RG500 and RD350 base gaskets

Sad to say I had another thrust washer break! So, I have replaced the crank with one that has the thrust washers on the crank and am reboring No. 4, It will get a 57 mm piston kit and new small end bearing. I have cleaned up the rotary disk covers, and will be using a long open phase carbon rotary disk, the clearance is 0,3 mms. Will order a standard rotary disk.

Performance on the 350 was down due to raising the barrels with additional gaskets, so I am going to use thinner gasket material and hopefully find a compromise between breaking pistons and performance.

Daytona and T140

Getting really pissed off with the company doing the epoxy on the Triumph frame still not finished (or started for that matter).

The Daytona got a puncture rear wheel on a 1000km tyre so attempted to repair, which didn't take so got the shop down the road to put a plug in from the inside.

Took the 900ss out for a ride and although the battery was flat (on charge for 18 hours), it took about 10 kicks to start. Once started it ticked over nicely, and I had a nice couple of hour run out.

As well as the T140 , I now have an XR 400 Honda in the shop, it's a neighbours desert bike, that's been using a lot of oil. He wants me to strip the top end and rebore it for a new piston. Once I got the barrel off I don't think the piston or cylinder are worn, but I am awaiting a bore measuring tool, to measure the middle of the cylinder to be sure. At the moment I am thinking new rings and valve seals and away it goes! The photos are of the cylinder head.

Should be doing the RG500 meeting at Ales this coming weekend although for the moment the weather is dodgy so I haven't signed up yet!

Long time no post

Quick news on what has been happening this summer.

The T140 (yes I am sure), is having it's new paint job as we speak, epoxy black for the frame and a tasteful red metal and white for the tank. Chroming various bits is just soooo expensive I can get them cheaper new so a big order went into LP Williams which was picked up from my parents whilst I was over in the UK, I also visited Reg Allen's in Ealing to get the front wheel bearing cover off. Of course as suspected the bloody thing was a normal thread! DOH......

Patrick's bike came in for a much overdue complete service and start, which all happened unfortunately I managed to drop his bike so had to get the tank repaired which quickly used up most of my labour charge for the job so basically did that for free.

Went away on the Daytona and Street to the Dolomites, I was a bit concerned about my bike but with standard cartography and a new fuel level sensor things seem to be back in order. The USB port was crap though, not providing enough charge to use the GPS on the phone all day, so we used both phones each day to find our way, which worked out fine, had a great ride back although weather whilst we were there was far from dry!

Middle of August saw me with LPP at Ledenon for first track outing, I used the 500 and 350 although the very last session on the second day the 350 lost power and after further investigation it turned out to be another cracked piston! I honed out the cylinder and a new piston kit went in, with new bushes on the RHS power valve. I also reduced float height on the carbs by 1mm as they still overflow a bit.

At the end of August went with PL to Ledenon and Libby came! Used the FZR which went like a dream for the 2 days despite intensive usage by both of us as the 500 lost a silencer at the end of day one, we found the silencer and I have done a better weld to secure it to the tube, so it won't happen again, also downloaded an App to give lap times and it was good so purchased the Pro version (4 euros). This enable us to share lap times and top speeds, just for info I think my top speed is about 181 km/h and a fastest lap of 1:45, still slow compared to the quick guys but enjoyable just the same.

Had an Aprilia scooter in the shop for a restart. The carb needed a good clean - pilot jets completely blocked, but another happy customer!

There are a million photos but I'll just share one - see if you spot the join!

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.