1954 88 engine

Hi Mark,

Not straight answer to your question, I'm afraid. Have you actually run your bike, with the iron head? I considered fitting an alloy head to my own '54 88 last year. I was advised not to. Without further tuning, there would be little, or no, gain in performance, and increased engine noise and vibration. A " Bog standard" '54 88 is capable of exceeding all UK legal speed limits, so, why bother? Of course, if the original head is badly damaged, it might just be worthwhile.

I have swapped heads between later 88 & 99 engines freely and without problems. It might be worth checking the length of the head bolts - it's possible they may differ between iron and alloy heads.

Hi Mark,

Not straight answer to your question, I'm afraid. Have you actually run your bike, with the iron head? I considered fitting an alloy head to my own '54 88 last year. I was advised not to. Without further tuning, there would be little, or no, gain in performance, and increased engine noise and vibration. A " Bog standard" '54 88 is capable of exceeding all UK legal speed limits, so, why bother? Of course, if the original head is badly damaged, it might just be worthwhile.

well the 1955 head was the same patent but in alloy , and they did do a alloy cylinder head for 1954 but it was a special parts order only like the set of semi close ratio gears you could get on special order only my Dominator88 from 1954 as semi-close ratio gears fitted as fitted to the International race bikes yours anna j

Hi Mark,

Not straight answer to your question, I'm afraid. Have you actually run your bike, with the iron head? I considered fitting an alloy head to my own '54 88 last year. I was advised not to. Without further tuning, there would be little, or no, gain in performance, and increased engine noise and vibration. A " Bog standard" '54 88 is capable of exceeding all UK legal speed limits, so, why bother? Of course, if the original head is badly damaged, it might just be worthwhile.

but if you know what your doing you can make a very good fast motor but you need to know how far to go with it so yo need some planing before doing any mods

Yours Anna J

Hi Mark,

Out of all the Nortons that I own, my completely standard 1954 '88' with iron headis the nicest bike to ride. It's veryquiet and smooth and always extremely easy to start. You can always pick up a second hand iron heads from auto jumbles relatively cheaply as I have done in the past.

Regards,

Paul.

Previously paul_webb wrote:

Hi Mark,

Out of all the Nortons that I own, my completely standard 1954 '88' with iron headis the nicest bike to ride. It's veryquiet and smooth and always extremely easy to start. You can always pick up a second hand iron heads from auto jumbles relatively cheaply as I have done in the past.

Regards,

Paul.

My point exactly Paul. You can tune any engine for extra power, but with a 60 year old motor why bother? If you are only interested in speed, why buy an old Norton in the first place?

A change of head won't necessarily add more power. The advantage of an alloy head is better heat dissipation - i.e. cooler running. I put an alloy cylinder on a BSA Gold Flash for just that reason. It isn't ridden any harder or faster, it just runs a bit cooler. But there is a lot to be said for an iron head too. There are some concerns about exhaust valve seat recession with iron heads, but I have yet to suffer from it in my iron head vehicles. The valve seat inserts in Norton alloy heads seem to be perfectly suitable for unleaded petrol.

As a quick update to this thread we stripped the motor in question yesterday and were very pleasantly surprised at the condition of the internals. Standard bores which appear to be in decent condition and standard big end journals also appearing to be in excellent condition. Sadly I can't say the same about the camshaft which has seen better days but was going to be replaced with a slightly hotter version. All in all very good news considering the vintage of the engine.

Mark, Sophie, I am delighted that my minor contribution was helpful to you. What a splendid looking bike - it would look quite wrong with an iron head. Or ape hangers. Or a red seat.

Mark, Sophie, I am delighted that my minor contribution was helpful to you. What a splendid looking bike - it would look quite wrong with an iron head. Or ape hangers. Or a red seat.

here we go again with some more criticising ! what's your issues here !

just get of your mind and have done with ! yours Anna J have fun in the sun !!