June 4, 2010
Planning for months to hit Meatball's Hell-On Wheels Show on June 5th in Lake Elsenor, I was a bit conflicted when I saw the add for a pre-unit engine in Hemet. I convinced myself to hit the rally in the morning and then check out the engine in the afternoon.
June 5, 2010
After going back and forth in my head during the long drive, I decided to just keep going to Hemet. I really wanted to start a pre-unit build and was excited to see the potential project.
Engine Summary: 1956 Big Bore 750, Dual Mikuni Drag tha Bike Bud White built after aquiring it from Jim Johnson -- Johnson Motors of course. Was on the cover of magazines back in the day.
After looking over the engine and trading stories with the seller, I was ready to walk away. It was just too far from what I wanted to build. 9 bolt head, open primary, Mikunis, welded intake and exhaust ports. It definitely wasn't pretty. It looked like it had been sitting in the dirt for a while too. Then he made me an offer I couldn't refuse.
June 6, 2010
Time to start tearing down. Only 9 bolts to my first surprise!
Tore down pretty quick. Will run boxes of parts to Wes White at Four Aces in Pacoima to see what shape I'm in.
June 8, 2010
Mag -Wes said it's definitely good after getting shocked right out of my truck.
Inner trans cover - cracked. Looks like it's been repaired before.
Trans - good.
Cams - one is beat.
Cylinder -Wes will spec it out to see if there's room to bore.
Crank - encouraged to get a newer one for ease of sludge trap access.
Head - looks tore up from piston schrapnel. Wes says it can be cleaned up.
Great shop and awesome guy! Thanks Wes!!!
Crank - encouraged to get a newer one for ease of sludge trap access.
Head - looks tore up from piston schrapnel. Wes says it can be cleaned up.
Great shop and awesome guy! Thanks Wes!!!
June 9, 2010
Started cleaning up the Mikuni carbs. Probably gonna sell these. They had the usual gum and dirt, but cleaned up well. All moving freely and smoothly now. Measured out to 34mm.
June 11, 2010
Got bored and started buffing covers.
June 13, 2010
The seller found the Primary Cover while going through his garage. So, I made another run to Hemet. Gave him a few bucks and picked up a 16" rear rim and a 19" front, possibly Norton rim.
Wet sanded, polished and buffed. A lot of work, but this cover had some really deep scratches. They could stand to be sanded a bit more. You can still see some of the gouges.
June 20, 2010
My scheduled is offically jacked up. Landlord just sold the place I've been in since 1991. Looks like we're moving to Long Beach!
June 27, 2010
Speaking of Long Beach!... Swap meet is today! I didn't have any luck with a pre-unit frame, but I did pick up a Triumph hub on a 16" rim.
June 29, 2010
Took a break from packing and openned it up. Everything's there, so I did some cleaning to the rim.
Chrome is bubbled and peeling worse than I though. It'll be fine for what I'm putting together -- at first anyway. Probably paint it black in the end.
Took a bit of work to bring the sprocket back to life. I might leave the break cover chrome if the rim is going to be black. Never thought I'd say this, but if the rim and hub are blacked out, it just may be too much black.
Found a matching numbers 1954 T110 Frame and Case! Changing title to 54-56 Triumph Pre-Unit Project. Now, back to packing.
July 8,2010
My life is in a box and we are in transit.
July 15, 2010
It's been a week today that we made the move to Long Beach and the place is finally starting to look like a home. I can actually walk into my garage now too. One more day of straightening out and I might actually be able to do some work in it.
Made a trip to Four Aces to see Wes and it turns out that my 750 cylinder (I dropped off) is more like an 800 and pistons are nowhere to be found. Probably have it resleeved to a 750 when I get to that point. I need to focus on getting the bottom end rebuilt first.
Came across a crank and a few more goodies... preunit front rim and a slimeline tank! If I can finish the garage, I hope to rebuild the two wheels this weekend.
July 18, 2010
Ok, I didn't get to the wheels last weekend. But, I did get the garage squared away and I can actually do some work now. Checked out the town a little bit and I like this place more every day!
July 24, 2010
Crank showed up... mushroomed nicely and plugged with sludge! Will take it to Wes to be ground and fitted with new bearings.
Found a 6T oil tank I wanna run.
Did some clean up on the brake plate. New bearings are in order too.
Checked over the frontend. Turns out it was recently rebuilt and ready to go. Looks like a later bottom yoke, so fork stops will need to be reworked.
Long Beach Swapmeet in the morning! Will be on the lookout for a rear fender and maybe a seat.
July 25, 2010
Good day at the swap! Picked up a WM1 Hap Jones 21" rim and some mini ape bars. They're actually so mini that that can't really be called apes at all. They're about 8" rise, but the shape really caught my eye. I hope they look as good on the bike as they do in my head.
July 30, 2010
Had a hell of a time wrestling the rotten tire on the rear. I was totally defeated and actually had to pay to have it removed... very humiliating! Here's the Shinko mounted and it looks better than I thought -- I'm happy with it.
