Project Norton
This month on the 1957 ES2, we have mainly been sorting bits and bobs
This month the ES2 get all sorts of little jobs tidied up, while we wait for parts to show up
Gud. La sm n I rd the dynamo with new bearings, brushes and a thorough clean. But the dynamo parts I hadn’t got are proving elusive – the ‘specialists’ don’t have them, I don’t trust anyone on eBay anymore and there are no auto-jumbles!
It’s just the Bakelite end, one long, thin bolt to hold it all together and the expanding ring you tighten up to cover the brushes. I’ve a number of someone Neville knows, so I’ll give them a ring when we’re allowed out again.
Elsewhere, I thought I’d start at the front and work backwards. I’d spent some
time on the BMW and was losing track of what to do on the Norton. And as I was painting, I thought the mudguard and stays would be perfect. Except, and I should have guessed this; nothing fitted. When I bought the bike it had a nice, powdercoated new fork brace, which I fitted. But it will not fit with the mudguard. And while there are four stays, two long and two short, the bike should have a front stand and two stays. I swore quite considerably.
The mudguard is fine and I have never used the BSA front stand, so I bent the stays into shape and cut and welded the fork brace so it fits under. I then took a look at the bottom of the fuel tank. It’s been rubbed down on top, but the bottom, while solid, was a little flaky. So I took it outside and bead blasted it with a cheap little blaster from Laser Tools.
It’s all right and did a good job, but I had to refill it five times just to finish the nooks and crannies of the tank and not being in a blasting booth, the glass bead was wasted.
But it did the job! I then got all the parts primed, but for some reason it reacted/ was too cold/needed more thinners and finished looking like underseal, so I’ll have to rub them down again…
The delivery man brought my Avon tyres! I still can’t see how the profile of the rear Safety Mileage will do anything other than put me in the hedge, but they work, have always worked, look great and with modern compound, should be better than ever. I’ve got to buy some new shocks, but with a straight frame, new bearings throughout, new wheels, new tyres and rebuilt Roadholder forks, it’ll be the besthandling bike out there!
The Avons were looking so good, I decided to fit them, but they will also protect the rims from too many scratches from hanging around waiting to be used. I’ve seen too many rusty rims, so being new, I carefully smeared a thin layer of grease on the nipple heads and where the rim is folded round, leaving a gap. I then wiped off any excess, to prevent the tyre
from turning on the rim. The new rim tape went on, followed by a thick mix of washing up liquid to aid fitting. A couple of tyre levers, a piece of carpet, some Fairy and a plastic rim protector are all you need; though I did use a foot as well. And I didn’t nick the tube this time, so success. Then it was time to work out the contents of the axle – the open bearings have shims and felt O rings, as well as the spacer. My new bearings were sealed, so I didn’t worry about the felt. All came up nicely, but I lost the photos – sorry.
‘Just get it going’
Neville can’t believe it’s taken me so long to get so little done. He has built three specials in the time I’ve taken to get this far, so he gave me a right rollicking and told me to ‘just get the bloody engine going’. He’s right, of course, and now the head is on there is little to get in the way. My idea was always to strip everything, repair or replace what was needed and therefore have what is effectively, a brand-new bike. But as Nev pointed out, by trying to do this, it’ll never get done. So while the magneto was going to get stripped, instead it has just been checked and cleaned up by Neville. I will get it rebuilt and I want to know more about how they work and how they go wrong; but when the world is closed is not the time.
Looking at getting it running led me to a large element I haven’t touched: the gearbox. Again with Nev in my ear, I have decided to check it over, make sure it engages all gears correctly, clean the outside and put it in the bike. I tried the two shafts, it has a nice action and seems to engage all four gears nicely. But I’m going to drop it over to Nev to have a feel of it too, and if he feels any issues then we’ll pull it apart. But for now, it looks like something not to worry about. Some good news?
With the BMW coming on nicely, I am going to give the Norton my full attention this month. Let’s see if that helps move this project on!