Nortons - General

Im looking for any information on a Norton 500cc reg no JCG557 most likely an ES2 going by the attached photo.

A friend and colleague of mine is looking for information on his late uncles Norton, message from him as below;

Hi folks, my mum showed me this picture of my uncle (who is no longer with us), as he attempts to start his Norton Reg No. JCG557.

This seems an odd issue to me, I've found nothing similar anywhere as yet.

Having an issue with the Monobloc 389 mounted on my Dad's JAPton special.

When you tickle a Monobloc, the fuel is supposed to "overflow" through the tickler, yes?

Under what circumstances would it "not" overflow through the tickler (which is simply a tube open at both ends) ?

I've removed the tickler and it's completely free of obstructions. (and the entire carb has recently been ultra-sonically cleaned.)

I see a lot and Gearboxes and Engines advertised as 'Built by Dave Coates' - who's he?

I't's bloody tight - is it a left or right hand nut?

My '61 ES2, resleeved and bored to 40 thou only 250 km ago, has turned its new oil (GTX 30/50) black. It is not a heavy carbon black, rather like it has been stained. A thin coat of oil - like dipping a finger into the oil tank - is translucent but has a black tinge. 

Looking at the oil in a deeper cup, it is totally black.

There is no deposit, nor sludge nor any foreign contaminant in it.

Can anyone tell me what is causing it?

Modern (rubbish) petrol, over a moth old. Can this be ascribed to running weaker than new stuff?

No guesses, maybes, or buts please. Any facts?

Have Norton ever had crankshaft centerline offset to bore centerline? Called desaxe engines. A principle known and used as early as the thirties, maybe even earlier. Gaining popularity nowadays.

Reason for asking is that it it should affect the usual practice of finding TDC using a stop screwed into the spark plug thread and rotating the crank CW and CCW to the stop. More precise than using an indicator clock as at TDC a few degrees makes very small piston movement.

Hi, Would anyone be able to help me with identifying this Norton, please? It belonged to my great uncle. I've looked through the brochure book on this site, and I think I've narrowed it down to an OHV model around 1926-28, but there are quite a few variants and I'd be grateful if anyone could offer any advice! Kind regards Ian  

I'm looking for some Laydown gearbox casings and see quite a few with broken bottom lugs - are these from non Featherbed models?