My '73 850 rebuild..

Disassembly begins this weekend! Hoping to get the motor pulled and painted, the clutch rebuilt with my new Barnett plates, and maybe more.. Can't wait!

-Jordan

Oh dear god..

The clutch basket was all wrong--hardly tight AT ALL. I'm glad we never took this thing up to highway speeds or the damn thing would have very likely blown apart, there was so much play in the basket..

Jeeeeesus. What the hell are some people thinking?!

-Jordan

Exhaust removed, shot inside the motor:




More filthy crud:


Exhaust on the floor. Maybe we can clean these up, coat them with something black, and find a use for them (not really worried about it at this point):


Draining the primary and removing the stator:




Pulling the clutch basket:




Gutting the rest of the inner primary:



Primary completely removed:


Not sure what the hell someone was thinking when they painted the bottom end. It's disgusting and is flaking off (thankfully). We will scour it all off and then the bottom end and barrels will be painted flat black with VHT paint:




Primary, in a box:


Some controls, in a box:


Barnett clutch plates:


Emgo kickstarter:


New handlebars (US Bend):


Chainguard, in a box:



More disgusting crud on the motor:



Mikuni:



Now with the motor removed; transmission still in (for now) because didn't have the correct socket to remove the sprocket:


Some pictures of the motor, removed:





The bike as I left it:


-Jordan

No lock washers on the stator? Do I see a missing link on the primary chain or is that an illusion? Why black jugs? It's a '73.

850cmndo said:

No lock washers on the stator? Do I see a missing link on the primary chain or is that an illusion? Why black jugs? It's a '73.

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Mmm, not sure on the lock washer. It's poorly adjusted (uneven) which probably explains why my alt light was coming on..

Primary chain looked fine as far as I remember.

The jugs don't look right. They look like someone coated them with some sort of epoxy that makes them look almost like plastic.

I assume this is the same thing the bottom end was coated with (it didn't take it very well as it's all chipping off)..

Nevertheless, I'll probably end up painting the entire motor (sans MAYBE the head) black, just like dad's Nortumph.

I'm really not worried in the least about what it's 'supposed' to look like, being a '73 and all. I think it'd be weird to have the bottom end be black, the barrels that creamy not-quite-gray color, and then the head silver/black/whatever. Just my opinion.

-Jordan

"sorry".

850cmndo said:

"sorry".

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lol, I didn't mean to sound snippy.. I'm just noting that I'm not trying to restore the bike to be 100% "correct". That being said, I don't want to do anything so shameful to it as was done to the god-awful chopper we bought..

-Jordan

Looks like slow progress, but progress none the less. Are you tearing the whole motor down or just doing the top end? What was the mileage on the bike or suspected mileage? I like the silver barrel models better than the black barrels, but both of mine are black.

britbike220 said:

Looks like slow progress, but progress none the less. Are you tearing the whole motor down or just doing the top end? What was the mileage on the bike or suspected mileage? I like the silver barrel models better than the black barrels, but both of mine are black.

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We're getting there, slowly but surely. It's kind of rough because I usually only get a bit of time during the weekend to go work on the bike.

I don't think we're planning on tearing the entire motor down as it ran fine before we took the bike apart. I don't know--that whole thing is up to my dad on how far he thinks we NEED to take it.

We suspect there are approximately 35,000 miles on the bike, but whether or not that's legitimate, I don't know.

Silver barrels are all well and good, but I don't see mine as 'silver'. They're some cruddy 'cream' color that looks very blah to me.

-Jordan

Good series of pictures, there's nothing better than a well documented rebuild. I'm over in Lawrence, slowly cleaning up a 74 Roadster that's mostly ok, with the exception of a damaged gas tank. I'm eventually going to take the tank over to TC Concepts in Topeka to get the tank fixed. Regarding your pipes and mufflers, isn't there a chrome shop in Topeka? You might be able to get them rechromed, but I don't know if it would be cost effective.

cyclegeezer said:

Good series of pictures, there's nothing better than a well documented rebuild. I'm over in Lawrence, slowly cleaning up a 74 Roadster that's mostly ok, with the exception of a damaged gas tank. I'm eventually going to take the tank over to TC Concepts in Topeka to get the tank fixed. Regarding your pipes and mufflers, isn't there a chrome shop in Topeka? You might be able to get them rechromed, but I don't know if it would be cost effective.

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The exhaust that came off the bike isn't in such great condition. One muffler was welded on, and they did a rather piss-poor job with it, so I consider that one likely to be scrap. It could maybe be fixed up, but probably isn't worth it.

The downpipes look OK and the other muffler is fine, although very grungy.

I bought another exhaust on eBay that will work just fine until I feel like dumping $300 on a brand new exhaust from CommandoSpecialties.

My bike was OK, all things considered (no MAJOR problems to note), but it needed to be taken down to be freshened up and to have some of the "WTF?!?!" things that were done to it removed/made right.

Lawrence, eh? That's too bad..lol

-Jordan

Lawrence, eh? That's too bad..lol

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Yeah, I'm kinda surprised the sun came up today, seeing how the 'Hawks lost last night.

cyclegeezer said:

Lawrence, eh? That's too bad..lol

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Yeah, I'm kinda surprised the sun came up today, seeing how the 'Hawks lost last night.

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lol.. We lose every weekend--nothing new at this point. D'oh.

