Barrel Paint

Let's not start that thread again, it finally died off 13 days ago with the collective knowledge going nowhere IMHO :) .

This thread is simply trying to:

1) Determine which engines should have black barrels and which should have silver.
2) Find a silverish (matching the head and cases) paint that looks right, holds up, and is meant for the job. Norton cylinders must be painted or treated in some way to prevent rust and the factory painted them whether black or silver - IMHO, there's no point in discussing whether or not they should be painted!
 
marshg246 said:
I asked in another thread about barrel paint colors and this is what I have so far:
20M3 Black (Edit: Fastback only?)
750 Combat Black
Other 750 Silver
850 MKI Silver
Other 850 Black

I'm very happy with VHT Barrel paint. I usually use SP905 which is gloss but not high gloss. There is also SP906 which is satin. No primer is required. If there's a lot of rust or paint missing or the paint is not original I sand blast to bare metal; otherwise, I clean very well, sand any small rusty spots and paint.

I have a couple of bikes to do with silver barrels - I've always done black even when wrong because I like it - but I want these correct.

I've read the 2019 thread on this but the most recommended paints don't seem to be available in the US or in some cases not at all.

What are you using for the silver cylinders? VHT has silver barrel paint but it is actually silver and does not match the head. VHT also has "Nu-Cast Aluminum" engine enamel that has the same heat range as the barrel paint but it seems some think it matches and some don't.
Click to expand...
I'm lost...I am the 2nd owner of a yellow 71 Commando Roadster. When I purchased it in late 1978 I was told that it had previously had engine work completed. The Barrels were and still are Black. I have no reason not to believe that they were that way from the factory. I have been looking through various books dealing with the History of Motorcycles and have only found pictures of the '71 (especially yellow) Commandos having black Barrels. With that said, I have also been searching advertisements for 71s and have found yellow commandos with both black and Silver barrels and Black Commandos with silver barrels (all with pretty girls!). I pulled my engine apart to simply try to stop oil from filling up my primary chain case but would like to paint the engine in the proper colors prior to reassembly. btw, has anyone tried using a wire brush on the crankcase and head and instead of painting them with silver, painting them with a High Temp Clearcoat? Just wondering how that might turn out. In any case, I'm confused and would appreciate if anyone really knows which color is the correct color.
 
Last edited:
rwanz said:
I'm lost...I am the 2nd owner of a yellow 71 Commando Roadster. When I purchased it in late 1978 I was told that it had previously had engine work completed. The Barrels were and still are Black. I have no reason not to believe that they were that way from the factory. I have been looking through various books dealing with the History of Motorcycles and have only found pictures of the '71 (especially yellow) Commandos having black Barrels. With that said, I have also been searching advertisements for 71s and have found yellow commandos with both black and Silver barrels and Black Commandos with silver barrels (all with pretty girls!). I pulled my engine apart to simply try to stop oil from filling up my primary chain case but would like to paint the engine in the proper colors prior to reassembly. btw, has anyone tried using a wire brush on the crankcase and head and instead of painting them with silver, painting them with a High Temp Clearcoat? Just wondering how that might turn out. In any case, I'm confused and would appreciate if anyone really knows which color is the correct color.
Click to expand...
My 71 Roadster has silver barrels. I'm 2nd owner. Sales brochure I got back in the day for 1971 (The Wild Bunch) shows all with silver barrels. All other references I have seen indicate silver barrels for 1971. That is not to say that the factory would never have done anything different.
 
NickZ said:
My 71 Roadster has silver barrels. I'm 2nd owner. Sales brochure I got back in the day for 1971 (The Wild Bunch) shows all with silver barrels. All other references I have seen indicate silver barrels for 1971. That is not to say that the factory would never have done anything different.
Click to expand...
Does your's have the front cam breather or rear breather below the carbs?
 
MichaelB said:
Does your's have the front cam breather or rear breather below the carbs?
Click to expand...
It came with the front cam breather. A couple years ago I removed that and put the NYC Norton reed valve breather where the large sump drain plug with wire screen used to be.
 
My former '71 Roadster, bought used somewhere in '73/'74, had silver barrels, which i painted black when I took the engine apart. My current '72 Roadster, serial number 211407, build date August '72, has black barrels. I am the third owner. The guy I bought it from got it from the widow of the original owner and had it in a collection for 20 years, rarely ran it, never worked on it. Low mileage, original condition, pretty sure the engine was never torn down, though I guess the original owner might have painted the cylinders black "in situ". To me it looks like they've always been black.
 
maylar said:
I thought that only Combat motors were black in 72. No?
Click to expand...
That is my understanding but you can never assume that they had hard changes. For instance, they may have had black barrels in stock when they quit building Combats. I've seen a couple of 73 "High Performance" 750s with black barrels that were supposedly original. AFAIK, all 73s were supposed to have silver barrels.
 
Maybe this will help.

Barrel Paint
71 Cylinders

Barrel Paint
72 Cylinders

Barrel Paint
73 Cylinders

My understanding has been all 750's were silver, except Combat. Combat was black.
However, nothing is absolute with Norton as I have an original 68 Brochure that shows black barrels.
 
MichaelB said:
Maybe this will help.

