Norton 1927 16H Flat tanker a preservation restoration

Thanks Eddie yep I was really suprised she sounded really quiet which a pleasant suprise next job is to do some work on the carb float chamber

Decided to strip n clean the float chamber today pretty sure it's the Amac NY which is a large bottom feed float chamber. Gonna get stuck in on the rear wheel on Sunday then should be all set all being well for a test ride next week put the feelers out for the correct float lid as I've got a few ideas what might have caused an issue on me the other day relating to the current Lid.

Mike40M said:

Great looking. I believe it's a Lucas King of the road badge on the head lamp. Is it a carbide acetylene generator in front of the cylinder? Had heard people praising Lucas lights, before they went to electrics.

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An uncle of mine was into veteran bikes and cars. He used to reckon that on a good day with a well set up carbide system they were so good that you could almost see something in the dark, and on a bad day the light would dribble out the front and form a small puddle on the front guard.

Woop woop!!! First ride on the 1927 Norton 16H Flat tanker truly a life long dream come true after I got her last year n recommissioned her thanks to everyone's excellent advice. Thank you to everyone thats been a part of the journey so far and who helped to make it happen.


What a great way to start the year my neck injury is alot better to the point where I can kickstart the 16H probably still pushing it with the 650ss so rolling starts on that. Which means the 27' Norton just got bumped up the list of main bikes! So 2022 is going to be the year of the sidevalve for me once the WD 16H is going as well.


Really enjoyed the experience it was so different balancing all the different levers. Gave a whole new experience to riding motorcycles which was great n very refreshing as I use my 650ss as a daily so get lots of miles on that so the new experience was awesome!


I was also pleasantly suprised at how well the Druid forks soaked up the bumps as the roads I was on are far from smooth.


First ride on a girder fork bike as well. Few things I just wanna check out before I go further afield as the front end felt a little vague in corners in 2nd gear. Hopefully next week I'll be out on my 2nd ride down some country lanes!


I honestly didn't want to stop riding her! Hopefully the video captures the sheer happiness I was feeling.

Very nice !

Sounds more ‘throaty’ than I’d expected.

Wots yer plans with it then, wot runs etc ?

And… wot did yer do t’ yer neck ??

Congratulations Kiddo!

Thanks guys shes running great planning lots of rides as soon as I've moved I can firm them up looking at Devon or The Scottish Borders.

Tore a muscle Eddie was absolute agony.

Strange that I never chimed in, although I was following...

Such a cool old bike, well done!

Thanks Paul currently freezing working on the carb haha! Next workshop certainly a heater is right at the top of the list.

Absolutely lovely machine..... Color me green with envy.

Thanks mate hope you are keeping well.



Been working on the flat tank all day, managed to remove the exhaust valve cover n that was full of carbon so gave that a clean n then tried to remove the Inlet one but that's solid so sprayed a bit of WD on it. Looks like she's ready for a decoke from what I could see the good thing is cylinder walls looked in very nice condition from what I could see, going to give the Inlet one another go tomorrow after it's soaked for a bit.

Looks like I've managed to sort the carb as it was leaking from the float needle seat, gave it another go with the solvo for a bit longer then did the fluid test for a few hours n didn't leak put it back together and it seems ok up to now yay! I've also got a replacment amac needle and clip on the way just incase.

Hopefully going to go out on her again this week for a spin.

The bars on some machines of that period were often coated in a black celuloid that can be reasonably replicated with a few coats of Hammerite. Otherwise I would expect a Nickel plate.

Thanks Bob yep I've seen a few earlier bikes with the black celluloid on Still got traces of Nickel on my bars.

Wow first longer ride on the Flat Tank Norton 16H from 1927 I just want to say big thanks to everyone that stopped and offered assistance mainly Rick Hall a fellow member of the VMCC who offered to Van me home while I was having a bit of grief after spotting me out n pulled up typically at the furthest point from home as she was refusing to start.

Partly due to my neck giving me a massive amount of grief again and I'm pretty sure the timing has slipped. The only way I got it to start in the end as a last ditch was with some advance on the lever.

N she got home nice an well did sound slightly off though so that's for investigating I also think Im gonna try a KLG M80 that I got Nos for the war bike as the C3 was very sooted up really really shifts and has a great turn of speed.

If anyone is familiar with a best and Lloyd pump n could chime in it'd be appreciated I started with 200cc of oil n the sump on getting home I had 150 left pump is set on the 4th notch from off so going to turn that up. Just wondering as a rough guide where on the scale is everyone's set and is there any maintenence that can be done on the pumps.

That was a 22 Mile ride.

Gonna tilt the bike when I get back from picking some more oil up n see if I can get any more out.