I've been going back and forth on powdercoating the rims and hubs. My budget says leave 'em.
July 31, 2010
Tearing down the front rim so I can lace the hub to the Hap Jones WM1-21. Miller is bored watching me try to reverse engineer this thing.
Took in apart and relaced it for practice. I think I got it! Seems easy enough.
After spending the morning with this hub, I don't know if I can bring myself to powdercoat it. It looks so nice with all her original faded glory. Went ahead and put in bearings and break pads and the front hub is complete.
August 1, 2010
Time to clean up the rear assembly. Was kind of a mess... old grease, a double gouged drum and a good amount of rust.
After a couple hours of cleaning, all the internals look good and move freely. Off to BA-Moto in Garden Grove tomorrow for bearings, brake pads and spokes.
Aug. 3, 2010
Called Lucas at Factory Metal Works in NC and ordered up a hardtail. Picked up an old German 5-1/2" headlight, tore it down, sanded and painted it. Trying to get an idea of what satin black would look like. Not really sold on it.
Aug. 11, 2010
Made the decision to powdercoat rims and hubs afterall. So, I'll need to tear down the rear rim too. If I'm not mistaken, I think Miller is eyeballin' me!
Aug. 26, 2010
Pulled some stripes at BA-Moto in trade for some tool use.
Aug. 29, 2010
Pimped BA-Moto Nate's helmets!
Aug. 29, 2010
Long Beach Swapmeet! Accuired an old K-D Lamp Co. tail light from Earl. Thick 3" piece of glass... enough said!
Sept. 1, 2010
Nice day! Received the hardtail from Factory Metal Works and picked up a 1962 T120 Pre-Unit engine & trans!
Bolted up nice & easy!
I pulled the rocker boxes, head, cycliner, primary cover, and shifted through all the gears before pulling the trigger this time. Lessons learned.
Changing title to 1954/62 Triumph Pre-Unit Project.
Played in the garage a bit today with a couple tanks and bars. Also started pulling the engine apart. Pistons are currently 40 over. Will have the cylinder looked this week. Did some rough moc up on the ride height and I'll need to drop the forks about 3-1/4 inches to get it level.
Sept. 7, 2010
Played with the Makita for several hours today. Purists may want to scoll past this entry. In my defense though, this frame was bent, stripped of all parts and in a junk pile. The way I see it, I saved her from the recycle bin.
With a cutoff wheel, I wanted to get rid of the unsightly swingarm lug.
You could say my first cut was a bit conservative.
Then it's on to a flap disk.
...and then flap disk some more. Patients definetly pays off here.
Time to get rid of the stock seat and tank mounts too.
After some more flap disk work, it's much less bulky.
Sept. 8, 2010
Stopped into Classic Cycles and had the cycliner and pistons measured. They're within spec, but toward the end off life. I'll probably just bore and go 60 over. Swung by Keith Moore's Cycle and picked up cam wheel and clutch pullers so I can tear the engine down this weekend. Grabbed a cheap seat for mockup purposes too.
BA-Moto called... hubs and drums are done!
Sept. 9, 2010
Found a Triumph steering dampener and K-D Lamp Co. tractor headlight at Garage Co. today. This should go well with the K-D tail light. And I didn't even plan that!
Played around with the two tanks I have. Still don't know which I'll run. I like them both for different reasons.
Sept. 10, 2010
Today is my parents 50th Wedding Anniversay! That's just crazy -- Who makes it 50 years? Probably one in a million? Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!!! To celebrate, I started tearing down the primary side.
This is odd... 5 clutch pads and 7 plates?. That's two plates on the far right and they're brazed together. Maybe a little speed secret? Chances are no.
I'm stuck and could really use and impact driver right now.
Sept. 11, 2010
Stopped into BA-Moto for a little impact wrench support and then pulled the rotor and cam wheels.
Does anything seem out of place in this shot? I found 6 sockets when I pulled the sump plate. Another strange speed trick?
Sept. 12, 2010
Split the cases today! Will have the crank spec'd out tomorrow. Went ahead a pulled the sludge trap plug and started to clean it. Wasn't too bad inside. Maybe the sockets keep it clean. Ha!
Sept. 13, 2010
Dropped off crank at machine shop. Will have it ground and or polished as needed. Said it's about two weeks out.
Spent some time with a scotchbrite wheel and some wet sandpaper. I'm definitely getting better at this. I heard there's no need to go through all the grits to 2000. So, I hit the deep scratches with fine emery cloth, then used the maroon pad wheel and finished up with 400 wet sand. Still a couple deep gouges, but they're on the bottom and I'm not sure how thin you can sand these covers until problems occur. Will hit the buffer wheels tomorrow with Tripoli followed by White Rouge Compounds.
Sept. 14, 2010
Looks great in this picture, but I basically ended up with some really shiny scratches. Will pickup some coarse buffing compound and try again.
