It’s easy to understand why they went out of business. God knows I love my 1973 Norton Commando and my 1971 Triumph Tiger, but some of the engineering ideas they came up with can drive anyone crazy.
Today I was once again replacing the primary chain case O-ring gasket on the Norton. If you look at any of the Norton forums you will see almost as many threads as to how to keep it from leaking as you do people asking what kind of oil to use. Whoever came up with the idea of using one center nut on the primary case as opposed to a series of perimeter screws needs to be taken out and shot. Oh, and there is no drain plug in the bottom of the chain case. To drain the oil out you need to take out the center nut and pry the case out from the bottom. Then you can only hope that it all drains into the container you put below it.
But, job is done and hopefully no leak for at least another couple of years.
