[Shag with a bonnie]

Pardon the poor lighting and terrible pics. I picked this up on wednesday, and gave it a little cleaning last night. It's been sitting since '98 previous owner owned it since '92. My current plan it to clean it up good and get it mechanically sound. Most of the chrome will clean up acceptably except the mirrors which i will replace and the forks tubes which i will clean up as well as i can for the time being. The paint on the tank is pretty much done, this is after a attempted polish and wax. I'm also going to have to pop the bezel off the speedo to remove a dead spider and web.

Also for some reason it has a 78 badge on the left side... I'm guessing someone replaced it? Unless the factory just ran out some old stock??

 

[Shag with a bonnie]

97-7071 Steering Stem Nut Cap- British Motorcycle Parts - Auckland NZ

www.britishmotorcycleparts.co.nz

I just noticed it takes this cap, according to this website is for 1980 onwards

 

[Happyfeet]

Shag, welcome to the forum! I've owned two 79 T140Es, good bikes, just don't bring the money the dry frame models do. Hopefully you bought it right so that you can invest in proper refresh/restore without going too far upside down. Good luck, and looking forward to watching your progress!

 

[Shag with a bonnie]

Hopefully you bought it right so that you can invest in proper refresh/restore without going too far u

I paid $2100 i figure if i can sink anouther $500-1k into it to make it rideable and clean, that is fair. If i have to do engine work(26k on the clock so probably) I'll write that off since i typically go thru the engine on almost every vehicle i get(including daily drivers) unless i know what has been done.

On this i could go wild and repaint and rechrome and get really expensive but i'm just going to keep it as a well broken in survivor instead.

 

[Happyfeet]

Just looking at your pics, you'll be in it a bit deeper than $500-1000, just speaking from experience. I'd leave that speedo alone, its the least of your issues. You'll break it unless you know what you're doing. My advice is to pull the head and examine the cylinder walls,They will tell you quite a bit about the condition of the engine, then examine the condition of the valves using the good old workshop manual method which is to pour some kerosene into each port, exhaust and intake, and see if the valves leak, no leak for 10 seconds is a passing grade. Change the oil. Clean and rebuild the carbs, put it all back together and see if it runs. I wouldn't go out and thrash the bike or even ride it faster than 10mph at this point. Okay, so now it runs, what next? Both front and rear brakes with be toast, IMO don't try rebuilding master cylinders, replace them with stainless. Shop around and that will still be about $200. Next, the calipers will be full of goo and the pistons will most likely be crap too, rebuild kits and new pistons = more $$$, and better not forget the brake lines. Now it safe to ride and see what else is wrong. I wouldn't tear the engine down or there's a good chance this bike will end up in a forgotten corner of your garage, JMO

 

[Shag with a bonnie]

Just looking at your pics, you'll be in it a bit deeper than $5000-1000, just speaking from experience. I'd leave that speedo alone, its the least of your issues. You'll break it unless you know what you're doing. My advice is to pull the head and examine the cylinder walls,They will tell you quite a bit about the condition of the engine, then examine the condition of the valves using the good old workshop manual method which is to pour some kerosene into each port, exhaust and intake, and see if the valves leak, no leak for 10 seconds is a passing grade. Change the oil. Clean and rebuild the carbs, put it all back together and see if it runs. I wouldn't go out and thrash the bike or even ride it faster than 10mph at this point. Okay, so now it runs, what next? Both front and rear brakes with be toast, IMO don't try rebuilding master cylinders, replace them with stainless. Shop around and that will still be about $200. Next, the calipers will be full of goo and the pistons will most likely be crap too, rebuild kits and new pistons = more $$$, and better not forget the brake lines. Now it safe to ride and see what else is wrong. I wouldn't tear the engine down or there's a good chance this bike will end up in a forgotten corner of your garage, JMO

I've done a number of speedo's, this one is a full crimp so it is going to be a pain in the ass, but ive done with deeper full crimps, so it's a walk in the park compared to them. A bore and valve guides/lapping shouldn't be too pricy as long as i pull everything myself and there is a brit bike shop 30 miles away. I'm going to change oil with some good high zinc oil(probably order a case of brad-penn, but i typically run delo in my dailys) and i'll probably change it after a couple hundred miles. I'm putting carb kits on order today along with brake hoses(one is cracked) and caliper rebuild kits.

I was planning on rebuilding the m/c too, so are you talking about sleeving it in stainless?? If it is really needed, i might do it myself.

I was originally planning on a full teardown considering the mileage, but i have kinda decided not to at this point. I need to put more time into my '47 indian chief basket case, my '65 el camino and my hot rod projects.

