Triumphrat

jimmy bush · 08-21-2009, 12:47 AM

A few months ago I started collecting pieces for my next project. I have some bits from several years and models and thought I'd try to piece together a street tracker. I have some engine cases and crank from a 73 T140, a cylinder and head from a 78 and trans covers etc. I was going to install all in a 70 frame I have most of but wound up buying a 79 frame off ebay thinking I could make some of the brake stuff and engine plates I have work. I had a conical front hub assembly and front forks from a 71 so I laced up a Buchanan rim and spokes. I was going to use the conical rear wheel I have but it was missing the innards. I started priceing things and it was going to be more than I could get a rear wheel off Ebay for so I started shopping again. Wound up buying a rear disc hub already laced up with a brand new 19" Sun rim and spokes for less than what I paid for the rim and spokes for the front. So had to get the calipers and master cylinder. The master cylinder was supposed to have come off a 78 T140 but it must have been a Chopper because it had a home made adaptor plate and the threads were metric. Took me a day to remake the adaptor so it mounts on the stock brackets but the guy discounted it and refunded a big chunk. Went to get tires and found out that not many people are making rear 19" tires anymore for street. Wound up with some Dunlops but they are equivilent to 350's in size. 400's or bigger aren't avavilable anywhere that I could find. I've been trying to buy a 5 speed transmission since I started the rebuild on the 68 with no luck. Them things must be made of gold. I bid on and won a complete lower end from a 78 T140 for less than the transmissions have been selling for and it has the 5 speed in it. Go figure. I pulled everything down and it all looks pretty good except for some rust pits on the main shaft 1st/2nd gear. I decided to use this lower end and simplify not having to swap engine plates and brake pedals. I've got most of the spacers, bolts, pedals, engine plates etc to make a bike now. Just need to decide which way I'm going with the engine. I have a 9 bolt Routt 800cc cylinder and a pretty nice 71 splayed port 650 head or the 750 cylinder and parallel intake head from the 78. I've heard the splayed ports flow better and looking in the ports it looks like they should. If I use the 650 head, I have decent carbs and manifolds that came off another 78 that will bolt right up. If I go with the 78 head, I'll have to get some Mk II's. I don't know whether/where I can get pistons for the Routt cylinder that will work with the shorter 750 rods or if I'll have to use the 650 rods because the rout cylinder is about 1/4" taller than the 750 cylinder (from base flange to head). I have a set of pretty lumpy cams that are supposed to be JOMO 9's that I'm thinking of using. I also need to decide whether to go with the light flywheel or the stock T140 before I get the balancing done. Which would give the best Perfomance for a hot rod street tracker? ..... More later.....

GrandPaulZ · 08-22-2009, 11:47 AM

You don't HAVE to use Mk IIs, you can use all manner of new carbs that will puch right into those rubber spigots.

jimmy bush · 08-22-2009, 01:50 PM

I have a few sets of 930 carbs that appear to be in prety good shape but all the carbs I have have the bolt flanges. I don't think I have any that plug into the rubber spigots so I would have to buy some if I go that route. Just looking at my options for all the different combinations and trying to figure the best way to go and balance that against the expense.

GrandPaulZ · 08-22-2009, 03:33 PM

I have at least 2 pairs (maybe 3) of slip-fit Mikunis that I'd be willing to trade for very nice clean Amals.

I'll take photos and get propers on 'em if your interested.

jimmy bush · 09-09-2009, 10:45 PM

I've got the cases cleaned and ready to install the new bearings. New bearings ready and waiting. Sludge tube has been cleaned and the rod journals checked and polished. Transmission is waiting for a new 1st/2nd gear for the main shaft. It had some pretty bad rust pitting. Probably run ok but now's the time. Changed out the first gear shift fork also. Cylinders have a preliminary bore done and waiting for pistons to arrive for final hone to fit. Tappets have been sent off to have the faces polished. Started polishing the nicks out of some con rods this afternoon so I can fit new bushes and have them ready when it's time for crank balancing. Bought a fuel tank off ebay that was supposed to be "ready to paint". It got dented in shipping and had a multitude of small rust pits that didn't show up in th photos. I took it to a welder friend that is a artist with a welder. He makes some pretty nice jewelry from stainless. He said he could pull the big dent out by sticking some welding rod to the dent and pulling on it while he heated the dented area. Almost had it out when he dropped the tank and put some more dents in it. I've been working on it for a few days filling dents and rust pits before applying paint. I'm considering attempting to paint it myself. Can't seem to get a fire lit under the guy that painted my 68 tank. I took the tank back to him for some redo in the middle of June and don't have it back yet. It took him 3 months the first time he had it.

