fucker, fuck off texas sucks ,sorry bout yert luck
1963 Norton 650SS race bike. Am I up shits creek?
I know nothing about Nortons, I have been in the market for one and just bought this on eBay. I may have a POS or not. I have never bought a Ike on eBay and I'm quite nervous about it.
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Here is some of the description
No reserve - high bidder owns this 1963 Norton 650 Sports Special Dominator. Clean and clear title in hand
This 650 Sports Special was active in the 1960's at local Pacific Northwest tracks where it was raced by Bob Waring. The cover of Cycle magazine from May 1965 features this very same Norton 650 motorcycle in action during the Canadian Motorcycle Road Race Championship race at the old Westwood Racing Circuit in Vancouver B.C. forever capturing a tangible piece of this bike's race history.
Bob Waring has since passed on and one of the two previous owners of this bike since Bob added the street legal trim as presently seen in the pictures. I purchased this motorcycle from the last owner as a buy and hold considering the fact the 650/SS model was produced in limited numbers for 2 years only (1962 and 1963) making it a very rare bike in the USA since only a handful were exported from the home market. The race history was icing on the cake in my purchase decision. Here's the specs:
Frame#: 20 1048xx. Featherbed slimline frame.
Engine#: 18SS1048xxP. Engine turns over, I have not tried to start it.
Wheels: Twin leading shoe 8" vented front and 7" rear.
Front rim: C.Borrani Record-19 x 2 1/4 -TD 324 A with Dunlop Racing KR76 3.00-19 tire
Rear rim: C.Borrani Record-19 x 2 1/2-TD 324 B with Dunlop Roadmaster TT100 3.60 H19 tire
These shouldered alloy rims are possibly from a BSA Goldstar...
Gas tank: Aluminum alloy dual oil/gas tank in the classic Norton design style with aircraft style flip-up gas caps and internal race style baffling from unknown maker. Paul Dunstall??
Bumstop seat: Fi-glass Limited of Edenbridge Kent is the name on the badge, made in England.
In true race bike form there is no center stand or even a kick starter-this bike is bump start only! I verified the engine turns over because the gearbox clicks through all the gears and in the top gears you can rotate the rear wheel by hand and hear the engine turning over. The gearbox inspection cap was taped over when I received the bike so I sealed the peephole again when I got it before I washed the bike and inspected it. It really is a period race correct bike with safety wiring on parts and evidence of racing hard as seen by the rash on the right header and very end of the right muffler (possibly Dunstall mufflers?). That seems to be the extent of the rash although the right clipon might have unseen end damage because the grips are unscarred and are newer Doherty units.
Carbs are Amal 1 5/32 Monoblocs with GP/TT type Amal remote float chambers. The frame looks good with some ancillary tabs removed, all the major mounting points are present and accounted for that I can determine. Frame and engine number and gearbox number will be revealed to the winning bidder only out of respect to the winning bidder (the last two numbers are all factory stock OEM stampings). It looks like the original 6v electrical system has been retained as evidenced by the 3 cell battery and the brakes actuate freely and the clutch lever still actuates the cable and hardware.
The front and rear hubs are Norton Manx magnesium hubs.
The front forks are Norton Manx and the swing arm is Manx too.
The gas tank is factory Norton but likely someone has welded the oil tank onto the Norton tank. The internal race style baffling is the correct dimpled hole design style as used by the Norton factory.
The magneto is special, no one as of yet has identified it and I find no stamped #'s or riveted tags, so if there is identification on the magneto body it is hidden by installation.
The two valve assembly on the right side under the seat is an anti-sumping oil line shut off valve. The lines to the oil tank are disconnected.
The toggle switches on the left side under the seat are for the charging system and lighting system. There is a handwritten wiring diagram explaining the function of these 2 switches in all the papers and letters and drawings and diagram specs I received in the purchase of this Norton
The 2nd owner of this 650SS was Sir Edward Bilton-Smith. The title for this bike is from 1974 and the name shown on the title is Edward C. Bilton-Smith. If you do a quick search on y0utube for "Sir Eddy Edward Bilton-Smith Norton Celebration of Life" video you will see this very same Norton 650SS you see here on eBay shown in that video at 3:29 into the video.
