- This section lists parts I stock to fit Norton International and Manx Petrol/Oil tanks.

Castrol ValveMaster Plus - Lead Replacement Plus Octane Booster - 250ml Bottle.  If your Norton (or any other classic motorcycle) has not been fitted with new 'unleaded' type valve seats, then using modern unleaded petrol will lead to excessive wear of your valve seats.

Castrol offer Valvemaster Plus to combat this problem - just add a small measure of this liquid to your fuel tank each time you fill up and you will effectively be changing your 'unleaded' specification to 'leaded type - and therefore will protect valve seats.  

Note: Castrol make 2 versions of this lead replacement additive, a standard version, and then this version which also has an Octane booster included.  I always add this version to my British motorcycles - as I want to provide as high as an octane rating as possible to the high performance engines we are running (SOHC Nortons, sports twins etc), to reduce the possibility of pinking.  Therefore I use this in all my classic bikes.

However, should any more encouragement be needed - it is also endorsed by the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs.

This 250ml bottle will treat 250 litres of fuel (1ml to each litre of fuel).  The reason I like this Castrol lead replacement offering over other makes is that the bottle includes a clever measuring device at the top - just squeeze the lower part of the container until the correct quantity of the additive fills the top measuring holder, which is graduated with the different quantities of fuel you are filling your tank with - simple!

Always read instructions before use.

Driven Defender and Booster - Lead Replacement Plus Octane Booster - 295ml Bottle.  If your Norton (or any other classic motorcycle) has not been fitted with new 'unleaded' type valve seats, then using modern unleaded petrol will lead to excessive wear of your valve seats.

Driven is a well known specialist American oil company, producting oils and additives for the motor racing industry - and one of their products is this fuel additive that protects valve seats on older style 'leaded' engines, as well as increasing octane  - just add a small measure of this liquid to your fuel tank each time you fill up and you will effectively be changing your 'unleaded' specification to 'leaded type - and therefore will protect valve seats.  

This 295ml/10 Fl oz bottle will treat up to 25 gallons (not litres . . . remember it is a US company!) of fuel.  The bottle has graduations along its side, along with a clear plastic area so you can easily see how much additive you  are adding on each fill up. 

I have recently stocked this item because other UK additives have been getting harder to find - and it is supplied by my main racing fuel distributor, so know they can be trusted.  I am using this additive myself now in my roadgoing Vincent and will report back results later in 2018

Always read instructions before use.

These CNC manufactured stainless steel screws are identical to the original Norton items, except we CNC manufacture them in stainless to the original Norton pattern. These are to fit the Norton kneepad type shown in the picture - but this is for tanks with 5/16" BSC thread holes.  

Price is per pair of screws

As can be seen from the accompanyning photographs - an original Norton screw (dull plated steel, just starting to rust on its head!) from one of my Norton pie crust SOHC International petrol tanks was used as the pattern for us to CNC manufacture these screws - identical in profile to the original Norton items, except made in stainless steel, and very pretty so they will not rust.

The screwdriver slot is milled and is made with original BSC thread, so they should be a direct replacement item for your originals if (like most are) they are now looking a bit grotty.  This type of screw was used on many types of petrol tanks that used the 'Norton' type kneepads shown in the picture (fitted to all Norton models from early 1930's to mid 1950's), but particularly SOHC petrol tanks.

However, many tanks - particularly OHV and SV tanks fromt th 1930's to 1950's were fitted with similar shaped screw - but employing a smaller 1/4" BSC thread - therefore please check your petrol tank before ordering.  If you require the smaller (1/4") diameter thread for your tank - then we can also supply these, see Item 1203

Price is per pair of screws

These CNC manufactured stainless steel screws are identical to the original Norton items, except we CNC manufacture them in stainless to the original Norton pattern (Note read below and also see Item 0478 before deciding which screws are right for your tank and ordering).

This type have 1/4" BSC Thread, most commonly fitted to OHV/SV models - and as you can see in the photographg, a pair of these screws are fitted to a standard roadgoing tank of the 1930's to the early 1950's.  

This particular tank is actually a late 1940's 16H SV petrol tank (it does not have the cutout underneath which the visiually identical OHV tank of the same period had) - but most Norton petrol tnaks ot this stile were fitted with 1/4" BSC threads for the kneepads (and those shown are original Norton kneepads - but we also offer replica's of those - Item 0394).

Please Note that we also sell a second kneepad fixing screw which is of an indentical style - but which uses a larger 5/16" BSC thread (Iten0478).  It is difficult to be sure which Norton models for which years used which screw type - so please check your own petrol tank kneepad threads before ordering - as I believe some OHV/SV may have been fitted with the larger 5/16" thread holes, and likewise - some SOHC tanks may have been fitted with this smaller 1/4" BSC thread.

Up to 1953 all models used the type of rubber kneepad shown here though, and the kneepad screws are of identical profile - other than the thread diameter.

The profile for these screws is taken from an original Norton kneepad screw - but we CNC manufacture these screws in stainless steel - with a milled screwdriver slot. Original screws were dull nickel plated, and as they were recessed in the kneepad rubber, nearly always rusted and looked grubby - fitting these stainless steel screws look correct, but will improve the appearance of the petrol tank and will not rust in the future.

Price is per pair of screws.  

These petrol tank kneepads, with the Norton logo embossed in them are of the type fitted to Norton International's through the 1930's and into the early 1950's. This was also the type fitted to most SV and OHV model petrol tanks through the 1930's and until approximately 1953, when a slightly more bulbous tank was introduced on the ES2, which I also sell - Item Number 0419.. I am also able to supply the chromed screws that secure them to the petrol tank.

