Norton 880 Commando Dreer VR special cafe racer

[grandpaul]

I've been buying Kenny Dreer's leftover VR880 stuff for years, since I started building my blue monoshock bike. As he was nearing the end of his parts stash, he made me a couple of parts lots deals; I sold off some, and still have some.

A couple of years ago, I did a front end restoration on a client's Triumph Bonneville that had a complete Yamaha (650?) front end on it, so that's been sitting in a corner.

I got to thinking it's time to buy a frame and put together a big pile of parts to sell as a rolling project, and work up some play money to finish a few other projects I intend to keep.

Within 10 minutes of posting on a couple of forums, I made a deal to buy a frame, so that's the key to this basically being a done deal. I'll post the progress, and eventually a link to the e-bay sale (unless somebody makes me an offer along the way).

Since I have multiple options for many of the components (swingarm, bodywork, carbs, etc), I'll let the eventual buyer decide what they want from whatever stuff I have on the shelves. "Have it Your Way"

Starting with the engine power unit:

Norton RH4 850 head, bare in great shape
850 cylinders, bored to 880 in great shape
J&E 880 pistons w/ gapless rings (new)
Dreer VR880 cases (used, need minor repair)

I have a few of the internals (not much); main costs on this will be the crank & rods.

 

[grandpaul]

Re: Norton 880 Commando Special

J&E 880 piston & ring set

850 cylinders, bored to 880

They'll need a good honing, and of course a set of cam followers

 

[grandpaul]

Re: Norton 880 Commando Special

This is the Yamaha front end that I'm going to use-

The tire is in great shape, brakes work. I'd probably have the disc drilled and blanchard ground, but I'll let the eventual buyer do that.

Dreer VR880 tranny cradle with "big bearing" swingarm mount (instead of bushings), and provision for e-starter; also the box-section swingarm-

I do have a good used rear isolastic unit already mounted, with the vernier adjusters.

I'll post pix of the frame as soon as the seller sends them to me.

 

[grandpaul]

Re: Norton 880 Commando Special

KD/VR880 "Boat-tail" seat-

The upholstery is really nice-

Built-in tail light made from a trailer side marker; I use a 2-bulb base and it's totally out of sight

 

[grandpaul]

Re: Norton 880 Commando Special

VR880 bladder tank, needs petcocks & filler cap assembly, easy to get from any UJM catalog

Tank cover needs to be painted to match. I'll probably spray bomb it to match the seat somewhat...

 

[grandpaul]

Re: Norton 880 Commando Special

Here's a set of original Amal concentric 932 carbs, as an option for the buyer

As another option, a scruffy fiberglass Roadster tank, will need lining for use with modern gasoline blends

 

[grandpaul]

Re: Norton 880 Commando Special

Found a bunch more stuff after digging around the shop all afternoon on Saturday:

Complete set of rearsets with Z-plates (totally forgot about those!)
Very good Cheng Shin 4.50 x 18 rear tire
Nice UJM clutch quadrant with dogleg lever and good switchgear
Alloy brake torque arm
Set of simple clip-on handlebars
Useable set of rear shocks
Ducati monster headlight with brackets
Lucas Rita electronic ignition
Very good set of valves with springs & collets, just need keepers
Set of shorty header pipes, pair of upswept header sections, and a nice length of pipe to fab up some headers

Put together the rear end parts; will need to weld on a pair of tabs to anchor the rear brake torque arm, and need a pair of bearings for the swingarm spindle

This is one of the reed valve crankcase breathers I make from modern Triumph exhaust air injectors that are the first thing to come off a modern Triumph.
Just a simple mod to drill a few holes and bolt it to the back side of the timing chest.

In case the client wants a single carb manifold, I found one of those, too (several Mikunis to choose from, no pix yet)-

 

[grandpaul]

Re: Norton 880 Commando Special

Rearsets with Z-plates (I'll have to fabricate a rear brake cable anchor, probably on the torque arm)

Pair of OEM intakes for the Amal carbs-

Scruffy shocks to make it a roller as soon as the frame gets here-

 

[grandpaul]

Re: Norton 880 Commando Special

Lucas RITA ignition

Clip-on handlebars

That's it for today, and probably not much more 'till the frame gets here. Maybe I'll overhaul the front disc brake caliper & master cylinder, that's always a good idea.

 

[goldy]

Re: Norton 880 Commando Special

It sounds like you've got yourself a very interesting collection of goodies there! Keep us posted, I'll be watching this one for sure!

 

[Erskine]

Re: Norton 880 Commando Special

COUNT ME IN

 

[grandpaul]

Re: Norton 880 Commando Special

Got in a good few hours in the shop this morning (finally). Before I could do any work, I had to clean up the mess from the last few projects, put away tools, clear off the parts wash sink lid, etc.

Pulled the loosely assembled rear end and engine apart, took the yokes off the forks and washed everything in solvent.

Rattle-canned the tranny cradle, coil mount & yokes w/ glossy black Rust-O-Leum, my favorite. Whenever I sell basket cases & rolling projects, I ALWAYS mention the fact that some parts are rattle-can painted whenever they are.

Sorted a handful of hardware to bolt the engine into the cradle.

Took an angle grinder and made a better job of cleaning up the vestiges of the electric starter mount hump on the inner primary, then took it to the belt grinder and smoothed it off. Then, I stuffed some foam into the hole, scrounged up my last two partial tubes of 2-part epoxy, and plastered over the opening. I'll grind it down and cover it over with a final layer of JB-Weld silver, then give it a final sanding to match the aluminum as closely as possible. I'm going to have to cut slots either side of the tranny mainshaft hole to allow for belt adjustment; it's spaced for the MkIII e-start primary.

Found a few more nice bits including a good pair of coils and a Tympanium regulator/rectifier.

Pix later...

 

[grandpaul]

Re: Norton 880 Commando Special

This is the cut off starter lump

Patched with epoxy (enough to support JB Weld)

Painted tranny cradle

 

[grandpaul]

Re: Norton 880 Commando Special

Painted yoke & coil mount

Coil mount with coils

Typmanium solid state regulator/rectifier

 

[grandpaul]

Re: Norton 880 Commando Special

Wiring harness from an Atlas, will be revised to accommodate Commando layout.

Monster (literally) headlight & bracket

A simple 1-1/2" length of 1x1 aluminum angle with 4 holes drilled in it was all it took to mount it to the lower yoke.

 

[grandpaul]

Re: Norton 880 Commando Special

Pretty much ready to slip onto the frame (already on it's way). Just need to change one of the headlight mount bolts for a longer one that will capture the brake light switch bracket.

I'm going down to the local bike salvage yard (Joe Gregory's) and see if I can find a second disc and caliper...

 

[rundown]

Re: Norton 880 Commando Special

I really like that seat, however, Googling it comes up with nothing relevant. Just what is that seat off of??

 

[grandpaul]

Re: Norton 880 Commando Special

I bought all of Kenny Dreer's old stock. Kenny was formerly Vintage Rebuilds (VR); then, he resurrected Norton from the dead, finally selling to Stuart Garner.

These seat/tails are one of the most easily spotted styling marks of the VR880 Sprint Special, his finest bikes.

The style carries over, to a degree, on the New Norton

 

[grandpaul]

Re: Norton 880 Commando Special

I just googled "880 Sprint Special", and (just as I thought) one of the very first images is another 880 SS seat/tail.

How were you googling it?

 

[grandpaul]

Re: Norton 880 Commando Special

Just checked the tracking number, the frame is half way here from Ohio...