Hi...firstly I apologise because I’ve repeated this post in another forum, just in case you see it...I’m a 50 year old who’s just got excited about continuing his old GPZ days in the form of an amazing T595 I’ve just picked up in need of a head gasket. Haven’t ridden in 20 years and Triumph gets the thumbs up...here’s my first question...where is the best section of this forum to tap into the brains on a T595 head gasket replacement? Also is... 301348-1-2 ...a good resource for parts? Thank you friends, Stuart
Hello mate, well done on your choice of ride my friend! I changed the head on my bike a couple of years back, it's all pretty straightforward with a Haynes manual. You don't really have too many options for parts, it's pretty much WoT or Fowlers - who I've found to be very good. Give us a bit more info on the bike.
Thanks so much for kicking this post off...the bike is a 97’ registered bike with one previous owner on 29k. I bought it at auction for £500 + juice. It starts and has been ridden to check gearbox and clutch which are fine. The oil is good, but rusty water spray up around the air intake. Difficult and rough idling from cold. Colour is...well exactly the same as yours...top box is gone
I've no specific model knowlege but I've done head gaskets on too many vehicles. I'll only count the cars as the heads I've changed on aircooled bikes have little transferrable problems. Maybe not. Don't drop the softlink for rejoining the camchain down the tunnel. I have been in the company of four idiots who inverted an xs1100 over a sheet and shaken it. Although it worked I'm not putting it forward as a recommended technique. I'm here to help. YMMV.
Hi Stuart and welcome. Personally, I've found Fowlers to be slightly cheaper than WoT on some parts and a lot easier to contact, so I've set up an account with them. No positive benefits (yet) other than easier check out,though the parts counter guys have always been very helpful. I also tried this site when looking for T300 parts :- https://www.bike-parts-triumph.com/triumph-motorcycle but they appear to be some sort of agglommeration of dealership parts services so I'm not sure that they're going to be any better than setting up an account with one primary source. Wish you luck with the T595 - it'll be worth the effort!
Cheers, Adie, that’s a pretty big endorsement for Fowler’s...will definitely check them and your other link out!
Nice one! Mine's a 97 too, would be interesting to see how close they are in production. I've actually done/had done quite a few bits and pieces in the time I've owned it. I suffered the broken clutch springs and a piece of spring found it's way into the oil pump smashing it and requiring a rebuild. Definitely check your clutch assembly and if it has the double springs, change it for a later one. I had a later gearbox cluster fitted at the same time to avoid any possible 4th gear problems. I also fitted the later exhaust camshaft and injectors which, with the later map, much improves the low speed performance at the expense of a slight loss of the lovely, savage acceleration. I think it makes the bike much nicer to ride. Are you sure the rusty water is coming from the head gasket and not the rad or pipework?
Great info., much appreciated. I’ve been reading about the 4th gear issue and would love to change it over, as you did, but wonder about the scale of the project, having to dismantle the body too. You may have a point about the rusty water, and I’ll definitely be checking it out very closely when I start to dismantle the bike in a couple of weeks. It’s a devil to start from cold, and runs rough which, in conjunction with the water, makes my first suspicion the head gasket, but I’ve love to find out I’m wrong on this? The cam, injector, and MAP changes are intriguing...I guess this would be an easy in-frame job at a later date, after I’ve checked out the bike as is? I’ll take a look at how much more of a job it would be to crack the case, and will also check the VIN out for you, they could be stable mates...I hear that black was the rarer colour.
I wasn't going to change the gearbox, I only did it as the engine was being split to do the oil pump. I figured that, although there is an issue with the 4th gear, it certainly isn't all bikes of that period that have suffered failures and I was going to leave it. The poor starting and rough running could both be down to faulty/nackered IACV stepper motor and hoses. Some early bikes had an issue with soft inlet valves, mine did, that's why I did the head gasket.
Thanks again for all this amazing input! I’ll definitely check out the idle valve and hoses...was just reading about pinching off the large hose, etc. for function checks. What was the issue with ‘soft’ valves, and what was the solution to that? Can I ask you where you think the best place on this forum is for technical questions specific to our bikes? I’m really excited about my bike...I absolutely couldn’t break it, as appears the general consensus for head gasket failures. I want to keep it forever
Well it looks like we now have a "Technical Help" page so I guess that would be the best place. There are some very knowledgeable people on here. As for the soft valves; You'll know if your bike is affected as you will run out of adjustment on the inlet valve shims. There was a lot of discussion at the time as to whether it was soft seats or soft valves but when I'd all but run out of adjustment at just 19k miles I bought a new head, (thinking it was probably soft seats), from WoT during one of their sales for just £75! Couldn't believe my luck. However, when I stripped it down and removed the valves, the edges of the inlet valves were like razor blades so it was obvious that the problem was the valves and not the seats. If your bike has got to 29k miles without problems then you may be fine, although the rough running may indicate a problem there also? Please don't break another one of these lovely bikes, it would be such a shame. You've got a grand or so to spend before you'd be out of pocket selling it, but, honestly, if you get it going properly YOU'LL LOVE IT !
Ahh, OK, I understand now re the soft valves...I’ll soon find out about them. As you say, there’s a lot of room to spend money on my bike...I won’t be breaking it. Thank you so much for all your generous input on this my first post. Oh, and wow, £75...cheaper than straightening a warped head