Great thread Jordan, and I LUV all the pics !!! Seems like about ALL, the Brit bikes I've had ... had to do mostly what yer doing now. It IS alot of work, but great satisfaction to have the bike all "sorted" when yer done. And ... the peace of mind and knowledge you did it yourself. These Brit bikes are great for the novice mechanic, as there is nothing hard to rebuild on them, IMHO. Now rebuilding a Honda CB750 motor or a KZ1000 ... that I've steered cleared of and just bought good used motors for my projects. Keep up the good work !!!

nortriubuell said:

Great thread Jordan, and I LUV all the pics !!! Seems like about ALL, the Brit bikes I've had ... had to do mostly what yer doing now. It IS alot of work, but great satisfaction to have the bike all "sorted" when yer done. And ... the peace of mind and knowledge you did it yourself. These Brit bikes are great for the novice mechanic, as there is nothing hard to rebuild on them, IMHO. Now rebuilding a Honda CB750 motor or a KZ1000 ... that I've steered cleared of and just bought good used motors for my projects. Keep up the good work !!!

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I think it's hilarious that the guy whom I bought the bike from insisted that the bike was "good to ride home" and that I could just fly up to Chicago and bring it back nearly a thousand miles..

If I had tried, I would've never posted on this forum because I would've likely died on the way back. I can't believe some of the backward sh!t that's been done to this bike. YIKES.

The thing that's even worse is that the PO included some sales receipts for RECENT work and we've already found that a lot of it was downright awful. This is why you don't take a Norton to an average motorcycle/Harley shop! Yeesh. I'm certainly a novice with this, but dad's not. I'm trying to pick up what I can as we tear my bike down and bring it back from hell. Maybe once this is done, I'll know enough to really pitch in and rebuild dad's '70 Interstate.

Oh, and on a sidenote, I need to find a new chain (the one that was on it was just...awful. I can't even put it into words..). Does anyone know if Domi-Racer sells one that will work? I've looked on their site, even entering the part number (064025, 017376) that I found from the part diagram, and I came up with nothing. But I have a sizable order to place with Domi so it would be great if I could pick up a chain while I'm at it.

-Jordan

Curious since the bike came from up in this area, who did some of the previous work? It's funny how everyone thinks the last person that worked on a bike did a terrible job. I have had my share for sure and I am sure some of my work has been scornfully looked upon as well, but it's really about the learning which you are doing, so nothing lost and rest assured when you are done you will know your Norton and that is the best feeling. 530 chain is what you are looking for. Depends on what you want to spend. I usually buy cheap rk heavy duty chain and sometimes DID which is a bit more expensive and you can find chain at any motorcycle shop or JC whitney. Cheap may stretch faster if you are into running hard, but for my delicate riding style the cheap stuff works fine for old bikes and generally lasts two seasons. I'm sure there will be lots of other suggestions, 520 conversions x and o ring blah, blah, blah, but you can keep it simple for regular street riding.

http://www.oldbritts.com/nor_comm_73_10.html

You need a 100 link 530 chain. The best place I have found is ebay. I've been picking up 520 x-ring chains for under $50. The difference is 530 has a 3/8" thick sprocket, 520 has a 1/4" thick sprocket. I don't ride enough to come close to wear anything out. So lack of maintainance is what I was going for. I'll probably get 20+ years out of my chains at the rate i'm going. I was at the local bearing supply house. They sell SS roller 530 chain. No rust and long life in a 530 size. That is what I was thinking of using before I found my inexpensive x-ring 520 chain.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/530-X-10 ... 20b0f0781e

here is a standard 530 100 link chain for $21.50 shipped.

britbike220 said:

Curious since the bike came from up in this area, who did some of the previous work? It's funny how everyone thinks the last person that worked on a bike did a terrible job. I have had my share for sure and I am sure some of my work has been scornfully looked upon as well, but it's really about the learning which you are doing, so nothing lost and rest assured when you are done you will know your Norton and that is the best feeling. 530 chain is what you are looking for. Depends on what you want to spend. I usually buy cheap rk heavy duty chain and sometimes DID which is a bit more expensive and you can find chain at any motorcycle shop or JC whitney. Cheap may stretch faster if you are into running hard, but for my delicate riding style the cheap stuff works fine for old bikes and generally lasts two seasons. I'm sure there will be lots of other suggestions, 520 conversions x and o ring blah, blah, blah, but you can keep it simple for regular street riding.

http://www.oldbritts.com/nor_comm_73_10.html

Click to expand...

I don't catch a lot of things that dad catches (the 30+ years of working on Nortons that he has on me is probably the reason), but it's very obvious that someone wrenched on this bike without so much as picking up the shop manual. Other things, like the fact that 75% of the bolts have been finger-tight, are much more obvious--and frightening. It's hard to fathom just how unsafe this bike really was when we picked it up..

I'll have dad bring in the receipts so I can get you info on who did work on it before.

My bike has definitely seen rough times in its life, but hopefully it won't have to go through that ever again. I don't ride much (distance) and I really don't go too fast, either, especially on bikes given the circumstances.

-Jordan

bwolfie said:

You need a 100 link 530 chain. The best place I have found is ebay. I've been picking up 520 x-ring chains for under $50. The difference is 530 has a 3/8" thick sprocket, 520 has a 1/4" thick sprocket. I don't ride enough to come close to wear anything out. So lack of maintainance is what I was going for. I'll probably get 20+ years out of my chains at the rate i'm going. I was at the local bearing supply house. They sell SS roller 530 chain. No rust and long life in a 530 size. That is what I was thinking of using before I found my inexpensive x-ring 520 chain.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/530-X-10 ... 20b0f0781e

here is a standard 530 100 link chain for $21.50 shipped.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

-Jordan

No problem, that is why we are all here, to share the collected knowlege, then exaggerate it and complain about it!!