Triumphrat

mtds · 07-12-2009, 06:46 PM

I bought a 1970 Triumph TR6R Tiger in July 1974. It had about 11,000 miles on it and had been somewhat neglected, but not abused. After replacing a missing side cover, installing new tires, decoking, and a tune-up it ran just fine. It was my only bike for the next seven years and I rode it in the hills around the SF Bay Area, plus a few two-up overnight trips in California. By 1983, it had a little over 20,000 miles on it and had been replaced by a 1979 Triumph T140D Bonneville.

In a fit of extremely bad judgment I disassembled the Tiger in 1984, and then worked on it in fits and starts until 1988 when I packed it up. The demands of parenthood, church, other motorcycles, and earning a living were just too much.

Now that I’m retired and my kids are raised and my T140D is finally sorted, I’ve started in again on the Tiger. I have always missed its mild manners and I’m well aware of its status as one of the best all around motorcycles Triumph ever made. I’d like to get it on the road again before I go into the ground. However, I am not going for a full restoration; I just want to reassemble the old girl… safe and reliable, but nothing fancy.

First step was to sort through the parts. I stored and labeled everything very carefully when I packed it up, so I have a good start on the reassembly. The tank and fenders have the original paint and, while there are some flaws, I’m not going to mess with them. I coated the interior of the gas tank and then carefully polished and waxed it before packing it up. The exhaust system is complete and stock, with unused British-made mufflers I purchased in 1981. Some sub-assemblies, like the taillight, have been carefully gone through and are ready for installation. I also have some new parts purchased before I packed it up, things like a set of control cables, a rectifier, all the footpeg rubbers, steering head bearings, etc. All of this stuff was lubed, waxed, whatever was appropriate, before packing. The wheels were waxed, covered, and hung. They’ve been hanging in the same corner of my garage for twenty-five years. The chrome rims have suffered a little but will clean up well enough to suit me. The engine was running fine and I filled the cylinders and gearbox full of oil before covering it. I figure I’ll have to split the cases and go through the engine, but I plan to do the rolling chassis this year and the engine next year. If something interrupts the job, it would be easier for my son to buy out the engine overhaul than the chassis work, hence my decision to start with the chassis.

Now the bad news. Some of the black parts have been painted over the years and are usable as is, but I have to paint the frame and about thirty-five other smaller parts. I hate painting but I need to save money for tires and engine parts/machining. I can paint the small parts and frame with rattle cans. I know it is less than ideal, but it will have to do. Some of the small mods I’ve made on the T140D required painting small parts and that went OK. So right now the biggest obstacle ahead of me is prepping and painting.

Now that I’ve unpacked and sorted everything, I’ve decided to assemble the seat to get me started and build a little momentum. I have a decent quality replacement seat cover purchased in the 80’s; the original foam is in surprisingly good shape, and I’ve already derusted and painted the seat pan. Next post will be on that topic.

GrandPaulZ · 07-13-2009, 07:58 AM

Excellent start to what looks like will be a great thread!

Knowing what you want before you start is great...

...till you change your mind!

mtds · 07-22-2009, 07:17 PM

I’ve been reading some of the other strings on this “Members Restoration & Rebuild Projects” forum; some of these photo essays are amazing and I’m sure they’ll be a huge help to me as I work. This thread will be more of a “this is what I’ve been up to” kind of thing. Not much of a contribution, but it may provide a few minutes entertainment for somebody.

Anyway, since my last post about ten days ago, I’ve been working on painting some parts and recovering the seat. The parts I’ve painted are hanging all over my garage in various states. (If I walk around the garage real fast I make a sort of music as I bang my head against one part after another.) Here’s a pic of what’s left to paint:

You can see that the number of unpainted parts is smaller, but that is a little deceptive. I have put paint on the missing parts, but I’m still working on technique, so some of the missing parts are still work-in-progress. However, they are also the hardest parts to get decent results on: side panel, oil reservoir, and chainguard. I’m getting a sort of cratering effect, so I’m experimenting to try to find some process that produces acceptable results, given my limitations of money and know-how.

The seat went pretty well. I just followed the directions on the box and went from this:

To this:

The seat pan (along with the battery box and the front of the rear mudguard) suffered some serious acid and rust damage at some point, but the parts were salvageable with lots of elbow grease. I did have to paint about one third of the rear mudguard black, but that portion is pretty well hidden and the original paint on the rest is OK. The seat cover is a nice tight fit, although it hasn’t fully conformed to the shape of the original foam yet. The Triumph silk-screening is also out of alignment just a touch. I’ve convinced myself that is a good thing because it reminds me that there are a lot of compromises ahead; I’ll just try to make the right choices when they present themselves.

NeoDutch59 · 07-27-2009, 10:45 PM

Looks a lot like my bike. I have a 1970 Bonneville that has been off the road since 1982. I am taking the same approach as you are. I have only repainted (powdercoat) the frame, center stand and side stand. I rattle canned the battery box and head stays. Everthing else is staying as is. My goal is a preservation rather than a restoration. I should get a thread going, I promised GPZ a month ago that I would. I have tha orginal parts and workshop manuals and a good scanner. Let me know if you need anything. I am curious as to what tires you plan to use.
Steve

mtds · 07-27-2009, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeoDutch59

I have tha orginal parts and workshop manuals and a good scanner. Let me know if you need anything. I am curious as to what tires you plan to use.
Steve

Thank you for the offer of scans.

I haven't given the tires much thought yet; maybe that decision is too far away right now. ("Right now" is wash, sand, primer, sand, wash, primer, sand, wash, paint, sand, etc etc etc...)

Please do start a thread; the two motorcycles are so similar we might be able to help each other out.

farric1 · 07-28-2009, 04:13 AM

Hello from downunder.

I just love this bike. I bought my 70TR6 Tiger in 2004 in a tatty, but running condition. Since then I've continued to ride it and gradually improved it myself, all done without taking the bike off the road.

I think you were very wise to store the bike as you have done. It will go together very nicely and without much money required. I did all the work myself, except for the tank, which I had to replace and also paint.

You can see photos of my bike in the photo section (650 unit twins, towards the back)

I also own a 1979 Bonnie, which is really nice, but my favourite is the Tiger. Mine has polished steel guards rather than the painted ones, but looks much the same as yours. It is a really sweet handling and relatively smooth bike, I geared mine up with a 20T front sprocket which makes for smooth cruising on the freeway at 60-70 mph.

Good luck with your resto.

farric1.

mtds · 08-06-2009, 01:42 PM

Painting the black bits is going along slowly, but I’m making progress; I hope to have all but the two major frame pieces finished by the end of this month. Fortunately for me, the weather here stays warm and dry into early October, so I’ll still have time to finish painting the frame before the winter storms start rolling over us.

I decided to see if the engine would turn over. It has been sitting in this state since 1983:

I removed the spark plugs and the valve inspection caps and put a little hand pressure on the kickstarter lever. To my surprise the engine turned over with no difficulty. No sensation of rings breaking free of the cylinder walls, no roughness, just smooth action! I imagine the clutch plates are hopelessly stuck together and there are many ugly surprises ahead (one just ahead), but at least it turns over.

Next a quick cleanup. After replacing the plugs and covers and plugging the tach drive, clutch cable opening, intake and exhaust ports, I used a degreaser called Krud Kutter. Yes, there is a product with that name.

The KK took off a lot of old dirt, dust, and oil, but there are still areas of baked-on grime. I’ll work on those one by one once I start work on the engine.

I was curious about the condition of the lubricants in the engine and planning to overfill it with a light weight oil so the innards could soak while I work on the rolling chassis this winter. I removed the primary chaincase drain screw, the crankcase filter, and the gearbox drain plug. The chaincase drain screw and the crankcase filter came out easily. No oil in the chaincase; I guess it all leaked out years ago. About 200cc of good condition oil in the crankcase and about 500cc of the same in the gearbox. All good news so far.

Then a real problem. When I removed the gearbox drain plug, I also removed the threads in the timing side crankcase. Worst of all, I have no “previous owner” to blame! The plug didn’t offer any particular resistance and the stripping came as a complete surprise. Normally I have a reasonable "feel" for fasteners, but I certainly blew it this time.

I need advice here; what are my options for a fix?

GrandPaulZ · 08-06-2009, 09:56 PM

Re-thread to the next size and insert a helicoil / thread insert with a properly fitted new plug.

Good going so far!

mtds · 08-07-2009, 01:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrandPaulZ

Re-thread to the next size and insert a helicoil / thread insert with a properly fitted new plug.

Good going so far!

Thanks for the reply and the encouragement. So basically you are saying it is a straight helicoil job I can do once I have the cases split. It appears they cast in a thick boss right where I need it, so there should be plenty of material to work with. I've helicoiled the handlebar switch assemblies on my '79. That went OK, but they were small diameter screws. On this drain plug, I'll have to make a judgment call whether I can drill a hole properly perpendicular to the boss or whether I need to farm it out.

Any recommendation as to thread size? I'm guessing coarse. I won't try to duplicate the original plug, I'll just buy a sst bolt and forget about the hokey leveling gizmo.

Just for the sake of my battered ego, ever heard of this happening before?

GrandPaulZ · 08-07-2009, 10:58 PM

You are DEFINITELY not the first one to strip a drain plug.