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New member here!
So I have already gotten some great help from of your members! So thank you for letting me join!
Just bought a 90 percent complete s type. Restoring the paint to original taking the rattle can off with wet sand. Originally royal blue metal flake. I need a original fiber righthand cover in metal flake blue. Also need exhaust!! And a seat. I know they are all hard to find! But this bike was so well kept.... The tach lights and all the wiring is still good. I dont want to do a full restoration. I want to respect the years on it! So the condition of the parts dont have to be 100%. I'm in north carolina
Thank you!

1970 commando s type
1972 roaster
1971 thunderbolt
 
Side covers may be hard to find, at least the proper painted one, but they are out there if you want to paint them. Better invest in a metal fuel tank if it's still fiberglass. Ethanol will most likely eat it. The parts are out there. The Pound is so weak now it may be advantageous to buy stuff from the UK or Andover. Commando Specialties or EuroJambalya used to have the S exhaust system, but all of them are a crap shoot. Walridge motors is a good supplier too in Canada. Old Britts doesn't carry too much in the early bike dept but if you have a part number they're worth a call. Good luck with getting the paint off and still having the gel coat. Raber's has parts too if they're still around.
 
Yeah the tank was well coated unlike my roadster one...and I just found someone with original headers brackets and heat shields so I may just have to buy silencers down the road...I have one lead on a original paint side cover now hopefully it works out. So I have a question how different is the seat? What should I be looking for in one. I have a 72 roadster I can compare to. And thanks again
Wes
 
Most of the original seats had fiberglass bases and are broken with the passenger strap pulled out. The best replacement I have found is the one supplied by Andover. It has a steel base and fits.
As to the sidecover, it will be difficult to find one still in the original blue metalflake gelcoat. As DogT states, if you plan on riding it, you will want a steel tank. One from a 1975 Mk III is the best choice to replicate the '70 fiberglass one. Of course this means you will need to paint it.
 
Awesome Thank you! I will look into that seat. So even if the tank was very well coated and I'm running ethanol free gas in it? We have separate pumps here for ethanol free. I went through the process of getting a new tank with my roadster.
 
not to start an argument .... but , I am still using the original glass fiber tank on my '72 Roadster with no issues , also my seat while not in use is a glass fiber base as well and is fine fettle , while the foam I used when I recovered it was way too soft ( beginners luck) I ended up with a Corbin .... still the original tank and seat base are mint , trick is always using real gasoline and not tightening tank down too much , while Alan H. now has the strap the seat base and cover are fine .....
 
Awesome Thank you! I will look into that seat. So even if the tank was very well coated and I'm running ethanol free gas in it? We have separate pumps here for ethanol free. I went through the process of getting a new tank with my roadster.
Steel will be for your ridings. Fiberglass will be for show off shows , authenticity or concours presentations. Fiberglass was made illegal for new production vehicles back then for very good reason. Fire during accidents.
 
New member here!
So I have already gotten some great help from of your members! So thank you for letting me join!
Just bought a 90 percent complete s type. Restoring the paint to original taking the rattle can off with wet sand. Originally royal blue metal flake. I need a original fiber righthand cover in metal flake blue. Also need exhaust!! And a seat. I know they are all hard to find! But this bike was so well kept.... The tach lights and all the wiring is still good. I dont want to do a full restoration. I want to respect the years on it! So the condition of the parts dont have to be 100%. I'm in north carolina
Thank you!

1970 commando s type
1972 roaster
1971 thunderbolt
I have a side cover in original blue flake , but the wrong side as needed:(
 
I also have an original left hand side cover. ( not for sale, sorry)

Seat: The original seat had a rubber strip with chrome rim. This rim is about 10 mm wide. The replica rims only have 6mm wide chrome strips. The wider ones are no more available.
The Andover seat ist the best choice. Joe Seifert tried several seat manufacturers until he got the right seat pan and upholstery.
From time to time original "S" seat appear on Ebay. I found mine four years ago in a decent state.
But it needs some makeover.The inside padding has sagged.

Exhaust: Also Andover Norton. I already used up three left hand side mufflers.
First mufflers came from Campells they discoloured soon and broke soon due to very thin tube walls.
Now I am running a right one from Campells ( heavily discoloured) and a Andover left hand muffler ( looks like new far better chrome quality). Everybody asks if there is something wrong with the carb settings...
Metalflake Corp. did the original fireflake paints according to Joe Seifert. I guess they are still in business.
 
