So back in 1976 my stepdad parked his 1971 Norton in the kitchen of our apartment because it needed some work at 7700 miles. ...not knowing it was destined to sit in various garages and sheds under a sheet for the next 46 years.
When he passed around 2010 it came to me... I took it in and drained the fluids, put in fresh, managed to turn the engine over a few times and then threw a sheet back over it. Took me 12 more years to decide to do something.
2 months ago I started that something.
First up was to see if it would even run. Cleaned the amal carbs, drained and flushed the tank and just gave it a try. After 2-3 nights i got it to run - not well - but run. Okay, worth it to keep going. So then I started going through the basic stuff. Wires, plugs, points, carbs (twice more) tank (teice more) and other things and got it to not only run but idle well.
The a wash and checking the brakes and drive train. Once these were well I took it around the block a few times.
Over the last few months I started going through it top to bottom. ALl rubber being replaced, wiring checked, mechanicals, etc... Now it looks decent, rides and drives and I have 300 miles on it.
This winter I will do a more thorough tear down and address some more mechanicals like the swingarm, heads, etc.. ...but I'm very pleased with the progress for a bike that sat for 46 years!
Before:
