V4 Norton

jimbo said:
Any news on the ole V4 project? :)
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Not from me. I haven't talked to Greg for some years now. I did run across a couple more pictures, shown here





Ken
 

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Matt Spencer said:
A cross between a VF & Hogslayer , unless its between A Siver Hawk or a Porcipine , preferable to a Porsche. :)

oops , one of these , anyway .
V4 Norton


https://motors-bay.com/ajs/42-ajs-v4-supercharger.html :wink:

the watercooled one expired in a post war supercharger ban .
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I've ridden the bike in this photo.
One of the smoothest engines I've encountered, equal to a modern engine with a balancing shaft. Built in a basement workshop by Dan Smith. Dan built it entirely from drawings in a 1930s issue of "Motorcycling" magazine. He made practically all of the parts, even the carbs.
Nice to be able to make a complete set of transmission gears or camshafts(and know they will stand up) in one's basement workshop!

The bike is currently for sale.


Glen
 
There's a thread on Britbikes forum at the moment. A guy has a set of V-four crankcases and is making his own barrels and heads for it. Same guy?
 
It's not Dan Smith. He just finished building a Replica of the shaft drive Velocette Roarer complete with basement built Supercharger.
He's busy working out the bugs of that one right now. I know he ran it at Seattle International Raceway couple of weeks ago, apparently the SC was making 7 lbs of thrust and the bike is going to be very quick once fettled.
One minor probem, the gear change went 1,2,4,3 :mrgreen: . This was a camplate problem now fixed.

Imagine, the Velo Roarer, the AJS V4 and a Vincent Series A twin all functioning and all built on fairly basic elderly machine tools in a tiny basement workshop.

I know what I wanna be when I grow up!

Glen
 
A 250cc V8 made out of two 125cc four cylinder Suzuki top ends on a common bottom end might be interesting and might even be made to handle.
 
worntorn said:
It's not Dan Smith. He just finished building a Replica of the shaft drive Velocette Roarer complete with basement built Supercharger.
He's busy working out the bugs of that one right now. I know he ran it at Seattle International Raceway couple of weeks ago, apparently the SC was making 7 lbs of thrust and the bike is going to be very quick once fettled.
One minor probem, the gear change went 1,2,4,3 :mrgreen: . This was a camplate problem now fixed.

Imagine, the Velo Roarer, the AJS V4 and a Vincent Series A twin all functioning and all built on fairly basic elderly machine tools in a tiny basement workshop.

I know what I wanna be when I grow up!

Glen
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Sorry Glen. I was referring to the Norton V4.
 
The Norton factory are about to produce a V4. There are plenty of orders in their books though the price is eye watering.
 
still looking for this V4 Norton bike build or info :mrgreen:
 
If the V4 Norton has a centre bearing on the crank - how is it done ? I've often though of mounting a bearing on a 6 mm thick hi-strength steel plate between the machined crankcase halves and using similar to an XS2 Yamaha crank.
 
acotrel said:
If the V4 Norton has a centre bearing on the crank - how is it done ? I've often though of mounting a bearing on a 6 mm thick hi-strength steel plate between the machined crankcase halves and using similar to an XS2 Yamaha crank.
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Probably a plain bearing if the crank cannot be split apart :idea:
 
I visited George in the hospital. He had a V4 crankcase there There was also a cylinder block with perfect machined looking fins. Not the slightest casting imperfection or flaw. After HPI closed, He was doing business in antiques from home. He had a 50s Chrysler Hemi sedan, pre "300". He still had a mass quantity of parts there. I remember getting a first gear out of a big bucket of them on a couple occasions when I sheared off a tooth street racing. He also loaned me a socket to remove the inner cover where my cheap socket was too thick walled to fit on it.

I still have the '73 MKII my brother bought from him in the late 70s from his Garden Grove Blvd shop. It has an HPI #3 cam, which is a poor replacement for the HPI #7 it had in the day, which snapped while I was commuting. He told me the #3 is like a SSSS cam but with ramps easier on the valve gear. It has his 34 Mikunis, and did have a Joe Alphabet pipe. I finally removed that for looks, sound, and front fender clearance under braking on bumpy surfaces. George liked those pipes as I recall. My brother and I had a blast street drag racing with our HPI Commandos in the day. The stop lights were close enough together that the top end power of GS1000s KZs and XS 11s didn't come into play, but their weight did. We didn't even consider Honda 750 fours until the '16 valve F was introduced. George was really cool to us. Free parts, advice, loaning out of tools, letting me hang out at the shop, explaining how Fuel cams needed to be different than Nitrous cams, and what happened when he put Nitrous on a fuel Norton. He was also building 750cc four cylinder 1 and 2 cam Honda motors for come class of midget racers.

George built the Kawasaki that Alphabet Headers raced for advertising. I remember the adds, but I don't remember if it was a drag race or a Bonneville / El Mirage record. As to why he built it, I'm not sure, but I think it might have been just because he could.
 
Super Seven said:
I visited George in the hospital. He had a V4 crankcase there There was also a cylinder block with perfect machined looking fins. Not the slightest casting imperfection or flaw. After HPI closed, He was doing business in antiques from home. He had a 50s Chrysler Hemi sedan, pre "300". He still had a mass quantity of parts there. I remember getting a first gear out of a big bucket of them on a couple occasions when I sheared off a tooth street racing. He also loaned me a socket to remove the inner cover where my cheap socket was too thick walled to fit on it.

I still have the '73 MKII my brother bought from him in the late 70s from his Garden Grove Blvd shop. It has an HPI #3 cam, which is a poor replacement for the HPI #7 it had in the day, which snapped while I was commuting. He told me the #3 is like a SSSS cam but with ramps easier on the valve gear. It has his 34 Mikunis, and did have a Joe Alphabet pipe. I finally removed that for looks, sound, and front fender clearance under braking on bumpy surfaces. George liked those pipes as I recall. My brother and I had a blast street drag racing with our HPI Commandos in the day. The stop lights were close enough together that the top end power of GS1000s KZs and XS 11s didn't come into play, but their weight did. We didn't even consider Honda 750 fours until the '16 valve F was introduced. George was really cool to us. Free parts, advice, loaning out of tools, letting me hang out at the shop, explaining how Fuel cams needed to be different than Nitrous cams, and what happened when he put Nitrous on a fuel Norton. He was also building 750cc four cylinder 1 and 2 cam Honda motors for come class of midget racers.

George built the Kawasaki that Alphabet Headers raced for advertising. I remember the adds, but I don't remember if it was a drag race or a Bonneville / El Mirage record. As to why he built it, I'm not sure, but I think it might have been just because he could.
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Thanks for sharing those memories. I'd love to have been there to see your Nort's trashing the opposition.
 
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