Norton 650SS engine rebuild woes

Big ports mean big carbies. Big carbies means loosing some bottom end power and torque... don't go over 30mm.

Just wow...
I'm amazed at the posts from the past couple of days.
I've been around British motorcycles since the middle 50's. I can not recall anyone in the past 55 or so years that has been a bigger pain in the rear than this BenG guy. All of the people I have EVER run across in this hobby, have been open and helpfull in giving those that may not know as much or those little tricks of the trade that make a job go well...
I for one, enjoy reading about peoples projects and how they solve the problems we all face.

Don't fan the flames, he has been quiet for a while, probably took his meds :wink:

Jean

Jeandr said:

Don't fan the flames, he has been quiet for a while, probably took his meds :wink:

Jean

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LOL,

NO..... I just had a few shots of Jack and its all good.

Been busy buffing my parts, and its no ones business how happy it makes me I don't need a crowd to cheer me on, I do fine by myself.

Caferider said:

LOL,NO..... I just had a few shots of Jack and its all good.Been busy buffing my parts, and its no ones business how happy it makes me I don't need a crowd to cheer me on, I do fine by myself.

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Good god does this mean you are really beng

britbike220 said:

Caferider said:

LOL,NO..... I just had a few shots of Jack and its all good.Been busy buffing my parts, and its no ones business how happy it makes me I don't need a crowd to cheer me on, I do fine by myself.

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Good god does this mean you are really beng

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Nope ....LOL... Just the facts ma m ....Just the facts

I kind of hate to bring this thread back to the 650 motor, but why did you decide to build a 650 ?

I have an Atlas project that i'm slowly collecting parts for and have thought about finding a 650 motor for it. Partly to be different and partly becasue I'm not sure my hands will agree with the vibration of a solid mounted 750. The performance should be close enough to the 750 that I won't get squashed by trucks on the highway...

Greg

gjr said:

I kind of hate to bring this thread back to the 650 motor, but why did you decide to build a 650 ?

I have an Atlas project that i'm slowly collecting parts for and have thought about finding a 650 motor for it. Partly to be different and partly becasue I'm not sure my hands will agree with the vibration of a solid mounted 750. The performance should be close enough to the 750 that I won't get squashed by trucks on the highway...

Greg

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Well I kinda had to, considering it was a numbers matching 650SS to start with, other wise I would have gone a different rout with the engine.

gjr said:

I kind of hate to bring this thread back to the 650 motor, but why did you decide to build a 650 ?

I have an Atlas project that i'm slowly collecting parts for and have thought about finding a 650 motor for it. Partly to be different and partly becasue I'm not sure my hands will agree with the vibration of a solid mounted 750. The performance should be close enough to the 750 that I won't get squashed by trucks on the highway...

Greg

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Who told you the Atlas was faster than the 650SS? I thinkl they were exaggerating.

possm said:

but beauty is in the eyes[hands] of the beholder[restorer] and our views are not all the same. the awards that my restorations have gained speak for themselves

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To me this all seems strange. That in public, the public has to either nod and smile or be silent, or they are persecuted. No one is allowed to have an opposite or critical comment? What sort of world is that to live in?

Awards won at bike shows are something to be proud of? When those giving awards all have bikes "re-done" with the exact same equipment and methods to look all the same, what does the award mean except that you know how to conform or that you have been brain-washed?

It is easy to look up photos of a fifties Manx Norton that won an award at the Pebble Beach show. For what? It has obviously wrong parts on it and a lot of non-original finishing on many parts. So what was the award for, shiniest trinket? Awards mean nothing, there is one out there for every piece of dogshit with a different curl to it.

I rode two Norton motorcycles over a few decades for fun and practical transportation. Sometimes I raced them, and at sometimes they were the only way I had to get to work as I was too poor to own an automobile. The sort of comments made most often about the bikes I rode were on how I could "improve" it's looks. One fellow said, despite the seat being as supplied when the bike was new, that I should have it's color changed. Others said that it needed "restored" or polished or cleaned.

Despite me not stripping the bike for bead-blasting, polishing and clear-coating, it continued to run very well and be reliable. I just never saw any good reason to make it into something besides what it was sold as, but I have over the years seen very, very many bad and poor reasons why people do "extra" work to bikes.

Of course there is something called ART, but if all the artists have the exact same formula to work to, the exact same tools and technique, and their work all is made to fit in and win an "award" for best fitting an already existing definition, then they are not being creative nor are they creating any more than someone making a cake from a recipe or out of a box.

Awards at current bike shows are for conforming. If someone showed up on a bike covered with paper cement and sequins it would be more a work of art than the rows upon rows of what there is now at bike shows.

Most of the cool a 650ss Norton has was all put into it at the factory. A contemporary provenance can add more cool, but this was not something that was purposely done. Those who strive to create cool and provenance out of thin air have their efforts move them in the exact opposite direction don't they?

I thought that the starter of this thread was the first one being nasty when he implied the only thing I could understand on the greatergreen website were "pretty pictures" .

So who is the one with the problem? The guy who only does what he has to so he can keep riding during day to day life? Or the guy who can not have a good time unless everyone around him nods and smiles, obsesses about polish, shine and his performance at "shows"?

I love motorcycling and I love bikes like I love my family. I see things that strike a bad chord and I speak up about it and I am not Mr. Popular. If I did act for the sake of popularity, I would consider my soul as being sold......

beng said:

I would consider my soul as being sold......

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Rebel truly without a cause... Dissing others doesn't elevate YOU. Even if you don't like a polished bike, it doesn't mean the one who does is doing something wrong, neither is the guy who brings an old bike to a like new condition. You can (politely as much as possible) tell everyone YOU wouldn't do what they are doing, but to tell them (impolitely) they are WRONG is not correct.

Jean

This guy needs a pill box that shows the days of the week. He certainly missed Monday.

Provenance..."Google"....... I could apply the term to my dwelling. I take care of it AND take pride in it's condition and that I've had it as long as I have. Some law against that too I suppose.

"critical comments"? How about scathing?

What color is the sky in his world?

"If I did act for the sake of popularity...". I'll vouch for the fact he certainly isn't. How did he get so good at this? Practice is one thing but c'mon.

I wonder what type of miserable life causes a person to dislike everyone and everything around them and then ask why they keep coming back to prove their misery?

I have no idea as to his whereabouts but perhaps he's a miner, left behind in Chile. That would leave me a bit miffed.

Or, like us, about to be snowed in, so using his comments to keep warm.

Got our obligatory 3-4 inches. You're next.

Hope you're not near a river this spring.

Nope, at the top of a hill with an exposed basment.

we are in line for 1-3 first round and then 12-15 tuesday through wed. I am sick of winter.

12-15!!!!! Good lord. Went to the INOA rally in Havana after all the flooding and the fields stunk. Gonna be some spring. The roads around here will be awful.