S2000 fleet ramblings - 1960’s Motorcycle Workshop

[S2000]

A pleasant morning was spent fettling parts with a grinding disc and wire wheel for the grand sum of a jar of coffee. I’m now in a place to start reassembling the Norman now, really happy with the way the ultrasonic cleaner got rid of 80% of the grot.

 

[S2000]

Spent a couple of hours putting stuff together today, forks, handlebars, rear swing arm… so much nicer with clean bits! I have a list of parts I need to find such as shockers and some cables, I need a good autojumble or find a supplier of 50’s moped parts!

 

[S2000]

It’s been a busy few days, the Fiesta went to the garage and is fixed but pissing air con gas like a racehorse so is still being investigated. The Norman is partly assembled and I will add photos tomorrow, also built a new wiring loom to install once it runs…. Slowly getting their with the engine to go back in next and set up the clutch/gears/cables which is as enjoyable as being fisted by a Doctor (prostate exam).

Went here last week:

 

 

Decided I want to get a Piagio 300 or 125 for local knocking about on rather than using the Husky all the time so to raise funds I’m shifting tat starting with a spare Norman frame, then the other runner I have (any interest let me know!), not the one I’m rebuilding:

 

[S2000]

Bowels have been evacuated.

it’s going to be a long day and I will try to update as we go……

 

 

[S2000]

First leg transport 

 

[S2000]

Transport number 2

 

[bangernomics]

How many wheels does the newbie have?

[beko1987]

Chod speed

[S2000]

23 minutes ago, bangernomics said:

How many wheels does the newbie have?

It’s a surprise…

[S2000]

[S2000]

[grogee]

Hope it's an NSU Ro80. 

May your tarmac be unroadworked. 

[S2000]

[S2000]

Thanks to @jollyfkr2 for the introduction to the vendor, so what have we got. A Heinkel 103-A0, a Sun Geni Scooter and a 1965 Kawasaki.

Five hour round trip in all, and once home it took me 20 minutes to get the Heinkel running, needs a fettle as it’s been standing for a while but extremely pleased. My garage is now full:

 

[jollyfkr2]

To be honest I believe all three are good runners! A great purchase there !

[S2000]

21 hours ago, grogee said:

Hope it's an NSU Ro80. 

May your tarmac be unroadworked. 

Dad had one in the past which succumbed to a Ford V4 and then an orange NSU Prinz!

[Vantman]

On 16/08/2025 at 17:56, S2000 said:

 I have a list of parts I need to find such as shockers and some cables, I need a good autojumble or find a supplier of 50’s moped parts!

 

@S2000 Send me a list of your needs as i am going to a local Norman meet on the 21st September and i can ask around for you. I live not far from the old Norman factory at Ashford but alas it has all gone now.

[S2000]

7 hours ago, Vantman said:

@S2000 Send me a list of your needs as i am going to a local Norman meet on the 21st September and i can ask around for you. I live not far from the old Norman factory at Ashford but alas it has all gone now.

Cheers @Vantman I have all the bits I need now and am actually trying to sell this:

 

 

The spare from I have has gone, and hopefully in a month I will have the up and running one I have rebuilt from here for sale once DVLA have inspected it.

[S2000]

Today has been a fettling Day with the new Bikes.

Heinkel - tyres shot (not holding air) so new ones on order, I need to take off and lube the clutch cable and clean the clutch fork as it’s reluctant to engage first and second but third and fourth okay. Forum says common issue if laid up so I’m not to bothered about it, more tinkering!
 

Geni - As above with gear and brake linkages, will do that back end of the week as I have a day off. It fires on the devil easy start but not fuelling, as with the other Norman’s I’ll strip the carb and put it in the ultrasonic for a couple of hours and it will be good as gold.

Kawasaki - not fuelling, get the idea here with the other two strokes I have! I flushed the tank and replaced the fuel line but it’s gummed up somewhere, another candidate for the ultrasonic….. good news I squirted some pre mix into it and it runs for 20 or so seconds.

Its rare I get 7 or 8 hours to focus in the garage but really happy and have the ‘lists’ for each machine.

