Clement Garreau

 

-JdK- Another one via Barry; Clement and a late 1930s OHC Norton

What Nortons are doing for 1939

-SG- Norton plans for 1939 attached.

1939 Model 19 Norton road test

-SG- Herewith a re-print of Model 19 and side-car road test

1939 Model ES2 Norton

-JdK- John in Australia sent a couple of shots of his recently restored 39 ES2. It has the optional larger petrol tank.

Free publicity

-SG- Many manufacturers availed themselves of free publicity arising from  road tests, interviews etc. and who can blame them for that! The Norton publicity department re-issued copies of road tests and a 'future plans' article in the late thirties, and thanks again to Ian, we are able to provide scans. Click this link for the road test of the 1939 Model ES2

1939 Model ES2 Norton

-JdK- John in Australia sent these pics of his 1939 Model ES2 Norton. It sports the earlier girders and in other aspects looks original.

The 1939 Roadholder brochure

-SG- This is the annual Roadholder booklet for 1939. This complete booklet, but with cream coloured cover and smaller in size also exists but the photo quality is not as good as the black cover one and it may, perhaps, be a period re-print.  Interesting to note that various shots of the racing machines with telescopic forks appear in this publication, as well as 'Racing Internationals' - not with telescopic forks! Thanks again to Ian for the loan.

1939 600cc Norton International

-Richard- This Norton International belongs to engineer and enthusiast Don. It is to 1939 specification having the then new version pre-war plunger rear suspension, but the bike is far from standard specification. The forks are to racing specification as is the front wheel which is the type used by the works machines of the early/mid '30s and has an aluminium brake plate and magnesium alloy brake shoes of 7 inch diameter. Don has concentrated his engineering skills on the engine, enlarging it from 500cc to a full 600cc which involved many hours in the workshop, not least of which was making the cylinder barrel from a solid aluminium billet !!

These pictures were taken at the Brooklands Museum motorcycle day last July where Don showed many newer bikes how to blast up the Test Hill. And if you think he is lucky enough already, he also owns a very desirable MK 8 Velocette.

1939 Model ES2 Norton

-JdK- John in Australia sent these pic and words: "Jack Walters on a 1939 ES2 he raced for a while here in Victoria Australia.  He bought the bike new with the optional large capacity petrol tank and 2 1/2" filler oil tank. I acquired the bike and have nearly completed restoration."

Simon's Norton ...

-SG- I was recently attempting to tidy my disordered files when I came across this photo of FDF869 which has all the appearance of a 1939 ES2. It is and it isn't! The registration number kings will identify FDF869 as dating from 1946. And when I bought it in 1959, complete with child/adult sidecar on the side, that's what it said in the log book. I think it cost me £40.  I used it as regular transport for a year when foolishness and disaster struck!

I took off the sidecar body as I had arranged with a friend to fit a channel to the chassis on which to mount my Vintage Model 18, to go to race meetings.  I set off: without the sidecar body the bike was very lively on left handers and rounding one quite close to home at my usual speed, the wheel came up and - an automatic reaction I suppose -  I straightened up a bit to get the chair wheel down, which of course took me onto the wrong side of the road. And who should be coming the other way at that precise moment but a nice 'ex-pat.' Pole driving an A35 Austin van. I went straight into him, landing on the bonnet and when I opened my eyes a couple of seconds later, I saw him looking out at me in considerable astonishment through what was left of the windscreen! The boring aftermath of visits to hospital etc. do not need repeating but in due course I got the outfit back home. The forks were entirely knackered as were the front wheel, mudguard and the front of the sidecar chassis. There did not seem to be any other damage, apart from the big dent in the tank visible in the photo. but I felt uneasy about the frame and resolved to change it for another if I could.

