Three steps forward, two steps back

Hello everyone, welcome back and a very happy 2021 to you all. While we  may have had even more free time than usual this Christmas -- normally perfect shed time -- my better half decided it was a good time to redecorate the bedroom. That is to say, it was a good time for me to decorate the bedroom. Or perhaps I say it was a good time for me to rebuild the bedroom. 

So there has not been very much progress on the bike for a while. When I have been able to escape into the workshop I have mostly been cleaning things. Degreasing, derusting, wire-brushing, polishing (but not too much) all sorts of parts from footpegs to exhaust pipes. It is a gentle, pleasently mindless process and one that should not be rushed.

Part 22... snapped. Part 25... busted.
Part 26... loose.

One material victory was repairing the kick-start mechanism. No more will it randomly let go and snap ones knee ligaments. Once I had bravely taken the gearbox outer cover off, the cause was very obvious. The kickstart is connected to a toothed quadrant, and when you kick it down this quadrant swings up and engages with a toothed sleeve (part 23) on the end of the main gearbox shaft, thus spinning the engine. 

To allow the kickstart to return to the top again, this sleeve engages with the shaft via a ratchet (part 24). The spring that holds the sleeve into the ratchet had snapped into several pieces. An easy fix.

It was actually a blessing that this spring had failed, or I might never have removed the gearbox cover. Then I would not have discovered that the lock washer that stops the nut falling off the end of the gearbox shaft had not been locked, and the nut was loose. If this nut falls off when the engine is running, it's bye-bye gearbox, or possibly the whole engine.

Now, what are classic Triumphs famous for? Their handsome rugged looks? Their sweet handling? Their tried and tested engineering? No, none of those, they are famous for leaking oil.

So before I replace the cover, I painstakingly clean both mating surfaces and apply some top-quality gasket compound. Then I rewind the kickstart spring, offer up the cover and carefully and evenly bolt it back on. After waiting 24 hours for the compound to dry, I refill the gearbox with oil.

Does it leak? Well, no, not from the gearbox outer cover which I just replaced. But it is seeping out from the inner cover joint, which I have not touched and which was oil-tight before. 

What gives? Eventually I realise that two of the studs that hold the outer cover on actually pass through both covers. By fiddling about with the tighness of the nuts I am able to get the joint back to its original tension and stop the leak. Strange but true -- sometimes you can stop leaks by loosening fastners rather than tightening them.

Next I really push my luck, and refill the engine oil. Sure enough, it leaks. Oil is seeping from the bottom of the main oil tank in the frame. Irritating, as I spent ages cleaning this joint up and fitted brand new gaskets. When I figure that one out, I will let you know.

Even more annoyingly, I then find a third leak, this one coming from the timing cover where the oil pressure switch screws in. Tightening it up does not help. Why? because there is ruddy great crack underneath the boss it screws into. I have to hold my hands up here, I have cocked up. Well, everyone makes mistakes. I have fitted a new oil pressure switch with a tapered thread into a hole with a parallel thread, thus splitting it open like a wedge. 

New(ish) and shiny(ish) timing cover

No amount of dicking around with PTFE tape and solder will fix it, so I have to splash out on a replacement cover. You can actually still buy shiny new ones, but I prefer the second hand route, as it would look rather out of place otherwise. 

It's not much consolation, but a quick internet search shows I am very far from the first person to make this error. Even Triumph itself did not seem to know which bikes used a taper thread and which were parallel until around 1968 when they finally made up their mind and made them all straight.

Other stuff is going better, I am pleased to say. The front end is complete with all the lights and controls fitted and working, although I do have my suspicions about the rev counter.

At the rear, the swing arm is back in place with grease in all the right places, the rear wheel and chain are back on and the rear drum brake fitted with new shoes, new actuating rod and new brake light switch.

In between the front and the back -- technically known as the middle --  I invest hours degunking the engine and also replace all the oil and fuel lines with new of-the-era cotton-braided rubber hoses. Once the replacement timing cover arrives I can fit it then replace the exhaust system, which I have already polished up in readiness.

Then all that remains will be the rear light cluster which needs some TLC, a new chain guard and -- once the engine is running again -- a bit of a tune-up. Then"phase one" will be complete and she will be ready to ride!

Only I can't go anywhere. Not just due to the weather and the lockdown, but because I still don't have a registration number from the DVLA, more of which next time...

TOTALS TO DATE: Hours: 80. Cost: £5862