What's the sequence for restoring a bike?

[Some_Bloke]

Hi There,

I've just bought a Norton Dominator (Built on 29/12/1958 as a 1959 model 99c, described as "Special", although not SS).

I have never restored a bike before and would like to know from experienced restorers here in what order one should go about restoring the bike.

Fortunately the previous owner ordered a lot of parts from Norvil as can be seen in the picture. He seemed to know what he was doing and I'd guess that 99% of the body parts are there. Engine-wise, the engine is a bit derelict but it does turn. The guy that owned the bike before the chap I bought it from had tried to turn it into a café racer, hence the slight alterations to the frame at the rear.

[Goldy]

First you have to decide what you want. Do you want it to be exactly original or near original. Do you want a special. Exactly original parts may be difficult to obtain. When you start dismantling record everything. Take photgraphs, make sketches, label every single thing. Also do not throw anything away, even if you think its scrap. A lot will depend on how much you can do yourself which is dependant on your own ability. Try to use existing parts or new old stock parts. A lot of re manufactured parts dont fit.  The main thing is to enjoy doing it and look forward to that first day when you fire it up. All the best Goldy

[Some_Bloke]

Thanks, Goldy. I'd like to restore it to it's original condition (or as close as possible), which includes the original colour scheme (Black and Silver).

I've catalogued everything now, I was just wondering how I go about the reconstruction of the bike. In other words, do I strip and clean everything and then reassemble it then disassemble it, paint it and re-chrome parts, and then reassemble it for the final time?

That's the only route I can think of at the moment but I'm interested as to what order the experts would recommend.

Cheers

[Blue]

A lot of people recommend a 'dry build' as you suggested - that is build it to make sure all the parts are present and accounted for, then strip, chrome/cad plate/powdercoat etc and rebuild.  personally i havent got the patience and just restore the parts and piece them together until i find im missing something. the dry build is good because it means not risking destroying any gooed-up gaskets

i dont know how much you know about restoring engines, so ill probably sound a bit patronising, but some pointers i can give are:

make sure you clean the sludge-traps - too many people dont bother and end up wondering why the big-end decided to throw itself through the crankcase

micrometer all the neccessaries such as crank journals, pistons/bores, crankshaft bearings etc and if it needs to be reground/built-up/sleeved/replaced, do it now while the engines apart - it beats having trouble when its a runner

replace the big-end shells and nuts, and if you can, the big end bolts.  again, even if there isnt much wear, it may as well be done whilst its all stripped

the good thing about old british bikes is that most (if not all) of the roller/ball bearings are proprietary units, so just take the old one to a bearing shop and they should have the same one - also goes for rubber seals. so theres no need to buy one for 3x more than its worth because it has 'norton' or 'norvil' on the packet

it can sometimes be worth updating the bike with parts from later models - in this instance id investigate using a commando cush-drive rear hub and tls front brake (although the sls norton brakes are good enough).  as good as it is to use the original bits, the benefit of restoration is being able to obviate the 'trouble spots' of the model, for example you could use a belt-drive conversion so the pressed-steel chaincases wont leak and you'll have a better clutch. also the AMC gearboxes can be a bit fragile, but you can no doubt get new stronger clusters and bearings

and as Goldy wrote, label every nut and bolt no matter how tiresome and trivial or atleast take a lot of photos - you'll thank yourself for it down the track

anyway, all that being said ... extensively ... have fun! it can be frustrating and slow sometimes, but itll all be worth it come summer

Hope this essay helps,
Blue

[Some_Bloke]

Really valuable advice there, Blue. Thank you and very much appreciated.

[joe90]

If you are retaining original nuts bolts and washers and getting them plated, you will at some point have to take off all the carefully made labels, empty all the packets and mix everything into a large biscuit tin to get a job lot done.  The plater will put the whole lot in a basket for chemical cleaning and the plating process, you'll get the whole lot back all mixed up.  Here's the clever bit - before you start arrange them on A4 sheets of white paper - put in sensible groups and the right washers and nuts with bolts etc.  Put a ruler at the bottom of the page and take a digital photo.  Print photo out life size (check against ruler) and then get your wife to match up the parts when you get the biscuit tin back ( much better fun than a jigsaw).  You can then put the labels back on - put into separate bags etc and Bob's your uncle.

[Some_Bloke]

Thanks Joe, another piece of great advice, cheers!

[catgate]

First thing to do is get yourself a good workshop manual. No, not one of Mr Haynes books of nonsense and imagination, but a Norton one. They are often available in photocopied format. Then sit and spend many hours studying it and working out where everything goes, what it does and how it varies from what you have got...which it more than often will.
When you have done that decide if you are going to be sensible, and enjoy riding it, or foolish, and have it all concourse and pretty. Because this will dictate the level of spend and the level of  effort you put into trying to achieve something that was never there when the bike left the factory.
As far as sequence is concerned it will sort itself out, because you can not put the engine and /or gearbox into the frame until you have the frame ready to put them in, similarly you need to put the mudguards on before you put the wheels in and you need to have the stand fixed to do that etc etc.

Good luck

[Some_Bloke]

Thanks, Catgate. I've taken your advice and bought a book called "Norton Twin Restoration" by Roy Bacon. From your post and from what I've read of the book so far, I've started to realize that concours and weekend rider are two different things. A bit of a relief to tell you the truth. I can't imagine how much work it must take to get a bike into concours condition. I want the bike to look good but not to the extent that I'm scared to ride. There'd be no point in that for me.

A couple more questions for anybody who knows:

• Does anyone have any diagrams or pictures of what the 1958/1959 model 99 Dominator frame should look like? I need to see it on it's own, without parts since a previous owner of the bike had started welding bits on to convert it into a café racer.

• The book I have lists the colour schemes but not the exact colours. Does anyone have Pantones for this model's colour schemes? Does anyone have photos of the various colour schemes (other than the ubiquitous grey bikes)?

• The bike I have has a dent in the frame just in front of the engine, as if it struck a rock or something. Is this a problem? Could this weaken the frame (it's right in the curve as the frame comes down from the handlebars and then turns underneath the engine)?

Any help will be much appreciated. I'm asking around to try and find these things out for myself but the temptation to post all my problems on a web forum in the hope that an expert comes across them is too great.

[Goldy]

Regarding your third point, In Engineering terms you do not want more than about 10% loss of material. So looking accross the section of tube, if the damage has taken up more than 10% of the area of the tube then it requires attention.

[Some_Bloke]

Thanks, Goldy. I'll check that out.