As it happened, my old friend Frank Pearce had a bare frame from a 1939 ES2 with no documents which I had for a couple of Pounds, while a new set of ex-WD forks from Russell Motors (still going) in Battersea cost me a tenner.  Frank came up with a front wheel and mudguard suitable for the WD forks (brake on the left, whereas mine had been on the right). I literally swopped everything over into the 1939 frame and thus it became more 1939 than  '46. As far as I recall - and as it's now 57 years ago, my memory is a bit hazy -  the 1939 ES2 frame differed from the 1946 Model 18 version in the provision of pillion footrest lugs on the rear frame tubes. I think one had them and one didn't, but not sure which.

I sold it in 1984 for not very much money and the new owner provided the photo not long before he and a friend departed on a somewhat disastrous trip, I think to Greece.  Wish I'd kept it!

Rubbish Norton

-JdK- Olav and his Norton have featured on this site before and while he's enthusiastic about our favorite brand of motorcycle we don't want to miss this story; in his own words:

"I was going to the UK after visiting my parents in France on a trip that had taken me 1700 km already. Fifteen km before Dieppe disaster struck; suddenly all power was gone, I pulled the clutch and rolled to a standstill. I should not forget to mention that the engine sounded like a bag of stones.

A quick mechanical checkover confirmed what I thought had happened. Have a look at the pic above and decide for yourself (clue; this is the exhaust port and I can't see a valve). Off course I'm not a member of any Recovery Service and I started pushing the bike to the nearest village that turned out to be miles away. I quickly got tired of this, pushed the bike in a ditch, covered it up in hay and made my way home via hitchhiking and trains to Rouen, Paris, Maastricht.  Eleven hours later I crossed my front door.

The next day I took my Toyota Starlet to collect the bike that was now 420 km from home, laying in a ditch. Unfortunately, while the Toyota has a tow-bar, the clutch is worn and slipping and it therefore doesn't pull a trailer.

When I arrived in Longueville sur Scie the bike was till there; I pulled it from the ditch in a burning heat and covered in flies, sweat and oil took the bike to bits and after a lot of pushing and swearing managed to get it into the back of the car. Fortunately the Toyota and it's clutch got me home.

So my advice; do not buy an OHV Norton, it's rubbish!"

(Note from JdK: we do need to mention that Olav does more miles on his Norton in one week than most of us in a decade)

Bitza Model 16H Norton

-JdK- This is my 1938-ish 16H Norton built from parts collected over the years. Rebuilding a few Nortons left me with a pile of rusty and incorrect parts and it seemed to make sense to acquire a frame and an engine and assemble the lot into a complete motorbike. Don't bother contacting me about what is not correct; I know and I don't care.

More interesting, I tuned the engine based on Paul Greet's suggestions. Briefly, the compression was raised by skimming 2-3 mm from the head, a much larger inlet valve was fitted together with a 1 1/8" carb and a longer and wider inlet tube. The 'header tape' on the exhaust hides a narrow (1 1/2") exhaust pipe welded from bits of a car exhaust.

The result is a very enjoyable motorcycle! It usually starts first kick and idles perfectly. Acceleration is now similar to that of an OHV model and it will easily do 100 km/h. It's as much fun to ride as my OHC Norton but at a fraction of the costs and without splashing oil all over the place

I will be riding this machine in Scotland in the coming few weeks, together with a friend on a similarly tuned 16H. We would like to hear from anyone living in west Scotland and willing to lend a hand should they prove to be less reliable than we anticipate!

Model 16H Norton, sidecar and caravan

-JdK- James in the UK sent these pics and the text below; the bike could be a late 1930s Model 16H Norton.

James: "While sifting through my dad's old family photos, I found this one of us on holiday, it was taken around 1954 ... I was aged 5. Sadly he died in 2012. On the back it says ... Typical hedges of Devon... If I recall correctly it was a Norton 500cc.

He built the 'caravan' at home in the back garden ... very simple affair ... it had two fold down canvas hammock beds for me and my sister ... mum and dad slept on the floor on a double air bed ... The rear wall opened up to form a roof, it had two legs, with side screens to form a kitchen/ washing room.

