Hi all,
Have spent some time getting to know the bike (1950 ES2) now. I am a time served mechanic and know my way around an engine, and although they all fundamentally do the same thing they all have their nuances don't they!
I recently rebuilt the top end on my Comet, new piston/valves/guides etc, and there are lots of similarities with the Norton..
The story thus far is the bike was owned by a chap who purchased it in 1990, in boxes.
He rebuilt the bike over a 23 year period, rebuilding the engine fitting a new piston, big end, valves etc. His background is similar to mine, a mechanic, so i kind of trusted his work, plus on speaking to the guy when i bought it last month, he clearly knew what he was talking about, but...
My 'inquisitive' nature led me to the conclusion that although it had all apparently 'been done' I should, for my own piece of mind at least, go through the bike.
I have a bore scope (£25 cheapie off Amazon) which i used to inspect the piston/head etc before the start up of course. All looked very good and as he suggested, hardly been ran. On much closer inspection it was the peripherals that drew my attention, lots of metric nuts and bolts had been fitted (Some even screwed into a BS thread!), wiring and cable routing, exhaust fitment, lights etc, needed 'correcting'.
The main concern was the oil feed issue, which i have now confirmed is good. Secondly, the fuel tank fitting.
The tank was held on with metric studs and nyloc nuts, and what seemed like too many rubber mounts. I looked at a few online catalogues and pictures, and realised all the rubbers where round the wrong way and as mentioned, they had been doubled up for some reason at the top of the frame brackets, which made the tank sit too high. I discovered the reason for this was that the de compressor lever at the engine was fitted incorrectly, too far forward, which meant it fouled on the tank, which is why the tank had been raised.
I just loosened off the lever and adjusted the cable so as to reposition it, and now the tank can sit in its correct position. Next problem was the bolt holes didn't line up properly. Again, looking further into it the rear mounting bracket needed to be set further back, but when i adjusted it there was barely enough stud to seat the washer correctly, the studs were half a width proud of the bracket, hmmm...
I looked at the bottom of the tank and it is fairly obvious that the bottom has been either removed or replaced at some point, and the holes are a little bit out? While looking at it i had a scary moment, there appeared to be a 'bend' in the top frame tube, which would effectively 'shorten' it, which would of course give me the problem i had, but after some internet searching again i noticed that they do have a slight radius to the top tube after all...phew!...
So, its a 'work in progress' as we say, I think, no I am sure I have a fairly sound bike, which just needs a bit of 'correcting' here and there, cant wait to get it done so i can get out on it!
More questions to come Im sure...