Also, a very knowledgeable Norton enthusiast has solved the magneto mystery. It's a Lucas square body 2MTT magneto but a rare and unique one with 2 spark leads.
Here is a pic of the bike from the video when Edward C. Bilton-Smith owned it
![Land vehicle Vehicle Motor vehicle Motorcycle Car]()
Here is some of the description
No reserve - high bidder owns this 1963 Norton 650 Sports Special Dominator. Clean and clear title in hand
This 650 Sports Special was active in the 1960's at local Pacific Northwest tracks where it was raced by Bob Waring. The cover of Cycle magazine from May 1965 features this very same Norton 650 motorcycle in action during the Canadian Motorcycle Road Race Championship race at the old Westwood Racing Circuit in Vancouver B.C. forever capturing a tangible piece of this bike's race history.
Bob Waring has since passed on and one of the two previous owners of this bike since Bob added the street legal trim as presently seen in the pictures. I purchased this motorcycle from the last owner as a buy and hold considering the fact the 650/SS model was produced in limited numbers for 2 years only (1962 and 1963) making it a very rare bike in the USA since only a handful were exported from the home market. The race history was icing on the cake in my purchase decision. Here's the specs:
Frame#: 20 1048xx. Featherbed slimline frame.
Engine#: 18SS1048xxP. Engine turns over, I have not tried to start it.
Wheels: Twin leading shoe 8" vented front and 7" rear.
Front rim: C.Borrani Record-19 x 2 1/4 -TD 324 A with Dunlop Racing KR76 3.00-19 tire
Rear rim: C.Borrani Record-19 x 2 1/2-TD 324 B with Dunlop Roadmaster TT100 3.60 H19 tire
These shouldered alloy rims are possibly from a BSA Goldstar...
Gas tank: Aluminum alloy dual oil/gas tank in the classic Norton design style with aircraft style flip-up gas caps and internal race style baffling from unknown maker. Paul Dunstall??
Bumstop seat: Fi-glass Limited of Edenbridge Kent is the name on the badge, made in England.
In true race bike form there is no center stand or even a kick starter-this bike is bump start only! I verified the engine turns over because the gearbox clicks through all the gears and in the top gears you can rotate the rear wheel by hand and hear the engine turning over. The gearbox inspection cap was taped over when I received the bike so I sealed the peephole again when I got it before I washed the bike and inspected it. It really is a period race correct bike with safety wiring on parts and evidence of racing hard as seen by the rash on the right header and very end of the right muffler (possibly Dunstall mufflers?). That seems to be the extent of the rash although the right clipon might have unseen end damage because the grips are unscarred and are newer Doherty units.
Carbs are Amal 1 5/32 Monoblocs with GP/TT type Amal remote float chambers. The frame looks good with some ancillary tabs removed, all the major mounting points are present and accounted for that I can determine. Frame and engine number and gearbox number will be revealed to the winning bidder only out of respect to the winning bidder (the last two numbers are all factory stock OEM stampings). It looks like the original 6v electrical system has been retained as evidenced by the 3 cell battery and the brakes actuate freely and the clutch lever still actuates the cable and hardware.
The front and rear hubs are Norton Manx magnesium hubs.
The front forks are Norton Manx and the swing arm is Manx too.
The gas tank is factory Norton but likely someone has welded the oil tank onto the Norton tank. The internal race style baffling is the correct dimpled hole design style as used by the Norton factory.
The magneto is special, no one as of yet has identified it and I find no stamped #'s or riveted tags, so if there is identification on the magneto body it is hidden by installation.
The two valve assembly on the right side under the seat is an anti-sumping oil line shut off valve. The lines to the oil tank are disconnected.
