Gents,
while doing some maintenance on my girder (46 model 18) I noticed I had a “notched spacer” between the upper bearing cap and the top of the bar clamp…can see in picture provided. This spacer did not seem normal so I looked up other Norton pictures and looked in the part number breakdown and could not find such a part!
during my looking, I noticed I did not have “rebound springs?” Found on other bikes of the era. I decided to pull the stem nut off and noticed that the threaded stem had been cut-down too.
I have tried to find parts numbers to see what I have but with no luck. Would anyone have an idea what I might have and also a possible shorter spring since this one ( as you can see) has quit the arc.
Thanks much.
update! I found one set of numbers on the lower bar by the bottom of the spring: 5180. Nothing anywhere else.
Girder forks.
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Thank you rich for the reply…
Thank you rich for the reply.
Just as I figured they being the wrong ones. So as for any solutions to the problem with the spring could I change it out for a shorter one and would that even out the side links? I would like to try and keep the forks is possible…$$$
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Hi Nathan,
I am sorry to say you have the wrong forks fitted to your 1946 Model 18. These forks look like early 1930s Webb, and while Webb made forks for Nortons at that time, these look to be from a different make of machine which is why your bike has that spacer fitted. Looking at your photos, you can see the distance between the top and bottom front spindles is much too long compared to the rear spindles, even with that spacer fitted. The side links should look paralell to each other when viewed from the side, and as yours are not, this will give a very distorted fork action.
The problem with the main spring is also caused by the above. You will need to find the correct forks for your bike as the ones fitted could be dangerous when ridden on the road.