Norton dirt bike

Denis:

Could you post two more photos? One of the complete bike and one of the complete engine?

That should help us

Mike

Hi Denis

i am by no means an expert but will put my 5 cents worth in since no-one else has yet.

The frame looks to me to predate the forks, i had thought the open frames were girder only.

On the stamping on the crankcase, i have been told that the wartime workshops use that sort of code (letter plus 3 numbers) when dismantling engines so that they could ensure matching components went back together. My WD16H has this but the stampings are inside the cases and timing cover.

The grinding to remove the engine number is rather agricultural and has taken the bore x stroke stamp as well. You would think that if someone was planning to deceive they would be more subtle than that.

All in all with an open frame and ohv engine it looks like late prewar model 18 (or model 50?) with later forks grafted on, but others may well know better.

Previously wrote:

here is a pic of the frame

Previously wrote:

Trying to identify a dirt bike that was in my dad's basement for 40 years

Frame # E 4342 M4 A

Engine # has been buffed off but has Z 470 stamped on, maybe a racing shop that had modify it and changed the #

Transmission # N 16082

I'm posting pictures of the engine

If anybody can help me, thanks in advance

Denis

Hello Denis,

It appears that you have a Norton 500T trials bike, the tank mount lugs on the chassis gave it away, can you please confirm the frame number, as the number given could be a casting number?. The correct location of the chassis number is on the down tube that runs from the headstock down to the front engine mount, it will be found on the left hand side of the casting that holds the front tank mount, the number should be prefixed with a letter then a number/letter(3T) followed by a group of 5 numbers (e.g. D3T 23031).

The 500T remained in the open diamond framewith road holder tele forks until it was discontinued in late 1954. The engine appears to be the correct all alloy unit as fitted to the 500T, however the bike would of used a BTH racing type magneto and not the lucas mag/dyno as fitted to the engine in your pictures (the 500T did not use lights etc).

Hope this helps.

Regards,Karl.

Previously wrote:

Hi Denis

i am by no means an expert but will put my 5 cents worth in since no-one else has yet.

The frame looks to me to predate the forks, i had thought the open frames were girder only.

On the stamping on the crankcase, i have been told that the wartime workshops use that sort of code (letter plus 3 numbers) when dismantling engines so that they could ensure matching components went back together. My WD16H has this but the stampings are inside the cases and timing cover.

The grinding to remove the engine number is rather agricultural and has taken the bore x stroke stamp as well. You would think that if someone was planning to deceive they would be more subtle than that.

All in all with an open frame and ohv engine it looks like late prewar model 18 (or model 50?) with later forks grafted on, but others may well know better.

Previously wrote:

here is a pic of the frame

Have just worked out how to insert textwith Exlorer 9.0, using "compatibility view"

The frame certainly looks like a 500T, it has the correct tank mountings and also has the lug for the engine head steady (See the attached image of my 500T frame). The top fork yolk is 500T as are the engine plates and the head steady brackets and long nutsbolted to the rocker cover.

Andy

Hi Denis,

I have just been reading through this thread. I am in the process of putting back an original, unrestored 500t on the road. At sometime the original headsteady was taken of so I am trying to chase a pattern for this. I noticed that you have both the bolts and the headsteady present on your bike. If your 500t has not been put back together yet, i would be very grateful if you could tell me dimensions of the bolts, length etc. and measure or do an outline of the headsteady for me to replicate. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Please let me know if I can be of any help towards your project, regards,

Malte Flagstad

malteflagstad@gmail.com

Hi Denis,

I have just been reading through this thread. I am in the process of putting back an original, unrestored 500t on the road. At sometime the original headsteady was taken of so I am trying to chase a pattern for this. I noticed that you have both the bolts and the headsteady present on your bike. If your 500t has not been put back together yet, i would be very grateful if you could tell me dimensions of the bolts, length etc. and measure or do an outline of the headsteady for me to replicate. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Please let me know if I can be of any help towards your project, regards,

Malte Flagstad

malteflagstad@gmail.com

Previously wrote:

Trying to identify a dirt bike that was in my dad's basement for 40 years

Frame # E 4342 M4 A

Engine # has been buffed off but has Z 470 stamped on, maybe a racing shop that had modify it and changed the #

Transmission # N 16082

I'm posting pictures of the engine

If anybody can help me, thanks in advance

Denis

Hello Denis,

It appears that you have a Norton 500T trials bike, the tank mount lugs on the chassis gave it away, can you please confirm the frame number, as the number given could be a casting number?. The correct location of the chassis number is on the down tube that runs from the headstock down to the front engine mount, it will be found on the left hand side of the casting that holds the front tank mount, the number should be prefixed with a letter then a number/letter(3T) followed by a group of 5 numbers (e.g. D3T 23031).

The 500T remained in the open diamond framewith road holder tele forks until it was discontinued in late 1954. The engine appears to be the correct all alloy unit as fitted to the 500T, however the bike would of used a BTH racing type magneto and not the lucas mag/dyno as fitted to the engine in your pictures (the 500T did not use lights etc).

Hope this helps.

Regards,Karl.

Karl:

In his original posting he stated that the frame number was E4342 M4 A

Does this number mean anything to you?

Mike

Denis:

You say that your Dad had the bike for 40+ years. Have you ever been able to find any registration paperwork or license plate number?

Mike

Hi Dennis,

are you still working on this 500T? Do you still need a petrol tank for it? If so, here is one for sale right now on ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/172879279160?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649

All the best,

Skip Brolund

Previously denis_leblanc wrote:

this pic shows the buffing and the new designed number for the engine

If it would've been a stolen, personnaly, I would've done a better job

There must be a reason under this number

Dennis, The number Z490 is the shop build number and you can use this to get the original engine and frame number. You will need to view the original despatch books held at the VMCC library. It is a little bit time consuming but the club dating officer may be able to assist.

To aid you, my 1950 Big 4 has a shop no of Y730 and left the factory on 12/04/1950 and my ES-2 with shop noZ622 was despatched on 03/05/1950. I have a spare ES 2 engine with shop no Z867 which was despatched 01/06/1950. So look between April and June 1950 and it should solve the problem. Iworry when original engine numbers have been removed off crankcases.

regards, Ian