Just want to say thanks to Bob for the ace conversation tonight always good to talk to like minded enthusiasts.

Managed to get a bit more oil out so probably say about 180 left out of the 200 that was pre filled so just going to tweak the pump up one notch.

Got a nos KLG m80 8k gonna gap n fit for the next ride.

Tomorrow's job is timing.

For those running wired on Rims what size did you go to?

The first time I went to the motorcycle museum, the slow walk round studying the bikes turned into a trot to the cafe when I got to the many flat tank models, they just didn't ring any bells.

This thread has made me want one, or at least ride one, I recon that would be the puppies privates round the Derbyshire lanes. I am currently reading the Norton Singles book by Roy Bacon the 16H gets a small mention.

I have a 350 Velo and the first time I went further that the end of the road, it did about 10 miles and then just stopped in traffic, it took a while and needed a push to get it going again, but stopped again about 5 miles later and this time wouldn't start again and needed a van to get home. The next time I tried, it started but started to run rough when hot, turned out to be the Mag, as it got hot the condenser was breaking down. I am not saying that was your problem but worth checking, and worth having a van follow you until you are confident it is going to keep going

Have you been far on the war bike?

Hi mate a book well worth getting that's an entertaining and passionate read is flat tank Norton by George Cohen. Superb and entertaining read with some terrific archival images that I've not seen anywhere else the Motorcycle Museum still have some copies.

I honestly reckon its one of the best things I've done Motorcycle wise. Just so much fun and you can really feel the history when riding it, I had my gopro on while I was out ill edit the footage today n get the video up at some point on Thursday want to try and give a bit of a conclusion to what I find as I work on her over the next day or so in the same video.

Certainly consult with the experts though on any one you go to view people like Chris Streather at Noc n VintageNorton. We came at alot of flat tanks that were blatant restamps an some with numbers that didn't exist and had quite a few long trips up to all parts of the country looking at a few.

In the end I got really lucky finding this one as the core of it numbers n providence were right which was the main thing n running issues as she hadn't ran for many years I was pretty sure I could handle n if not I could seek advice on how to get her right.

It was really surprising how well she got a move on very impressed. Pretty sure it's the c3 plug + the possibility of the timing being incorrectly set or the points gap by the previous owner as its the one thing I didn't check easy enough to do though n that's today's job after I get some sleep. That's a very good point though had that on an rd250c once. Unfortunately no van to do that but I would have pushed it back from where I was if needs be would have took most of the day / evening but better than waiting for breakdown n probably faster haha!

I've found though most stuff can always be sorted on the side of the road on the older bikes which is why I like them so much

Will be really interesting to try it with the Nos KLG M80 plug I've got.

I'm gonna get some sort of push bike speedo as well for when dad's not following me giving me a readout verbally over the headsets.

Funny you should mention the WD bike actually got a few bits for her this week so hoping to have that running in the next couple of weeks to exciting times!

Very interesting reading Tom. Seems you found a decent bike. The old sidevalve engines are surprisingly reliable, not much in them that can go wrong. Main problem is the tendency to overheat in congested traffic. And of course the brakes. Remember the pre cell phone days when a breakdown meant miles of pushing until finding a phone boot in order to call for help. But those early rigid frame bikes is quite light and easy to push.

Thanks Mike yep I think so to just the usual things to settle in made a load of progress today my new Amac float needle came along with a fresh clip properly sorted the remaining slight leak I had which is awesome also alot easier locating the float bowl lid now onto the tickler with it being the correct length the needle I removed was on its last legs on the seating area so that's a massive improvement.

Checked the timing by removing the compression tap and using an indicator in its place as per the Norton 1926 Manual as there isn't a 27 one. That seemed ship shape which is good.

Refilled the Sumps oil to 200ml again and I'm going to turn the pump up one notch and see if that keeps up with use as it wasn't replenishing about 1 ml per mile so 22ml in total for the 22 mile ride I did.

I did find a mention on page 13 of the 1928 Manual under decarbonising to fill the engine case with half a pint of
Engine oil after washing them out.

Probably gonna add some extra in the morning.

So from my reckoning that's imperial pint = 568ml so half of that is 284ml


Next step in the morning is to gap the Nos KLG M80 I've got originally according to the 1927 Parts list it would have had a KLG HS3.

Did find one thing wrong which was the carb top had spun itself off which would explain some of the starting issues as the slides would've been help open, which also explains the lever points on the carb lever changing when I was having trouble.

All in all a really productive day today got the video edited as well from the ride which came out really nice just waiting on that exporting and uploading on my phone.

Those float needles are on the wrong side of the rule.