Featured Potential New Triumph Owner

Awesome!!! Once my bank account recovers I need that!

 

Thank you sir. Found one petcock, searching for the other new one.

 

I AM IN BRITISH HEAVENNNNN! It's alive!!! Did oil, primary and gearbox, fresh fuel and plugs, kicked her about 6 times until I realized I needed to tickle the carb (I'm used to having a choke) and she fired up and idled perfectly! I am in debt to the previous owner for putting her away properly! I couldn't be happier. Definitely wanna get the setup darkman posted previously. Right now I just have 1 fuel line (right side tap) ran to carb and the other inlet on carb capped, left tap off. I know, not proper. Waited at motor vehicle for hours until they closed without me getting a plate so only a couple trips around the block but she ran awesome. Only problem now is I'm gonna have to cut off my left foot cuz the opposite shift and brake is SUPER strange for me. Gonna have to be careful and extra aware until I get used to it. Now I can move to why I only have to running tailight and no brake light, I'm guessing the switch but I'm already gaining alot of knowledge on the engine itself. Thanks for all the advice, can't wait to dig in more...I'm hooked!

 

Well, here I am broke down on our first long ride maiden voyage. Got plenty of time to sit here so figured I'd post lol. Everything was going great, stopped to make a turn and dead she went. Pushed to side of the road and no power anywhere when I turn the key on. Checked main fuse, fine. Here I go attempting to diagnose...

 

Points. Got rescued and am on the way home to dig in deeper.

 

No power anywhere, no lights.

 

No power anywhere, no lights.

 

Okay will check all those when I get back home. Yes there is a meter in the headlight bucket.

 

I got inside the headlight bucket but I didn't have any test tools. When I pulled the headlight first thing I noticed was the blue not going to anything. One filament of my bulb was burnt which makes sense cuz I never had hi & low beam. There's nothing hooked up to the amp meter. The battery is brand new. I'll move to testing with a fresh mind tomorrow. I have a test light but can someone give me some super simple elementary example of how to test. I am terrible at wiring and I can't read a wiring diagram to save my life. In addition I believe this guy wired it himself so I'm not even sure the diagram would help.
I don't have any lights and also no spark. But, while I had the plugs out I did a compression test and the bike has 160 psi compression on both cylinders. Literally the only positive this whole evening. Speaking of that, what's the story on all the positive ground business and does that affect the way I would test? Only time I've ever had a bike just lose power everywhere was a blown main fuse. Hoping I can turn this around and regain my joy for this bike.

 

What does the zener diode do? Yes he wired it but was a seasoned British specific mechanic so definitely not a hack job. No answer on the positive ground bit? Help with testing? I'm heading to the shop now to dig into her.

 

I'll post a pic of the battery wiring in a bit as this positive ground bit is super confusing to me. First thing I'm going to check is keyswitch. I know the bike is a "mongrel" but I also know I can trust the POs knowledge of the bike so I don't wanna go overcomplicating and tearing up wiring that was working already. I'm pretty sure I have a new keyswitch in the parts stash. When I'm using my test light I'd wanna clip to engine fin then test wires that should be hot? This is where the positive ground confuses me.