My NRE engine man has still not given a sign of life. He does not answer phone calls, emails or letters and I am afraid he must be declared as being a fraudster. No normal person behaves in this manner. He does not pay rent for the premises he is in and he is being evicted end of this month. I am trying to rescue whatever can be rescued and in the meantime I have decided to replace the NRE engine with a Norton unit.

The Norton does not have the 4 valves per cylinder but I am convinced that I can put an engine together that will be almost as strong as the NRE would have been.  An advantage of the Norton is that there are many people engaged in building new parts and I will be able to put an engine together with all new components.

I will deviate from the classic Norton 360 degree crankshaft and adopt the 270 degree from the NRE Have found a chap in Canada Geoff Collins of EG D Cranks who will make me a one piece 270 degree crank.

Jim Schmid in California will supply his longer than standard Carrillo connecting rods and lightweight pistons, a 270 degree camshaft with corresponding lifters and pushrods.

Crankcases and cylinder head will also be new units, cast in aluminium, made by Steve Maney in England.

The cylinder head is also a new product. Made by Fullauto in Australia and then ported and outfitted with big valves et cetera by Comstock Engineering and Colorado Norton Works in, you guessed it, Colorado USA.

There will be a truckload of other bits and pieces needed and those will be ordered from the regular Norton parts suppliers Norvil and Andover Norton in the UK.

Maybe this is what God wanted. I am back to where I started my racing career, with a Norton 750 Commando engine.

Here is what the bike looks like today. The fairing is just loosely fitted and I am in the process of getting the various mounting brackets made.    Tedious work that I wish I had somebody else do for me. Decided today that this will have to be done after I have the engine with its exhaust system installed. Otherwise I will not know ere to locate brackets to stay clear of everything else, including the driver´s knees.