Norton 4

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Not all the builds are the same of course, Sonny has the carb's aft of the engine and the radiators, I think there are two as far as I can make out, seem to be mounted in the middle of the frame!

The front Mudguard clearance looks tight and it would seem he eventually opted for a "Sports" type, considering British weather, I would want a more heavily valanced Atlas/ Dominator type.

My radiators at each side of the engine and the oil-cooler centrally mounted at the front all on an oblong mounting frame attached to the front down tubes.

The carburettor a Weber 28/36 will be mounted in front of the engine so as to have a reasonable length of inlet tract.

I am using a mechanical Talbot 930 model water-pump and a small lightweight Japanese Nissan Denso car alternator 40amp/hour unit, enough power for a decent horn, decent lights,extra spot lights and accessories if needed.

The thing about a "four" is you can if needed, use the full-performance, mile after mile, without vibrating you fillings out, or stressing component parts with vibration.

What they did with the Commando power-train, went part way to sorting out this problem, though the bigger bore and stroke of the evolving Norton power units added to the problem of reciprocating mass.

I believe there are some Feather-lastics around!

Honda learned the lesson very early on of smaller cylinders and more of them, for both racing and production machines and Kawasaki followed suit, also Yamaha, Suzuki and these companies still exist today in there original form, with no arguments who owns model names or indeed the name of the original company!

Sonny Angel and others had some valid points to make from a mechanical stand-point, sadly where factory survival mattered no-one listened, the saga of the feather-bed almost went the same way, except that Rex McCandless was as bull-headed as Norton's "Top Brass" and insisted on a practical trail on the IOM TT circuit, without the Feather-bed I doubt whether Norton would have survived to the 60s.

As far as engine design and production variants, no-one listened and sadly, we are, where we are today!

Cheers

John H

Previously david_evans wrote:

An acquaintance of mine went to the Elephant rally in a BSA outfit (double adult) with a reliant engine fitted. It had a heater in the chair, 12volt electrics, electric start and the BSA engine in the chariot in case it all went pear shaped and for ballast.

I have heard of the Rally is this the one that crosses the Alps and drops down into Italy?

A feat I intend to do next Spring or Summer!

Previously gordon_robertson wrote:

Hi John,

thanks for posting those interesting photos.

They remind me of watching the successful club racer imp powered side car outfits racing in the 70sat East Fortune race circuit near Edinburgh.

Also I recall that while many Hillman Imps had cooling issuesthe later Talbot Sunbeams with the same enginewas well sorted out, a sales rep friend of mine drove one andclaimed it would do 80mph in third gear!

Good luck with your project.

A good well sorted Rally or sport engine, breathed on, can reach and maintain 90mph for substantial periods in car format!

The Imp could have been sorted quite easily if they had been given a few months more. but pressure from the Politicians pushing for it's launch, earlier than what was wise and the rest is history!

There is a book called Apex,(Code name for the model), which is full of very interesting facts and technical details.

Thank you, I will visit Bonnie Scotland on my creation, my Father's Uncle Jim was in the Black Watch regiment and we have relatives in Aberdeen; but sadly I was the last one to visit them with my wife in 1997 and since then his Cousin has died and we have lost touch with her descendants! When we were kids my Father would propose heading up to Scotland on many/every occasion, but on our first family holiday there, we were eaten alive whilst camping at Loch Lomond and although we made it up too the Highlands and saw Fort William and Inverness,( but sadly not to John O' Groats), my Mother was never as keen to go, after that experience! Truth was She was never really keen to go anywhere! Hence I have Wanderlust!