 

[Happyfeet]

New stainless master cylinders

TRIUMPH T140 TR7 750 LOCKHEED 1/2" PERFORMANCE STAINLESS MASTER CYLINDER UPGRADE 13MM PN# 99-7027 /13 S & 99-9918

Triumph T140 TR7 750 Lockheed 1/2" Performance Stainless Master Cylinder Upgrade (1) 13mm PN# 99-7027 /13 S and 99-9918

www.thebonnevilleshop.com

All the other parts for reservoir rebuild and/or replacement are available too.
Smiths Speedometer, hope you’re as skilled and patient as you are confident….😁

 

[Shag with a bonnie]

All the other parts for reservoir rebuild and/or replacement are available too.
Smiths Speedometer, hope you’re as skilled and patient as you are confident….😁

Oh that is a challenge... LOL.. I just needed an easy win this weekend considering life. It was harder than i thought since cars speedo's arent sealed this well, also the brass(not stainless) ring kinda sucked but...

Hard to see but the brass bezel is already cracked at the line between my fingers, this goes across the front face, i'll have to be carefull to not enlarge this

Took out my trusty modified screwdriver(also it took a couple of regular screwdrivers later on)

Put a hose clamp around it so it wouldn't spring while i worked, i've only done this once before, but i was going to work around the crack that was shown earlier and didnt want it to stretch. I didnt work within 3/4" of either side of it.

Slow work but finally pealed everything apart, now clean it all with "spray away" glass cleaner. I could dive a little deeper and reset the odometer to zero(i have in the past on restorations where i rebuild the entire drivetrain

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Gently start to re-roll the crimp, start at the top, go slow use a screw driver too.

Finish in a vise with some plastic block to finish the crimp

Obviously never going to be a perfect crimp but looks okay. I didnt realize i was out of black paint to repaint the sides but i scuffed it up with sandpaper for paint too.

All done...


Now there is a bunch of trial and error that i skipped, and the crimp will never look as clean as stock, , but unless you have specific tools, this is as good as you can get at home. On this bike, the rubber boot hides almost all sins other the 2 small spots near the glass where i got too greedy with the screwdriver while tying to break the gasket seal.

For my application it will be fine.... Honesly it now makes my tach look like ****, if you look in right angle it is full of 50 years of grime is on the glass.

The biggest thing, as with any metal working, is, go slow, dont stretch stuff. Don't expect one pass with a mini pry bar (modified screw driver)to get you to size

This job took me probably 3 hours, and a tumbler or 3 of whisky but overall it takes practice and patience, dont use this as a tutorial.

 

[KADUTZ]

Your garage looks to be as crowded as mine.
Mirror is aftermarket 79 US Triumphs used a Bumm mirror.
Drive side airbox cover is from a 78 T140E done by some previous owner. They didn't come with mismatched cover's from the factory. Take care of the 78 cover as they were only used from January 78 to the end of 78 model production.

K

 

[Shag with a bonnie]

Got in a service manual, spare parts manual and a box of seals and gaskets. Now this weekend i'll rebuild the m/c's, calipers, pop one side cover off, check the clutch issue(Stuck from sitting) and the transmission cover to see if there is a kickstart issue the previous owner talked about. If i get all that done, on to rebuild the carbs.

Now i need to look into brake hoses, my fronts are dated 1978, and they are pretty cracked. I'm going to pull them and see if my local parts store can match them to something on the shelf. This is the first bike i've owned with hydraulic brakes and definitely the first vehicle with a disk in the rear....

Oh and i dropped the ignition switch off at the local locksmith. $35 for a new key, and they had it done before i made it home. Originally i was going to just have them pick the lock and go from there, but for the price.....

 

[StuartMac]

Hi,

ignition switch off at the local locksmith. $35 for a new key, and they had it done before i made it home.

service manual
rebuild the m/c's, calipers

There's superseding advice from the brakes maker - https://www.classicbike.biz/Triumph.../Lockheed_Hydraulic_Brakes_Triumph_Norton.pdf.

brake hoses, my fronts are dated 1978
see if my local parts store can match them

Mmmm ...

Advise the parts store that the threads are 3/8"-24, not M10x1.0, which is close enough to fool, but no cigar.

Although there is a remaining part of Lockheed in GB that made the brakes, it doesn't make replacement hoses for our old heaps; if your parts store can match them, they're pattern, potentially from a low-wage country.

I haven't bought rubber brake hoses for decades. Apart from my Triumphs' brakes aren't standard, if you can wield wrenches and a hacksaw or Dremel, making braided hoses from Goodridge parts is straightforward and pretty-much foolproof - How to Assemble a Brake Line with Goodridge.

Hth.

Regards,

 

[Shag with a bonnie]

Finally got some time out in the shop after dealing with life stuff, the GF's rig blew a motor, and i lost a starter in my bronco trying to rescue her. Cheap chinese parts.

Picked up my ignition switch from the locksmith, under $40 out the door after taxes. From there, i popped apart the electical part of the switch, polished the contacts and greased the crap out of everything and recrimped it. I forgot to drill the drain hole, but whatever, i guess i just wont ride in the rain.

Next i put the new ignition switch decal on and put the lights back in.... I could have repainted the ignition panel since the ignition keys wore the paint off, but i'm going to leave it alone. I then tested all the bulbs on the bike and installed it.

I finished the night polishing chrome(removing the light rust) and installed the new center tank badge and tail light switch.