Im not the tidiest in the garage as I was working on 3 bikes at once (stripped and cleaned the carb on the black Norman, 2 stroke so gummed up!), similar to work I guess when I have multiple projects on the go…

The Mayhem:

 

[S2000]

It’s been a productive few days, the red Nippy is 90% done, pleased to say the loom I made fitted like a glove and the machine started on the first pedal so very pleased, needs a good polish then time to get the DVLA round. The Kwaka carb was gummed up so I dumped it in the ultrasonic and got it running from a bottle as I will clean the tank to be on the safe side, the clutch appears to be US as although it’s moving it’s not engaging so a bit more research on that, it’s a wet clutch so I’ll change the oil first before buying a new one.

The Geni is all sorted and running and it is delightful to ride around on, my Heinkel is taking a back seat at the moment, if I have time tomorrow I’ll start removing the body work and lubing the cables and order up some tyres.

I follow @Bear and was impressed with his flooring solution so ordered some tiles up yesterday and fitted them this afternoon, so much nicer, no more kneeling on stones and when I inevitably drop stuff it will be easier to find… excuse the flymo it’s off to the recycling centre tomorrow.

 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Nice line-up! I've lost track now... is that my old NN? 

[S2000]

1 hour ago, Dick Cheeseburger said:

Nice line-up! I've lost track now... is that my old NN? 

It is….. everything but the engine rebuilt, all metal work shot blasted and resprayed, electrics sorted, clutch adjusted etc….. it’s been a labour of love/hate just to get to the point DVLA can examine it so it can retain its identity.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

41 minutes ago, S2000 said:

It is….. everything but the engine rebuilt, all metal work shot blasted and resprayed, electrics sorted, clutch adjusted etc….. it’s been a labour of love/hate just to get to the point DVLA can examine it so it can retain its identity.

Wow, it's looking great. Excellent to hear that it's had a meticulous rebuild, for sure.

Why do DVLA want to examine it? The V5 was up to date and the registration was live on their system. 

[S2000]

23 hours ago, Dick Cheeseburger said:

Wow, it's looking great. Excellent to hear that it's had a meticulous rebuild, for sure.

Why do DVLA want to examine it? The V5 was up to date and the registration was live on their system. 

 

23 hours ago, Dick Cheeseburger said:

Wow, it's looking great. Excellent to hear that it's had a meticulous rebuild, for sure.

Why do DVLA want to examine it? The V5 was up to date and the registration was live on their system. 

Embarrassing on my behalf as I misplaced (threw in the bin while having a tidy) half a dozen V5’s, the chassis number and engine number I provided don’t match and they need to inspect the machine to make sure it’s not a pile of bits I assume due to the age. After a protracted conversation it has to be roadworthy and rideable not mid rebuild.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

50 minutes ago, S2000 said:

 

Embarrassing on my behalf as I misplaced (threw in the bin while having a tidy) half a dozen V5’s, the chassis number and engine number I provided don’t match and they need to inspect the machine to make sure it’s not a pile of bits I assume due to the age. After a protracted conversation it has to be roadworthy and rideable not mid rebuild.

Bugger! At least the inspection should be pretty straightforward - it was painless when I had one of my old Lambretta imports inspected. 

[S2000]

Ordered a new bowl and various parts for the Geni Carb, it has a Villiers S12 so plentiful availability, however the bowl arrived an the jet had not been tapped in, thankfully a have a tap and die set so a few minutes work and a good clean saw that back together, I’ll run it up tomorrow to see if it stops the bogging down. I have to split the engine anyway as it leaks like a sieve so will do the clutch and lay gear while I’m at it!

 

 

 

Easy to start with the Heinkel, it has been a bit temperamental getting 3rd and 4th so I lubed up the selector mechanism, raised it off the ground and ran it in gear for around 5 minutes. I’m a genius or an optimist but it appears to be 100% better in that all gears can be selected when running.

 

like most things it needs use to keep it manageable.

[S2000]

Love a good day in the workshop, I’ve procrastinated, pondered and done stuff!
 

