Triumphrat

triumpt120rv · 12-08-2012, 07:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snakeoil

Everyone thinks you peed in your pants for the rest of the day, right?

Your pal,
Rob

I was lucky this time, Snake. In winter I wear Kevlar(ish) bike pants overtop so I was saved the embarrassment.

P.S. Bike show today. Hope I remember the camera.

Redmoggy · 12-08-2012, 10:16 PM

Today i managed to find enough new bits to sort out a bunch of things that have been really annoying me.

Have butchers here...
http://www.britbike.com/forums/ubbth...46742&page=all

All being well i may just get back to riding the old girl again!

Rod

redhawk4 · 12-08-2012, 11:33 PM

Started going through things on my newly acquired 73 TR7V. Oil change, drained everything down and fitted a remote filter in the return line mounted on the rear of the man tube. I used a remote head that works with the Harley Davidson Perform filters which are readily available and while filtering down to 5 microns to suit their latest machines, also has a high flow rate so it will work in the return lines of the old models. Better filtration and flow than the filter that fits the Norton head and easier to find in the stores locally. Everything seems to be working fine on reassembly, but my oil pressure light quit coincidentally on me (a bad connection, I found that much) so I am a little nervous running it until that is fixed.

I started draining the primary case last night, just as well that sucker takes a long time to drain down, one drip at a time through the adjuster plug

Chuck95642 · 12-09-2012, 05:56 PM

Went up to the Shop. Talked with the builder. Gave ok to order parts and what type and came away smiling. Progress one week at a time.

Rathlindri · 12-13-2012, 06:11 PM

As the Tiger is now off the road for winter I drained the tank and carb of petrol....in hibernation now. Roll on spring..

redhawk4 · 12-13-2012, 11:00 PM

Fitted a new oil pressure switch and rode it, it may be December, but it wasn't raining and was almost 50 degrees F. After my recent once over of the mechanicals and an oil change, followed by connecting a mechanical oil pressure gauge yesterday and seeing great oil pressure, I allowed myself to use some more revs and even got up to 80 at one point. With some fresh non ethanol gas the TR7V really is a joy to ride

- I can't believe the difference, I don't know what the PO had in the tank or how long it had been there, but I've never seen such a difference purely from fresh gas, it was like night and day, much more power, way less vibration, now cruising at 65-70 is very doable whereas before I thought 50-55 was about as fast as you'd comfortably want to go. I was convinced the timing had to be way off or something and when everything checked out I was a little bummed to not be able to make some major adjustment that would transform the way it ran - apparently the cure was sitting in the corner of my garage the whole time in the form of a red gas can filled with fresh 88 grade fuel with no ethanol (I find 88 with no ethanol superior to 91 with ethanol, the highest grade we can get at altitude). I'm also using a bit of Lucas upper cylinder lube in the fuel to weaken the mixture a tad, because I live at 5,000 feet of altitude. The mixture seems pretty close, perhaps a little bit rich, plugs are brown but a little darker brown. I'm going to stay with that for now, as I don't want to go too weak. When the summer heat arrives with hotter air then we'll see if smaller jets will be needed.

Chuck95642 · 12-13-2012, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redhawk4

Fitted a new oil pressure switch and rode it, it may be December, but it wasn't raining and was almost 50 degrees F. After my recent once over of the mechanicals and an oil change, followed by connecting a mechanical oil pressure gauge yesterday and seeing great oil pressure, I allowed myself to use some more revs and even got up to 80 at one point. With some fresh non ethanol gas the TR7V really is a joy to ride

- I can't believe the difference, I don't know what the PO had in the tank or how long it had been there, but I've never seen such a difference purely from fresh gas, it was like night and day, much more power, way less vibration, now cruising at 65-70 is very doable whereas before I thought 50-55 was about as fast as you'd comfortably want to go. I was convinced the timing had to be way off or something and when everything checked out I was a little bummed to not be able to make some major adjustment that would transform the way it ran - apparently the cure was sitting in the corner of my garage the whole time in the for a red gas can filled with fresh 88 grade fuel with no ethanol (I find 88 with no ethanol superior to 91 with ethanol, the highest grade we can get at altitude). I'm also using a bit of Lucas upper cylinder lube in the fuel to weaken the mixture a tad, because I live at 5,000 feet of altitude. The mixture seems pretty close, perhaps a little bit rich, plugs are brown but a little darker brown. I'm going to stay with that for now, as I don't want to go too weak. When the summer heat arrives with hotter air then we'll see if smaller jets will be needed.

I'm looking at running 4 glns Av Gas to 1 gln normal 87 Unleaded. You get about 98 Octane when mixed. We cannot get non Ethanol where I live so the latter mixture is what I might end up using. Bravo though on having your bike running better than it was and gaining your power curve back.

redhawk4 · 12-14-2012, 01:58 AM

Try this site to see if there are any stations in your area with ethanol free gas, that is how I found the one I use, I didn't think there were any in my area until I checked here. There are 5 listed in CA, lets hope one is nearby for you. I see they go as high as a 93 grade as well in CA, that should be enough for a Triumph at closer to sea level. 88 grade, non ethanol, works better than normal 91 grade in my BMW R1100r and gives me about 2 mpg better mileage. My Honda XR650l just feels different running on the same gas. It costs a little more, but the peace of mind alone is worth it for all motorcycles, boats, generators, power equipment etc. where they do not get such regular use and you don't want all that water separation etc. Everything just seems to run and start that little bit better without ethanol mixed in.

The bad running on my Tiger was due to very stale gas IMO, certainly can't claim it to all be an ethanol issue, although that gas does go off very quickly with no stabilizer used. Based on every other internal combustion engine I own, I would still expect it to prefer the non ethanol gas.

http://pure-gas.org/

I started a new thread with this information too, hopefully it will benefit a few of the forum members - someone other than me must live near one of the gas stations

Chuck95642 · 12-14-2012, 07:15 AM

Already looked on Puregas. No luck in my area and my state does not mandate labeling either.

Lots of us with Vintage Machines in Calif are just f@#$%d like Chuck.

Opps that includes me.

redhawk4 · 12-14-2012, 10:29 AM

That's too bad Chuck, I don't know how you guys can bare to live in CA, the gas issue is pretty small on the list of things that would drive me crazy. I left the UK to escape this kind of oppression and taxation, I don't understand why people are voting it on themselves here - but anyway enough getting political, I have made a resolution to quit talking or thinking about such issues as pretty much everything that is said or done defies logical explanation and life is too short to be negatively impacted every day by something I can do nothing about - as long as there are roads, motorcycles and some sort of fuel available there's better things to do.

It looks like today although cloudy is going to be dry and warm enough for me to give that new oil pressure switch an extensive road test

while running some errands and pretending to work - I can't believe it's almost Christmas and I can still ride. I didn't see one other bike on the road yesterday, in the main they are real fairweather riders here.

So in answer to "what did I do to my classic Triumph today" - I rode it, then rode it again