This blog is becoming redundant. I am shifting everything over to Smoke and Throttle

Two blogs about the same thing, basically. Starting now, I am posting all my updates on my bike projects on my primary blog, Smoke And Throttle. Make sure you check that site, and link up with us on facebook for regular update notices, plus additional thoughts and comments: Facebook.com/smokeandthrottle.

My other blog also has interesting articles on other bikes, shops, events and other vintage motorcycle news. Please add us!

Wheel building

Got the rear wheel laced up and ready for the truing stand, I'll let you know how that goes. Being stainless steel, which has a lower tensile strength than regular steel, the nipples and spokes must be greased for proper seating and preloaded with a much higher torque to allow for stretching. The end result is a nice clean wheel that won't rust. The 66 Bonnie is slowly coming together though!



Finding the drive side of the wheel involves measuring the nipples in place. The largest gap between the indicates the drive side.


Greasing the spokes so that they don't bind up.


First set of outer spikes go anti-clockwise.


Next set goes in clockwise.


Drive side done, next is the right side (shift side)



All laced and ready to true! More to come as I fumble my way through this.

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:S High St,West Chester,United States

New motorcycle in the shop, 1966 Triumph t120 Bonneville

Not to be confused with the T120r, this is the UK spec bike with different paint, fender, tail light and tag holder, bars tank (though I don't have the original larger tank yet) etc... Heres what it could look like.

cleaned up a few parts with the bead blaster

they call em basket cases for a reason.

not sure what these are for, they looked ground...

Engine in good shape with compression

coming apart for powder coating

66 tr6r tank, us market, not correct, but will do for now

1958 BSA b33 tins stripped and sent off for paint

I finally collected ALL the correct trim for the B33. Front and rear fenders, new tool box and oil tank, Nacelle etc... I stripped them all and sent them off to my friend Brent Combs, who will do his magic with banging out the dents and laying down the paint. All the brackets will be powder coated in my shop and the bike will get a thorough cleaning and polishing before rewiring. I hope to have this on the road sometime this summer!

BSA B33 bits getting a chemical peel.

paint-less, ready for bead blasting

Rear fender. Correct front fender came last week and is already stripped .

51 Triumph Bobber coming together

Now that I've moved a few bikes out of the shop, I finally have time to get tom my 51 speed twin. A quick mock up shows a few issues I'll have to deal with. Pillion pad a little high, saddle a little low etc... Once together, I'll ride it, tune it, work out the kinks - then tear it down this winter for boring, valves, pro paint job etc....

1951 Triumph Speed Twin Bobber

BSA stripped of non b33 parts and carefully examined

The rougher looking of the two bikes turns out to have the better motor and frame. Once I removed the Harley rear mudguard and the honda front mudguard, I the bike started to look less of a mess and more of a classic. I swapped the ape hangers for a set of triumph bars - not correct but more inspiring while I wheel it around to work on. The motor still has compression, and theres still oil in the tank so it turns over pretty nicely. I just need to figure out the wiring of the alternator contact breaker set up so I can see if she'll start. Wouldn't that be a change - A running motorcycle!

Looks better already!

Wiring nightmare. 

1958 BSA B33 project

Picked up two 1958 barn fresh BSA B33's, pretty complete, albeit not all original or pretty.  The 1st bike I plan on getting running, then do a full restoration when I get time. I'll ride her ugly I don't care. The second is for sale, a little rougher, or if no one wants it, it'll be parted out.

Seat is from an older b33, not sure if it's correct or not.

bars look like old italians, not original, kinda cool, but not very functional .

black and white pipes, haha.

This ones for sale, ignore the ape hangers and sportster tail.

Loose chain wheel due to damaged mainshaft

After discovering there was a lot of play on the primary chain wheel on the clutch, I pulled all the guts from the primary case and discovered a badly work mainshaft. I called up a friend, who I recently met, that has a massive inventory of triumph parts. I asked him if he had the 5 speed mainshaft, which he did, so I drove over (20 minutes!) and picked it up along with new nuts and washers. Brilliant. Didn't have to go to ebay or wait for mail order, plus my friend charged a very fair price. An hour later I was rebuilding the trans - which only took three attempts.... the key is to gob lots of grease on the shift-dogs to hold them in place until you can get all the gears in place and the spindle through the three dogs and lock it up. Next up is inner and out gearbox reassembly and gear indexing. Thenreplace primary chain and alternator. If I don't find any other major problems I should be getting VERY close to having thi on the road. I really can't wait to ride this bike - OIF Triumphs aren't my favorite, but with a few aesthetic mods this bike is beautiful and hopefully should be reliable... well as reliable as a brit bike can be.

