Gosh, I just realized how long it's been since I updated this log. Anyway, I'm basically convinced that the epoxy method will work to get rid of the pits on the one fork leg. It's the cheapskate answer, and there's nothing really to lose. If it doesn't last, then I'll get the new fork tubes and only be out an oil seal and the bushings.
There has not been much progress. I did manage to get the bloody steering head ball races out (a small length of steel tube and a couple of sharp blows with a hammer). Now the frame is at Steve's Bike Shop in Altadena getting a little welding done. I want the little tabs that hold the oil tank and battery box put back the way they should be. That means replacing the missing ones and two ugly replacements from years back with proper tabs. Steve had just the right material. The unfortunate part is that Steve never actually gets around to doing the work, and I've been doing a lot of travelling for work and have not been a sufficiently squeaky wheel about the work. OK, well I'll try to remember to start pestering him more and try and get that frame back. As soon as I do, it will be promptly painted and put aside. Then I shall return to the fork rebuild. What I should have been doing was rebuilding the forks while waiting for the frame, but hindsight is 20/20.
'til next time...
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Starting on the forks
Still haven't gotten those darned (I'm going to start using stronger words soon) ball races out of the frame headstock yet. However, I did find a guy that knows what he's doing, and is willing to take a crack at it. So in the mean time, I've moved on to the forks. I completely dismantled them. I knew one of the forks was leaking oil pretty badly, and that side also had some other problems with the upper covers (probably all related to some previous mishap involving blunt force trauma, but who knows). Sure enough the left fork tube (or stanchion as they're sometimes referred to) was badly nicked in the area of the upper bushing and oil seal. No mystery to the oil leak, then. Both fork tubes had a fair amount of corrosion and gunk in the spring area. So I'm now into this for a new pair of tubes....
One drawback of the pre-featherbed Nortons is that they were equipped with the original design of Roadholder forks, the so-called long Roadholder forks. Apart from being longer (hence the name) than the second generation Roadholders, they had springs external to the fork tubes, and a much simpler damping rod design, which involve no valve per se. Whatever you may say about the damping (actually I've found articles on the internet that claim this earlier, simpler design was actually better than the later one) they are certainly simple to work on. The main problem with long Roadholders is the availability of parts, or lack thereof. After much searching, I did manage to find one of the major British parts suppliers who had a pair in stock (I'll post where exactly I got them after I buy them). However, in my search for replacment tubes, I did find out a source for virtually any fork tube that cannot be found. Forking By Frank will make just about any fork tube you want. Also, to make double sure you get what you want, you can send them your old ones, and they will ensure you get exact duplicates. The prices are very reasonable, and they ship worldwide. If I hadn't found some in stock, I would be ordering from Franks.
Anyway, many other parts will need to be acquired for these forks: bushings, oil seals, leather washers, a few nuts and bolts, etc. The chrome lower spring covers are in decent shape, but will need to be re-chromed. The upper spring covers are beat up a bit. They could probably be straightened out without too much work, but new mild steel ones are available. Be careful about these reproduction covers if you're restoring some old Roadholders. There were different lengths in different applications, and they were used on both long and short Roadholders. Thankfully, if you get them from Norvil, they ask you to specify the length, so measure your originals. Finally, the upper tube covers / headlight brackets. On the early Roadholders, this was a cast alloy part. In fact, according to my Parts List, they should be P/N 19339 and 19340. I happen to have ended up with a pair stamped 19337 and 19338. I'm sure they're original to the bike, and an all too common example of using up the stock of old parts at the factory before switching to the new design. That's not the problem. The problem is pictured below... One headlight bracket is about 1/4" shorter than the other. On one side, someone cut off the lip that fits into the top of the upper spring cover. Coincidentally, this is the same fork leg that was leaking oil, and has the most external wear and tear. Probably someone bonked these forks such that the lip at the bottom of the cast alloy cover would no longer fit inside the steel cover, and rather than straighten out the other part, they chose to whack the lip off the unobtanium cast part. This also explains the gobs of elecrical tape and rubber strips used underneath the cover to try and hold it in line after the lip was gone. This is a real bummer, and I have no idea how this can be fixed....
