750cc Norton Commando Salt Flats Build

how to you plan to protect all those metal surfaces from salt?

Zachary Brown said:

Just got the head back from Leo this afternoon! Gonna get some better shots and measurements over the weekend, but for now here's the whole motor with the head set in place (w/ gasket for safety).

Click to expand...

Looking good.

Have fun getting the front two 3/8 stud nuts on fastening the head to the barrels. A couple of strips of 1/4" or 5/16" material slid in the front and back under the fins outside the gasket surface to hold the head up so you can start the nuts might help. Then again those barrels might have a different casting than the Molnar barrels I have and will be easy to fasten.

Alright everyone. Did everything I could with the time I had this weekend. Sadly I didn't get pictures of all the steps but hit some of the highlights. As previously shown, got the head back to the house late Friday evening, and first thing Saturday morning I set into getting pushrod length set for proper rocker arm geometry (long story short, rocker arm adjuster stem being parallel/colinear with the valve stem and approx. 90 to the rocker arm axis at half gross lift). Luckily after tedious checking and rechecking, the pushrods provided in the JS4 cam kit measured out perfectly without modification.

There was one change made to the rotating assembly (made on the recommendation of Leo Goff after an in person visit to see the bike), a set of Omega Pistons were swapped for the JS Hi-Comp set for stock rods. Don't worry Jim, there is another hot 750 street/race build that these will be slotted for! The balance factor was only changed by about 3% after weighing the new units and running the numbers(you're balance factor may vary).

And before I get any further in this, I know there have been questions about ports on this head so here are a few shots of the intake and exhaust. Unfortunately I don't have the numbers in front of me for the port sizes but I will get those tomorrow when I go to the shop. However, I can say that after the port/polish and flow work Leo Goff has said "the head will flow enough for 90-95HP". Sadly no actual CFM numbers for those interested.

Here's the intake(w/ CNW manifold matched to ports):


And here's the exhaust (I know Schwany was looking for the but I don't know how to tag here)



After many hours of test fitting, checking, re-checking, and hair pulling we finally ended up with the head torqued onto the barrels. And the headers fitted for added effect.

You've kinked your rear brake rod...

This project is coming along so nicely.

grandpaul said:

You've kinked your rear brake rod...

This project is coming along so nicely.

Click to expand...

Thanks! It's a temporary piece. The final one will be made alot better. Also had to be bent to clear the old cable mount on the swing arm when activating the brake.

Zachary Brown said:

Thanks! It's a temporary piece. The final one will be made alot better. Also had to be bent to clear the old cable mount on the swing arm when activating the brake.

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A bent rod will produce a "spongy" pedal...

...then again, you don't use brakes on the salt very much!

The one time I did (in the pits, when some fool pulled out from between two trucks without looking), I was instantly doing a very close-up inspection of the salt in the pit lane...

Zachary Brown said:

Alright everyone. Did everything I could with the time I had this weekend. Sadly I didn't get pictures of all the steps but hit some of the highlights. As previously shown, got the head back to the house late Friday evening, and first thing Saturday morning I set into getting pushrod length set for proper rocker arm geometry (long story short, rocker arm adjuster stem being parallel/colinear with the valve stem and approx. 90 to the rocker arm axis at half gross lift). Luckily after tedious checking and rechecking, the pushrods provided in the JS4 cam kit measured out perfectly without modification.
View attachment 119161
There was one change made to the rotating assembly (made on the recommendation of Leo Goff after an in person visit to see the bike), a set of Omega Pistons were swapped for the JS Hi-Comp set for stock rods. Don't worry Jim, there is another hot 750 street/race build that these will be slotted for! The balance factor was only changed by about 3% after weighing the new units and running the numbers(you're balance factor may vary).

And before I get any further in this, I know there have been questions about ports on this head so here are a few shots of the intake and exhaust. Unfortunately I don't have the numbers in front of me for the port sizes but I will get those tomorrow when I go to the shop. However, I can say that after the port/polish and flow work Leo Goff has said "the head will flow enough for 90-95HP". Sadly no actual CFM numbers for those interested.

Here's the intake(w/ CNW manifold matched to ports):


And here's the exhaust (I know Schwany was looking for the but I don't know how to tag here)


After many hours of test fitting, checking, re-checking, and hair pulling we finally ended up with the head torqued onto the barrels. And the headers fitted for added effect.

Click to expand...

Taking pics of a build is really difficult. Who really likes to stop and take pics other than influencer types or people selling product. I personally have to stay focused and on task or I'll forget something important I meant to check.

Thanks for the pics of the entrance and exit sides of the STS head. 90-95HP out of a Norton 750 would be really impressive. He must have meant with a larger displacement engine???

Those pistons are something else.

Beautiful work.

Schwany said:

Taking pics of a build is really difficult. Who really likes to stop and take pics other than influencer types or people selling product. I personally have to stay focused and on task or I'll forget something important I meant to check.

Thanks for the pics of the entrance and exit sides of the STS head. 90-95HP out of a Norton 750 would be really impressive. He must have meant with a larger displacement engine???

Those pistons are something else.

Beautiful work.

Click to expand...

Yea its a pain to stop and take pictures when you're mid workflow haha.

And he said the CFM for the head is enough to handle up to 90-95 but the motor won't be making that level of power. Would love it if it managed to pull that off though!