64 T-bird Street Tracker Project To Be For Sale

[grandpaul]

Next shop project: Turn this non-running, incomplete, dusty collection of parts into a street-legal '64 Triumph Thunderbird 650 Street Tracker.

Storz bodywork, Akront shouldered alloy wheels, and early 70s front end. Otherwise it will be mostly stock and ABSOLUTELY MINIMALIST.
Nothing on it that is not essential to the bike being street legal and totally roadworthy. Not even a battery! (2MC capacitor will do)
I MIGHT go with upswept scrambler pipes; at least in initial run testing. Oh, yes, that's a dual-carb Bonneville head.

This bike is for sale as-is, but with carbs and new Dunlops already installed.

Or, at any point along the build, if anyone is interested in finishing it themselves. My aim is to get it running, tidy, and street legal without a total overhaul and/or powdercoated frame; pretty much as it appears with the unpainted bodywork and slightly dirty/worn frame & cycle parts.

Or, it can be built to the buyer's specifications!

 

[Rocky]

Cool project.

 

[grandpaul]

I've had it sitting since 2007. It's ABOUT TIME I got to work on it!

 

[grandpaul]

Rear brake drum in good shape, one slight scratch-

Rear brake shoes have about 30% wear, no chips or gouges at all-

Front drum in very good shape-

Front shoes only have about 10% wear, excellent shape-

 

[grandpaul]

New Dunlop K81 Gold Seal universals installed with new tubes & rim strips. Brakes cleaned & sorted. New RK 530 drive chain.

Handlebar mount bushings replaced, intakes swapped for bolt-ups to suit rebuilt original Amal monobloc carbs with velocity stacks. Like-new later style footpeg rubbers with flat tops installed.

I'm going to mock up the scrambler pipes tomorrow for a photo...

 

[grandpaul]

Upswept Scrambler pipe options:
Bare / straight
Mini megaphones
Mini mufflers
(I also have the original TR6C mufflers with birdcage heat sheild, not pictured)

 

[grandpaul]

Hard to make out with this bad photo, but the pistons are .040 over

Rockerboxes all done with new gaskets (2 studs and 3 nut on order)

Ordered kickstart ratchet spring, kicker shaft, return spring, mainshaft locktab washer, cam oil seal, and gaskets; all else is ready.

 

[BMDitty]

Sweet....love the road pipes
But a light bike like that with scrambler pipes could hit the hides holes!

 

[grandpaul]

Reinforced & powdercoated swingarm

Rear brake parts installed & working great

Tranny done, kicker bits done, clutch cable, abutments, lever & shop-fabbed trunnion done

 

[grandpaul]

Pistons, before & after.

Cylinder in place with clean cam followers and new base & head gasket. Ring end gap was right near max spec, it's going back as-is.

Early '69 head.

 

[grandpaul]

Clutch basket slots are in decent shape, just a bit wavy, not notchy.

Clutch centre is also in good shape, no notches (blurry photo, sorry)

Clutch plates were in good shape, just need a bit of cleaning and straight back in they went.

 

[grandpaul]

I had a dozen good used clutch springs in a bin, so I sorted the best three of the collection and installed them. Also swapped out the old ET alternator for a newer unit with timing marks.

Late 60s primary cover with timing window.

Triumph points are as easy as it gets, the AAU has a notch, cam has a pin. Automatic alignment when you set the points plate at midrange. That'll let the engine start, then just strobe time them a bit.

BOTTOM END IS DONE!

 

[grandpaul]

Aluminum deposits on the valve faces; looks like this engine had previously holed it's pistons (all 4 valves were like this). I went with a new set of valves that I had on the shelf.

All 4 ports looked similar to this, aluminum sputter everywhere. Took a good while to clean the head up to useable condition; it was a real pain to carefully scrape the valve seats without scratching them, then I lapped in the new valves.

New valves, lapped, with all clean springs, seats & collets.

 

[grandpaul]

MUCH cleaner valve seat & port.

Not just red RTV silicone, but PAINTED OVER red RTV!

All clean (both intake & exhaust areas).

 

[grandpaul]

Valve pockets cleaned up, they had caked on shellac sealer all over the place

Head spiffed up and ready to go back on.

I didn't try to remove all the aluminum sputter in the combustion chambers, I just smoothed everything up and made sure the gasket face was clean and flat.

TOP END DONE! Decent compression, probably a few PSI down from where it would be with all new rings & pistons

 

[grandpaul]

Rear 1/3 of the wiring harness. White wire at right side goes to coils...

Middle 1/3 of wiring harness. White wire from left is power from main switch. Power takes off far side coil up to handlebar switch for lights.

 

[grandpaul]

ALMOST done, just need to get a bit of fuel line, dump in some gas and start kicking. New Accell plug wires installed, found a pair of Lucas 12v coils, instead of the big fat Sibas.

I must have lost 5 pounds in sweat today, it's hot in that shop, even with the big Port-A-Cool going. Searching for the main oil tank outlet fitting is several places that are NOT in the "line of fire" of the fan is the pits. New Renthal grips and concentric carbs off one of the race bikes (for now)

 

[grandpaul]

Had to tweak the sidecover to JUST clear the long velocity stack

Racing stacks may not stay with the bike, depending on how it runs.

 

[triumph david]

GP, looks good i bet it will run good too! Very nice!!!

 

[grandpaul]

Wow, I forgot to update this project!!!!

Will do so after Tuesday.

Happy New Year, y'all!