1963 650SS Australia

possm said:

https://www.accessnorton.com/NortonCommando/650ss-rebuild.8923/
This hopefully will lead you to the thread I did on this forum when I restored mine.
Al

Click to expand...

Al
Facebook link has expired and, although your rebuild thread is good reading with lots of good photos (including a sleeve in manifold), still no drawing of the sleeve.
Do you still have it?
Cheers
Rob

Well Had a good day at Nabiac swap meet, got hold of a good replica number plate, the original was well out of shape and had been repaired a number of times badly.


Much tidier than the recent one I had bought from overseas.


Another step forward.
Burgs

Hi Rob
Sleeves arrived today look good.



Fitted valve guides today and timed the cam plus fitted oil pump, have to get back and do some machining otherwise I will not have money to finish .

Also rebuilt the forks.

Burgs

Hi
Worked on the air filter again today and fitted a fine mesh oiled foam filter from Unifilter.
Bit to do yet, but looks to be a better set up than the pleated paper.

Burgs said:

Hi Rob
Sleeves arrived today look good.

Burgs

Click to expand...

Thanks Burgs - I'll order a pair
Cheers
Rob

Hi
Dropped off the tin ware to be painted last week, looks like the tank was originally red?
The tank was silver with a hint of gold when I bought the bike, underneath the tank badges it was red, rubbing back still produced red, but it was evident that the tank has been repaired at some stage as there had been a hole cut in the bottom allow then to get at the dents.

Made a bracket up and fitted a Commando return filter



Engine is back together, still sorting out what I am going to do with the magneto.

Regards
Burgs

Which color are you going with? Silver is classic but red will stand out.

Hi
Debated for a few weeks, looked at black, red and silver, finally went with silver.
The red looks like what I have seen on some Atlas's back in the day, it was nice.
I decided on Silver and if I get the chance for another tank I will buy it and have it painted red, that way I can change to suit.

Burgs

Hi
Picked up the tin ware, frame and tank yesterday from the painters, looking good, now need some advise on best way to put it back together, mainly getting the engine in.
When I got the bike the gearbox was still in the frame so, I guess starting from there might be the way to go.
Or, swing arm in, front forks in, gearbox and rear mounts, then engine and front mounts, then keep adding bits from there?

Burgs

re your Mag, I have had very good service from Peter Scott Motorcycles qualmag@optusnet.com.au
He specialises in rewinding magnetos.

Hi
Peter did my Manx magneto back in the 80s but not sure he is still doing them?
I used to see him at some of the rallies but haven't seen him for a while.
I have designed all the parts to fit in a Pazon trigger unit into the existing housing without destroying the housing (K2FC), just need to make time to two parts and assemble now.

I put the back engine mounts in and noticed something I had missed while straightening the frame, the holes for the

Peter did the mag on my 57 ES2 just on 2 years ago good job. when I put my 650SS together I assembled the frame swingarm and rear guard followed by gearbox engine plates etc then the bottom end. don't forget to attach your side stand as it buts against the left engine plate. I did a thread about the rebuild on this forum but am not sure if it is still accessible. I have just brought an Atlas so here we go again!

Hi
I don't have a centre stand yet and don't understand how the bolts work, there is the, bolt 16763 and nut 16764 that goes through the frame lug and into the centre stand boss, but is there a 1/4" bolt that screws through the engine/gearbox plate that then screws into the 16763 bolt to help support the bolt?
I see from photos that the 16763 bolt has a hole but cannot see any thread.
If this is the way it goes I will have to press the lower frame rails down to make the frame lug holes line up with the hole in the engine/gearbox plates, this should be easy enough to do and hopefully not damage the paintwork.
One lower frame rail is out by about 1/4" and the other about an 1/8", the frame rails being bent slightly upwards.
I will have to set it back up on my 2" thick mill plate with the engine and gearbox in place along with the head steady, clamp it down square via long studs etc up and over the top rails, then use my panel beaters cylinder and push it back until it lines up with the holes again.
I have ordered the new bolts and nuts so by the time I have it setup they should be here.

Possm I read your post on your rebuild I will have a look to see if I can find it again though.
Burgs

The centre stand bolt passes through the frame plate from outside in followed by the nut, the centre stand pivots on the unthreaded portion of the bolt, it does not contact the engine / gearbox plates, sorry I don't have a good photo.
Al

Thanks Al
I was just concerned that the two holes in the bottom of the engine plates may have something to do with the centre stand, but that's good they don't, it may save a lot of heart ache, trying to line them up for nothing.
Should have the new bolts and nuts in a week, need to do a bit more work to earn some more pocket money before I order the stand though.

Burgs

Hi
Engine and gearbox are in, started setting up front forks, head light brackets and steering damper.
Fitted tapered bearings to steering head, have to redo as forgot to make and fit a felt seal for the bottom bearing.
Steering damper is missing the top spacer that fits between the Renolds WIng Nut and the crown nut, I will have to machine this as I cannot find any available from the normal suppliers, anyone out there with some measurements for this spacer # 21574, or a closeup photo?
So far I have bought two crown nuts and both have been wrong, Andover appear to have the correct one [HASHTAG]# 15626[/HASHTAG], I found the correct number in the 1962 optional parts list.
Also missing the spacer that holds the lock plate to the frame, have to make this also, thought I may have been able to copy the Manx parts but it has s different setup.

Burgs

Things have been a bit slow for past few weeks, but today I contacted the Police Museum in Queensland as I suspected the 650SS may have been a police bike at some stage. Got a reply back very quickly with a far bit of information and some photos of the bikes that were delivered, appears they were all silver by the black and white photos.
My bike was one in a batch of 83 Norton Police Special 650 (650SS) purchased by the Qld Police force.
Started service in May 1963, 63 of the bikes stayed in Brisbane and the remaining 20 went out over Qld.

There is another local 650SS that is 5 numbers different to mine, it is also on the list and was sent to Ipswich.

Burgs

From the compressed forks it looks like they should have had sidecar springs to cope.

Noticed that, they look like pretty big fellas though!

Burgs

And some heavy equipment, radio, siren, blue flashing lights panniers with full Aussie lunch and first aid kit, crash bars or kangaroo swipe’s!