I'll have some time to think about it once the obtainable replacement fork parts are on order.
One drawback of the pre-featherbed Nortons is that they were equipped with the original design of Roadholder forks, the so-called long Roadholder forks. Apart from being longer (hence the name) than the second generation Roadholders, they had springs external to the fork tubes, and a much simpler damping rod design, which involve no valve per se. Whatever you may say about the damping (actually I've found articles on the internet that claim this earlier, simpler design was actually better than the later one) they are certainly simple to work on. The main problem with long Roadholders is the availability of parts, or lack thereof. After much searching, I did manage to find one of the major British parts suppliers who had a pair in stock (I'll post where exactly I got them after I buy them). However, in my search for replacment tubes, I did find out a source for virtually any fork tube that cannot be found. Forking By Frank will make just about any fork tube you want. Also, to make double sure you get what you want, you can send them your old ones, and they will ensure you get exact duplicates. The prices are very reasonable, and they ship worldwide. If I hadn't found some in stock, I would be ordering from Franks.
Anyway, many other parts will need to be acquired for these forks: bushings, oil seals, leather washers, a few nuts and bolts, etc. The chrome lower spring covers are in decent shape, but will need to be re-chromed. The upper spring covers are beat up a bit. They could probably be straightened out without too much work, but new mild steel ones are available. Be careful about these reproduction covers if you're restoring some old Roadholders. There were different lengths in different applications, and they were used on both long and short Roadholders. Thankfully, if you get them from Norvil, they ask you to specify the length, so measure your originals. Finally, the upper tube covers / headlight brackets. On the early Roadholders, this was a cast alloy part. In fact, according to my Parts List, they should be P/N 19339 and 19340. I happen to have ended up with a pair stamped 19337 and 19338. I'm sure they're original to the bike, and an all too common example of using up the stock of old parts at the factory before switching to the new design. That's not the problem. The problem is pictured below... One headlight bracket is about 1/4" shorter than the other. On one side, someone cut off the lip that fits into the top of the upper spring cover. Coincidentally, this is the same fork leg that was leaking oil, and has the most external wear and tear. Probably someone bonked these forks such that the lip at the bottom of the cast alloy cover would no longer fit inside the steel cover, and rather than straighten out the other part, they chose to whack the lip off the unobtanium cast part. This also explains the gobs of elecrical tape and rubber strips used underneath the cover to try and hold it in line after the lip was gone. This is a real bummer, and I have no idea how this can be fixed....
I'll have some time to think about it once the obtainable replacement fork parts are on order.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Not much new to report
I've done very little on the project of late. I stripped half the paint off the gas tank in search of the little holes for the tank badge. Something's puzzling me: this is a 1957, which is suppost to have the aluminum panels on the sides of the tank, which in turn hold a round badge and some cheesy stick-on knee grips. I don't like that style. My original plan was to make this tank something like the older style, which was chromed, with Norton logo knee grips (assumed stick-on), and silver painted panels with either the Norton logo or the round badges (assuming the screw holes were there to accept them). Well, on stripping down this tank, I discovered to my surprise, two screw holes for knee grips, and no holes for the badges. That's great, I think, because the two-hole with Norton script knee grips are available from British Cycle Supply. Measuring the screw holes on my tank, the center-to-center distance is 4-3/4", not 4-5/8" as quoted on the BCS site. Hmmm... guess I'll have to give them a call and see how confident they are in their dimensions.
Anyway, no new pictures of the Norton this time, but since I feel obligated to post some kind of image, how about a shot of my Velocette? Enjoy!
Anyway, no new pictures of the Norton this time, but since I feel obligated to post some kind of image, how about a shot of my Velocette? Enjoy!