The toggle switches on the left side under the seat are for the charging system and lighting system. There is a handwritten wiring diagram explaining the function of these 2 switches in all the papers and letters and drawings and diagram specs I received in the purchase of this Norton
The 2nd owner of this 650SS was Sir Edward Bilton-Smith. The title for this bike is from 1974 and the name shown on the title is Edward C. Bilton-Smith. If you do a quick search on y0utube for "Sir Eddy Edward Bilton-Smith Norton Celebration of Life" video you will see this very same Norton 650SS you see here on eBay shown in that video at 3:29 into the video.
Also, a very knowledgeable Norton enthusiast has solved the magneto mystery. It's a Lucas square body 2MTT magneto but a rare and unique one with 2 spark leads.
Here is a pic of the bike from the video when Edward C. Bilton-Smith owned it
1 - 9 of 57 Posts
i get it the brit shit can be knotchy specially when they put a high dome piston in a goldstar ,that is my xb33 and they just shake there hreads
cannot start it it
i actually did get it started aftern i putn in a new quadrant and the lil gear it mates to and bushed the case
the kicker grears were climbing so bad
anyway i thought the harley piston story was bullshit till i did start it up and it would ping at retarded time
hmmm 237psi kicking it oopps
turns out it was a harley piston offset pin and all
i put in a nice low dome old bsa dude up here is a gent he could not believe the dome he was all like that dog wont hunt
so yeah check it for harley pistons and maybe get some lower ratio rocker arms or slo the cam down see
but definately get it running but like jal says take out some bark
but i would try the easy way softer valve springs and maybe just ungrind the lobes knock em down
just gring a 1/16 off the peaks
file the piston dombs down a good knicker
put some warshers in the intake so it restricted to 3/4''
dont laaugh that cut down the rpm playing
lower ratio rockers would be tits
here is what a harley piston looks like in a goldstar
and that was after i filed and ground a ton of stock off still had 200psi kiking though
harley pistons are striccltly for racing brit shit cant play withem ,thats all
im know where you are man and agree with all its common good sense
i like to jkeep you spilling so i can learn more,see
but my harley piston story is true why i brought it up its funny
i just figured they were full of shit
i clayed that harle=y piston that was in my bsa
it was like nothing even much for squish i cant remember but there was never a hundrerd thousanths anywhere in that lashup and scary close too less than .025'' in many areas 250 psi kicking alky motor huh lol
it was all new bore never had run my bsa old guy up here had a nice almost flat top piston for it and rings
i have run that and its very easy starting cold or hot i can usually 1 kick start it cold or hot if not then it takes 3
now i wish it had just a bit more cr it feels a bit flat
meanwhile
indeed it is really amazing and pretty bitchen to witness
the internet and these forums for like minds make it possible to share knowledge that otherwise might not get exposed
a glorious use in my opinion
and this shit is real ,its hard to describe i am just glad i can read along and at 60 continue to learn
shit its not like there are 1,000 jalsteve's out there, ill bet there is very few with his depth of expertise maybe only 5 or 20 above ground , i dunno
but how many are willing to share ? thats the real shining part, my hats off to you jalsteve
you are one cool cat,man...keep it coming i am much obliged
while i am at it can you, tell if my goldstar cams are just super mild by a real good image of the lobe ?
see when i got the cycle i went thru the timing chest making sure all was happy took good pics
gearbox as well it was my first britbox,i found it a lot like a bultaco trans or an automobile gearbox
i guess i could just look at images of db34 cams and what not but i would rather keep you talking,thats all
on a side note do you use any slick coatings on parts that can benefit from it ?ie piston skirt thrust faces,cam lobes,non rolling element lifter faces etc ?i started using
it in 1980 orv so when a friend of mine multi-time national champion sidecar racer larry coleman, who was sponsored by kal-gard, introduced it to us...
my experience esp on 2 stroke pistons is that it is/was quite beneficial
on my own race bikes ,air-cooled jobs, kawasaki and rotax
coleman piloting the number one
1 - 9 of 57 Posts
