NORTON-NSU 1000

Most cafe and vintage motorcycle riders have heard of the legendary Triton, a Triumph motor installed in a Norton Featherbed frame. Then, there is also a Tri-BSA, a BSA motor in a period Triumph frame, and even a Harley Sportster 1200 V-twin engine in a Norton Featherbed frame, appropriately called called a Norley. Sometimes, these are also called Harlons.

But when was the last time you saw or heard about a 1000cc, NSU air-cooled, 4-cylinder, car motor being wedged into a Norton Featherbed frame?

Well, more than 40 years ago, this was exactly the idea of motorcycle enthusiast / rider / ace mechanic Mike H. King, from North Vancouver, British Columbia. Mike says that this vision came to him back in the mid-60’s while working for a an NSU dealership in the UK. He remembers being very impressed with the design of this engine, and again, the fact that it was air cooled lent credibility to his fantasy. The possibility of mating an NSU motor in a Norton Featherbed frame continued to spin around in his head, and kept him wondering about the feasibility of such an undertaking.

A few years later, he relocated to Western Canada and started his own motorcycle business. During his time there, he then began to notice more and more little NSU cars zooming around the streets. The formidable NSU Prinz 1000 S, L, and TT models were equivalent to the sporty BMW 2002 tii of their day, and even loaded with passengers and luggage, they were quite capable of 90-100 mph!

A few more words on the original NSU Prinz 1000. At 43 HP, it was decided by many enthusiasts that it needed “just little more juice”, so when the Prinz 1000 TT came out, it was increased by twelve ponies to 55 HP @ 5,500 RPM. 0-50mph times also improved to 10.5 seconds, and the top speed was 93+ mph, although Mike says 100 mph was easily attainable. This car only weighed about 2,561 pounds., and would average about 31-38 MPG on premium fuel! Those are some pretty impressive stats for back in the day!

Harold Schneider of VZ-Kieler Morgenzeitung summed it up best: “It is a pleasure to drive this car and not just because you leave so many of the prestige cars standing at traffic lights and on the motorways, but is far more the joy of knowing you can realize all possibilities offered by the 1000 TT, its chassis, its engine and dimensions without any risk at all. This means a lot and cannot be said about all cars.”

Since the engine is the “heart and soul” of any vehicle, one can understand clearly why Mike King took such a liking to the air-cooled 1,000cc NSU motor!

Mike started with an acquired frame from a 1968 Norton Atlas, the predecessor to the famed Commando series. The time line is somewhere around 1972. The frame was then was bead-blasted and ready to go. Mike reports that the existing power unit mounts were fine and no other modifications were necessary. Then, he spotted an NSU car for sale in the local paper and he bought fairly cheap, so the project moved forward.

He had to first suspend the engine inside the frame to check for ground clearance, center of gravity measurement and transmission alignment. The height of the motor, relative to the alignment of the crankshaft center toward the swing arm pivots was extremely important. After securing the motor partially in place, the next step was to check the height of the transmission between these two points.

Mike recalls the biggest challenge of the entire project was the installation of the Norton transmission and the extension drive. Norton’s transmissions were historically known to be robust, quite durable, and most important, reliable, so that decision was easy. Due to the large bulk of the timing cover, the transmission was not able to be used from the left, so after analysis, it was decided to switch it around and run it from the reverse direction. The gear drive dogs were fine, but it was then necessary to move the kick starter mechanism to the opposite side / direction. Some grinding, drilling, and other custom metal work was required. At this point, Mike gives a lot of credit and thanks to his lead shop mechanic, Bob Mynott, was not only a master metal fabricator, but came up with lot of inventive and creative solutions to the build.

Other neat tricks came to light, like the special stator to carry the distributor that was machined out of a 6” gas pipe, with 3/8” thick walls. Or the small flywheel that was machined out of a 6” solid bar! This small flywheel was designed so the bike could run around town gently.

Of course, while the motor was out, it was rebuilt, and highly modified for better overall performance. This included: camshafts, cam followers, valve guides, oil seals, piston rings, etc. These upgrades were “state of the art” for 1972 and was were much better than the original 1965 version.

The final touches were the 2 coats of primer and 6 coats of thick, black enamel. The white pin-striping along the tank looked similar to a vintage BMW, and the feudal eagle crest on the side of the tank was unanimously voted by the entire shop crew to give the bike a “sinister” look to it, as Mike recalls. The Commando front forks and the Commando rear shocks fit and were slightly taller than the stock Atlas rear shocks.

All this added up to an extremely lean and athletic look, and the Norton Interstate bench seat just added to complete the clean, flowing lines of this very special custom. Mike recalls that the bike fired up on the first kick, which actually surprised him and everyone else! However, further fine tuning and carb adjustments were still required.

Mike says he was “astonished and rewarded” at the bike's overall performance. The entire project from start to finish took about 8 months and many, many late nights at the shop. However, at the end of the day, the results speak for themselves.

Mike King's fabulous creation now sits happily in the Trev Deeley Motorcycle Collection and Museum in Vancouver, BC. In 2010, there was an article celebrating the 45th Anniversary of Herr Freidl’s famed Mammoth Munch (Motorhistory News &Views - 2/23/2010). Museum curator Bevin Jones commented: “Mike’s engineering in mating the four-cylinder air cooled NSU engine to a Norton transmission, and stuffing the whole works into a Norton chassis is simply brilliant.”

We could not agree more....and this bike is truly a one of a kind special custom! JJ Cerilli

SOURCES:
* Mike H. King
* Photos courtesy of Superperformance Motorcycles
* The Trev Deeley Collection and Museum
* Automobil-Illustrierte magazine
* VZ-Kieler Morgenzeitunge magazine
* VMOL files