Lots of wear on taper.

New Main shaft in place.

Transmission rebuilt. All gears look good!

One Step Forward two steps back

The crank in the donor engine was so rusted that it was impossible to get it out of the cases without doing damage to the threads and splines. Not a major problem, I knew the donor was seized up so I wasn't counting on the crank to be useable - though it would've been nice. I took the timing side engine bushing and compared it to the new "5ta" crank I snagged on the 'bay, but oh no, whats this? It's no a match. I think the crank I bought, listed as a 5ta is actually a 5T pre unit model, which is totally different. Argh!!!!!!!!!!

The bushing should be flush with the Crank spindle.

A good cm or so longer.

Gathering parts for the 1960 T100a

Quickly gathering all the parts to get this sweet little ride together. Transmission arrived today. Picked up the bathtubs and front fender from a fine gent out west (who shipped them very fast). A huge thank you to Al Hartman who supplied me with a donor engine to salvage parts from and a SPARE FRAME! After comparing the two, I realized that my frames rear section was missing all the key tabs for the seat and bathtub. Fortunately I can swap the two rear sections and still have the correct numbers on my frame. I also made a very fair deal on a top nacelle (still need the legs) as well as some parts for my speed twin. Thanks for everything Al, I can't wait for our two T100's to meet! Triumph Come Home Rally 2012 will be all about bathtubs!

Bathtub, fender and donor crank case.

Forks on bench, spare frame, shiny wheels.

Nacelle and engine bottom and top ends.

Donor engine soaking in Parts Blaster, waiting for pinion puller.

Front fender. Box full of my dads old number plates. Viva 25.

Bathtub is for a 3ta, so sadly, the original paint will be stripped.

Pulled apart 1960 Triumph T100A project. Waiting on Bonnie Parts

Still waiting on a few parts for the Triumph, so I took some time to clean the shop. My neighbor, Woody, contributed his skills with carpentry to help make this sturdy work bench. Plenty of work space now!

I have a number of projects on the back burner. One of which was always intended to be on the back burner, a 1960 Triumph T100A. This is one of the first Unit Twins Triumph produced. The engine is set up very similar to the Tiger Cub T20, complete with a Lucas Distributor (one of the few years this was ever used on a 500.) This will take some time finding the right parts. Ideally a basket case 500 unit engine will find it's way to my garage... If anyone has one get in touch. Plus I need a donor primary side crank case to fix some damage to the one pictured below. Gotta keep those numbers matching you know?

Some pictures of the progress:

Sweet Ape Hangers. Check out the hose clamps that keep em on!
Don't worry, I'm saving those bars for something else...

Chrome Oil tank looks like it goes to a bigger bike.
Chrome was not stock and will be replaced.

Yikes, major gap above chain case, this can be fixed,
but I'll need a donor case to chop. Got a broken spare?
Get in touch, any 500 unit case should do.

Chrome swing arm, brake stay and brake plate... hmm.

Plastic "chrome" wrap on speedo cable.
The cable is in great shape amazingly.

This wheel should clean up nicely - it did see below.

Stanchions are rusty but were originally covered by the nacelle. Forks are stock.

I need parts! This timing cover didn't have the points plate...
 thats in the distributor.

Somewhere in those leaves are the correct cams

Chrome is badly peeled on swing arm, no worry, should be black anyway.

Buggered threads made the removal of this nut tough,
but I got it off. It's nice having a sturdy bench that doesn't shake
when using the vice for jobs like this!

Inside of brake looks nice and clean, no rust.

Dirty parts laid out for evaluation.

This serial confirms its a 1960. This would be a "bathtub" model.
Google it.

Cleaned up NICE! Original paint on rim looks pretty good.

Forks disassembled, cleaned and ready for rebuild. Need seals.

Crankcases after the auto parts washer. No other damage.