View attachment 101896
71 Cylinders

View attachment 101897
72 Cylinders

View attachment 101898
73 Cylinders

My understanding has been all 750's were silver, except Combat. Combat was black.
However, nothing is absolute with Norton as I have an original 68 Brochure that shows black barrels.
Click to expand...
What it the part number of the manual you have showing the black cylinders - I must be missing that one since I checked all I had this morning.
 
marshg246 said:
That is my understanding but you can never assume that they had hard changes. For instance, they may have had black barrels in stock when they quit building Combats. I've seen a couple of 73 "High Performance" 750s with black barrels that were supposedly original. AFAIK, all 73s were supposed to have silver barrels.
Click to expand...
My understanding is that the 750 short strokes were built with black barrels.
 
marshg246 said:
What it the part number of the manual you have showing the black cylinders - I must be missing that one since I checked all I had this morning.
Click to expand...
Barrel Paint

Is this the number you need?
It's on a CD I have with many other manuels.
 
rwanz said:
I have been looking through various books dealing with the History of Motorcycles and have only found pictures of the '71 (especially yellow) Commandos having black Barrels. I have also been searching advertisements for 71s and have found yellow commandos with both black and Silver barrels and Black Commandos with silver barrels (all with pretty girls!).
Click to expand...

I haven't as yet found one original factory '1971' road model example book or other picture that has black barrels. With no references to the location of the pictures in question then it's not possible to know if the bikes you looked at were original factory finish or repainted/restored examples. Picture captions can also be inaccurate giving the wrong 'year'. I doubt the bike's paint finish would have had anything to do with the barrels being either black or silver.


rwanz said:
I'm confused and would appreciate if anyone really knows which color is the correct color.
Click to expand...

Commando brochures and road test pictures show silver barrels on the standard road models between '1969' and the beginning of Combat (in late '71/early '72). Original '69-'71 pictures I've looked at in various Norton books have had silver barrels. No black alternative was listed in the parts books before the Combat, therefore, in my opinion, the odds seem far greater for the barrels to have been silver for '1971' but if you prefer them black then keep them black.


MichaelB said:
However, nothing is absolute with Norton as I have an original 68 Brochure that shows black barrels.
Click to expand...

Yes, the '1968' Fastback had black barrels but for '1969' were "Silver" as stated in the parts book and, as far as I'm aware, all continued as silver until the introduction of the Combat model.

Barrel Paint
Barrel Paint
 
MichaelB said:
L.A.B. said:
I haven't as yet found one original factory '1971' road model example book or other picture that has black barrels. With no references to the location of the pictures in question then it's not possible to know if the bikes you looked at were original factory finish or repainted/restored examples. Picture captions can also be inaccurate giving the wrong 'year'. I doubt the bike's paint finish would have had anything to do with the barrels being either black or silver.




Commando brochures and road test pictures show silver barrels on the standard road models between '1969' and the beginning of Combat (in late '71/early '72). Original '69-'71 pictures I've looked at in various Norton books have had silver barrels. No black alternative was listed in the parts books before the Combat, therefore, in my opinion, the odds seem far greater for the barrels to have been silver for '1971' but if you prefer them black then keep them black.




Yes, the '1968' Fastback had black barrels but for '1969' were "Silver" as stated in the parts book and, as far as I'm aware, all continued as silver until the introduction of the Combat model.

Barrel Paint
Barrel Paint
Click to expand...

View attachment 101904
Is this the number you need?
It's on a CD I have with many other manuels.
Click to expand...
Weird. I have Kim the CD Man's Norton DVD. The files on it have the date 4/29/2009. I have manual 101/71 which has 71 handwritten on the cover. I don't have the one you have with part 063402 on the DVD but it turns out that I have it from somewhere else - I should have searched my parts database or in my files instead of the DVD!

Anyway, thank you - at least I have some evidence to backup what I said on my website.
 
L.A.B. said:
I haven't as yet found one original factory '1971' road model example book or other picture that has black barrels. With no references to the location of the pictures in question then it's not possible to know if the bikes you looked at were original factory finish or repainted/restored examples. Picture captions can also be inaccurate giving the wrong 'year'. I doubt the bike's paint finish would have had anything to do with the barrels being either black or silver.




Commando brochures and road test pictures show silver barrels on the standard road models between '1969' and the beginning of Combat (in late '71/early '72). Original '69-'71 pictures I've looked at in various Norton books have had silver barrels. No black alternative was listed in the parts books before the Combat, therefore, in my opinion, the odds seem far greater for the barrels to have been silver for '1971' but if you prefer them black then keep them black.




Yes, the '1968' Fastback had black barrels but for '1969' were "Silver" as stated in the parts book and, as far as I'm aware, all continued as silver until the introduction of the Combat model.

Barrel Paint
Barrel Paint
Click to expand...
So, before I change it. I want to be sure I understand. I have 68 with black barrels and 69 with black on fastback and silver otherwise. Should it be all 68 were black and all 69 silver? Also, I have no model distinctions for 68 - just Commando and I state that they were later known as fastback - is that true?

Second table here: https://www.gregmarsh.com/MC/Norton/CommandoID.aspx
 
rwanz said:
I'm lost...I am the 2nd owner of a yellow 71 Commando Roadster. When I purchased it in late 1978 I was told that it had previously had engine work completed. The Barrels were and still are Black. I have no reason not to believe that they were that way from the factory. I have been looking through various books dealing with the History of Motorcycles and have only found pictures of the '71 (especially yellow) Commandos having black Barrels. With that said, I have also been searching advertisements for 71s and have found yellow commandos with both black and Silver barrels and Black Commandos with silver barrels (all with pretty girls!). I pulled my engine apart to simply try to stop oil from filling up my primary chain case but would like to paint the engine in the proper colors prior to reassembly. btw, has anyone tried using a wire brush on the crankcase and head and instead of painting them with silver, painting them with a High Temp Clearcoat? Just wondering how that might turn out. In any case, I'm confused and would appreciate if anyone really knows which color is the correct color.
Click to expand...
Does the breather come off the cam or rear of crankcase?
 

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