1930s panel tanks

Hello,I have a copy of a road test of a 1933 Norton 16H with a panel tank and it looks like it is a painted area around the panel but It is a bad copy so I am not absoluteley sure!!

Svein.

Hello I have just bought a 1930 16H with the provision for the speedometer. in the petrol tank. However the speedometer is missing. Does anyone have any information or a picture of the correct instrument.

Mike Chadwick

Previously svein_marken wrote:

Hello,I have a copy of a road test of a 1933 Norton 16H with a panel tank and it looks like it is a painted area around the panel but It is a bad copy so I am not absoluteley sure!!

Svein.

Even after fitment became compulsory in the UK in 1936, Nortons continued to list speedos as extra cost options. Purchasers could choose between 80 / 120 mph, illumination, trip / non-trip etc, all with savings or extra cost of a few shillings.

There is no standard pre-war speedo and for 1930, most owners probably fitted their own after purchase.

The earliest brochure that I have a scan of is 1936 :-

Apparently the dull-chromed panel was lacquered.

Also attached, an enlargement from the 1938 brochure.

The speedo looks bang-on, David. The chroming industry's failure to understand what dull chroming was and its complete inability to replicate it remains a major annoyance to me.

It can't be that difficult or obscure. Even cheap bicycles had components finished in this way well into the 1960s. Someone somewhere must know how it was done !

I would like to add to the query on Dash panel tanks: I have a tank to restore for my 1936 M18 but I am not sure what type of light switch should be fitted. Would it be the standard Lucas switch as fitted to the headlight? If so, the hole for it in my dash panel is too big. Could it have been the earlier type which fitted to the rear of the earlier type headlight (my tank is stanped as 1933). Also, what was the little switch at the bottom of the panel for? Could it be for dash lights?

Cheers

Ross

Thanks for your reply David. Does the switch have the light bulb attached to it or is it mounted separately ie closer to the speedo and ammeter? If I could get a picture of the little switch (not just the knob), that would be usefull. I wonder if the switch is available, I have been unable to find a Lucas part number and even the knob. Is the switch simply a two position job - on off?

Cheers

Ross

Thanks David, that is exactly what I needed. If I could find the Lucas part number for that switch and it is available somewhere, it would be icing on the cake.

Thanks again

Ross

Just for the sake of documenting, the switch is

Lucas part number was 31356

as fitted to late 60s early 70s Triumphs and BSAs. The knob has an arrow on it which was not on the 1930s Norton dash panel but looks right otherwise.

Ross

Previously ross_luff wrote:

Thanks David, that is exactly what I needed. If I could find the Lucas part number for that switch and it is available somewhere, it would be icing on the cake.

Thanks again

Ross

Prewar the Lucas switch was a model PS6 and Part No was 31276 which was superceded by the post war part no 31356. Post war had the arrow on the black switch but is dimensionally the same.

regards

Hi Richard , 

came across your post regarding queries on panel tank instruments from back in 

2014. My question is do you know where I can get the fixing bolts for the panel ? 

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Regards , Roy. 

I bought new ones at Russell Motors in 2014. Don't know if Les is still working in these times. I've called several times and it's either engaged or mo answer.

Thanks for info , 

will give them a try , reckon Les might 

be staying at home at present. 

Thanks again for your reply.