Tools You Have Made to Maintain your Norton

seattle##gs said:

I will offer a technique rather than a tool.
Quick way to find center of a round part such as a tube to prevent the drill bit walking. If you have a drill press or mill.
Clamp the tube in the drill press vise. Get as close as possible to center by sight. Then take a thin piece of stock ( I use a loose feeler gauge .030)
under the drill and see if it lays flat or tips one way or the other. Move your vise accordingly. It is possible to be very accurate using this method. The final check is to remove the feeler gauge and see if the drill deflects in any direction. Practice on a scrap piece of tube to get the feel for it.

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We were taught to do this with a 6"Steel rule and sight it so that it is parallel to the table top

I subscribe to the KISS method when possible. Rejetting a Norton today and playing hell getting the needle to hit the hole! A booze straw made it much easier. No bent needle jet! I'm sure you all thought of this before. I'm a little slow!

Tools for installing Amal manifolds:
Yesterday I tried to install some Amals onto the manifolds which I had already bolted to the head. Then I remembered the
impossibility of tightening the inside nuts. I also remembered that this problem had already been solved with my trusty set
of cut off Allen wrenches. Note the hand ground swivel ball on two of them as well as the 1/12th clocking of one of the
shorty Allens.
:

When installing the head the pushrods USUALLY drop into the pushrod tunnel and locate themselves in the lifters, perhaps 90 % of the time. The other 10% will result in a bent valve and perhaps a broken valve guide. My method is to put a dab of grease on the ball end of the push rod then put the head on. I have two small blocks of wood 1" tall which allows the 3 studs to barely engage with their holes. The blocks go to the rear of the head and support it while I double check if the pushrods have seated in the lifters. The grease makes them stick in the lifter cups and I can feel them trying to draw the lifters up as I move them. Once you are sure the pushrods are seated then remove the blocks and continue on.
Because it is difficult to get my hand in under the head and around the stud I use a screwdriver instead of my right hand and with my left hand on the outside I can move the pushrod up and down. If I feel resistance then I know the pushrod is correct.
Bending a valve is even more aggravating than having a stud pull out.

Every time I have put a head on the push rods always drop into position on the lifters but I always find one pushrod will always be misaligned on one rocker arm and need to be put in place with a small screw driver before pulling down the head on the bolts, very important to make sure all 4 push rods are sitting in position on the rocker arms before pulling the head down, I go by the book and hold the pushrods in between my fingers while putting the head in place, but most times with heads I have the motor on the bench on a engine stand.
I always find it's the right inlet rocker/pushrod that needs the screw driver trick to put in position, but it's been so long since I had my head off (15 years ago me thinks).

Ashley

Don't count on it. I bent a valve 2 years ago and one a month ago because one didn't seat and many close calls in the past...and I.m looking for it. I turn the radio off and very slowly turn it over feeling for any extra resistance. Hard to tell between spring pressure and valves touching. It takes very little to bend a valve.

seattle##gs said:

Don't count on it. I bent a valve 2 years ago and one a month ago because one didn't seat and many close calls in the past...and I.m looking for it. I turn the radio off and very slowly turn it over feeling for any extra resistance. Hard to tell between spring pressure and valves touching. It takes very little to bend a valve.

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Well been working on my Norton and friends Norton's for 48 years and have replaced a few head gaskets and engine rebuilds over them years and never had any problems with the pushrods dropping on the lifters, but of course I do make sure everything is right before a pull down the head and turn the motor over slowly to make sure pushrods are seating right.

ashman said:

Well been working on my Norton and friends Norton's for 48 years and have replaced a few head gaskets and engine rebuilds over them years and never had any problems with the pushrods dropping on the lifters, but of course I do make sure everything is right before a pull down the head and turn the motor over slowly to make sure pushrods are seating right.

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Jim Comstock told me that he removes the right intake rocker arm until after seating the head and installs it after the head is on.

I remove both exhaust rockers before installing head. It's a LOT easier!

I have never removed my rockers, still all original, and have never had any problem installing pushrods while they were in place, just got to make sure they are all seating right before pulling the head down.

ashman said:

I have never removed my rockers, still all original, and have never had any problem installing pushrods while they were in place, just got to make sure they are all seating right before pulling the head down.

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and that's how I make sure they are seated correctly in the lifters