Murray B said:
L.A.B. said:
No, "they" (the NOC) have not, because the internet pdf version of the NOC Service Notes IS A BADLY TYPED COPY!!! The copy does not even follow the same layout as the original Service Notes.
You have not established the pdf is in error.
I have, you just refuse to believe it. The pdf copy also contains many American spellings such as: "recognized", "color" "aluminum" "carburetors" "centering" etc. which are not in the genuine article therefore it is clearly NOT a genuine product of the NOC.
It also appears to have been scanned and copied to a pdf document (and not typed as I thought) because certain elements have been mistranscribed, for instance, pdf p.5 it says: "
126,125 FIRST COMMANDO, 17E( 'G4. Silver tank" = Gobbledegook! The document writer has read
FEB '68 as 17E( 'G4 The pdf copy is full of similar errors!
(Although it is not necessarily incorrect to use -'ize' in UK English, however -'ise' [thus: 'recognised'] is the accepted UK spelling.)
Murray B said:
At any rate it id not just me because a fellow called Antonio asks the NOC. "I would like to know if my norton combat is the first version (1972) or the second (1973)..." See
http://www.nortonownersclub.org/noc-cha ... /222307002
And Antonio was given the correct answer: "This frame number it is not a combat but 750 commando MK5."
Murray B said:
isn't it a little surprising that KJW475K does not have fork gaiters like other '72 models?
No.:
http://www.classicbike.biz/Norton/Broch ... ochure.pdf
Although listed as "061115...Gaiter" in the 1972 parts book, the item is the short dust cover.
Only the 061115 item is listed for 1972.
http://www.nortonmotors.de/ANIL/Norton% ... 14&Part=10 Item [10]
MurrayB said:
09 12 1971 = 9th December 1971 This still shows that a 1972 model was produced in 1971 and you still have not given the factory switch over date. Let us assume it was in June as it was for the Chevrolet.
No need to assume anything. 1972 production commenced from serial number 200001. If you knew anything about Commando model changes you would know that didn't occur at any set time of the calendar year.
http://www.bmh.com.au/norton/index.php?id=modelnum
Murray B said:
What I did indicate was that there were later 1973 models that came from the factory with the improved Combat engine. This was well known for many years but the facts of history have been changed through the miracle of historical revision.
If a Combat-engined model had been produced during the 1973 season then there would be Combat parts in the 1973 parts book-but there aren't any.
There is no reference to any Combat model in the 1973 riders handbook, only "High" or "Low" compression 750 models.
Murray B said:
Then the Combat engine proved unreliable so they stopped using it and went to different engines instead. This left a great many Combat engines in inventory with weak main bearings and breakable pistons.
As I understand it, all remaining stocks of Combat engines were sent back to Wolverhampton and rebuilt in detuned form. The weak piston design problem had already been corrected by then.
Murray B said:
It is absurd to think they disposed of all of those engines or that they discarded the expensive bits like the heads and camshafts which were not the problem.
It would have been preferable to going bust, which would have happened due to all the Combat warranty claims if they had continued making them even in improved form!
Murray B said:
The second version Combat Interstate was one of the finest sport bikes ever made and it is a crime against history to erase it. Many people who think they have a 1972 model with the Combat engine may well have a '73 if was produced late enough in 1972. The revisonists have done nothing to help sort this out.
What you consider to be a second Combat version is probably the high comp. MkV. If you wish to call that a Combat it's up to you. I can only refer you back to the September 1972 factory service release:
Introduction of the current 32mm carburetter version
of the standard Commando engine unit, replacing the
previous 'Combat' specification (w.e.f. engine number
211110) has necessitated the introduction of two new
cylinder heads......
