Grant's Featherbed Special

The final thing to do was to fit the drain plug.



It's a little one, because it's a Combat engine, so no big nut with integrated filter.

I will be fitting a separate external filter anyway, so hopefully i'll be well covered for filtration.
 

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And there you go, we have arrived at the end of the next chapter.

The engine build is complete, and we are ready to drop it into the frame!
 

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So trick - lovely work. I wish I had the skill and could spend the time on my motor that you do. I am green... :mrgreen:

You should consider painting in the Norton relief black, per your avatar. I always liked that - think it is super sexy.
 
Time to turn our attention to the front end.

First up, fitting new bearings and distance piece



Actually, that wasn't first up at all - I had originally planned on fitting tapered roller bearings, instead of these sealed standard ones, and doing away with the distance piece.

I ended up removing my new bearings, and fitting standard ones though before I had even gotten the chance to assemble them properly.
I don't know why, but several people that supposedly know better than I do got really het up, emotional, animated and upset with me about this.
Comments like it'll be dangerous, you'll kill yourself and it will never work were being banded about.



Knowing what I know now, i will not hesitate to fit tapered roller bearings next time I have cause to pull the front end apart again.
 

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The frame is now even more stripped down than it was when I started playing with engines, as I have removed the swinging arm and shocks too - more on that later.



Before I assembled the yokes (triple trees) I wanted to fit a new frame plate.

The frame number on a featherbed is on the left side gusset, and in my case (as with many others) there is a hole drilled through half a number (the hole is for the rear sets) and there is a thick powder coat - both of these factors makes it difficult to read the number.

The previous owner had fashioned an aluminium dog tag, and glued it to the headstock, but i wanted to replace it with something a little better looking.

This frame plate is totally mickey mouse, and does not resemble anything from the factory, but i think it looks quite good.
 

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The yokes i went for are these items from Matt at Colorado Norton Works.



I like the clean lines, and simplicity of them.
I won't be running clip-ons - i have decided to go for a straight bar - it's a good compromise between the Racer look of clip-ons and something that is a little more comfortable for a longer ride.


Also, i think sitting up a little more will be a lot safer in today's traffic queues.
 

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Assembling the yokes with the bearing cover and washers was a straightforward job



Rather than the tab washer which you deform over the retaining nut, i decided to use locktight instead
 

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The top yoke looks grreat, and with a gentle whack of the rubber mallet seated perfectly on the new top bearing



Then we good attach the bottom yoke, and torque it up.
Because there is a distance piece between the two bearings, you torque this up as tight as you dare - i use a long breaker bar to do this
 

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The stop is a home made jobby - which should hopefully prevent the bars from clonking the tank.

It's made from a piece a stainless, and the back is scalloped so that it sits squarely on the headstock and can't move around.

The stop is bolt through to a curved piece of material that we tapped out to receive the bolt - it's not ideal, but i think it looks ok.
 
The forks will be interesting, and are made up of a real mish mash of parts.

I went for Manx stanchions - these are a lot shorter than the ES2 items, and of course the Commando ones

  • Commando 23 inches
  • ES2 21 3/4 inches
  • Manx 20 1/2 inches



Jim Schmidt's Slippery Turcite fork bushings should take care of a smooth action - i have always been curious about using advanced plastics for jobs like this, so thought this is a great opportunity to give it a try!



Check them out at Jim's site http://www.jsmotorsport.com another Norton Guru, whose workmanship is truly top notch!
 

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Stanchion bush fitted with no problems



Make sure the circlip locates with a positive click
 

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The Turcite top bush just slides on.


Turcite is an interesting material - from what I understand it is similar to Delrin in its properties, in that it is a non-stick, hard wearing type of material. Based around PTFE and Acetal

It is internally lubricating (also referred to as self-lubricating) and has almost zero water absorption.

it has very good heat and wear resistance, and boasts a lengthy service life.

Just like Teflon and Delrin, Turcite is a trade name.
 

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Time to turn our attention to the sliders.

I won't be using mudguard (fender) stays, so these are excess to requirements...



...that should upset the rivet counters!!!!
 

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That's looking better already!!!
 

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Right slider filed, then sanded smooth
 

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And the same love, care and attention for the left side
 

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I thought I would go for these Ariete fork seals.

The size is 35x48x11 and I got them from eBay

Beware of counterfeit products on this one - ALL Ariete parts come in branded packaging with printed instructions, and a sachet of lube
 

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The Ariete seals are really nice quality, and feel like they will last a longtime, and will not leak.

Have a look at their website for more info about these seals - they use an interesting compound which offers good wear resistance.
I also really like the twin spring design (top and bottom) Broken link removed
 

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The seal needed a slight polish up around the outer edge so that it would fit nicely into the slider.
 

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With the stanchion, bushes and seals installed, i could then fit the retaining nut to hold all the goodies in!
 

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