My mum looks as if she is posing side saddle ... gauntlets on the roof of the sidecar ... you can just make out the pilots goggles on her forehead ... perhaps one of the first motorcycle combinations towing a caravan.. ?

Another was taken in North Wales around 1958 

I have very fond memories of our holidays to Devon ...  three days travelling from near Glasgow, an epic trip in these days ... later on he allowed me to ride pillion ..."

The first Triton?

-JdK- Dennis sent these very interesting pics and the text below. There you have it, a Triton made in 1939. One of the first crappy Triumph frames and forks replaced by proper Norton items.

Dennis: "This are interesting pics from the Rex McCandless archive within the VMCC library in Burton on Trent ... Will put the cat amongst the pigeons I suspect. Rex made a Triton in 1939! Amazing considering the 5T 500cc twin Triumph was only new in 1938 from memory ..."

c1939 Model ES2 Norton

-JdK- Ian in the UK sent this photo of his dad and his bike.

Ian: "Thought you might like a picture of my Dad’s Norton, I was told it was a 1930s model, he owned it after the war and did most of the courting with my Mum on the back. She tells us how she would often fall asleep whilst they rode."

The Norton is a late-1930s Model ES2

Tuning the WD16H Norton

By Paul Greet in New Zealand

This shows the areas in yellow where the head is relieved
next to the valves. There is an interesting impingement
shown by the exhaust flow witness over the ridge between
 the cylinder and valves. Worth getting rid of, probably.

INTRODUCTION

The humble WD 16H Norton is one of the least pretentious of motorcycles. In standard form, it is slow enough to make riding on the roads awkward. However, it can be upgraded, quickly and simply, at low cost. With the suggested modifications, it will have much better torque, a cruising speed of 60mph and above, and a top speed of 80mph. 70mph can be maintained for long periods without undue drama. The standard appearance is retained, except for the exhaust. The standard cams are also retained.

The modifications take advantage of the fact that Norton knew their way around sidevalve engines very well indeed - no Ricardo patent needed for Norton; they already had the pop-up piston giving the potential for a good breathing/compression ratio balance vital to a sidevalve.

No originality is claimed for any of these modifications: all have been copied from other work and other modified motorcycles. A good source is anything written on the racing Harley Davidson WR45 - these sidevalve engines were heavily developed. Quite a lot of on-line information is available for these engines.

MOTORCYCLE CONDITION

There is no point in attempting any of the modifications described unless the engine, gearbox, forks, brakes and cycleparts are in good order. As the bike will be faster, it needs to be in good condition.

CARBURETTOR

The standard carb is 1 inch. Change this for a 1 1/16 inch as per Model 18, along with the Model 18 inlet stub. This makes the inlet tract parallel, not ideal, but better than expanding from the carb onwards, as standard.

This photo shows the area on the deck, and around the
recessed inlet valve, to be relieved. Also the area of the 
cylinder rounded off.

VALVES

Stainless steel racing valves intended for Chevrolet V8 engines can be bought at reasonable cost from any shop selling aftermarket parts for American V8’s. Standard size for the exhaust, and 1 ¾ inch for the inlet, ⅛ inch bigger than standard.

These valves come in the right size of stem for the existing guides. Collets and lash caps should be purchased with the valves (you may have to buy a set of eight, lifetime supply!) and installed: the tappets will then have enough adjustment to close the gap to the slightly shorter stems on the Chev valves. The standard 16H springs seem fine, but use of NOS items is advisable.

Close-up of area around the 1-¾ inch inlet valve.
Any bigger in valve size and the shrouding would be difficult 
to deal with, without unduly compromising the compression ratio.

PORTS

The larger inlet valve facilitates a good three-angle re-cut of the valve seat, and allows the bowl and tract to be cleaned up - just grind off the obvious flaws, lumps etc - do not try too hard in this area. The exhaust is already too big so don’t bother, except to recut the seat. When re-cutting the inlet seat, recess it a little and relieve the area around it next to the cylinder head. This lets it match up better with the inlet relief in the cylinder deck. The valve is recessed so the top is level with the deck: no special science, just unwillingness to go too far. Hopefully this can be seen in the photos and the drawing.