Heinkel - still not 100% on the gears, I need to ride it but it pissed it down today and I had to also ‘put the garden to bed’ and the weather had dried up after I’d fitted a new inner tube. Three sockets needed, a 15, 16 and 17 mm, none of this 3/8 this 11/16ths and whitworth nonesense, job jobbed, re lubed the cables, made a permanent holder for the battery and new cables and it starts on the button with gears…. Got to love the Germans…. I’m biased and only have German derived vehicles!
 

Sun Geni - All the new carb bits fitted up and it’s a different animal, no bogging down and it rode up the road like a death trap, the front wheel has more shake than stevens so I broke out the imperials put some Glen Miller on and marvelled at how dated English engineering is. After an hour came to the conclusion the threaded bar/axle needs heavy heat and a vice to get a nut off so I can rebuild it all….. need to order more ball bearings as they made a break for freedom and I’m missing a few. Close but no Cigar. Question, the engine is two speed and the foot linkage is worn, obviously not available on the shelf so I may drill out the foot leaver and resleave it with brass tube, or, could I get 3D printed bushes???
 

Kawasaki - Had an epiphany, when I get it going the carb was flooding out the bottom, I had too many people in the workshop and suspect I put the float needle in upside down, I also put the fuel filter on the wrong way. I’ll have a look at those bits next week and change theOil and let it properly heat up to try and get the clutch to live, failing that I found a US based supplier of all things for the J1. I’m selling my Svartpilen 401 so this will become by go to inter village transport!
 

Nippy Norman - I am so happy with how this has turned out, today I put on the chain, chain guard, rear brake road and went over all the bolts and fired it up. It’s reluctant to idle and is bogging down, I squirted som WD40 around the inlet manifold and it picked up so I need to rummage for gaskets or break out the gasket paper. I had intended to sell it once DVLA have inspected it, but the wife wants to keep it. So gaskets, check the fuel mix and give it a good clean and it’s done, surprisingly the clutch and gears work!

Bloody good day all told……

[S2000]

It’s been a while but 2 steps forward, three steps back!
The man from the ministry inspected the Norman 2 weeks ago, it went well, we had a good chat and today a brown envelope from Swansea plopped onto the door matt, bound wit enthusiasm I ripped it open to find bad news. My Postal order has been returned as the vehicle identity cannot be confirmed, they have also retained the V5. The logbook had the engine and frame number as the same, the man from the ministry updated the frame number with the frame number which does not correspond to what they had originally. I suspect it’s game over now  and I’m left with an ornament that stands me at near 2 K!!

The Kawasaki is being a troublesome child, I changed the oil last weekend and it now refuses to start, to make things worse the poor fitting kick start no longer fits the shaft without slipping. I managed to find a second hand item and if that does not remedy the situation I’ll be moving it on as a project.

The Sun, I rebuilt the front hub as it had loads of play and adjusted the headstock so it’s as tight as a drum now and all works as should, I also started working on the replacement wiring loom. This is my friends machine and he wants to give the whole thing a detail ready for spring so I took the opportunity to strip it back to the frame as I need to split the case and fit a new gasket as it leaks like a sieve.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

19 hours ago, S2000 said:

I suspect it’s game over now  and I’m left with an ornament that stands me at near 2 K!!

Can't you get the lovely people of NACC to help you with a dating certificate, so you can re-register it ?

[Dick Cheeseburger]

20 hours ago, S2000 said:

It’s been a while but 2 steps forward, three steps back!
The man from the ministry inspected the Norman 2 weeks ago, it went well, we had a good chat and today a brown envelope from Swansea plopped onto the door matt, bound wit enthusiasm I ripped it open to find bad news. My Postal order has been returned as the vehicle identity cannot be confirmed, they have also retained the V5. The logbook had the engine and frame number as the same, the man from the ministry updated the frame number with the frame number which does not correspond to what they had originally. I suspect it’s game over now  and I’m left with an ornament that stands me at near 2 K!!

Is that 921 MYC? I remember you said something about you muddled up the i.ds? That's so damn frustrating. It's still showing as SORN on the dvla database so hasn't been erased from existence.