70 Roadster rebuild

I'm going to drill the left side panel for the ignition switch to keep the original look. Will work with the standard wiring harness lengths of wires to the switch.

First time this bike sees the light of day is on the way to the paint shop to make sure the decals are put on straight:







Turns out the painter is a Brit Bike fan too:









He even has a book on Norton restoration:



Tank decals look good:





Wasn't happy with the side panel decals, they are gold with black edges, so ordered a gold set from RGM. Oh well, at least the painter can finish the tank while I wait for the other decals to arrive.

The paint is matt as the lacquer has just been polished. It will be shiny once all done. Pretty happy with the job the painter is doing. Another old school craftsman.

The flipped shifter will take a bit of getting used to. I prefer it that way, 1-down, 3-up. Once you ride it a while, shifting will be easier, it's just fidgety to get used to, as the leverage is limited in that orientation.

Those are really nice A10s (A7s?) that your painter has. I like the scrambler.

Thanks GP. I have the same shifter config on my Roadster and really like it. Just like a modern bike ;-)

freefly103 said:

Thanks GP. I have the same shifter config on my Roadster and really like it. Just like a modern bike ;-)

Click to expand...

Is it a standard gear lever? If not, what is it, PR?

To suit Norvil rear sets:

http://www.norvilmotorcycle.co.uk/063944.htm

Before Joe sold me his leftover Dunstall shifter, I was using a stock shift lever reversed on the shaft. Biggest issue was shifting up through the gears. The downward angle of the lever necessitated catching the rubber with my boot toe and pulling back as I levered up. PITA as well in the foot and a practice rife with missed shifts.

freefly103 said:

To suit Norvil rear sets:

http://www.norvilmotorcycle.co.uk/063944.htm

Click to expand...

Thanks.

Attempted to install the new decals today - not a good result - and need to start again. Not a happy chappy at all. Tank decals are on fine, but the side cover decals did not transfer as they are supposed to.

Both left and side lettering stayed on the decal and did not transfer to the side panels. I don't think it's a technique issue since both the left and right side did the same thing. The painter has done this a million times over 40 years, so it must be the decal. Have ordered new ones from AN. Still requires the existing side panels to be sanded and repainted. More cost.

Not happy:





The signage just did not transfer to the panel and stayed on the sticker:

freefly103 said:

Attempted to install the new decals today - not a good result - and need to start again. Not a happy chappy at all. Tank decals are on fine, but the side cover decals did not transfer as they are supposed to.

Both left and side lettering stayed on the decal and did not transfer to the side panels. I don't think it's a technique issue since both the left and right side did the same thing. The painter has done this a million times over 40 years, so it must be the decal. Have ordered new ones from AN. Still requires the existing side panels to be sanded and repainted. More cost.

Not happy:

The signage just did not transfer to the panel and stayed on the sticker:

Click to expand...

That's a bummer !

They look like vinyl stickers though, not waterslide decals, is that right?

I'm pretty sure you will get vinyl stickers off without damaging the paint, try a hot air gun, even a hairdryer should do it. Even if the adhesive has marked the paint underneath that won't matter as you're putting new ones over the top.

Good luck...

It sure looks like the stickers weren't peeled from the backing.

Painter did it wrong, unless I'm missing something...

How do you do this GP?

I watched the painter take off the backing paper and apply the decals to the side panels.

The decal simply didn't stick to the paint despite the surface being cleaned before hand.

How did the decals get back on the backing paper perfectly?

You peel the whole affair OFF the backing paper, stick it all to the tank or sidecover, then peel back the overlay sheet at a very tight reverse angle to force the individual elements to lay down on the paint.

IF they don't stick to the paint, they should remain on the OVERLAY, not the backing.

Also, shouldn't paint have been prepped to a tack, and cleaned; NOT glossy and finished? Clear goes on last of all.

Just back from the painter:













The colour seems more lighter red in the sun in these photos, than the deep red it actually is. I chose the colour when I saw the red of part of his BSA Goldstar tank. The shape of the side panels, and their alignment to the tank make it a challenge to place the side panel decals so that the tank and side panel decals look good and also, that the angle of the decal inside the side panel decal also looks like it should. Easier said than done.

New decals look good. Can't beat Andover Norton for quality.

Now off to the electrician for a new wiring harness.

SUCCESS!

Looks very nice.

Well, it's been a while, the bike is done, but not without having to sort a few issues.

Bike ran well on its first start. Apart from a side stand nut falling off close to home after the first ride (I heard it drop on the pavement as I wheeled the bike into the garage), the clutch adjusting nut also managed to work itself off the GB shaft, resulting in a clutchless ride home No biggy.

First real issue was a leaking head gasket. I replaced the .75mm with a 1.mm from AN. Problem solved, or so I thought.

While I had the head off, I decided to professionally ceramic coat the barrels, since I wasn't happy with my DIY paint job. The guy that did the frame powder did a good job, first soda blasting the barrels then, ceramic coating them in semi gloss.

While putting the barrels back on, I managed to destroy a set of rings. No probs, there was a spare set of Hastings .020 over in the spares box.

I installed the head and started to torque up the head bolts. Unfortunately, I failed to check the threads - some soda blasting compound had found its way into the barrel threads and I stripped a 3/8 thread in the head.

It all came off and waited for 3/8 x 26 helicoils to be sent from the UK and the engineering shop to do the work once they arrived.

The head was reinstalled and all was good. The helicoils held torque on the CNW ARP bolt kit nicely.

On the first ride after the fix, oil spewed from the barrels where the oil return hole of the barrels meets the bottom end.

I lifted the barrels with the head still in place. Found that the base gasket had broken at the exact point where it goes around the the oil return hole.

After reading on here that some guys don't use a base gasket, I decided to go with Permatex high temp gasket goo and omit the base gasket.

Reassembly went smoothly, and the first ride seems to have sorted this issue. There was a lot of traffic on the island today. Some drug gangs have been apparently warring over territory with 3 car bombs either killing or seriously 5 people in the last 6 months. The ride was longer than expected as the main road into where I live was closed and I had to ride around to get home the long way.

I'll retorque every thing tomorrow am, set the gaps and take it for another ride.

Lots of lessons learned especially "check everything" especially after you get parts back from others.

Glad its done. Well, they are never done, but we all know that.

That work doesn't seem like that much, but has taken more time than I expected i.e. I've been sorting these issues since Oct last year.

Will post some pics of the bike back in its Roadster clothes shortly as the new tank and side covers were so nice that I couldn't wait and put them on my other bike.

Hey, sounds like you're keeping it interesting!

The pics:































Thinking of a colour change, not sure about the yellow though?

So, what did you do with the red tank and sidepanels after all that work making the panels work with the tank and then hair-tearing with the decals?

For shame! You chopped off the tail light in the first photo...