Head Removal

I have one, I bought it just for that purpose.

Mart UK said:

I have one, I bought it just for that purpose.

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Perfect. Thanks.

Over the years of going to swap meets I am always going through boxes of old tools/spanners and all, I have all my good tools hanging on my workshop bench wall, I also have a few tool boxes full of spare sockets and spanner and have lots to do mods on without upsetting my good tools, I still have my first ever socket/ring spanner set I brought new when I was 15 and my first dirt bike, I have a full set of metric, imperial and WW tools, socket, ring and open spanner all at hand reach and of course my home made special tools, every tool needed for all my bikes and every sets have their place set up for easy finding of what size I need, it's a very tidy set up but wish my bench kept tidy, nothing worst than looking for a missing tool that's not where it supposed to be.
And of course the junk pile on the bench in the second pic and under my work benches, just wish I kept it tidy like my tool board but I am always doing something, just out of the pic in the second pic under my bench is boxes of bits for my 1960 Manxman project build the head, barrels and crank are in the corner on top of the bench beside the press.

Ashley

WEM said:

Thanks, Greg. I use the AN site regularly and have never come across this item. Does it fit the rear centre head bolt without modification?

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Yes, and just as important, the body is thin enough to fit between he fins to give a little extra angle. A regular 12pt thinned down wrench sometimes still won't go on due to the narrow angle available.

I guess I was lucky as my 7/16" SAE ring spanner from my small combo set (Sears Craftsman I think) fit the rear center nut on my mkII 850 just fine.

ashman said:

Over the years of going to swap meets I am always going through boxes of old tools/spanners and all, I have all my good tools hanging on my workshop bench wall, I also have a few tool boxes full of spare sockets and spanner and have lots to do mods on without upsetting my good tools, I still have my first ever socket/ring spanner set I brought new when I was 15 and my first dirt bike, I have a full set of metric, imperial and WW tools, socket, ring and open spanner all at hand reach and of course my home made special tools, every tool needed for all my bikes and every sets have their place set up for easy finding of what size I need, it's a very tidy set up but wish my bench kept tidy, nothing worst than looking for a missing tool that's not where it supposed toView attachment 102357View attachment 102358 be.
And of course the junk pile on the bench in the second pic and under my work benches, just wish I kept it tidy like my tool board but I am always doing something, just out of the pic in the second pic under my bench is boxes of bits for my 1960 Manxman project build the head, barrels and crank are in the corner on top of the bench beside the press.

Ashley

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Like to the Ratsak bottle . Pesky little buggers .
Also the tennis balls are good for jamming in between the sidecover and battery when the stoopid strap snaps .
Single shock needs a mate .
Enjoy .

ashman said:

Over the years of going to swap meets I am always going through boxes of old tools/spanners and all, I have all my good tools hanging on my workshop bench wall, I also have a few tool boxes full of spare sockets and spanner and have lots to do mods on without upsetting my good tools, I still have my first ever socket/ring spanner set I brought new when I was 15 and my first dirt bike, I have a full set of metric, imperial and WW tools, socket, ring and open spanner all at hand reach and of course my home made special tools, every tool needed for all my bikes and every sets have their place set up for easy finding of what size I need, it's a very tidy set up but wish my bench kept tidy, nothing worst than looking for a missing tool that's not where it supposed toView attachment 102357View attachment 102358 be.
And of course the junk pile on the bench in the second pic and under my work benches, just wish I kept it tidy like my tool board but I am always doing something, just out of the pic in the second pic under my bench is boxes of bits for my 1960 Manxman project build the head, barrels and crank are in the corner on top of the bench beside the press.

Ashley

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Nortons, Triumphs AND EH Holdens, no one can accuse you of bad taste!

I have one of those whitworth spanners made by heating and bending a straight one that EBay sold me nice and cheap. I’ve not had to use it yet, but it’s there if needed.

WEM said:

Just wondering if anybody has come across a thin walled 1/4” Whitworth wrench for sale. I have a wrench I can ground down but I’d rather not mutilate a perfectly good wrench if I don’t have to. I’m trying to get to the 1/4” Whitworth nut located under the rear of the head between the cylinders.

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I bought a King Dick brand one for this job. Worked a treat.

Torontonian said:

Like to the Ratsak bottle . Pesky little buggers .
Also the tennis balls are good for jamming in between the sidecover and battery when the stoopid strap snaps .
Single shock needs a mate .
Enjoy .

