Oldboyracing 1973 Triumph 750 Chopper.

[Greyfell]

Sounds like that belongs in the Daily Rant thread.

 

[Oldboy]

If that group is low on boring senseless dribble I would be happy to see it moved!

 

[triumph david]

I have used them alot in my business and am surprised to hear about this, they better watch out their competitor can will deal them some misery and walk away with alot of customers! I don't blame you abit for dropping them.

 

[Oldboy]

This is my first attempt at a new thread, so I hope it goes well!
View attachment 41459
Why would someone build a full race Bonneville 750 long rod engine and stuff it in a chopper frame? Someone should've asked Rob (that's me) from Oldboyracing that very same question. But what's done is done(or may be done someday).
Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time, so I just did it. Sounds like a catchy phrase, but for me it has developed into a life plan.
View attachment 41457
The engine started out as a 1973 Triumph Bonneville 750 five speed, which was still attached to its original frame (gasp)! It was low miles, and ran good. But that wasn't good enough for the Oldboy. A master of disaster, Oldboy tore the 750 apart and scattered the pieces about his Bloomington Illinois based shop, known as the Auto Clinic. "I then bought an alloy 750 cylinder from a guy in the Hemming's motor news catalog (eBay for old people). He told me it was for a 750 Triumph, and you shouldn't question the validity of any statement made over the phone from several hundred miles away. When it arrived I promptly installed it on the engine, only to find out the pistons at TDC were about 1/2" too far down into the barrels. That probably calculated out to roughly 5:1 compression, not too impressive sounding on a build sheet. I conspired with Dion Warner from Oreana Illinois to purchase a set of NOS JRC rods. Not sensible enough to quit while I was ahead, I then called in a favor from another friend, John Caplinger from nearby Towanda Illinois. I purchased an old drag bike engine core which I also dismantled and mixed all the parts together. For pistons I contacted Big D Cycle from the great Country of Texas. The core engine donated a set of Harman Collins cams, which the guys at British Only informed me the numbers on them were not in the Harmon Collins catalog. Added then was a Boyer Bransden ignition fired by an Accel Super Stock H/D coil. From the ashes I then constructed this engine which I cleverly named "750 Bonneville".
View attachment 41465
Since then I have ran into a couple speed bumps. The cylinder (a Dunstall 750) seized in storage and broke both liners. I have a Routt 800 kit for the 650 that I am installing on it until I find a set of liners large enough to run the Arias forged 800cc pistons, at which point I will probably sell the Routt cylinder with a set of Routt 800cc pistons I am planning to purchase.
View attachment 41458
The carbs are a matched set of 38mm Lectrons from the Woodstock (Illinois) swap meet that were cleaned up and modified by Oldboy so that the fuel lines were both to the center of the engine, and mounted on Mikuni manifolds. I used 1-1/2" automotive fuel neck hose wrapped in decorative aluminum sheet removed from plumbing no-hubs. To mount the air cleaners required 3" radiator hose from a Cummins Diesel, courtesy of the local Cummins repair center, and more no hub covers.
"I used the filler neck hose because of an incident with a set of Mikuni carbs on the stock engine a couple years earlier. One of the rubber manifolds, although NOS, broke unexpectedly and I attempted to hold up the right carb while operating the throttle with my left hand. Not the best idea I ever had, as you can only imagine. I flipped the bike in a construction zone, but thanks to the circus blood in my family (my grandfather, Henry Robbins, was a catcher with the Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey circus. My grandmother, Rose Whitsell Robbins, rode bareback horses and elephants with the same circus), I stopped, dropped and rolled, ending up in a handstand facing traffic. Luckily the full size Buick wagon, of which I only saw the oil pan barreling at me, was piloted by another good friend, Joe Houchins (hope I got that right, it's been a lot of years Joe). He stopped and offered assistance, and we uprighted the bike with almost no discernible damage. Oldboy wasn't as lucky, as I received numerous bruises and road rash on my arms and knees. This was the day before my 34th birthday, so the pain reliever from the pre birthday party was still able to help with dulling my senses (and the rest of my brain as well)."
Now back to the build.
View attachment 41466
This is the primary side. The cool red plate, also from the donor drag bike motor, which I thought was made by MCM houses a sealed bearing in place of the output shaft seal, and supplies outboard shaft support. Not in the photos is a Tony Hayward alloy belt drive overstuffed with a Barnett alloy driver and driven clutch pack. Power is transfered by a 32mm wide, 10mm pitch drive belt. I will be running an open belt primary with a custom cut chrome cover I purchased on eBay. Also being installed on the new improved version is a Wassell 16 amp alternator kit. I am planning to use titanium alternator studs and rotor retaining nut, as well as titanium clutch studs, cylinder studs, and oil pump studs to hold down the Morgo oil pump.
View attachment 41467
Polished cases provide the glare to blind oncoming traffic. Those looking closely will notice that the case studs look odd. I drilled the holes to 13/64" and installed 3/8" case studs handmade from grade 8 threaded rod. Also in the photo are the JRC rods mentioned earlier
View attachment 41460
View attachment 41461
I built the frame from an unknown custom B*A chopper front section onto which I welded a Honda 450 hard tail so I could stretch the frame about 8 inches. I then created the unique rear fender by plasma cutting the edges off two trailer fenders and welding them to another fender, then cutting and welding sheet metal to the sides to strengthen it since it doesn't use a fender strut.
View attachment 41463
This is the finished (yeah right) frame. I will be taking it out further for the 21" over springer fork below
View attachment 41464
I am missing the top plate and rockers, but I have found a 2"-3" over fork for parts and am in the process of arranging the shipping from Washington state. Thanks to James Ialleggio for working with me on this purchase. This saves me fabricating the missing parts, which moves my estimated finish date to somewhere in mid 2060. Don't laugh too hard, my grandmother from the earlier part of this post died in 2016 at the age of 99! On the other hand, my grandfather died in 1959, a year before I was born. Toss of a coin.
If you made it this far and are still alive, I will end this post. But rest assured I will make a hearty attempt to bore the life out of you again by posting what I like to call a progress report, which to normal people means more pictures and inane babbling about my next batch of ideas on how to never complete a project bike.Thanks for listening.
Cheers from Illinois, the frozen bung hole of America! thanks
Oldboy