GrandPaulZ · 09-09-2009, 11:15 PM

Jimmy, it took me at least 6 restorations before I settled on a painter, probably had settled on the best parts sources after my 4th project.

My machinist has been doing all of my work for nearly 30 years, probably well over 30 overhauls in that time. Old time HD guy that knows everything there is to know about machine work on BIKES, cars, AND heavy machinery. The dud has a 2-foot long beard, pony tail of the same length, heck of a spare tire, and there isn't a machinist within 200 miles that does better work.

I struggled with polishing on my own, 'till I found the folks that do all of my work now. First time was a charm.

Always used Buchanan's till I made one of the worst mistakes of my restoration career and tried "East Coast Wheels" <<BEWARE. The "got me" on 2 wheels, Buchanan's fixed the problems, and I'm not budging from there as far as wheels are concerned.

You aren't doing bad at all, for a rookie!

jimmy bush · 09-09-2009, 11:55 PM

I polished all the cases on my '68' T120. They were pretty crusty when I started. They had a lot of nicks and corrosion but turned out OK. I am about ready to start the process on this set. Who does your cases and how much for a set? If it is within my budget (laugh hard at the thought of staying within a budget on one of these), I might consider giving them a try.

GrandPaulZ · 09-10-2009, 10:02 AM

You need to work out any very deep / rough gouges, they don't do grinding, re-working or inner surface degreasing. (remove the patent plate from timing cover before sending) What they do is fine sand and then 4 polish stages to near-mirror-finish.

Expect $200 for primary, timing & tranny covers, and a pair of rocker covers; all with inspection caps in place. $30 for a bare carb body with cap & bowl screwed in place.

The above prices are lot discount when I send 2 or 3 bikes' worth of parts all at once, which I do about every other month. They don't typically do end user work in small lots, and charge more for onsie-twosie stuff.

jimmy bush · 09-10-2009, 07:46 PM

GPZ, I looked through my Amal stuff and I don't have a matching pair that are complete. I could take a slide out of one and a top from another and make a set but theres no telling what the difference in wear would be between the two and I doubt you'd want to go that route. Mismatched slides might make for some unusual troubleshooting .
I think I'm going to polish my cases on this one but thanks for the info. I'm sure I'll use the money on something else
I spent most of the day polishing con rods. I started yesterday but didn't like what results I was getting on the one I was working on so went back to my stash of used rods. They all have some thing amiss so I spent a lot of the time trying to pick out the best candidates. I have four T140 rods to pick from and got the two best ones polished if I decide to go with the T140 cylinder and head. Out of 16 T120 rods, 3 were bent, 1 had an egg shaped little end, 3 were suspect of being just slightly out of true, the rest had nicks and corrosion pits so I had to pick out the least damaged. I got one almost finished when the polishing wheel decided it wanted to be on the other side of the rod and jumped putting a little nick in the freshly polished surface. I'll dress down the nick and finish polishing it and hopefully its twin tomorrow.

jimmy bush · 09-16-2009, 12:45 AM

So I was all excited this afternoon because the package containing the guts to the rear wheel I bought off eBay arrived. It is a Sun rim with stainless spokes laced to a hub but it came with no bolts, brake disc, sprocket, retaining nut, spacers or speedo drive. I had a disc and bought a sprocket. The seller furnished the spacers etc. and even threw in some new bearings which was nice of him. I assembled the hub and and started truing the wheel. The rim was offset too far to the left and as I tightened the spokes to pull it in line they started to bend. I stood behind the rim to sight past the spokes to make sure it wasn't an illusion and saw where someone had written "Disc side" with an arrow on the bead of the rim; only thing is it was pointed the wrong way. The spoke holes in the rim are drilled at the correct angle for the offset and it doesn't work right if it is offset the wrong way. The hub had "brake" written on the side of the hub that the disc was supposed to go on so who ever laced it must have got crossed up. I spent the rest of the afternoon disassembling everything and relacing the wheel.
Earlier today, I picked up my cylinders from the machinest and dropped off the T120 rods I've been polishing on to have them shot peened. As soon as he gets that done, it's off to have the crank dynamically balanced. Won't be too much longer til I have enough to start some assembly work on the engine. I need to finish preping the tank for paint and get some new slides for the carbs I'm going to be using. I have a set that came off of a T140. They seem to be in really good shape but are missing one slide. The other slides I have all seem to have a lot of wear. I want some chrome ones but they are sure proud of them everywhere I've looked.