"Trillian, is this sort of thing going to happen every time we use the Infinite Improbability drive? Very probably, I'm afraid."
I have been diligently working the kinks out, so to speak. Hopefully, I can remember all the details so this recap makes sense. It may help someone in the future (who has the bike that came of right before or right after mine on the line
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After much deliberation, reading and rereading, a post by Rudie in this thread on triumphtalk got me to a decision.
https://www.triumphtalk.com/threads/1972-triumph-daytona-part-3-and.55633/
Semi-related, a book called The Perfectionists, by Siimon Winchester, feels like it's talking about this kind of situation. Engineers come up with a plan. The plan is fine, except the precision in the machining is not up to the allowable tolerances. So the machining gaps add up and pretty soon the gap is navigable by the oil and the customers complain. So the company has to come up with a band-aid. SB 324, the cushions and the wedding bands, is the attempt at closing the gaps. However, what if the gaps don't amount to a full cushion? This is where my particular bike is. Thankfully, I am able to stand on the many who have experimented before me.
I decided to put in the cushions, but to cut the cushions. I had the gasket set and it came with 4 white cushions, 0.100 thick. If one is inclined, it is possible to put the cushions on a socket of appropriate thickness and cut them to size. My sockets have a groove so the cushion stays more or less in place while xactoing it. I measured the stack gap without the cushions to get the crush sorted out and ended up needing a bit more than a half of a cushion. Then I sanded the cushions to get it as close to 0.030 crush as I could.
The wedding bands. I thought this part would be simple, but ...... SB 324 says tight fit and glue if necessary. Forums say bands tend to be loose nowadays. The bands I received were very tight. I had to sand the ID to get them to fit. The fun bit is that it is not possible on my bike to assemble the thing with the band on the PRT. The band won't clear the cooling fins when it's on the PRT. So the band on mine has to go on the guide block first, then the cushion, then the head with the PRTs.
At the point where I had it all back together, more or less, there was a lengthy delay because I am special. I lost track of one of the rubber bands that holds the wiring to the frame. You know the one right above the engine. I have a picture of it before the head came off, and I know I thought about it at one point (hey, I should put that somewhere else). And then it disappeared. I cleaned a rather large portion of my garage in an attempt to locate it. Stuff that hadn't seen the light of day for 10 years was sorted out, but I did not locate the band. Hmmm. Where could it be? I am not one to cross off something just because it is virtually impossible. No fair jumping ahead. Could it be in the engine? Very unlikely. But, not impossible. I have a borescope, so I drained the crankcase and looked up inside. I couldn't see the entirety, but I also couldn't see the band. So, off with everything. Guess what? Not in there. To this day, I have no idea where it went. And I don't throw anything away. Must have walked off by itself.
Back to the main plot. Eventually got to starting it up. From the get go it seemed a bit off. Fine but not fine. Definitely different than before. When it was warm I had to screw one of the carb air screws (carb was removed, but not touched beyond that) all the way in and the other was mostly in. And it won't rev past 5500 rpm. ??? I decided to replace the orings and phenolic spacers (one of the few "original" seals left). While waiting for that to arrive, I realized that the baffles in the mufflers (aftermarket cocktail shaker things) had migrated to the rear and the other had migrated toward the rear. So I'm thinking I've got this sorted out. Air leak and more restrictive exhaust. Yeah, whatever.
Beta test. Air screw not all the way in, but still pretty close. And the float bowls seem to be overflowing at the top, sometimes.
Then I see that one of the float bowl gaskets has torn and a section of gasket is literally vibrating in and out of the gap while the bike is running. Float bowl screws were not tight. So, remove the carbs and tear them apart. One of the fun (literally) things about all this R&R is that I can see if anything is changing from one rebuild to the next. In this case, the floats were exactly where i left them (I marked the height inside the bowl), the main jet passage was spotless. The whole thing was really clean, tbt. I ordered the appropriate drill bit and confirmed the idle jet was clear. Still not positive if that removed anything. i think it did, but not much if it did. As an aside, I put bowls with drains on them so I wouldn't end up with fuel crap left in there if I had to do work on anything. Anyhow, double checked everything and put it all back together.
Try it again. Everything seems to be working. Except still not going over 5500 rpm. I chased my tail on that one for days. I checked every electrical component. Checked the points, the gap, the timing (good idea as they were all a bit off). Double checked valve clearances. Battery voltage. Not a thing wrong but won't go over 5500. Then it dawned on my stupid brain that if I could ride the bike at normal speeds in normal gears, it must be going over 5500. Turns out the tach has decided to run at 80%. I still haven't delved into that one. It spins freely, newish cable, cable spins freely, cable spins. The speedo is something I tore apart to free up. The tach is not. I managed to turn the adjusting screw (through the light hole in the bottom), but it did not correct the issue. Something for another day.
That's not all, naturally. I went out a couple of weeks ago. At some point I felt more vibrations through the handlebars than usual. I really should just pull over when that happens, but it seems to not be in my nature. So I keep going and as I'm going to upshift from 1st to second, I can't. My foot is telling me there is no such thing as a gear selector. I look down and the right side air filter is sitting on the gearshift, so my foot is resting on the flat of the filter housing. No problem. Merge across 3 lanes of traffic with the clutch pulled in and pull into a random parking lot to address it. How it didn't just fly off, I'll never know. Bonus, when I had put the filter housings back on, I know they tend to come loose so I snugged them down with emphasis. I literally couldn't push it back in place without loosening the screw. Good lord.
I make it home, check for loose bits as I still have this vibration thing, and find the muffler baffles have again come loose and gone rearward. It really hates being baffled I guess. When I put the baffles back where they belonged and tightened the bolts, the screws (both sides) snapped off. I really don't know what's going on there. I never had an issue with that previous to this escapade. Now there's new hardware and I keep rechecking it so hopefully it stays put.
So that's where I'm up to. Took a ride today and nothing fell off or seemed any worse for wear than when I started.
Oh, one question. I am slowly eradicating oil leaks. It seems there's one where the oil feed pipes come out. Problem is, I can't get a socket on the nut. Or a wrench. Should I be able to? Not sure if the pipes have been whacked to get in the way or if I'm missing something.
Thanks again for everyone's help. 🙏
