Rick's 1975 Norton 850 Commando MkIII Roadster

Battery tray & horn installed before the rear fender goes on, and before engine goes in. So much easier.

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Most of the electrical gizmos in place

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Coil brackets loosely in place, still need to install the ballast resistor & capacitors first, then install the coils later (to keep them out of the way of installing the head).

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Turns out the rims WERE the correct ones, Buchanan is at work on them and I should have them by next week.
 
Installed handlebars & headlight shell. Already hit my head on the bar once...

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New double row bearing installed in the sprocket, overhauled the speedo drive & re-packed it, spindle in loosely till the wheels arrive next week.

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Calipers ready to be built back up, took 1 hour flat to get them on the bike.

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A couple of items a day, and it'll be done in no time at all!

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Just got word that Buchanan's already laced the wheels up and are shipping them today!
 
Messed with cleaning the oil tank and a few other grungy parts, then installed the rear fender. What a poop!

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That's it for today, I've been messing with a KLR650 than blew a balancer system spacer...
(Yes, it already had the doohicky mod)
 
Nice fresh wheels back from Buchanan's. Just waiting on new Dunlop K81s instead of the Avons (client last minute request)

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This was the offending intake valve; a bit scruffy. Valve replaced, guides will all be replaced. I'll lap them in later today. Just picked up the cylinders, I need to wash them thoroughly then mask & paint them.

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Beautiful freshly Blanchard ground brake discs. Just waiting on one more Dunlop K81 to arrive today and the tires & discs will get mounted to the new rims, then it will be a roller again!

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Oil tank came out quite nicely stripped after 72 hours in Simple Green 50/50 (and it was already grungy stuff I'd used to clean a bunch of filthy parts). So, if you have time on your hands...

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Nicely bored and finish honed cylinders set to low end of tolerance spec to JCC pistons and Hastings rings

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Beautiful sparkling clean head; soda blasted then scrubbed in Simple Green 50/50 (fresh batch!)

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Ready to toss it in the oven, pop out the old guides and slide in the new ones. Then, lap in the valve seats & faces.

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FINALLY got in the 2nd Dunlop K81. Tires now mounted up. Should be a roller tomorrow!

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Photo was in the fading light of evening, will look MUCH nicer as a roller tomorrow!
 
I keep looking for the 'like' button. Coming along great, going to be a beauty!
 
Squeezing the 2nd set of bloody cush rubbers into the hub is one of the biggest headaches of the restoration!

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It's a roller!

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Now on to the build on the downhill side...

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Handy trick for tightening & loosening sprocket nuts, just wrap a section of chain around your sprocket and clamp it in a vise. If unit construction engine, such as Triumph, or on the bike, either leave chain on, or wrap a section of chain on the sprocket and clamp it with vice grip pliers.

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Correct F.A.G. transmission layshaft superblend bearing in place FINALLY.

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Transmission done, bottom end bolted in place.

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Now it'll be picking up steam...
 
2 little chunks of light guage aluminum angle to hold the pistons steady, a good set of ring compressors, and the hardest task left is to remove the compressor bands once the cylinders are past all the rings. It's tight in there.

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Pistons & cylinders done.

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Head installed. Very easy when there are no coils in the way, no tricks needed, just tip it like it shows in the manual. Only one pushrod didn't have a rocker in it's cup, took 10 seconds with a flashlight and I was done. Assembly and install in 1-1/2 hours from a bare head.

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Installed and adjusted the head steady spring to 1.5" extended length. What this does is counter the bulk of the weight of the engine, so that the rubber buffers in the front and rear isolastics don't sag, and the top buffers don't split and fail so easily.

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Looking like a bike now.

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I started to install the primary system and can't find the original clutch location circlip anywhere; also can't find a bloody spare, although I KNOW it will turn up the day after the new replacement arrives... Went ahead and installed the wiring harness; I've got some refurb work to do on the left side switch cluster to recover the male pins that had wires soldered to them.

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Test-fitting my set of flat slike Kehin CVs, and what do you know? THEY FIT! I though the rear frame web was going to need to be modified, or the velocity stacks shortened, to work with a Commando. Easier than I thought, and now I'll maybe try them on my Interstate.

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Tail light assembled and installed. It's like a weird jigsaw puzzle, nothing straightforward with the MkIII.

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Oil filter installed and piped in.

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Oil tank painted, installed & piped in.

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Carb cleaning - noticeable difference

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Carbs installed with new throttle cable & K&N dual-neck air filter

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Looking more and more like a bike, might be running by this weekend if all goes well and I don't get interrupted..

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Circlip arrived, so I set the primary drive in place and gently snugged in the clutch basket.

Checking primary chain alignment - I used vice grips to gently clamp a section of alloy angle to one of the alternator housing studs with one face flat against top and bottom edges of the primary case near the drive sprocket, then measured the gap to the face of a primary chain plate.

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Next, I relocated the angle back to one of the chain adjuster studs and measured the same gap near the clutch basket. They were the same, using the shims that were previously installed. So, no worries.

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Primary drive and clutch center nipped in place.

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Cleaned up clutch plate stack ready to install

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Clutch, primary chain tensioner, electric starter drive gear, and alternator installed.

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Primary side done, apart from overhauling and installing the starter motor & outer cover with shifter gear.

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