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Back to the beginning
Haven't done much work on the 19S over the last two weeks. I did manage to find a suitable paint stripper, and tested it out on an engine plate part. The plan is to strip all the frame parts and repaint them myself. I'm fairly confident in that. Fenders, oil tank, battery box cover, fuel tank, and headlamp bucket will require work that I'm unable to do to straighten them out. Right now, the main things stopping me from stripping and painting the frame are my inability to extract the steering head ball races with the tools I have available, and work/family time.
So in the mean time, here's a picture of the 19S shortly after it came into my possesion. Note the funny angle of the fuel tank. The original rear tank support is missing, and the previous owner improvised one out of a piece of angle iron. That part (and the center stand) are basically unobtainable. Certainly a suitable (and probably better than original) tank support can be fabricated. Not sure what to do about a centerstand.
The other bike in the background is a 1956 BMW R69. I got that bike at the same time as the 19S, and it currently resides in Montana with my parents. It even runs!
So in the mean time, here's a picture of the 19S shortly after it came into my possesion. Note the funny angle of the fuel tank. The original rear tank support is missing, and the previous owner improvised one out of a piece of angle iron. That part (and the center stand) are basically unobtainable. Certainly a suitable (and probably better than original) tank support can be fabricated. Not sure what to do about a centerstand.
The other bike in the background is a 1956 BMW R69. I got that bike at the same time as the 19S, and it currently resides in Montana with my parents. It even runs!
Monday, June 05, 2006
The frame is stripped
I won't bore anyone with a narrative of how I stripped this bike down. Suffice to say that I did it the wrong way. I had every intention of doing it all methodically, sorting and labeling each nut and bolt, etc. Well, I did do it in a sort of organized fashion and separated all the stuff out nicely in a big cabinet. But when the bike was about 95% stripped down, I moved. All my organization went out the window. So at that point I had a bona fide basket case of my own making. Ugh.
C'mon, I was really just making this project more challenging!
Anyway, at this point, the frame is nicely degreased. Believe me, nearly 50 years of grease, gunk, and dirt do not come off easily. I used a whole can of Permatex gasket remover. That did the job adequately, but didn't work as well as I thought it would. The only bits left to come out are the upper and lower head races. I was a little stumped about getting these buggers out. The suggestion from the BritBike Norton board is to use a punch and slowly go around the perimeter. Sounds logical, so that may be the plan for some night this week.
For now... a picture of the degreased frame and the gas tank. Once the aforementioned head races are out, it's on to the paint stripper, and then to fix those screwed up oil tank and batter box support tabs. Sorry about the flash reflection off that license plate (that's the tail end of the Velocette, by the way).
As for the gas tank, there was much more bondo than expected. I dread the metalworking cost that will entail to make right...
C'mon, I was really just making this project more challenging!
Anyway, at this point, the frame is nicely degreased. Believe me, nearly 50 years of grease, gunk, and dirt do not come off easily. I used a whole can of Permatex gasket remover. That did the job adequately, but didn't work as well as I thought it would. The only bits left to come out are the upper and lower head races. I was a little stumped about getting these buggers out. The suggestion from the BritBike Norton board is to use a punch and slowly go around the perimeter. Sounds logical, so that may be the plan for some night this week.
For now... a picture of the degreased frame and the gas tank. Once the aforementioned head races are out, it's on to the paint stripper, and then to fix those screwed up oil tank and batter box support tabs. Sorry about the flash reflection off that license plate (that's the tail end of the Velocette, by the way).
As for the gas tank, there was much more bondo than expected. I dread the metalworking cost that will entail to make right...
Saturday, June 03, 2006
The blog begins, finally.
Finally I have a subject worthy of a blog. I've decided to chronicle the rebuild of my old motorcycle, a 1957 Norton 19S, here on this blog. I hope this won't be too terribly boring.
I don't know much about blogging or HTML etc., but I hope to get some pictures up and devote each post to a particular stage of the rebuild. We shall see how it goes.
I don't know much about blogging or HTML etc., but I hope to get some pictures up and devote each post to a particular stage of the rebuild. We shall see how it goes.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)