Triumphrat

Mike66

Hey all. New member here. Bought a modified '66 Bonneville recently and decided to tear it down, clean, fix and make a few changes here and there. Here's the "before" photo taken the day I brought it home.



Still a work in progress (as it always seems).

I started at the back end and I'm working forward since I've got some time before the new forks arrive. Rear brake didn't work so I disassembled, cleaned, treated the pads, greased, adjusted and repainted some drum parts.



I want the bike to take on a 1940s/50s kind of hot rod look to it without loosing too much of what it already is right now, so I painted white wall on the rear to match the new plan on the front set up (black springer forks, 16x3.5 black rim & hub w/chrome spokes and the 16-150/80 white wall tire). I decided to carry on with a little white trim here and there throughout the bike (at the ignition/light switches, new black/white Triumph tank badges, the springs on the solo seat...maybe a few other places as I go, but I don't want to over do it).




I removed the tank, rear fender and brackets for painting. Black satin.






While I waited for paint to dry, I went through the electrical at the battery box (it's got a Pazon ignition/12v). I pulled the spaghetti out of the box, put in a new battery, repainted the box, cleaned up the wiring and secured all the connections.

Cleaned the carbs. Engine was rebuilt recently, and aside from some tuning needed, it runs pretty well. So I'm leaving that alone for now except for some basic cleaning and polishing there. Painting/replacing a few minor parts here and there. Got a knucklehead kick-start pedal I've got to shave down about 1/8 of an inch to fit on. Keeping the jockey shift for now (no suicide clutch), but I have a foot-lever in case I grow tired of the hand shifting.

Pipes were burnt up and rusted. Took some acidic scale remover, aluminum cleaner and some Blue-job to them to try to get a little shine back. What a b*tch.



Anyway, still lots to do. Haven't even touched the front end yet. This is where things stand right now. Getting impatient waiting for my forks!

Hope ya like it. Until later...

-Mike

GrandPaulZ

Welcome to the forum!

Nifty project, although I'd revert to a decent 2LS front drum brake for a more classic look.

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GrandPaulZ
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Mike66

Thanks. I had the rim and brake caliper in storage from a previous project I scraped and decided to use it for now to replace the Suzuki front end set up that's currently on there, though I do plan on converting back over to a drum brake eventually. I'd like to do it within the design of the new front end set up to keep my steering measurements in check. So I'm going to take my time and shop around for the hub/drum, spokes and rim to put it all together. But this is what I've got in the meantime....



Anyway, today I took the pipes off, popped the cover off of the primary chain case just to inspect the stator and what not, replace the leaking gasket and put in some fresh oil. That sh*t was black. Everything else seems OK. Any tips on anything else in particular I might want to look at while I'm in there? (actually, this being my first Brit bike, any input on what to look at while I'm going through it would be much appreciated).

Mike66

New springer forks finally arrived yesterday. I wanted black but they sent raw steel. I started polishing the front legs and considered doing maybe a two-tone kind of thing, with the polished legs up front and black in the rear. I dunno.

Can anyone advise me on what length 3/4" axle I need? I thought 11" or 11.5" but now I'm a little confused. Acme says on their site "accepts stock H-D Wide Glide front wheel with 3/4” I.D. axle bearings", but the stock HD WG axles are about 12 3/4" long while these forks measure 9" ID and 10" OD total at the axle.

Mike66

Nevermind. I just realized the measurement I read included the axle nuts installed. Found what I needed.

Decided to polish the forks.

I'm having a real issue getting the oil plug off of the engine bottom. I even used this stuff called Rost Off Max Ice which brings the application area down to sub-zero temps to create shrinkage and break away but it still won't budge...

GrandPaulZ

Use a six point socket and an impact driver (the kind you whack with a hammer)

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GrandPaulZ
Author of "Old Bikes"
Born Again Bikes
My Photo album

Mike66

I'll give that a try. Thanks for responding.