Homemade Z plates

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acadian

acadian

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I've been contemplating what to do with my stock z plates for some time now as the rear extension has always bothered me (bike is a solo rider, and I don't need the lower exhaust mounts). I didn't want to go hacking away at the originals, and I can't afford some of the aftermarket versions available, so I picked up some alloy plate at a good price and tried my hand at fabbing up a custom set.

I'm pretty happy with the results, using the original as a template I got everything lined up just right, and they ended being 10oz lighter than the stockers.. it's the small things that personalize a bike, isn't it?

Homemade Z plates


Homemade Z plates
 
Those look real trick mounted up ! you will prolly start getting orders for them , good on you !
 
They look really good
Do you have a photo of the gear change side?
 
Sharp. Really nice. Like the brake pedal also. You've got some nice custom work going.

I wanna see it all. Don't tease please because if that looks good I'm wondering about the rest of it....
 
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You could have just copied the Norvil ones but you would need the PR exhaust hangers.
 
jbruney said:
Sharp. Really nice. Like the brake pedal also. You've got some nice custom work going.

I wanna see it all. Don't tease please because if that looks good I'm wondering about the rest of it....
Click to expand...

She's is bits right now while I finish up with the new motor, but this is a fairly recent pic... the rearsets are from Don (Madass) who you can find on the forum

Homemade Z plates
 
Nicely sized and spaced holes in your Z plates acadian.

And may I enquire about your seat? Is it from Glass From the Past?
 
Very nice !
I notice you have all kinds of stuff hidden in there. Don’s single cable carb plate, oil pressure sender and I like your oil pressure gauge. Never seen one mounted there on a Norton before. I bet somewhere in there is a Comstock reed valve too.
 
Fast Eddie said:
Nicely sized and spaced holes in your Z plates acadian.

And may I enquire about your seat? Is it from Glass From the Past?
Click to expand...

No, it's from Legendary, but a model they've discontinued, there's another member here who has the same seat. There was quite a bit of fabrication required to get it to fit right (basically chopping and re-glassing the entire front portion), and the provided pad did not fit properly so I had a custom one made. All in all, too much labour to get it where I wanted it, I could have formed a custom seat myself... but the integral LED taillight is cool!

Deets55 said:
Very nice !
I notice you have all kinds of stuff hidden in there. Don’s single cable carb plate, oil pressure sender and I like your oil pressure gauge. Never seen one mounted there on a Norton before. I bet somewhere in there is a Comstock reed valve too.
Click to expand...

I mounted the gauge there partly because I didn't want to drill mounts into my aftermarket yokes, partly because I only had so much braided oil line, and mostly because I didn't want the temptation of staring at it while riding (I have Don's warning light for catastrophic failure).

Homemade Z plates

Homemade Z plates


There is a comstock sump-plug breather in that engine, but for the new motor I machined the cases for his rear mounted version. The sump plug version works great, but the only thing I don't like is that there's no provision for quickly draining the sump, I've got a sump plug with a small magnetic drain plug that I'm now able to reuse with the rear mounted breather.

Homemade Z plates
 
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Arcadian
Something for your consideration...
When I made some alloy modesty plates for my featherbed 500 single (needed to as the Commando primary cases shifted the gearbox forward) I found the plain plates to look a bit stark
So, copying the idea from Commando Z-plates, I carved a pattern into the alloy using a hand-held router with a timber bit - you can see it in one of the photos.
It actually works very well - the temperature of the plate gives fairly instant feedback if you're going too fast.
I finished of with emery cloth (not named after Les methinks), fine abrasive paper then polished.
I like the look of the final product (biased, of course!)

Homemade Z plates

Homemade Z plates

Homemade Z plates

Homemade Z plates

Homemade Z plates
Homemade Z plates
 

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robs ss said:
Arcadian
Something for your consideration...
When I made some alloy modesty plates for my featherbed 500 single (needed to as the Commando primary cases shifted the gearbox forward) I found the plain plates to look a bit stark
So, copying the idea from Commando Z-plates, I carved a pattern into the alloy using a hand-held router with a timber bit - you can see it in one of the photos.
It actually works very well - the temperature of the plate gives fairly instant feedback if you're going too fast.
I finished of with emery cloth (not named after Les methinks), fine abrasive paper then polished.
I like the look of the final product (biased, of course!)

View attachment 8665
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View attachment 8669 View attachment 8670
Click to expand...

Very nicely done, and kudos on the router management. Is that walnut (or maybe Ipe?) you've used for the side panel?
 
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