Another shot of inlet valve and deck relief treatment, 
with hopefully more perspective.

CAMS

The standard cams seem OK, for this extent of modification. No doubt more could be done with modified cams, but this would be serious development, moving away from the keep it simple, low cost philosophy.

CYLINDER HEAD AND DECK

Remove about 2mm or so off the head - on the head in the photos, the head is taken back to the level of the underside of the fin. Ensure the mating faces are flat, and use copper coat aerosol gasket for assembly rather than a gasket to increase compression. A substantial gain in compression ratio is needed, as the next modifications to improve breathing sacrifice some of this.

Check that the valves have clearance to the head at full lift: about 1mm is fine. Grind out the head just over the valves if the clearance is not enough. Grind the head so the combustion chamber is fair and smooth – take out the bare minimum of metal to do this - seek only to remove undue roughness in the casting.

Make sure the combustion chamber does not impinge on the piston at TDC - grind some clearance if so.

Relieve the cylinder head behind the valves – “Tuning for Speed” has a good drawing of this (above). There is a lot of variation between 16H cylinder heads: no two seem alike, so judgement must be used in these modifications.

Now, grind a pathway for the inlet gasses from the inlet valve seat to the cylinder bore. This was 5/64 inch deep at its midpoint on my bike. This modification is hard to explain in words: hopefully the photos are clear enough. Don’t make these so deep that you grind through the casting: however there is a fair bit of meat to work with. The exhaust was given no relief, as it was thought not to offer much advantage.

Round off the top edge of the cylinder wall facing the valves – not so much that you expose the top ring unduly.

With these modifications, some of the gain in compression ratio will be lost. In sidevalve tuning, it is a matter of striking the right balance between compression ratio and breathing, with the object being to get the highest compression pressure when running. The shape of the combustion chamber between the valves and the cylinder has a significant effect on breathing, being in effect a restrictive part of the inlet and exhaust tract. This balance is the reason the famous Harley sidevalve racers of the past ran CR’s well below 7:1. Striking this balance is a matter of trial and error, and doubtless results will vary depending on the artist’s interpretation.

EXHAUST

The standard 16H exhaust is too big. Replacement means fabricating a new pipe, and this does move a little away from the standard appearance. The exhaust on my 16H works well, the pipe size is 1 ½ inch OD. The length is 1500mm from the port to exit of the muffler. The muffler is a straight through item, rather like a Burgess, which can be found in the carpark at any Vincent Owners Club meeting. Failing this, you can buy one cheaply from the aftermarket shop along with the valves.

My exhaust was arrived at by happy accident many years ago. The bike’s exhaust had passed its use-by date, and a friend made me a new one, a quick job to get back on the road. 1500mm is about as long as you can fit on the bike. With no other modifications at this stage, performance improved noticeably.

TUNING

The WD 16H will benefit from a lot more ignition advance than book standard. However, the final figure will vary from machine to machine, depending on how the combustion chamber turned out. The best way of establishing this is to set a lot more advance than one would expect – well over 50 degrees. Then use the advance/retard lever on the road to find out how much advance your particular bike can comfortably use, and set it at that.

Within limits, the bike is not unduly sensitive to ignition timing in terms of performance. There is quite a range over which the engine seems to run well. There might be a temptation to use the minimum of advance that gives good running. However I have found that the maximum advance that gives good running gives a much cooler engine, important in a sidevalve. This only becomes obvious on longer runs. You then have to use the retard if you wish to lug up hills in top, providing more entertainment of course.

The standard jet, 160, albeit in the bigger carb, seems right for New Zealand 95 octane unleaded fuel. Fuel economy is a bit over 50mpg in oldspeak - OK for a sidevalve. Normal tuning procedures for establishing main jet size apply.

