Ian's TSS Rebuild

[ianashdown]

Hi,

Just be careful when it comes to replacing your sprocket, which you'll have to do eventually. If they apear in anyway tight apply some heat with a heat gun. The differential expansion will help. Copaslip when reassembling!

Here's a situation Bryce should be familiar with. It seems that Shipwrights Disease is setting in. I popped the valves out of the head last night, initially for cleaning and re-lapping, but even though this bike has low miles on it, under 10K, there appears to be more play in the guides than I think there should be. So, it one of those "I'm in here I might as well do the job properly" situations. $500 later and new valves and guides are on their way from Mitch Klemph - highly recomended! - the parts are all in the parts washer and will be off to the Vapor Blaster tomorrow. I'll take and post some pictures tonight.

Gotta make that date . . .

Ian

 

[Sea Dog]

Those old wooden boats were always an adventure when up on the slipway. When the rot sets in, it just has to be fixed. I know exactly where you are coming from.....just got to be right!
You are moving at lightning pace....good luck.

 

[ianashdown]

Hi,

It's interesting that with less than 10,000 mile on this bike the valves have wear that can easily be seen and felt. Looking at the marks on the head of the valve stem it's apparent that the valve doesn't rotate during operation. Does anyone have any thoughts about trying to promote valve rotation? I'm thinking that if I were to shim the rocker more to the side of the of the tip of the valve, maybe 0.02"-0.03", it might help.

I'm replacing the valves with the best quality I can get, I believe they are made by Kibblewhite, with hard chrome stems etc., so hopefully the wear rate shouldn't be quite so rapid.

I'll be vapor blasting the cylinder and head next Tuesday, so that'll be interesting to see how that process turns out! Then it's time to replace the valve guides. I confess to being a little intimidated as I've never done this before, but I've been re-assured by a couple of experts that it's not too difficult. I've ordered the correct tool to drive the guides out and back in, and a 9/32" carbide reamer in case the guide needs cleaning up. I'm told that Kibblewhite guides need carbide reamers because of the material used. I'll also be driving out the tappet blocks so I can fit new O-Rings.

New tires today! That'll feel like progress . .

Ian

 

[CarlS]

You are making great progress.

 

[ianashdown]

40 Days 'till Ride Day! Man it goes fast . . !

Progress was slow this weekend and almost all the weekend was devoted to family things. However . . . .

I did have the new Avon AM26 tires fitted, they look very good indeed! I also managed to get helicoils in the two holes in the wheels where the bolts had broken. It really helps to have all the right equipment, including a proper Tap Holder. It makes it so much easier to tap the holes properly! I take back everything I've said about Helicoils over the years - When done correctly they are a fine way to repair or strengthen a threaded hole. I still prefer keenserts but sometimes they are a bit of an overkill! With a little bit of red Loctite on the Helicoil I hope they are in there for good. I also ran the tap down the other holes to clean out the threads, there was a fair bit of crud in there. Some was old loctite - some was just corrosion. Nice new SS bolts and Copaslip and we should be in good shape!

I also managed to get the two tappet blocks out of the cylinder. I heated the cylinder to 300F and they both came out without much resistance. Even the one that had been epoxied in! My assumptions as to why it was epoxied appear to be correct. The DPO didn't seem to understand new gaskets, 'O'-Rings or anything! "If oil comes out, goop it up with silicone or maybe epoxy!!!" Here's a picture of the two tappet blocks.



You can see that on the one on the left, from the rear of the cylinder, the 'O'-Ring has failed. It is completely flat and, I suspect, very hard. This was the one that presumably leaked causing the DPO to epoxy it! The other one looks like an 'O'-Ring should. Now the question is "why did the rear one fail?" The only explanation I can come up with is heat. Being at the rear of the cylinder it may not have seen the air flow that the front does. It seems a higher temperature spec 'O'-Ring may be in order. I already have replacements from one of the regular Triumph spares shops, probably Rabers, but I think I'll be going through the catalogues for a silicone 'O'-Ring that will take a higher temperature.

These are the little things that given that Triumph never really have a chance to fix and probably lead to the poor reputation of the TSS.

Cleaning and painting all three Discs today, and hopefully if the new sprocket arrives I can refit both wheels. Vapor Blasting tomorrow and then guides out. Onwards and upwards . . .

Ian

I stand corrected. The 'good-looking' 'O'-Ring was as hard as could be! It felt more like a wire retaining ring!

 

[Rocky]

Good stuff

 

[CarlS]

Good progress.

 

[grandpaul]

I was going to say "it goes without saying..." and then thought, no, IT DOESN'T!