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The rats love my shed lots of places to hide but the ratsak knocks them and usually find dead ones outside as they dehydrate and go outside to look for water after a good feed of ratsak, I have a blue cattle dog and it loves tennis balls, the shock under the bench the box it's in are full of old shocks but the one you see is a set of Ikon shocks that were given to me they were near new as one spring had paint chipped off it and the old owner removed them to put a set of Gazi shocks on his Triumph (Kim has since pasted away last year), I was running them on my old Thruxton but remover them when I sold it the Ikon shocks are the same as my old Koni shocks on my Norton so have a spare set as my old Koni's are 44 years old now, I would have fitted them to my new WC 1200 Thruxton but the rear shocks are 25mm longer so ended buying a new set for the Thruxton 1200 S, I am a big fan of Koni/Ikon shocks all rebuildable and simple in adjustments and handle great.
Under my workbench is my parts and junk shelves, very messy there but I know where everything is, on the left hand side of the work bench left to the side of the vice and out of the pic is my bar/beer fridge and under it is my compressor, at the end of the right workbench is my mezzanine floor and under that is my big slot car track, I have everything in my shed to amuse me and keep me occupied.

Ashley

Satan's Aardvark said:

Nortons, Triumphs AND EH Holdens, no one can accuse you of bad taste!

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I owned a hot EH ute before I married was my pride and joy then married and kids came along, no room for baby seats, to this day I regret selling it, was the only one that had no rust at all, it had a hot 202 motor with triple SUs the motor was built for a race ski boat but ended up in the EH, here is a pic of it on my honeymoon.

Ash..... You went on honeymoon and took pictures of your car???????????

Tornado said:

I guess I was lucky as my 7/16" SAE ring spanner from my small combo set (Sears Craftsman I think) fit the rear center nut on my mkII 850 just fine.

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this is the 1/4"W nut?
1/4W is 0.525 AF, while the 7/16 SAE is 0.4375" according to the link from Tech post:

YukoNorton said:

this is the 1/4"W nut?
1/4W is 0.525 AF, while the 7/16 SAE is 0.4375" according to the link from Tech post:

Spanner Jaw Sizes

Useful guide on spanner to nut/bolt relationships, and the selection and use of spanners and socket sets

www.crawford-space.co.uk

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It is a 12 point ring 7/16 SAE spanner and it does the job on the two lower front hex sleeve and rear hex stock 850 nuts. I have since replaced the rear nut with an ARP 12 point nut when fitting new SAE studs with helicoils. The ARP nut gives more nut to head fin clearance.

EstuaryBoy said:

Ash..... You went on honeymoon and took pictures of your car???????????

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Of course my wife knows her place on the pecking order, the bikes are number one of course, well the EH was parked outside the love shack and we just came back from fishing the morning tide why the fishing rods hanging out the back of the ute.

Haven’t updated in a while. Head came off pretty easily as per method in Shop Manual. I had soaked every nut or bolt I could reach with penetrating oil several times over the course of a week or so. Only hiccup was the nut on the stud at Position #10 on the head tightening sequence chart is frozen to the stud so the stud unscrewed from the barrel rather than the nut unscrewing from the stud. Threads on stud are fine. Just wondering when I go to put that stud back in the barrel if it should be loctited in place or just threaded back in with cleaned up threads?

WEM said:

Haven’t updated in a while. Head came off pretty easily as per method in Shop Manual. I had soaked every nut or bolt I could reach with penetrating oil several times over the course of a week or so. Only hiccup was the nut on the stud at Position #10 on the head tightening sequence chart is frozen to the stud so the stud unscrewed from the barrel rather than the nut unscrewing from the stud. Threads on stud are fine. Just wondering when I go to put that stud back in the barrel if it should be loctited in place or just threaded back in with cleaned up threads?

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I clean and then blue Loctite all studs that screw into a hole. IMHO, the less they screw in and out the better. With blue Loctite that are still easy enough to get out when needed.

marshg246 said:

I clean and then blue Loctite all studs that screw into a hole. IMHO, the less they screw in and out the better. With blue Loctite that are still easy enough to get out when needed.

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When I did my first and still only head R&R, advice I got from others here was to not use locktite on the studs, only finger nipped up studs into head, and no anti seize on nuts. I can't see much problem with locktite of a stud, save for potentially needing some heat at removal.

ashman said:

Very hard finding a thin wall spanner best to buy another one and grind it down just for that job, I have a few old ring spanner and sockets that I have ground down for those tight areas, they hang on my tool board just for those special bolts/nuts and not used on any other nut/bolts, I have a full set of WW sockets/ring and open ended spanners for my Norton and ground down special spanner/sockets for everything on my bike.

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That's what I did, but was lucky to have been given two complete sets of wrenches, spared the 'King Dick' set and went at the other with a grinder.

marshg246 said:

Thin wall works - this works better: https://andover-norton.co.uk/en/shop-details/18702/combination-spanner-1-4-whitworth-obstruction-

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WEM said:

Thanks, Greg. I use the AN site regularly and have never come across this item. Does it fit the rear centre head bolt without modification?

Click to expand...

marshg246 said:

Yes, and just as important, the body is thin enough to fit between he fins to give a little extra angle. A regular 12pt thinned down wrench sometimes still won't go on due to the narrow angle available.

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Caveat! I just finished an 850 where the fins behind the nut interfered. I had to grind a little off the wrench and then it was fine. This is the first engine of many it didn't just slip right on. Also, not as important, but the body would not fit between the fins so it took more turning than usual.