Triumph T120

I needed to make a tool in order to remove the bearing covers from the front wheel. But it didn't work! To release the axle and hence get access to the bearings you need to turn the cover (according to the manual this is a clockwise to loosen thread), and you turn it using the 4 small holes in the hub as shown on the photo. Well I've heated it, oiled it to death and it still won't give way! They don't teach about this in school!

BTW I got my results of my exams and I am far too modest to post them publically but suffice to say I passed with flying colours! Next step to opening my own workshop is to start going through the French admin!

Triumph T120

Got my TIG welder back yesterday so I spent this morning making up a couple of brackets that were broken and rewelding a weld that had cracked (piccies 3&4). The frame is now ready to be sand blasted and epoxied. I have borrowed the neighbours compressor to get my sand blaster going but it's just not powerful enough, I need a constant 5 bar feed, hey ho will have to invest!

Triumph throttle body balancing, BMWR850R and Triumph

I had the tank off the Daytona in to change the fuel sender so I thought I'd have another go at balancing the throttle bodies. I had bought some T pieces as the Daytona has air bleed screws which are adjusted at idle so you need to have the IAVC hoses hooked up at the same time as the vacuum gauges. I reset the TPS and setup TuneEcu on the PC so that I could set the idle to between 30-34 steps. The adjustment went OK after I noticed that the hoses for 2 and 3 had been reversed! , With the tank of I also spliced in my USB charger to the front loom. I tried to use what looked like an accessory plug, but I couldn't find 12v so I gave up and used the left hand low beam wire.

Philippe's BMW came in with what I thought was charging issues, but which I am now sure is a starter motor issue! It seems to just suck all power out of the battery as soon as you action the button. In fact I had started troubleshooting the alternator, and couldn't find much wrong so after thinking again came to the conclusion of looking at the starter motor. It's a Valeo car Unit, so not expensive so an eBay order has been made!

Finally got the neighbours compressor and connected up the sandblaster to have a go at the Triumph tank and frame, unfortunately the compressor was not really able to keep up so will have to have another go tomorrow. My welder turned up again today so hopefully I will be able to weld up the bracketry on the frame!

Triumph T120 and counting

Olivier just gave me the registration document and it's a T120, registered in January 1974, this was just at the period when the Triumph employees went on strike (sit in) and virtually zero motorcycles were produced in 1974, so this one is probably a US export version from 1973, and finally bought back through Switzerland where Olivier purchased it.

Apparently there are no colour codes as such for Triumph paint, and differences in design point to the liberty of each painter to change (within reason) the different designs of paint, we have decided to go with the Cherokee red paint and cold white scallops. As there are no codes we will try and match the colours from photos and to be honest as long as the job is a good one I don't care (and neither does my customer). The engine is out now exit left side, although it will be a challenge to get it back in without scratching something. I will probably protect the frame rails with tube insulation or something similar.

The frame has a couple of broken brackets which I will need to weld before it goes off to get painted, unfortunately the welder just broke so I am waiting for it to come back. I am going to setup the sand blaster in the kids house in the garden to blast the tank and frame in preparation.