A new member with a first time Norton project

Here are a few pic's of the valves in question. Let me know what you guys think.







A few of the finished product.

If you could Prussian blue the adjuster and turn the motor over one time you would see a line at the top of the valve stem. It would be OK if this line were off center side to side but not up and down. The mark make by the adjuster up and down should be centered on the valve stem. This is set by push rod length and can be optimized by making adjustments if they are not too short. Norton is not the only brand to make push rods of varying sizes. Some do run lash caps but you still need to set the push rods to the right lengh. This might be a good time to address another problem well known, the two studs just under the exhaust ports are so short that they under utilize the treads put in the head. If your order spares used in another location on the head and bottom tap or better insert the hole you can use longer studs and get more grip. See" ludwig's" posts on this subject. An un-run composite head gasket can be reused after one or two torques and of course so can copper.

Thanks for the info Norsba thats a great idea. I'll get some engineers blue and check the rocker stoke on the tops of the stems to see how close they are to being centered. I was careful in shimming the rockers to center the valve stem - I figured it would just be "right" to get it fairly centered so i ordered some extra shims.

I had three studs in the bottom of the head that I re-installed. They were all the same length and had about 1/2 inch of penetration on each stud. I ran them down into the head until they stopped which was just at the end of the threads on the stud. Does this sound correct?

I'll check out Ludwigs post on this subject - thanks!

If the valve is just slightly towards the outside of the head left to right movement this is by design. The idea is to slightly encourage a slow spin as it is actuated so just on center shimming maybe not so good an idea. You decide. Norton valve seats normally hold up well so most valve recession is caused by bad head work. It is very possible to get Atlas valves they do have a slightly longer stem I believe. This could be at the root of your problem would not be the first time. So be sure to check all these things before you cut into good push rods.
Studs are to bottom out by touching a rounded tip at the bottom of the tapped hole and you never would like to see a stud bottom because it ran out of thread. Lots of times we see people put the studs in backwards because they like the pretty round end out not realizing it's purpose. Remove they studs and check them it is not worth the consciences if you are wrong. With just a bottoming tap and the studs from another place on the head this is an easy fix also a good time to replace the studs and nuts on the head because you do not know the number of times they have cycled. JMO

Another update, and some more pictures...

Buttoned the gear box up and installed the motor and adjustable iso's. Man this was a chore. Note to everyone on a first time re-assembly - read about it first
Where I went wrong:

I set up my front and rear Iso's with the gearbox cradle first and figured out the battery box configuration. Then I removed the gearbox cradle and Iso and Installed the motor with the head steady and front Iso. Alright I said to myself this is going well. Then I went to install the gear box cradle... GRRRR... Front Iso and head steady has to nearly be removed to squeeze the cradle into the frame and install on the the rear of the motor. Bolt everything back up with blue loctite of course, and let it sit over night while I button up the gear box. Next morning get up and go to install the gear box - wait for it - SON-OF-A :evil: You freakin whore! Go back inside and drink another cup of coffee while licking my wounds. Of course I can only blame myself.

I was able to remove the rear cradle mount, head steady, and front iso bottom bolt to get the gear box in and bolt it all back together one last time - live and learn.






installed lower bars and controlls

just to see what it would look like. The red is actually growing on me...

It's looking good!

byrdman76 said:

Next morning get up and go to install the gear box - wait for it - SON-OF-A :evil: You freakin whore! Go back inside and drink another cup of coffee while licking my wounds. Of course I can only blame myself.

Click to expand...

Wait, what went wrong?

byrdman76 said:

Another update, and some more pictures...

Next morning get up and go to install the gear box - wait for it - SON-OF-A :evil: You freakin whore! Go back inside and drink another cup of coffee while licking my wounds. Of course I can only blame myself.

I was able to remove the rear cradle mount, head steady, and front iso bottom bolt to get the gear box in and bolt it all back together one last time - live and learn.

Click to expand...

Byrdman
it looks like you have this nut on wrong, the bevel side should face the sprocket.
your ordeal to install the gearbox with the motor in place is the reason that I mod the cradle with a grinder. if you look realy close at a CNW bike you will also see this done also.

Good eye Bill. Another disaster avoided. Byrdman did you look into your valve length? Did you have some Atlas valves or wrong push rods?

Thanks a million Bill!!! - obviously I had no idea. What is the reasoning behind the nut going on the other way? Is it to assist the nut retaining ring from slipping off? Inquiring minds would like to know...

Norsba - The push rods are OEM Commando's from my measurments - I checked them against the Old Britts replacements. I did have the valve seats cut (first cut since new) when the guides were installed, so the valves do sit a little deeper in the head. But I also had the stems tops resurfaced so it should put things close to being back into perspective. The geometry and angles look good. After doing what you said to watch the stroke of the rocker across the valve it looks good, and I feel allot better - pretty close to being even through the stroke mark across the top of the valve. I think I was just being overly cautious since I have never been able to watch the valve train operate on a Norton. I will keep an eye on this area mainly since I wonder how deep the hardness penetrates the top of the stem. If I see some excessive wear shortly after running, I'll look into replacing the valves.

I'm going to start posting more pictures - thanks again for looking out for me guys!

the reason on the nut is the sprocket is not flat where the nut makes contact with the sprocket. just the outer part of the nut is in contact if on wrong.

