NORTON  PAINT  EQUIVALENTS
The following Table lists various paints, suggested from a number of sources There are no guarantees offered that these match and from the descriptions, many of these colours may by now be obsolete or difficult to obtain We are interested to hear about satisfactory matches from contemporary paints
COLOUR	MODELS	APPROXIMATE  EQUIVALENT
Silver	International	Volkswagen Beetle Silver
Polychromatic Grey	Wideline Twins	Volkswagen Platin 32686M or  Talbot Steel Grey Metallic 397 or  Ford Granada Pearl Grey Metallic
Dove Grey	Twins	Dove Grey C1063 or  British Leyland AB32 Arabian Grey or  Volkswagen Pearl White or Ford
Forest Green	ES2 and Model 50	Rover Cameron Green B266 or  Vauxhall Laurel 4635
Norton Red	Jubilee / Model 88 De Luxe	Berger Post Office Red or  Ford Monaco Red
Off White	Twins	British Leyland Pale Ivory YL1
Cream	Twins	Audi Atlas White 6808
Silver Grey	Electra, 650SS / Atlas	Ford Silver Fox GM25411
Atlantic (Tunisian) Blue	Model 99 De Luxe / Mercury	Chrysler Caribbean Blue 80 GL24435
Silver	1950 to 1955 fuel tanks	Silver Birch GL3404/M
Grenadier Red	Commando	Peugeot Talbot Cherry YAR054
Silver	Commando	Opel Silver 135 *
JPN Red	Commando	British Leyland Flame Red
JPN Blue	Commando	Rootes Ming Blue
Norvil Yellow	Commando	Renault Canary Yellow  Alpha Romeo Giallo Yellow
* The version of this paint manufactured by Sikkens has been reported as far too dark a colour

Cylinder Barrel Painting

I have tried brush on Hermetite in the past but found that the coating seemed quite porous and it was not very long before the fins were looking rusty and shabby. A spray on finish could be the answer. I popped into Mick Hemmings on the way to Norton day and he was just then in the process of painting some barrels. He recommends an undercoat of Wurth Heat Resistant Matt Black lacquer spray. This is a German paint, but if you can't find a stockist, then you can buy some from Mick. This should be followed by top coats of PJ1 Gloss Black Engine Spray Paint. This is an American paint and again, Mick can supply a tin if you cannot find a source.

With both paints, Mick bakes the parts in the oven 'at the highest setting, for a long time'. I have tried this on my barrels and although I haven't yet run the bike, it certainly looks very impressive. The Wurth is capable of withstanding 650^oC and seems to provide an excellent key to the bare metal surface. The PJ1 then gives a lovely thick 'wet look' gloss covering that seems to seal the surface well. I used Gas Mark 8 for about 20 minutes.

Preparation is very important - I blasted my barrels with glass bead media which worked very well, but it took ages to make sure that ALL the grains of glass were removed as the media had found its way past the masking. Just a few grains down a blind threaded hole could easily come out during a rebuild and wreck an engine. Be careful and expect it to take time; don't just assume that a blasting firm will clean the parts up to the required standard.

Jeremy Nicholls in Roadholder