norton connecting rods

jay*mac

jay*mac

Joined
Mar 14, 2022
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hi all
has anyone installed the hepolite H beam connecting rods on their nortons yet
i have and are having trouble with the bolts hitting the casings as rotating crankshaft
i have been thinking of taking some metal off the casings with die grinder to allow for clearance.

regards jason
 
As the Norton crank is whippy then at high revs those bolts will be even closer to the casings, so take off more than required to clear statically. I would find another way if possible such as bolts with a thinner head but where would you find these.

These are Hepolite in name only, the original Hepolite company never made con rods. Its just renting a trademark.
 
Ask the vendor if end caps and/or bolts can be modified. By enlarging the counterbores and shortening u/s of bolt heads by 1-2 mm, you may gain sufficient clearance. I wouldn't touch the crancase if I were you.

- Knut
 
Last edited:
I encountered the same problem with steel rods from Don Pender, I did not relieve the cases, but cut a 30 degree relief on the bolt heads once they were installed and torqued
 
acadian said:
I encountered the same problem with steel rods from Don Pender, I did not relieve the cases, but cut a 30 degree relief on the bolt heads once they were installed and torqued
Click to expand...
What did Don have to say about that? I would bet that 90% of the people who buy those rods don't have the skill or tooling to "make it work" when it's not simply a bolt the new part in place application...
 
mdt-son said:
Ask the vendor if end caps and/or bolts can be modified. By enlarging the counterbores and shortening u/s of bolt heads by 1-2 mm, you may gain sufficient clearance. I wouldn't touch the crancase if I were you.

- Knut
Click to expand...
The thought of anyone modifying big end bolts horrifies me. If they don’t fit in the cases send them back as “unfit for purpose “.
 
mdt-son said:
Ask the vendor if end caps and/or bolts can be modified. By enlarging the counterbores and shortening u/s of bolt heads by 1-2 mm, you may gain sufficient clearance. I wouldn't touch the crancase if I were you.

- Knut
Click to expand...
to be quite honest i think the rods are rubbish
the bolts are arp torqued up and then measured for stretch pre load so they cannot be changed
should of just replaced originals with the same in hind sight
 
yes you would think it would be that simple but supplier is of the opinion they are for purpose so though luck
there,s so much rubbish out there now
 
'Reshaping the heads of the bolts', might have been putting a champfer on the nuts to miss the cases - that would have been OK, unless the nuts were likely to split. The cases are too weak to have grooves cut into them - they are a stressed component. When torque goes through the drive the cases take the load in the opposite direction.
 
This is why Carrillo makes 5/16" rod bolts for the Norton. They are extremely high quality & very expensive but they clear the cases and are good for life as long as they are not over torqued - I recommend 35lbs (Carrillo allows up to 40lbs max but that's more than necessary).
 
I have not seen the Norton Hepolite rods, however I did purchase of set of BSA Hepolite steel rods. I was not overly impressed with the pair of rods I received and ended up returning them and purchased a pair from MAP.

The finish on rods seemed overly rough, weight was not close enough between the two for my liking, and there was a small discrepancy in big end bore. The bore size discrepancy was not enough to replace them with, but with the other issues I decided to return them. I have purchased a few sets of Triumph rods from MAP and felt I would have better luck going there. That all said looking at the MAP rods afterwards, it would not surprise me if the manufacture was the same.
 
Something such as this might work -

Arrow Precision // Online Shop

<ul> <li>highest quality</li> <li>double air re-melt steel</li> <li>fully machined</li> <li>uniform machine peening</li> <li>balanced end to end within a gram</li> <li>100% magnaflux tested</li> <li>laser etched</li> <li>fitted with ARP fasteners<
shop.arrowprecision.com shop.arrowprecision.com
 
Bit strange returning the BSA Hepolite and purchasing MAP rods ??? They do use the same manufacturer and both use the ARP 5/16" bolts
 
Frankie17 said:
Bit strange returning the BSA Hepolite and purchasing MAP rods ??? They do use the same manufacturer and both use the ARP 5/16" bolts
Click to expand...
No - MAP and Hepolite do not provide 5/16" bolts - they provide 3/8" bolts and that creates a clearance problem. Only Carrillo has a 5/16" bolt strong enough for Norton rods. Its specified as a "CARR" bolt which means its proprietary to Carrillo.
 
Frankie17 said:
Bit strange returning the BSA Hepolite and purchasing MAP rods ??? They do use the same manufacturer and both use the ARP 5/16" bolts
Click to expand...

At the time these rods were fairly new I figured I did not want to deal with teething issues or a bad batch and figured MAP would a safer bet. Once i received the rods from MAP then suspected they were the of the same origen, but I have zero proof of that.
 
I've been watching this thread and have been confused the whole time. It seems impossible for the bolts to hit the crankcase. Also, since the bolts and nuts are from ARP it would seem like the nuts would not hit as their outer diameter is reduced.

I've never had/sold any so I have no personal knowledge, but I would like to understand as a couple of people have asked me about getting them.

BTW Hepolite = Wassell and in this case, I'm pretty sure Wassell is not having them made but may well have different specifications to the manufacturer from MAP.

If the Hepolite rods do not work without modification, I'm happy to have Wassell update the fitment guide - I just need to know what hits and where.


norton connecting rods
 
maaseyracer said:
I have not seen the Norton Hepolite rods, however I did purchase of set of BSA Hepolite steel rods. I was not overly impressed with the pair of rods I received and ended up returning them and purchased a pair from MAP.

The finish on rods seemed overly rough, weight was not close enough between the two for my liking, and there was a small discrepancy in big end bore. The bore size discrepancy was not enough to replace them with, but with the other issues I decided to return them. I have purchased a few sets of Triumph rods from MAP and felt I would have better luck going there. That all said looking at the MAP rods afterwards, it would not surprise me if the manufacture was the same.
Click to expand...
that was my thoughts on the map rods as well
allthough at least
marshg246 said:
I've been watching this thread and have been confused the whole time. It seems impossible for the bolts to hit the crankcase. Also, since the bolts and nuts are from ARP it would seem like the nuts would not hit as their outer diameter is reduced.

I've never had/sold any so I have no personal knowledge, but I would like to understand as a couple of people have asked me about getting them.

BTW Hepolite = Wassell and in this case, I'm pretty sure Wassell is not having them made but may well have different specifications to the manufacturer from MAP.

If the Hepolite rods do not work without modification, I'm happy to have Wassell update the fitment guide - I just need to know what hits and where.


View attachment 117788
Click to expand...
the head of the bolts hit the casing on both sides turning the crank anti clockwise
 

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