Featured 1976 One For 2022

Thanks Gents, and yes....no guessers on the crate then?
Don't forget the dowel at the front. Earlier models don't have this.



Notice the marks on the camshaft bushes. These are from hammering the cam gears back on over the key from a previous rebuild. The cam gears don't need to be that tight, I will ream them out slightly so that can be pushed on by hand.



Then separate the crankcases. Sometimes a lot easier said than done as the crankshaft wants to stay in the bearings. Don't use a hammer on the end of the crank or on the crankcase. Imaginative use of wooden blocks and gravity gets there in the end. All bearings are removed, some are easier than others, and some are a real pain. Ta da...



All the cases are then taken down to the vapour blaster. The main man called Mr. Blaster, a great bloke who just really loves bikes, likes a chat and does a great job. Well worth a visit just to see what he's been playing with - there was a mint Fizzie there when I took these down.

 

Crankcase in the vice ready for the plug and sludge trap removal.



This one had obviously been out before and the plug reused. Ye olde impact wrench made short work of the plug (I couldn't move it with a big screwdriver and spanner)



You can see the sludge trap tube and at 6 o'clock the oil feed hole. It's important this is left free when installing a new plug. Measure the depth to the hole, measure your nice new plug and ensure this oil feed isn't even partially blocked off.



Various methods can be adopted to get the pesky tube out. I have a steel bar that hooks into the bolt hole (obviously after the retaining bolt is removed) and I tap it out. A large tap can be used to tap the tube and screw in a large long bolt. A nut on the bolt can then be done up to pull the tube out. Here's the old one hardly any sludge and a nice new one to go back in when it's all clean and shiny.

 

Now that all the bits are back from the Vapour Blaster I knocked out the valve guides (the existing valves were pretty sloppy in the guides). The vapour blasting has taken most of the carbon off that would scratch into the head if not removed.





Oops, sorry, two again.



All nice and clean and ready for the rebuild.....over

 

Nope nope and nope, sorry. Ha, a washer now would I be so Cruella Deville. No, it actually fills the crate up and it's not soft (ie not a cushion or a teddy) and it's a thing rather than lots of things. Remember, if you guess, you will be asked if you want it.

 

Oh, I wish, there was one of them in there.

 

Relieved that everything basically looks ok, casings wise. Although there are some marks that show what looks like a snapped chain a long time ago.
There are, however, a few bits and bobs to sort due to wear and tear, and some hard riding.
The valves loose in the guides and cams moving slightly in the bushes. I leave brass bushes in through vapour blasting as it's easy on the metals but remove all bearings.



For this build I went and bought another 'special tool'. I like special tools especially when they make a really fiddly job almost magical. You know, like the sliding hammer thingy that gets the advance unit out like it was easy.



The tool was from Norman Hyde to put the new valve guides in. I bought the guides and new valves as a set so they were smoooooth as a pair. And as recommended by Norman pulled the guides in with the head cold.

 

Wow, how easy was that. No heating, no ovens, no boiling water.



And no hitting stuff with a lump hammer.



Lapped in the valves as the seats were pretty good. Ok, it takes some time but really nice. A job I never used to look forward to (although I never actually broke anything) becoming almost a pleasure. Go buy one of Norman's tools



By the way, you also get the right sized tool for insertion and bashing the old guides out in the kit...

 

Now, now . The clue was that it was a thing rather than lots of things. It's very well known that "You're always gonna have problems lifting a body in one piece. Apparently the best thing to do is cut up a corpse into 6 pieces and pile it all together. And when you've got your 6 pieces, you gotta get rid of 'em, because it's no good leaving them in the deep freeze for your mum to discover, now is it?" - Brick Top
Or even in a crate for your neighbours to wonder what the bloody awful smell is.
Stand by your beds, carry on.....Over...

 

Someone didn't get what he wanted for Christmas . Sorry, nope.

 

Good guess as I did get rid of quite a few not long ago. But no, sorry.

 

Aha........no, sorry. And no, again sorry A winner anytime now I think.

One of the other bits and bobs to sort was the cam shafts, their bushes and the tappets. Obviously the engine has been apart but also some hot rod had installed a 3134 camshaft from a T120 motor.
I'm no expert and I've gotta admit I get a little confused with all the half race cams, 'R' marked tappets, lift, advance and retard.

Any old end up. As far as I remember, the Triumph engineers took some umph out of the T140 as it was breaking the roller bearing on the crank. It was also to help with the emissions I think. (Didn't bloody help that much or we wouldn't be looking at electric mopeds down the bike shops these days).
So, what they did was to calm down the inlet cam. Which is what is in the standard T140.
Clever chaps that we were, when we heard about this, we all wanted the lost power back as the bearings being used were better quality 3 part ones we all use now. So we used to get the T120 cams out of the scrap yards and bung 'em in. I can't really say I ever noticed much of a difference other than low revs was lumpy and we thought they pulled a bit better up in high revs.

So, the cams, being older and maybe with the wrong tappets (cause greasers didn't really know what they were doing) are chipped on of this one:



Worn as well, and I could feel some movement in the bushes.