95 Thunderbird ignition coils

[Wire-Wheels]

You might want to put a fresh set of plugs in it now that it has a functioning ignition. They are probably somewhat fuel fouled. Also on these T-3 engines, be careful not to overwork the starter. Make sure the battery is fully charged before you crank it much. It is easy to damage the sprag clutch with excessive cranking.

 

[saftie]

Plugs are new. I currently have a fully charged Harley battery hooked up to make sure it has enough cca.
Got it regarding starter. Will be careful, thanks.

 

[Wire-Wheels]

Enjoy. I have 2 of those old beasts in my fleet.

 

[saftie]

Thanks.
These are cool bikes, I always had and worked on Yamahas in the past and I got to know them well.
My latest bike is a 94 Kawasaki zx600. I just disassembled the entire engine to fix a transmission issue. While waiting for parts I decided to fix up the Triumph. Takes a bit longer than expected but it's ok, it's an older bike.

 

[CarlS]

Sounds good so far.

 

[saftie]

Well, bike is still having trouble starting. Just pulled the valve cover and measured clearances.
Exhaust side is within specs but intake is very tight. According to manual it should be within .10 - .15 but I am reading between .05 and .07.

Gonna sort this and see if it improves the starting behavior.

Manual doesn't specify compression figures but I have around 140 on each. Should be ok

 

[saftie]

Getting the new shims this week and will put camshafts back in. Hoping this will help start the bike more easily. Keep you posted

 

[CarlS]

Please do let us know.

 

[Wire-Wheels]

Please do let us know.

Yes...please do that. Feedback is a vital part of shared knowledge. ...J.D.

 

[saftie]

Yes, that's why I let you guys know
I usually have a general build thread where I keep all info etc. in one place.

 

[saftie]

New shims are installed. Bike definitely starts up much easier now. And without starter fluid. I will have to pull the carbs again and go over them in detail one more time. Giving it throttle stalls the engine. Jets were clean but I will pull them again, bench sync them and check fuel/float level. Current behavior reminds me of fuel level issue on one of my previous builds.
I should get to it this weekend or next. My zx600 engine is almost back together after the rebuild and I want to finish that bike first before digging into the triumph again.

 

[CarlS]

That is good news. I am glad the valve adjustment helped solve the problem.

 

[saftie]

Well, not yet fully resolved. Still takes too much effort to start, but at least it fires without starter fluid after 10 cranks. It now feels like it's carb related.

 

[CarlS]

That is definite progress.

 

[saftie]

Agreed

 

[Wire-Wheels]

At this point, if it were mine, I'd take it out and put some miles on it. Funny thing about engines. They seem to get an "attitude" if they sit too much. I'm thinking you may have to richen it's low speed mixture a bit, but I'd run it a bit first. See how it behaves. ...J.D.

 

[saftie]

I do agree with that, but I still need to at least check fuel levels. No point of taking it out when it stalls under throttle.