My S seat pan was metal and somewhat flimsy. Where it cracked, I brazed it back together. The 69/70 seats look different than the later ones if you're into originality. Look at the brochures to see what I mean. http://www.classicbike.biz/Norton/Brochures/Brochures.htm If you don't mind the f/g tank and can find non ethanol gas it's up to you. I use avgas in mine. I got a new seat cover and 'chrome' rim (it's plastic) from Walridge. Most people cut the strap off or removed the bolts under the seat holding it on. I think the 75 tank didn't have the external ribs that make it look different.
 
I have the new AN seat, fits perfect and looks good, nice quality. Still looking around for originals every now and then but in the mean time I need to sit on something while riding the bike.

Recently bought new AN mufflers as my originals had suffered some damage/repairs way back in the day and cracked a weld. Again, new ones are great quality, popped a weld on the new front heat shield though.

Like you, I wanted to keep as many original parts as possible to fit the overall patina of the bike. Recently bought a spare set of side panels that were originally blue flake but had been painted several times and sanded down a bit, if not I would have sent them on to you. The parts are out there...
 
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I have a side cover in original blue flake , but the wrong side as needed:(
Haha thank you!
I have the new AN seat, fits perfect and looks good, nice quality. Still looking around for originals every now and then but in the mean time I need to sit on something while riding the bike.

Recently bought new AN mufflers as my originals had suffered some damage/repairs way back in the day and cracked a weld. Again, new ones are great quality, popped a weld on the new front heat shield though.

Like you, I wanted to keep as many original parts as possible to fit the overall patina of the bike. Recently bought a spare set of side panels that were originally blue flake but had been painted several times and sanded down a bit, if not I would have sent them on to you. The parts are out there...
I have the new AN seat, fits perfect and looks good, nice quality. Still looking around for originals every now and then but in the mean time I need to sit on something while riding the bike.

Recently bought new AN mufflers as my originals had suffered some damage/repairs way back in the day and cracked a weld. Again, new ones are great quality, popped a weld on the new front heat shield though.

Like you, I wanted to keep as many original parts as possible to fit the overall patina of the bike. Recently bought a spare set of side panels that were originally blue flake but had been painted several times and sanded down a bit, if not I would have sent them on to you. The parts are out there...

Thank you for all the help everyone!
Pete had a question how bad are your silencers that are beat up? And with that being said would you be interested in parting with them. Any unloved exhaust parts I am very interested in. Craig was nice enough to help me with headers and heat shields and bracket. I just would love to get it all to a point I can run it around even if its not pretty. I think I actually found a side cover on eBay! We will see what it looks like when I get it. And thank you for all the pointers on the seat I now can look for all the details!! Thanks again for having me join this! Really helpful
 
Haha thank you!



Thank you for all the help everyone!
Pete had a question how bad are your silencers that are beat up? And with that being said would you be interested in parting with them. Any unloved exhaust parts I am very interested in. Craig was nice enough to help me with headers and heat shields and bracket. I just would love to get it all to a point I can run it around even if its not pretty. I think I actually found a side cover on eBay! We will see what it looks like when I get it. And thank you for all the pointers on the seat I now can look for all the details!! Thanks again for having me join this! Really helpful

I had to cut the damaged silencer off the header so the internal pipe is cut short, possibly reusable for someone with some welding skills. The bottom silencer is fine, but I'm hanging onto both because I am degenerate packrat.

I'm pretty diligent about routinely searching for parts, I'll keep you posted if I find anything (that I don't want ;)) plenty of good folks here to help you along. How bout some bike photos?
 
I had to cut the damaged silencer off the header so the internal pipe is cut short, possibly reusable for someone with some welding skills. The bottom silencer is fine, but I'm hanging onto both because I am degenerate packrat.

I'm pretty diligent about routinely searching for parts, I'll keep you posted if I find anything (that I don't want ;)) plenty of good folks here to help you along. How bout some bike photos?



Hahaha awesome
And thank you!!
can I post photos if I'm not a vip member?
Trying to figure that out
 
Hahaha awesome
And thank you!!
can I post photos if I'm not a vip member?
Trying to figure that out

You can post through a third party photo hosting site, don't know how tech savvy you are but you basically just need to paste a link in the body of your post here and it will show as a photo.
 
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