GEARING

Installing a Model 18 engine sprocket - 18 teeth from the standard 16, is a must. The bike will pull this gearing with authority, and will be much smoother to ride. Even with the modifications the bike seems to be almost governed to 80mph, at which point it is well under 5000 rpm so safe for the cast iron flywheels.

DURABILITY

My 16H, with the modifications as suggested, undertook a 2000 mile round trip from Auckland through the South Island of NZ and back. A footrest came slightly loose, and at one point I had to drain some garbage from the carburetor bowl. That was it for faults, and the longest day’s ride was over 400 miles. The route was largely over hilly and winding roads. The bike was a pleasure to ride due to its agility and torque.

FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

Compression: Having milled the cylinder head down to the fin, there is still quite a bit of room between the piston and head – approx. 0.180 inch on my bike. This could be reduced to about 40 thou or so over the half of the piston away from the valves by bronze welding and machining. Raising the compression ratio in this fashion would provide a degree of squish to the benefit of combustion. It would also allow some sacrifice of ratio to further relieve the restrictive area between the valves and the cylinder.

Spark Plug Location: The original location appears to have intended to be kind to the sparkplugs of the day. The plug could be moved to approximately the centre of a triangle made by the valves and bore, for improved combustion with reduced advance. Either a new rebate in the tank or a 10mm plug would be needed. This also allows a longer reach plug as the electrodes will not be smacked by the inlet valve. The final position of the plug would have to take into account any revised combustion chamber shape.

Cams: This is an obvious one, but starts to get into expense and some design effort. The limitations on pre-war cam design seem to have been governed by the durability of the coil valve springs of the day. Valve springs have moved on, and if anyone is inclined to use one of the cam design applications, an improvement without loss of desirable low-end torque or reliability should be possible.

Carburettor: You could go bigger than the 1 1/16th inch carb recommended. I mentioned that the modified 16H seems governed to 80mph, the same speed as the Model 18. It is speculated that the governing effect is due to the carb size. Of course, cams and carbs raise the possibility of increased revs, so the cast iron flywheels, happy at under 5000 rpm, are potentially at risk. Steel flywheels would start to look attractive. I have a clip-fitting 1 3/8 TT carb I am tempted to try, restrained from this only by the laughter of friends. One advantage of a bigger carb would be the potential to improve the inlet tract; straight-sided with the 1 1/16th inch carb.

Combustion chamber shape: There is an on-line illustration somewhere of a sidevalve cylinder head by Prof Gordon Blair - this requires a flat top piston and probably a revised head casting - relatively simple in aluminium alloy. This seems to offer an improved combustion chamber shape. The Professor also shows a three-valve version. It is not my business to repeat any of this here, except to recommend a look.

Updraft Carburettor: As used by the famous Norton sprint 16H, in the article on this site. This has been used on an Australian BSA M20, made by cutting and welding, and has obvious gas flow advantages. This moves the appearance so far from standard as to be eccentric, of course.

Longer Inlet Tract: along the same lines as the updraft, but less radical in appearance. If the inlet port could be altered so the carb missed the oil tank, or indeed if the oil tank was modified, a good long inlet tract, like a vintage sidevalve TT Sunbeam, could be tried. A suitable length to match the exhaust, any modified cam, and carb size would have to be established. There is plenty of theory on this for a starting point.

Should anyone try any of the extra modifications, or other ideas, I would be most interested to hear of the results.

Use 'em! c1939 Model ES2 Norton

-By Olav- Here’s a couple of pictures of my ES2. Frame and engine are 1939 ES2 while forks, gearbox and rear mudguard are WD16H items. I bought it last summer as a project (above), missing quite a few parts. I worked hard last winter to rebuild it. Stripped it down completely, the only thing I left in place were the spokes in the rear wheel, all other parts had to be reconditioned or replaced. Painted everything by hand, excepts for the tanks which I sprayed with something that resembles a ‘weathered’ chrome-finish. The silencer is something I had laying around, the battery carrier is of my own design, to accommodate a large 12v battery I always use (I don’t use a dynamo; 12 amps of 12 volts give me several hours of good lighting, and I never ride that long in the dark). I fitted the hidious air-filter because I want the expensive BSA B44 piston I used to last as long as possible.

