Were all WD 16H Nortons fitted with Sump Guards or did this vary from contract to contract?

My bike (as most of you would know by now) is a 1940 build bike - W12315. What would the standard equipment have been in this production period? Are there any factory photos or parts lists for this year?

Regards, Rob

email (option): robert.g.elliott@gmail.com

Although (wide) sump guards were fitted to pre-war India Office contracts, the War Office, for some odd reason didn't specify them. This seems strange as even gently walking a 16H from a kerb will have the crankcase scraping.

Fitment didn't exactly vary between contracts but at some point they must have decided to do it. There is no record of a DME instrcution to retro-fit (but that doesn't mean that it wasn't done).

The earliest reference to the crankcase protector in the Spare Parts List appears to be under contract C14498 (W78001-on) but the lists were clearly printed prior to production. Photographic evidence sugggests that they were fitted from C11082 (W60001-on) and therefore from around April 1942. This is really the major cut-off point between the 'early' style WD16H and the later pannier-equipped, canvas gripped model that is the 'typical' WD Norton.

Thanks for the comprehensive response Rik - much appreciated. I've decided not to fit the crankcase protector to my my bike then.

Can you please tell me what else differentiates the early WD16Hs (like mine is I presume) from the later ones?

Regards,
Rob

email (option): robert.g.elliott@gmail.com

I've got a set of unused NOS AS18227 cases. Never had anything in them. Although nothing has come to light it seems altogether possible that some early contracts, pre sump shield would have specified spare cases.

['I've decided not to fit the crankcase protector to my my bike then....']

I've used my M20 off road on many occasions both locally and on Normandy tours etc. and I'm now on my second sump guard...but the same crankcases...

Worth thinking about if you intend to use the bike in a similar way..Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Probably would have been retrofitted anyway

I've got a pair of NOS 16h crankcases, I've had 20 years, never been used with no numbers on at all. Only the paired numbers to prove the halves are matching. They where bought gov surplus after the war with a load of other stuff, even speedos, by a Liverpool dealer. Sadly all gone now.

Ian Wright

['I've decided not to fit the crankcase protector to my my bike then....']

I've used my M20 off road on many occasions both locally and on Normandy tours etc. and I'm now on my second sump guard...but the same crankcases...

Worth thinking about if you intend to use the bike in a similar way..Ian

email (option): robert.g.elliott@gmail.com

Well worth fitting. I have a spare WD engine with all the bottom lugs damaged - as a warning lesson. And one on my civilian machine needs to be repaired (in the long term if I ever take the engine to pieces_. I'd buy one and fit it to my prewar civilian machine right now if I knew where to buy it from. I've no experience of whether the later cradle frame gives better handling, but it must give better protection. Of course I have 1" less ground clearance than WD machines so it's even more valuable to me.