Gathering parts for a project can be a long process, waiting for the correct parts to fit this model, battery box, or at least one with more metal than rust, oil tank, switch gear, ignition, although I opt to but new for the last two items as fitting 40 year old versions of each is a recipe for electrical issues.
Battery, coils, generator re wind and a Lakeland black box of trickery completes a what I hope to be better than original electrical system. New looms have recently become available. I had intended on making my own but elected to buy the complete loom. To be fair the circuits are pretty simple and with the benefit of hindsight I should have stuck with my original plan, there are a bunch of unused wires, power, earth and indicators that all need to be routed alongside those that are being used. I just cannot bring myself to cut into a brand new loom and remove them.
I spend some time routing the loom to ensure it doesn’t foul body work and cycle parts before plugging in the various blocks and connectors, pretty much slot A to Slot B. A power cable is installed with a single in line fuse and the KOSO speedo / tacho need wiring in but with power, switched power and an earth to sort out the basics its straight forward enough. Additional wiring is required for the idiot lights and the tacho pick up off a coil.
The speed sensor has been wired into receive its signal from a magnet on the rear disk with the cable running along the underside of the swing arm held in place with P clips, up the frame and along under the tank to join the cable from the speedo unit.
The exhausts were mocked up on a set of cases and barrels just thrown on the bike for that purpose. Since then the engine has been installed after having a full re build by Neil at the Tripleworkshop. On dropping off the engine with Neil his initial cursory inspection bodes well, standard bores and original pistons and despite having been dormant for who knows how many years the rest of the engine appears to be in fine fettle. A crank re build is a given, barrels re bored to first over size and new pistons. Everything has been cleaned vapour blasted, lacquer’d or zinc plated and brought back to shiny better than new original state.
The carbs have been refurbished, at £50.00 per carb, it’s a no brainer. One of the slides is stuck, jammed fast and a couple of weeks soaked in paraffing has failed to persuade it to move. I hand the carbs over, dirty and tarnished and in exchange for £s receive three clean, shiny and hopefully functioning carbs. With three throttle cables and choke cables plugged in there is some careful adjustment needed to make sure all three work as one, with slides and choke mechanisms all engaging together.
The best thing about the engine is its easy enough to move around, I am used to big 4 stroke engines, the triple, by comparison is a doddle to lift into the frame. It drops in to its fixed mounts and I bolt it all up with newly zinc coated original engine bolts.
All of the re zincing on this bike has been done in the shed with a home brewed set up. It takes some time but the results are good. Everything gets de greased and cleaned, everything gets some time on the wire brush, prior to some acid treatment for the parts most ravaged by time. A plastic tub of chemicals with a zinc plate attached to a battery charger providing the electronic current to complete the process. A quick shine up with a scotch bright pad and it all good to go.
I made a mounting plate for the KOSO speedo using the original ignition mounts on the underside of the top yoke. James sand blasted the yokes to a bare matt finish that will be a sod to keep clean but I like the appearance and I dull the previously polished bars to match.
The battery box doubles as part of the oil tank mounting, a stainless bracket supports the bottom with a stainless strap holding the tank in place. I make an aluminium bracket located behind the battery box to mount the Lakeland black box and reg / rec.
The petrol tank has a small but significant dent on the front right side, luckily it’s shallow and has not creased the metal, I don’t want to use filler and James knows a man who has been removing dents on cars for years. A number of rods are tacked onto the offending area and the dent is pulled out using a slide hammer, all for the price of a case of Guinness!