Is it me or do those tappit adjusters look worn at the valve stem? You might look int those mushroom adjusters that I have seen on ebay. I bought a set and they function well. Reasonably priced also. 58 - 60 Rockwell at the contact point.

pvisseriii said:

Is it me or do those tappit adjusters look worn at the valve stem? You might look int those mushroom adjusters that I have seen on ebay. I bought a set and they function well. Reasonably priced also. 58 - 60 Rockwell at the contact point.

Click to expand...

Did you get the ones from Steadfast? I just looked and had not seen these before. They are very reasonable compared to others I have seen. I did smooth these out put a slight radius on them with a 3m polishing wheel. The pictures suck but they look pretty good - you just have to wonder again about the hardness at the tip. I was very careful to go slow and just barely remove any material at all while polishing them out - trying not to generate any heat at all. The ones on ebay look like they have a much larger contact point which I'm really interested in - thanks for the heads up.

I believe I did get them from Steadfast. Last winter I did all my head work and at the time I reassembled the head, I had misplace them. I purchased a second set and have them. If you want them I will sell and send them to you. I do not know if it is OK do this in the forum, I am sure it is frowned upon and I do not want to break rules but it is curtainly a bargain and will help a fellow Nortoneer. Email me through this forum if you want to pursue this. If not, that is fine too.

Best Regards

Here is an older thread with some interesting comments on mushroom adjusters:

mushroom-head-tappet-rocker-adjusters-t870.html?hilit=mushroom%20tappet

RennieK said:

Here is an older thread with some interesting comments on mushroom adjusters:

mushroom-head-tappet-rocker-adjusters-t870.html?hilit=mushroom%20tappet

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link Rennie. A lot of good points. I may just leave it as is unless I see something that needs to be addressed when I go to check them during break in.

Hello Guys,

Been away for some time working on some other projects but I have finally gotten back around to completing the Norton. I am starting on the wiring and I have a few questions since the bike wiring had been quite removed when I received it. I have a podtronics regulator, a boyer black box, and a boyer dual out put coil. The rest of the wiring will be original with a positive ground.

First it says to remove the zenier diode in the pod tronics instructions is this it below in the photo? Do I just cut it off and cap the wires? What about the red wires with the ring terminal? Attach it to ground? The diode was disconnected but I think it was attached to the passenger Z plate. Were the red wires attached with the diode to the Z plate?



Next are these wires. Do they just connect directly to the battery? Black to the negative Installing a new fuse holder and red to the positive terminal.



Next will be the coil wiring. The original had two white wires with spade connectors coming into one side of each coil (4 wires total). Do I use one of these to attach to the white lead out of the boyer? What do I do with the other - tape it back into the harness in case someone ever wanted to go back to two coils?



What about the black and white, and black and yellow leads that went to each one of the condensors? Tape them back for later use if anyone ever wanted to go back to points?

There are two red wires with a ring terminal near the coils. This was connected to the coil holder. Can I just connect this to the new coil mount?



The pod tronics seems pretty straight forward but can I assume that the red wire with the ring terminal connects to the positive side of the battery?



Regarding the coil power - orange to positve, and black the black lead coming from the boyer?



Thanks in advance for your help guys.

Drove my 70 S model for 8 years ,oiltank never overheated for any reason ,also stronger built than later ones. Great spotless work.

byrdman76 said:

First it says to remove the zenier diode in the pod tronics instructions is this it below in the photo? Do I just cut it off and cap the wires?

Click to expand...

Yes, that's the Zener. There's no actual need to cut the Zener or its wires off, simply pull it off the spade connector and tape or tie the wires back to the harness, it's up to you?

byrdman76 said:

What about the red wires with the ring terminal? Attach it to ground? The diode was disconnected but I think it was attached to the passenger Z plate. Were the red wires attached with the diode to the Z plate?

Click to expand...

Once the Zener is disconnected, then the red ground wire becomes redundant.

byrdman76 said:

Next are these wires. Do they just connect directly to the battery? Black to the negative Installing a new fuse holder and red to the positive terminal.

Click to expand...

The brown/blue wire (with the fuse holder) shown in the photo connects to the battery negative terminal, and red to positive .

byrdman76 said:

Next will be the coil wiring. The original had two white wires with spade connectors coming into one side of each coil (4 wires total). Do I use one of these to attach to the white lead out of the boyer?

Click to expand...

Yes.

byrdman76 said:

What do I do with the other - tape it back into the harness in case someone ever wanted to go back to two coils?

Click to expand...

Yes.

byrdman76 said:

What about the black and white, and black and yellow leads that went to each one of the condensors? Tape them back for later use if anyone ever wanted to go back to points?

Click to expand...

Yes.

byrdman76 said:

There are two red wires with a ring terminal near the coils. This was connected to the coil holder. Can I just connect this to the new coil mount?

Click to expand...

Yes.

byrdman76 said:

The pod tronics seems pretty straight forward but can I assume that the red wire with the ring terminal connects to the positive side of the battery?

Click to expand...

Yes you could connect it directly to the battery or any other ground point. (personally, I don't like multiple wire connectors on battery terminals, but that's just my preference).

byrdman76 said:

Regarding the coil power - orange to positve, and black the black lead coming from the boyer?

Click to expand...

Yes.

Thanks allot for the info and reassurance LAB. For some reason the positive ground just has me spooked :shock: