Norton 880 long-term project

I was lovin that bike so much... Well, still do! but, the headlite & guages take away from it. My humble opinion is the headlight needs to be lower and tucked in closer to the forks and then lower the guages or put electronic minis on it.

The guage mount will be lowered by this afternoon, the Yamaha they mount to is totally different, they bolt up from underneath the yoke.

The headlight is a total bodge-up; I'm trying to figure out a set of "proper" brackets. The cast-in keyswitch socket on the top yoke is going to get hacked off later today, as well (thats the limitng factor right now).

I'm glad you are going to lower the headlight and guages. Norton had it about right there.

Lookin gooood GP.
Drop the clocks and the headlight, you be stylin. 8) 8)

Further along now. The brake discs arrived, so they got installed with some temporary spacers (still no bearings).

I cut down the meter mount bracket, lowered the headlight, and installed a bulb, ammeter, switch & 2 jewels. Definitely looks better.
Also installed a set of better sportbike bars (I hate drag bars), so that's an improvement.





Installed the timing & tranny covers, they still need to be polished before the actual build-out. Meanwhile, I sent out 3 Norton disc to be
skimmed & drilled, so the back brake will get a much nicer disk soon.



Had to resort to a Triumph ignition cover because the 2 Norton caps that I have are really scruffy. Not sure if the Nissin rear brake
master cylinder is going to co-exist with the kickstarter, but that's for later sorting...



Other than the front wheel bearings possibly getting installed, that's it for now till after next week.

Looks good.
I predict rear sets after a few rides.
Hyde used to make a decent one for the Mark III.

I just love your build threads, GrandPaul... thanks!

Makes me start thinking about looking for this winters' new project....

kfh

I don't know about rearsets, the seating position seems to be PERFECT for me...

I got the chain installed and was closing the shop when UPS rolled up with the gas cap; it'll go on tomorrow.

Seat is at the upholsterer being re-sealed after I swapped the bracket out, should be ready this evening.

I missed the details, what forks and hub are you using?

Kawasaki 636 forks, steering stem turned down and shortened to fit in OEM Norton sealed head bearings.

Kenny Dreer VR880 hub laced by Buchnan's with SS spokes to an Excel chromed aluminum drop-center rim.

Tokico (Kaw) calipers, Brembo discs.

Special wheel bearings to mate modern large-bore axle to small-bore hub made by Bufalo bearings; spacers to be custom machined.

That's interesting on rearsets. one of my next Norton projects is deciding where I want pegs and foot controls, that might bbe next winter at the rate I'm going.
I had so much other stuff going on when I rode the bike the last few times that annoyed me to give much thought to the riding position. Stuff like hard starting, kickbacks, and stalling at traffic lights kind of gets your attention.
I don't want all my weight on my forearms like some bikes I've ridden, nor do I want this bike bolt upright. Depending on how it feels to ride, your bike may be right in the ball park for foot controls. On the roads I plan to ride this bike on I can't really maintain the kind of high speed (you guys that ride the Alice's Resturant area here know what I mean) that holds my weight up with the wind.
It would be a whole different setup if I was riding freeway type roads to a highway cafe at a ton up, but I'm not.
I may still swap the shifter and brake side to side to keep my bikes uniform if i don't become happier with this setup.

I'm definitely going with the right-foot shift section from an earlier transmission, and fabricate a disc brake actuator plunger rig to work with the left side brake pedal.

I might just pop in the 850 engine I already have, and start riding and re-working everything as required for fit & finish. In the meantime, I'll slowly build my 880 engine.

The settings on the monoshock and USD forks feel NICE and cushy in the driveway; I'm looking forward to this bike being very comfortable.

Paul where did you get the primary cover? Is that the RGM? Bike is looking great. I finally got mine out of the house and into the garage, Almost finished the wiring. Lots of little things that take time, You know Right? Take care and have a great day, Chuck.

its looking good grandpaul but looks a bit too high at the front is there enough ajustment to lower the front or maybe raise the rear a bit

Chuck, that is one of THREE custom made carbon fibre primaries that were made for Kenny Dreer; I think one is in use on an 880 out there somewhere, and the other one is on a shelf somewhere else.

Chris, I like the stance just about right, but I can raise the forks in the yokes 1/2" to lower the nose just a touch, and I intend to replace the 3/8" adjustable link in the monoshock pivot with a 1/2" piece with a bit wider range of adjustment to bring the back end up just a tad. I don't want to alter it much from where it is, it feels perfect (to me).

I'd vote for installing the 850 to ride it and shake it down. Especially as it would give you more time to work up your hot engine.
You are probably pretty used to working with a right hand shift and switching back and forth by now. I haven't thought of using a later tranny case to switch sides, I was just thinking of bellcranking that. How do left hand shift Nortons shift? Does that make a good linkage?

I don't want to drill through that CF primary for the Left foot shifter, no way.

I don't have a problem going right to left and 1-up-3-down to 1-down-3-or-4-up.

It will be easy enough to fabricate the master cylinder bracket to emply the left foot brake pedal; I have a freshly chromed set in a box.

I got the 636 front fender, and it mounted perfectly with the new 19" front wheel using the lower mounting hole in the upper mounting lug that was designed for the smaller OEM Kaw wheel. Once I confirmed the mounting, I took it down to the painter to match the tank.

I also got the new 18" rear Excel rim laced by Buchanan's with tall Metzeler matching rubber, got the hollow mock-up engine pulled out, and I'm going back together "for real" this week.

Already got the new rear isolastic guts installed on the Dreer "big bearing" tranny cradle, replaced all the temporary hardware in the monoshock linkage with proper stuff, and I'm working on cutting down the front isolastic mount to accommodate the Mark III adjustable iso guts. I'm going to try and get the engine mounted by tomorrow, and have the hand-made wiring harness and rear axle sorted by the end of the week.

The new front wheel bearings will need precision shimming and custom-made spacers to complete fitting up the front wheel, but the brakes are bled and it rolls aropund 100% better than the mock-up arrangement.

The rest is punchlist stuff, all of the prototyping is done and fitted, just need to go front to back and assemble it all.

About time you got back on the job!

All the dummy stuff pulled out, ready to go back in with the standard 850 stuff from my spare engine-



All new Mark III adjustable rear isolastics-



Started to mask off the cylinders and then decided "what the heck"...