Triumphrat

lukeydukey625 · 10-29-2009, 12:48 PM

Hey guys, I have often used this forum for information regarding my triumph, along with dreaming about getting a triumph scrambler. I thought I would return the favor by posting a thread about my restoration of my 1966 T100sr.

I got this 1966 T100sr Tiger for 1250$ from a friend of my uncles. The bike was surprisingly all there, although the biggest thing was the guy cut the foam down to 1" to lower the rider height (must've been pretty short).

Why I was interested in this bike was that it was the year before (or transition year) from the 500cc t100sc/t100sr and the t100C/t100r. This year was more of a "bastard" bike, in which in the factory they were using any parts they could finish assembling the bike. The year i think is one of the best looking 500cc's, with the last year for the grey top seat, first year of the 66-68 triumph badge, white handlebars etc. The only downside was the sherbourne green color which wasnt my favorite. Another interesting feature of this bike is the odd tank.

Anyway, It started out by a complete tear down of everything, luckily there was no engine problems so the engine could stay in one piece. pieces were pressure washed, de-greased, bead blasted, primed with aircraft grade zinc chromate primer and painted with gloss-black luma-grip paint my dad had a pint of. This paint is designed for the exterior of corporate jets, so i knew it would be good for my triumph.

For the tank and fenders, my dad had helped me with bending, body-puttying, priming and painting the tank and fenders. They were painted luma-grip white. Here i come back to the sherbourne green. id have to say i kept pretty close to the stock look of a 1966 t100sr. But because i know this wont be the last time i paint this bike and I am hoping to ride it many miles, i went with red, similar to the 1964 t100sr. My uncle who was an auto body teacher and perfectionist in painting, had some triumph trophy red paint with a gold base coat. We kept to the same paint scheme other than color, and in the sunlight the gold shines out beautifully.

Currently we are cutting the foam for the seat, and will post the3 final results soon.

any questions regarding the restoration,more pictures posted or other general questions, dont be afraid to ask

GrandPaulZ · 10-29-2009, 02:56 PM

That is a dang nice looking project.

One thing for sure, the "before & after" comparison will be a clearcut difference!

Good pix, too. Thanx.

Hamr Mark · 11-10-2009, 09:24 PM

Ok, it's been a week. Let's hear/see some more pics with the progress...

lukeydukey625 · 11-11-2009, 11:32 AM

sorry there have been no updates, progress has been slow. Im really waiting for a day to paint the clear for my decals.

I decided that the stock aluminum paint on the cylinders didnt give the engine as good as a look as the 650 and later 500cc models, so i painted them black.

the seat foam was finally completed after shaping an airplane mattress with the bandsaw.

a few hours were of polishing the engine case, upong taking off the side cover to polish, we discovered the primary chain tensioner had broken off. 20$ on ebay.

the carburetor i devoted about 3 hours to cleaning. i had washed the amal carb before with methyl-ethyl-ketone and did not fully rinse the MEK off fully after cleaning. turns out it was eating away at the carb gunking up every piece of the carb. luckily, the amal monobloc is extremely easy to tear apart and reassemble.

while having the carb in pieces, i thought i would try an experiment. my girlfriend has a mild obsessive-compulsive disorder for when she cleans things. my thought was, if I can show her the huge difference in polishing a piece of the carb, shed get addicted to cleaning the rest of the carb meticulously, which i don't have the patience for. it worked out great! while i was cleaning the MEK out of the bowl and jets she went to work for a solid 2 hours cleaning the amal exterior with flitz and elbow grease.

here's a photo of my carb and what it looked like before (the other carb is a set to my dad's bonnie, its just to give a little appreciation for what comparison)

hope to get the tank and fenders on within the week, will post soon.

p.s, I noticed a few posts where given the serial number the history of the bike's past could be found. I don't have much information about the bike, so if anyone could tell me how to find the information, that would be great. the s/n is : T100SRH42569. I believe the H stands for the month it was assembled?

GrandPaulZ · 11-11-2009, 12:11 PM

No, the old serial number system is strictly numerical series on the "H" (500) models.

Nice looking work, keep it up!

lukeydukey625 · 01-30-2010, 07:04 PM

well, i finished the bike pretty much and forgot to post some pictures. here they are:

GrandPaulZ · 02-01-2010, 11:16 AM

What a cool picture, in the snow!

That is a heck of a nice looking "after" shot.

RidingDonkeys · 02-03-2010, 09:17 PM

Spectacular!

lukeydukey625 · 02-13-2010, 10:51 AM

thank you! too bad I finished it right in the middle of winter