I got it running in March. Last week I had the week off and went to visit my parents who live in de Dordogne in France, some 1000 KM south from where I live near Antwerp. France is a great country for riding your old bike. Using only the small D-roads it’s always pure motorcyling happines as far as I’m concerned, especially when you’re coming from overcrowded and traffic congested Belgium and Holland.

The first day, passing trough the Belgian Ardennes, and then trough spacious and hilly northern France, went great. Long roads, up and down slow hills, with beautiful weather all the way, pitching my tent on a nice camp-site in Tonnerre about half-way. The second day the surroundings change to ever thicker woodlands and the roads start winding more and more, as you go trough the western borders of the Auvergne and get nearer to the Dordogne region. Also, at midday, I had some serious torrential rains with thunder and lighting, but the Norton didn’t mind it a bit and for me it ment I didn’t bring my rain-clothes in vain. Towards the evening the skies cleared again so everything was dry when entering the lusciously green Dordogne and shortly after arriving at my parents place near Montignac-sur-Vésère.

There my bum had two days to recover from it’s ordeal. The Norton needed only minimal maintenance, adjusting valve- and contact-breaker clearance, chains, and front fork spindles. The only repair needed was some wire around the front downpipe-stay, which had broken.

The return trip was again ‘tres agréable’, doing 600 KM on the first day. At a very nice camp site near the lake region at Brienne, a Scotsman came up to me and offered me a beer. After a hard-days riding in hot sunny weather, you can imagine how good that fresh cold beer tasted. Next day started out grey and wet, but it cleared once I entered Belgium. After Namur progress became slow and tedious, coming into ‘populated’ areas, and closer to Antwerp it was the familiar traffic nightmare again.

But still, I had some great days of motorcycling to look back on, and what better way to enjoy those great roads then on a Norton!

1939 Model CS1 Norton

-JdK- Malte recently sold his 1939 Model CS1; an interesting machine as it has seen little modification since it left the factory. In Malthe's own words: "This bike has not been restored. Most details are as when it left the factory. All numbers match. The only new parts are new (old stock) Dunlop rims fitted in the 1970's. It has had three owners from new and all are related (two friends and 1 son-in-law). I partly dismantled the machine years ago to give it a thorough cleaning. 99.9% of the nuts and bolts are still the original dull plated and undamaged items. When you then add the original cloth cables and electric wiring which is very, very brittle, very brittle rubbers for the tank fitment, original levers, original ammeter, clips holding the wire to the rear mudguard, dull chrome petrol and oil pipes (which were almost black from oil and petrol, before I cleaned them up) etc. etc it suggests to me that this bike has not seen much, if any modifications.

-Richard- This one indeed looks very original. It does have a left hand (nearside) front brake plate; also notice that the speedo drive gearbox is in the wrong place. The brake will still work O.K. but it will put undue stress on the fork leg as the correct plate puts the pressure vertically up the fork tubes. This plate will put a horizontal force on the fork tubes. Perhaps it was replaced when the original one got lost and a right hand brake plate could not be found?

Malte does point out that the 1939 Norton parts catalog actually lists this brake plate (part number 3650) as fitted as correct for the CS1; see the copies from the catalogue below! We suggest the catalogue is outdated and that any wheel with a right hand brake should have a 3651 right hand brake plate or similar; like the Models 30 and 40.

Another small feature is the chromium dome on the front of the primary chain-case. This chaincase is chromium plated all over and then painted black only to leave the dome and edge plated. We understand from the records that the machine was delivered with a chromium plated chaincase so this should be the original item. It's a very minor and confusing detail but black chaincases with a chrome plated dome (thus no chrome underneath the black paint) were a feature for one season (1945/6 ) only.