Thank you ,
At least that will give me a place to start looking .
All the import papers into Australia from California said was it was a 69 Commando .
When I get some life skills I will post a photo of the bike and as you will see it definitely wasnt a Fastback originally as it has the small triangular side panels and the center mounted oil tank which compromises the space for the air cleaner behind the 34 mm Mikuni a fair bit (It uses a cut down K and N filter which isnt exactly conducive to optimal high speed running though .
If i can just find out by the Chasis no what it is based on as I am not pedantic about matching no,s etc . obviously with an 850 engine but was wondering if it had originally come out with a Combat engine that probably self destructed hence the 850 but the clutch and gearbox is still the earlier version .
Can anyone tell me if ,when built the engine ,gearbox and chasis numbers were the same as all my reseach says is they were a bit haphazard at times with this .
Once I fitted a O ring to the clutch push rod shaft ,it solved the gearbox oil seeping along the pushrod onto the clutch plates problem which eventually caused the clutch slip .
This is a modification that everyone should do if the haven't already . Just my thoughts based on my experience on that one .
I think they changed the steering geometry from the early model and went to a wider front tyre to make them more stable ,as try as I might I couldnt solve the 85 mph Norton weave but a steering damper fixed that problem .
and so the search continues .
Hi ,Thanks for the info re the Greg Marsh register .
It has a wealth of info about Compliance plates ,where they are on different models ,what side of the headstock the frame numbers are stamped on etc .
My bike has the frame number 130727 stamped on the compliance plate which had been painted over .not sure whether this was done in the USA as the bike supposedly came from California or by the supposed Norton expert in Australia I bought the bike off .
Here it gets more interesting .
After reading the info on Gregs Norton register I used some actetone to remove the black paint off the compliance tag that was factory riveted in place .
I believe this plate was initially painted red and had info like date manufactured ,model type etc written on it but the frame number was actually stamped on this plate .
What I have found is that all that information has been sanded off (roughly too by the way ) but the stamped number would be original as that area is untouched .
Why was that done ? what could be achieved as if the bike was stolen or a write off you would still be able to tell by the frame number stamped on this plate .
Only thing i can think of is like in Australia if you fit a different engine in a car, you have to get a machinery inspection done a modified compliance plate to make it legal.
By removing the original information ,somewhere this has been bypassed and the 850 engine fitted .
With the info from the register regarding the size of the frame tubing ,at least I have found that it was the British made version using Reynolds imperial size tubing and not the metric size the Italians used.
That alone is a story in itself .
According to what the register has to say if i have read it correctly ,750,s after 1968 have no frame number ,68 and early 69 750,s had serial number stamped into the headstock and depending on where they were made it could be on the left or right side .
So in theory ,mine with a riveted compliance plate would ba a later model .
the plot thickens
Wheelie
This went on for a whole summer. He had no mechanical skills whatsoever and got frustrated so he sold it to me for $500. When I brought it home, my dad was giving me a hard time about buying it.