Note: these are sourced from a UK company, not the Indian version often seen on Ebay, I have compared both side by side and found these to be a much better reproduction - hence price slightly higher than some seen on Ebay

These are the petrol tank kneepads fitted to swingarm models of mid to late 1950s (but not Featherbed), and also later plunger framed models.

These petrol tank kneepads, as far as I can remember were not never fitted to Norton International's, but were fitted to the slightly more bulbous OHV (ES2, Model 19 etc) petrol tank that came in approximately 1953. They may also have been fitted to the earlier Dominator tanks (not sure on that one?). They were not the type fitted to Featherbed frames though.

Picture of my old 1955 Norton ES2 is included, so you can see the petrol tank these were fitted to. We also manufacture the tank screws to the original pattern.

These circular kneepads are circular with a central single fixing screw (if required, the hole is actually blind as supplied) - and of a generic style often fitted to 1920's flat tank models and early 1930's. 

However, they are also very similar to the circular type fitted to the Norton range in 1929

They are circular in design and have an outside diameter of 85mm.  The central fixing hole has a steel washer at the back and is suitable for 0.250" fixing screws (see our item 1203) - but will easily go out for 5/16".  Note though - as supplied, they rubber in the centre is not broken - which lends themselves to being glued to a petrol tank if required, rather than screwed to a tank.

Nice quality, Price is per pair

Update August 2022: Please note, These have been out of stock for some time now.  I have a small batch 60% complete - but due to the complexity of manufacturing this item , they will be some months yet.  You can order and go on our Wanted list, but do not expect to have any available again untl the latter part of 2022, sorry.  Note - We do not manufacture these taps for anyone else, if you see anyone else selling similar taps but using our photos - They are not our taps!!

However, in the meantime, I am considering making a batch of the bowls, to acceopt proprietary 1/4" BSP taps, which will screw into the bowls - which as a final assembled tap, would look almost identical to the original (as it is the manufacture of the tapered tap  element on these original design which is the most time consuming).  If you are interested in this alternative then - then email sales@racingvincent.co.uk, it may persuade me to make a batch of this alternative design as an interim!

This is a faithful reproduction of the distinctive Norton 'large bowl' petrol tap, as fitted to both Norton International and pre-featherbed Manx's - but with the big advantage that these items are manufactured in stainless steel, and therefore will never need re-chroming.

As always with the Norton parts I manufacture, I have endeavoured to ensure they look identical to the original and in this case, the main body and taper tap design is faithfully copied from an original item (unlike many of the copies I have seen in the past).

Inside the bowl, the design is also identical, with the same thread and a copper gauze, retained by a circlip. I have also ensured that the top mating face includes the special circular ridges, which may look like rough machining – but were actually put in intentionally, so they would bite into the red fibre washer, used to seal the tap to the petrol tank. I use a modern retaining circlip, as the original thin wire type was prone to rusting and then breaking. By the way – I think the reason for the wide bodied bowl, was because this allowed a greater surface area for the fuel to pass through the gauze, therefore, for racing there was less chance of fuel starvation.

Obviously, our taps have the same large bore ‘through’ hole as the original. A main feature of this particular reproduction is that the body is CNC machined and then polished afterwards, the result being that it looks almost indistinguishable from an original chromed item – if I say so myself, the quality of these items is extremely good, with no visible machining marks. This high quality of machining has meant it has been possible to polish the item to look like chrome, so as well as looking good known they will never need re-chroming. This is an important factor as one of the biggest problems with the original taps, which were made from brass then chromed, is that over the years the chrome will rub away – or a past owner did not have a spanner big enough for the large Hex spanner face, and therefore used a chisel to remove the tap!

We have tried to have original taps re-chromed in the past but have found this is rarely successful, because unless you can find a chromer prepared to seal off the taper tap area, you are likely to find the taper of the tap will leak on re-assembly. As a point of detail around the taper tap itself, we were originally concerned with manufacturing this tap in stainless steel, as we had heard rumours that stainless on stainless can seize. Well, first of all it is worth pointing out that brass lever taps will often seize anyway, particularly if not being used regularly – it is an inevitable consequence of this taper design. However, we experimented with different designs – including manufacturing two examples of the tapered pin with grooves to take special fuel resistant (and very expensive!) miniature ‘O’ rings, but in the end we found it was unnecessary. I did tests back to back, and found that because of the high quality of machining tolerance achievable with modern CNC machines, we were able to achieve leak free results using the original taper design and stainless steel. Taps were left holding fuel for a period of days (up to two weeks), and then checked for leaks and turned on and off. No leaks were found and the tap itself – which is always stiff because of the design, showed no signs of seizing.

Finally, it is worth pointing out that, as part of the production process, the tapered pin is individually fitted to the tap body, and its taper is ground in, using fine grinding paste, before the final fuel hole is drilled through the taper pin. This is probably overkill – but is an extra insurance against leaking. Finally, each tap is assembled using a fine smear of Rocol molybdenum grease, which is a very good inhibitor against seizing for stainless steel. The one concession to modern design I have built into these taps, is the use of a stainless steel nyloc nut, instead of the original nut and split pin design. This is virtually invisible, as the tap is normally rotated so the nut is not showing, and avoids the need to drill the thread for a split pin – which often break off on originals.

Pack of 2 circlips to fit the sump of the Norton SOHC petrol tap. Retains the copper gauze