Norton Jubilee restoration: Introduction

This is the Norton Jubilee 250 I acquired via eBay. 




 According to the log book its a 1959, but it spent some time off road, being re-registered in 1971. At that time it was assigned its original registration which presumably means that it must have been linked to a DVLA record that went back to '59. However the previous owner sold the registration (sacrilege!) and the bike was assigned an offensive 1971"T" registration in 2015. The bike has many features which suggest its a later bike; the seat is of the bolt down rather than clip on variety and the the pillion footpegs ought to be the flat pattern but in fact they are round. The frame number 94953-17 suggests a 1960/61 manufacture. This is a bit of a puzzle given that DVLA records presumably go back to '59. However many early bikes did have parts replaced with those from later models and I will have to get to grips with it when I eventually try to get an age-related registration.

The bike does need restoration- it runs and actually sounds remarkably good, but it is a bit smoky on start-up suggesting that the valve guides may need attention. I was also warned that the clutch was stuck when I bought it. This is true, but it turned out not to be simply a case of stuck plates as I had expected. In fact the whole mechanism is jammed. I also discovered on pick up that the front forks are stuck in the compressed position and the lights  don't work and the headlamp isn't aligned properly. Also leaning the bike on the side stand leads to a pretty significant puddle of oil so I suspect there is a case of wet-sumping in there as well. In addition there are numerous other bits and pieces  and many fasteners that seem to be wrong with several metric nuts that ought to be Whitworth. So plenty of jobs at least to get on with. I will get around to these and strip the bike later, but to start with I thought I would tackle the seat as the poorly fitted cover is obvious and unpleasant. As I'm currently fitting this work around my Lotus restoration (see my other blog, "Lotus excel resto") the seat should also give me a short self-contained job that I can fit in while I'm waiting for parts!