Triumphrat

sweatmachine · 09-17-2006, 02:25 AM

Since it was supposed to rain all weekend, and I had nothing better to do with my time than spend it sweating and swearing in the garage, I thought I'd address a little problem that has been bothering me about our beloved bonnies.

If you look at the bikes from the side, there's a nice line from the tank to the seat, but the headlight is too high and it makes the front forks look really long. Keep in mind this is only the opinion of a madman with more time on his hands than good sense.

exhibit A:

I have already installed a shorter rear fender, but it's going away too for something more radical (and tubular).

So here are the phase 1 photos...

you gotta take it apart, right?

I also wanted to paint my headlight bucket black. LOOK HOW MUCH JUNK IS INSIDE THE HEADLIGHT!!! It looks like Radio Shack puked inside it!

I thought that maybe I could swap the headlight brackets left to right and it would lower it a little, WRONG! They would be the exact same, except you could do this to switch the key over to the other side.

Here are stock brackets:

And here are mine after I cut an inch and a half off the bottom side and welded it to the top to lower the light:

I'm not the best welder, and even the best would have a hard time with these because they're super thin stamped steel, so here's the bondo:

I wanted to mount the gauges below the top triple clamp, as Mancha had suggested and some of the Thruxton guys have done, but the Bonnie top clamp is different and it cannot be done as easily...you could do it, but it wouldn't lower it very much. I ran to Home Depot and bought all kinds of hardware, spacers, bolts, etc, and then I noticed the 2 bolts that hold the wire bracket thingy in place, they're torx fasteners (why?) and are upside down, just in front of the handlebar riser clamp underneath. These are very substantial so I made a bracket out of some 1/8'' plate I had laying around to bolt the gauges to them.

making the paper template for the bracket:

The rough bracket, hand cut with an angle grinder, a drill press, and a lot of filing and grinding:

Here's the raw bracket test fitted to the gauge cluster:

and here it is fitted to the gauges and bolted to the top triple clamp. Note the Torx fasteners, the wire loom was left out in this pic, but reattached later!

Once installed it is all but impossible to see, but I didn't want it rusting on me, so here it is after cleaning it up and hitting it with the Rustoleum:

Priming the bondo'd and sanded headlight brackets:

COmign up next! Paulie and Sr clash as deadlines loom and tempers rise...oh wait different show...

Anyway, reassembly commences tomorrow, I'm waiting on paint to dry in my oven/garage (102 today with the heat index, doesn't help a hangover at all).

I test fit everything and it looks very cool. More pictures to follow...I'm also installing new turn signals and a new taillight...STAY TUNED!

DickBender · 09-17-2006, 03:35 AM

Nice work. Keep em coming.

Darcy

keef · 09-17-2006, 04:20 AM

Yes, indeed - keep 'em coming. Definitely a very interesting set of mods.
I think you're doing youself down on the bracket welds you made - they look pretty okay to me (BTW, did you mig or arc weld them?). It might even be worth taking them somewhere to be powder coated if the paint doesn't take.
My only concerns are that, a: you might have a little trouble stretching some of the the upper part of the wiring loom to fit back into the headlight shell again, b: you might find your night time visibility is reduced with the lower position of the light (hmm, though perhaps not), and c: the airflow to the regulator/rectifier might be reduced to the point where there might be a possibility of it overheating - particularly down your neck of the woods.
Still, I reckon it'll look the biz - especially balanced at the rear by the cut-down rear fender. Incidentally, I saw a bike a little while back with a really tiny (yet very bright) LED rear light cluster that fitted very neatly against the back of the saddle - are you planning something similar?
Rear sets and a thruxton saddle to follow no doubt.

BlueBird · 09-17-2006, 08:39 AM

Thanks for the photos and descriptions. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Hey, what's that bike hiding behind the table in the last photo? Looks interesting.

rodburner · 09-17-2006, 09:58 AM

Attaboy,Jeff. :-D

road dog · 09-17-2006, 12:07 PM

Sweatmachine... You're a Wild-man!!!

This would make excellent "Bonnie Owners Forum" material.

Good luck... I can hardly wait to see how it all turns out.

Mancha · 09-17-2006, 12:11 PM

Wow, I'm impressed. That tangle of wires spewing out the front makes me wince in sympathetic horror.

I totally agree with you about the line of the bike being somewhat ruined by the overly high instrument cluster and light. Can't wait to see your fix.

My only caution is to be careful with the INNER weld job on those headlight brackets. They're a tight fit and you don't want any burrs scratching up your forks.

MattTriumphs · 09-17-2006, 04:05 PM

Sweatmachine - Nice work. Welds looked good. You're a brave man. Did you cut the rear fender yourself or did you order it? Looking forward to the finished product.

whoa · 09-17-2006, 08:03 PM

Since your there anyway, are you doing springs/oil on the forks? Can't wait to see the results.

sweatmachine · 09-17-2006, 08:38 PM

alright! Started getting it all back together today with mixed success. I was up until about 3am last night working on it, and I didn't set my alarm, I slept until 2pm...

I got as much done today as the future Mrs Sweatmachine would allow and ran into an interesting problem. My new emgo turn signals from Brent are shorting out on the headlight brackets. Anyone ever had this problem with aftermarket signals? I'm going to Home Depot to look for some grommets.

anyway, here are a few teaser photos:

The new rear fender:

Here's a little fender inspiration, use what you got!

The fender cut down on the end:

And here is a very blurry picture of the overall package, sorry it's so blurry it's the only one I took before taking parts off again. Notice the new lower gauges and headlight that has been painted black. More to come tomorrow: