Monday 29 July 2013

Rebuilding a thirties OHC Norton engine


-SG- About ten years ago I met Australian Paul Reed at the Classic Race Meeting at Pukekohe, New Zealand. We soon found we had a common interest in Nortons and Paul later sent me a photo of his 1930 CS1 which had been put together from a complete 'basket case.' That he made a very tidy job of it is clear from the photo above. More recent contact has extracted from him this article (click this link for a PDF), which he contributed some years back to his local club magazine. I think it is well worth repeating on the site and may help those who feel a bit daunted by the task of rebuilding a thirties OHC Norton...


-JdK- Meanwhile in The Netherlands, Niels Schoen is progressing his book containing computer-aided drawings and a detailed description of every aspect of his Norton Manx motorcycle. Niels completely dismantled his Norton and literally every part has been measured and it's dimensions entered into a database; this allows him to assemble the parts 'on the screen' and rotate the images for a view from every angle. As shown above, the images are of an almost photographic quality.

Niels' book won't tell you how to deal with a worn engine but it will show you exactly what the parts look like and how it all fits together; very useful, as a complete set of exploded views of the OHC Norton engine is until now unavailable.

The book will be ready in the very near future and Niels would like to hear from anyone interested in buying a copy; contact Niels directly on nostep@xs4all.nl.