This is more like it. Started with Emery (black) Compound on a firm 6" buff pad and it really smoothed things out. I'd say it's comparible to about 800-1000 grit wet sanding. This is the step I had been missing. Without the Emery Compound, I wasn't able to remove the sanding scratches. I have learned that less compound, more often works best. Also, I'm not winding the motor up to top speed -- probably about have trigger or less. The compound seems to work better when the friction heat is warm, not hot.
Moved onto Tripoli (brown) Compound on a new medium buff pad. With the medium pad, it will collapse if you push too hard. More finese and less muscle. Starting to look nice.
Next, I used Jewler's (white) Compound on a new soft buff pad. You can't apply much pressure at all with this pad. However, the floppiness makes it easy to get into all the curves and angles.
Sept. 19, 2010
Here's the primary cover after Emery Compound.
Tripoli Compound
White Rouge
Oct. 12, 2010
A lot has happend since my last update. Crank was finished with a micro polish and standard bearing were installed.
Assembling the cases with new bushings and bearing.
Fixing up the clutch cush drive.
Oct. 13, 2010
Picked up the frame from Dr. John who was straightening it and welding in a new lower backbone. Also picked up the cylinder from Q&E were it was bored and honed to .060 over. I have one fin that needs repair and then new pistons & rings are going in. Powdercoated rims and hubs are going to Buchanan for spokes tomorrow.
Oct. 17, 2010
Cleaned up the old Amal 930 carb.
Oct. 17, 2010
Cleaned up the old Amal 930 carb.
Oct. 27, 2010
Got a lot done this week. Rims came back from Buchanan and look great! BA Moto mounted my tires and I finally have a roller! Cut 2" out of the springs to bring the frontend down nicely. 
Fin repair completed and applied some fresh paint.
Installed new pistons and now onto the head.
Picked up a 6" buffer and took some aluminum to the next level
November Progress:
Lapping vales.
Painted and installed head.
Rocker boxes and carb installed.
Engine installed. Starting to look like a bike!
Nov. 12, 2010
Great day!!! Got her started! Feels pretty good to bring it back from the dead.
Great day!!! Got her started! Feels pretty good to bring it back from the dead.
Nov. 23, 2010
Finally got around to shortening the stauction. Cut about 2" and added a 3/4" piece of pvc to preload the spring.
Nov. 30, 2010
Temp registation is done. Just need to do a CHP Vin Verification. Decided to run the crappy pipes I have for now. Cutting off the welded brackets, will heat wrap them and run some different mounts.
Dec. 4, 2010
I have pretty much finished all that I can do. Lots of boring stuff... wrapped the pipes, made cables, bent Bates headlight mount, installed Tympanium so I can run without a battery. Actually road around the block a few times with a temp seat mount and no rear brakes and a headlight that you can't see until about 1,500rpm. Not the too safe, but I had to test ride her.
I have an old British switch I planned to install on the top of the headlight, but there isn't enough room with the small tracktor light I'm going with.
Things to come: bend copper tubing and run as fuel line, install a kill switch in the sidecar frame hole. I will also try to install a sightglass somewhere in the copper fuel line.
(Following three images by Brad Jacobsen)
Dec. 11th
Played around with a bolt, a file and a buffer. It will be the rear brake clevis pin when finished. Probably won't even be able to see it when installed. Ah, the things we do on rainy days.
Dec. 18, 2010
Here's Adam cleaning up welds for the gas tank and side stand bungs. Sure is a nice alternative to the wood block I've been using.
Dec. 21, 2010
Taking her to Earl Kane in San Pedro for some final trick fabrication... fender, brake pedal mount/chain tentioner, move top fender and oil bag mounts to name a few. That's it till after Christmas... Happy Holidays!!! Check him out at http://www.earlsbikes.net/
February-March Update:
Earl has almost everything complete and in the final mockup. Bead down the tank, fork stops, fender, break pedal mount, chain tentioner, brake light switch, brake light, side stand, license plate mount.
Decided to move the fender back a few inches as well as the seat and gas tank. Will also be adding a 4 inch sissy bar and strut setup.
February-March Update:
Earl has almost everything complete and in the final mockup. Bead down the tank, fork stops, fender, break pedal mount, chain tentioner, brake light switch, brake light, side stand, license plate mount.
Decided to move the fender back a few inches as well as the seat and gas tank. Will also be adding a 4 inch sissy bar and strut setup.
March 23, 2011
Here is a good example of how it looked with the longer fender and the tank and seat forward.
April 3, 2011
Earl surprised me by reworking the oil tank to follow the lines of the frame.
He also mounted the tail light so it's really tucked into the wheel.
He's been busy making license plate brackets this week. A few friends have received tickets for sideways mounted plates. Apparently, the law went in Jan 1 and requires "the license plate must read left to right."
His bracket reads legally, left to right, and can be turned vertical for shows or when parked. You can get them in a couple different versions -- one with a bullet tail light and the other without the light mount. I'm giving Earl my money rather than the state on this one.