You need to very carefully clean those guide block bores to shiny smooth condition without removing any material at all. They rely on the interference fit; and as you may have already experienced, good O-rings!

 

[GRIN]

I found that the STD TSS steel tappet blocks and pushrod tubes troublesome in the fact that the head and barrel are aluminuin,
so there are different expansion rates goin on,as I found out with my 1 st TSS way back in 1982,could not get the pushrod tubes to seal for any length of time.
So I fitted dural tappet blocks and dural pushrod tubes this solved the problem.

 

[grandpaul]

...could not get the pushrod tubes to seal for any length of time. So I fitted dural tappet blocks and dural pushrod tubes this solved the problem.

Great solution right there.

 

[ianashdown]

Hi,
I like the idea of Aluminium tappet blocks, is there someone selling them or did you have them made? Was there any kind of bushing for the tappets or did they just run in the block? Any finishes on them; I'm thinking hard anodize perhaps?

Thanks,

Ian

 

[GRIN]

The cam followers (tappets) run straight in the dural tappet block,Triumph T100 alloy pre-unit used similar set up.
Also the MAP Billet barrels used alloy blocks with the followers running in them,not to mention Tridents/R3.

 

[Sea Dog]

Now that sounds like the perfect way to do it. My steel ones remain oil tight 4000 miles after rebuild using viton O rings on the push rod tubes and tappet blocks and selecting push rod tube O rings to give a 0.035" crush.

The copper Cooper head gasket rings were a key to the success as they prevented the push rod tube O rings from being over compressed, which occurs with the standard folded steel Cooper Rings.

All the best with your project.

 

[ianashdown]

It seems that Aluminium Tappet blocks may not be available in the correct size so I think I'll have some made. Here is a picture of the CAD model.



I'll probably go for 2024 T6. You'll notice there are some extra holes in the top. These are to feed some additional oil to the Tappet bores - something I read about somewhere! If anyone else is interested in a pair, let me know.

Tonight, I got the Rear Wheel all cleaned-up, fitted the rear sprocket with new SS hardware into the new helicoiled threads. All went smoothly! I'm trying to keep the original finishes wherever possible so the bike will look like a nicely kept (hopefully) 30 year old bike rather than one that just rolled out of the factory. I also cleaned and serviced the Speedo drive unit. It's a shame there is not Grease nipple on these Drives as it makes it difficult to re-pack the grease, but with some care and patience it can be done.




Wheel bearings were also cleaned and re-packed. The Brake discs have been cleaned up in the bead blaster, masked up and repainted with high temperature black paint. The rear disk should be dry enough to fit tomorrow.

It feels good to be putting things back together - like a corner has been turned!

37 Days to go . . .

Ian

 

[CarlS]

You do great work.

 

[GRIN]

"Rear Wheel all cleaned-up, fitted the rear sprocket with new SS hardware into the new helicoiled threads."
If your rear Morris wheel is the one where the bolts screw into the hub,rather than the one where the sprocket/disc were secured by long bolts and nuts.
Then you may find the stainless bolts will shear,this happened to me several times,solution was to fit proper high tensile black
bolts.
Some Morris hubs also had other threaded holes in the hub you can sometimes use some off these as well as the normal 4
3/8 holes that line up with the std sprocket/disc,by drilling extra holes in the sprocket to line up with the other holes.
I think Meriden may have got some wheels from Morris that were for some other make and adapted them to fit.
Also some Front Morris wheels actually had a 5 bolt hole pattern instead of the normal 4.

 

[Sea Dog]

Thanks for the offer for Tappet Blocks Ian, do not require any at present.

 

[ianashdown]

Hi,

I'm sure the Morris wheels were made to made their standard and then each manufacturer made adaptors to fit their particular need. I have a couple of sets of NOS MM wheels that I bought from a Harley dealer. They had similar adaptors for the HD. I've stripped of the HD adaptors and plan to machine something similar to the TSS adaptor, although probably in aluminium, for a project bike.

The SS bolts I selected are high-strength, about the same as the Grade 5 bolts that were OEM spec. If I have any problems with these there are some 170ksi SS bolts available but that seems like overkill. I also selected the shoulder length so that I only have plain shank in shear.

I appreciate the 'heads-up' and will keep an eye on them now. The way I ride these days a 1/4 bolt would probably be enough!!

 

[ianashdown]

Goodies from Lani Visconti arrived today. Very nice parts, made quickly and for a very reasonable price!! I highly recomend Copper Gaskets Unlimited.





On advice from Bryce I probably won't use the Rocker Cover Gaskets, but while I was ordering I thought I'd get a set.

Ian

 

[CarlS]

Nice!