whatsoever; in my opinion, any major motorcycle rebuild project (whether it is an overhaul, refurb, restoration, or custom build) starts with a "donor" bike.

Only a "scratch" or "bitsa" build starts with no donor bike per se, but rather whatever parts were on hand to start with, or the initial significant parts purchase.


Thanks Paul.
 
The dents are out of the tank, it's been sealed, and it has the first coat of primer on it. I found that the secret to the dent puller was to heat the work with a heat gun.
Tin Man

Tin Man

Tin Man


I wound up cutting the isolastic collar in order to remove the cradle and swingarm. The bike must have been handling like it had a hinge in the middle. The isolatics were soft and had a lot of play from side to side.
Tin Man


It took a lot of heat to get the swing arm spindle to move.
Tin Man


The spindle alignment appears to be spot on.
Tin Man


I haven't gotten the spindle to release completely. I need a longer drift because the pullers aren't doing anything.
Tin Man
 
I can't quite tell if I'm seeing severe longitudinal scratches in the bore of the bushing?

As though the head of the spindle that is now part way down the bore, had been "mushroomed", and is now tearing up the bushing on it's way out...
 
gortnipper said:
Are all of these supposed to be the same pic?

I should have looked at it after posting the photos. For some reason ctrl c and ctrl v are not working.
 
grandpaul said:
I can't quite tell if I'm seeing severe longitudinal scratches in the bore of the bushing?

As though the head of the spindle that is now part way down the bore, had been "mushroomed", and is now tearing up the bushing on it's way out...

No doubt about that. I've been beating on it with anything I can find that will work. I'm looking for someone with a press now. I just don't think it's going to go any further with the persuaders I have in my arsenal.
 
Careful how you chock the swingarm up in the press, you don't want to bend it.
 
grandpaul said:
Careful how you chock the swingarm up in the press, you don't want to bend it.

It's been on my mind. It's straight now. I don't want to bend it.
 
I’m back at work on my bike and I’ll be posting some updates and photos.

I’ve begun the work on the frame by welding in an Old Britts frame support. I’m preparing to get it sandblasted. I’ll spray the epoxy primer myself.

The crank has been torndown and miked (haha): it’s in specs. Right now, I’m waiting on new crank bolts and some other bits from Ella and Fred.

The engine cases have also been torn down and inspected. One of the sides (don’t remember which right now) has a flaw in the casting that causes porousity in the milled area around the bearing. But it looks like it’s been like that for 44 years, so I’m not going to worry about it. I am going to send the cases and head to CNW for a breather and some other work next month. New Superblends, gaskets, and other bits are beginning to collect for reassembly.

Currently, I’mworking on tearing down the head, which may or may not be rebuildable, as it looks as though the head has had new seats ground into it once or twice. And one of the seats is so low as to make it appear as though the valve is being swallowed. The rockers are out, and I’m waiting for a new valve puller to complete the disassembly. More on this later.

Oh, and it took a tons of pressure to remove the pivot for the swing arm. But we finally got it out with a press. And we didn’t bend it. YEAH!

Paul was right! This is one ugly donor bike.

Thanks for your support guys and gals!
 
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That's an interesting machine, and will be well worth the time and money to bring back to life. It looks like a very early rear wheel setup, and the engine gives early indication of being a combat motor, at least from the telltale cylinder head to cylinder spacing. If so there are lots of good and some necessary improvements possible to the engine.

I’ve gotten the head stripped bare now. The head is in dodgy condition: one of the valves may be pocketed and the exhaust port threads are in terrible condition. So I started looking at the repair-vs-new cost analysis. I’ve read on this forum that the Combat head is stamped with a C, but Old Britts sells the Combat head as an RH6 for $2,000.00 US. I have an RH6 head, so I am now assuming that you are correct about this bike being a Combat. Thanks for that observation.

I also found two problems upon tear down that may have caused the bike to be parked 30 years ago. First, it was burning oil like a mother and there was a ton of oil soot in the combustion chambers, intake ports, and exhaust ports. It was likely running like poo. The second problem is that the layshaft bearing was most likely starting to make noise. Everything in the gearbox was in good condition, but for the bearing. All of the rebuild parts are on the way from Old Britts.

The numbers on the gearbox do not match. The frame and engine numbers are 220160 and the gearbox is from [HASHTAG]#328845[/HASHTAG].

Any advice on the head?
 
I’ve read on this forum that the Combat head is stamped with a C, but Old Britts sells the Combat head as an RH6 for $2,000.00 US. I have an RH6 head, so I am now assuming that you are correct about this bike being a Combat.

RH6 is the '73 post-Combat semi-high compression head.


https://www.nortonownersclub.org/support/technical-support-commando/cylinder-head-identification

RH3 063327 750cc 10:1 32mm 1972 Combat


RH6 064097 750cc 9.3:1 32mm 1973


http://atlanticgreen.com/nhth.htm

factory head designation letter 120k.jpg
 
I have a bunch of photos to post and have progressed on this restomod. I have new bolts for the crankshaft. I know to torque them to 25 foot pounds but, I’m dying to put blue Locktite on the threads. Is this a no - no?
 
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