Hello again, this is Oldboy coming to you from the frozen bunghole of America, Central Illinois. I'm here to share what I can only call an unprogress report.
First, an update on the unprogress with the fork. Since the parts fork was shorter, it was also narrower so the top plate was too small. I used it as a pattern to make a correctly shaped top plate.
Since the fork is also shorter, the rocker geometry is different so the rockers sat wrong on the longer fork. I used them to calculate the correct shape and geometry for the longer fork.
I had a couple ideas on changes to the engine, so I jumped full steam into the frying pan of life. Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead. Which for me means about half speed and sometimes sideways. You get the picture.
First, the good news. In an attempt to make the bike lighter (for when I have to upright it again at stoplights), I have installed several aluminium components including an alloy 32mm belt drive complete with alloy clutch driver and driven plates. The only steel components used were the crank pulley and one plate, a steel stuffer plate. Last week stumbled (literally) over an alloy stuffer plate on eBay. So naturally I had to buy it. That meant I had to open up my completed clutch assembly. In doing so one of my spring adjuster nuts went south on me, and I had to finish removal with a pair of Vise Grips. The got me to thinking (The mind is a terrible thing) about redesigning the wheel, or in this case the nuts that hold the wheel. I looked online and the only clutch spring nuts I found besides stock were a set with Allen screw type holes in the center. At first I was going to work a set of these into my budget. Then I thought "Why do that"?Then I thought about taking my old brass nuts and stamping the center with an Allen socket in my press. Then I realised that I still didn't have the special hollow Allen socket to adjust the little buggers.
This is leading me down the the path to the Dark Side of the Force. I am redesigning the nut so I can use normal tools to adjust them. Of course I will have to buy normal tools, but that's another thread. I will post more on them later, and if they work I will apply for a patent and talk to Vintage Titanium Spares, a company I found that makes titanium components for old Triumphs about making a run of them to sell.
I am also going to upgrade the old clutch rod to a tool steel 3 piece rod with a ball bearing and 2 unequal length shafts. This is supposed to help make the clutch easier to release, and will definitely break my budget for the month. I will also be pulling the clutch hub to install titanium spring bolts, which will take care of another months budget. Maybe someday I will assemble one part of this bike and leave it alone, but then I might finish it and we can't have that.
The other full speed reverse neutral drop was my cylinder head. It has already been modified with oversize intake valves, alloy intake manifolds, a full 3 angle valve job and some minor porting. Of course I had to find something else to do to bring progress to a screeching halt.
That something manifested itself as a set of alloy valve collars and retainers. I bought a set of what I believe to be Webco or Sifton upper and lower valve collars. Of course the set was missing keepers, but that didn't stop the OldboyRacing team. I thought I would be able to use stock retainers, so I ordered a new set from The Bonneville Shop. When they arrived I discovered that, unlike the B*A 441 collars I had once, did not use a stock taper. I also ran into a problem with the lower collars. They appear to require machine work on the head to fit. I will include photos to illustrate as soon as someone reminds me how to. I didn't have any trouble before but now it seems like I have had a memory dump. If anyone here recognizes or has experience with installing the Sifton lower collars I would be Grateful (but not Dead) to hear from you.
Back to the upper collars. Last week I ordered a set of collars and keepers from another source that are beefier than the first set. Not sure who made them, but I now have another setback. These retainers fit the collars right but have an extra lock ridge on them, like B*A A10 valves. If the keepers fit the valves otherwise, I may file the extra material off and refit them. I probably cannot return them, so I may as well try to use them if I can.
Enough for now, I will be leaving shortly to ride shotgun (literally) with a friend to Detroit to pick up some fenders for one of his Mopar project cars. Thanks for enduring.

This is my first attempt at a new thread, so I hope it goes well!
View attachment 41459
Why would someone build a full race Bonneville 750 long rod engine and stuff it in a chopper frame? Someone should've asked Rob (that's me)from Oldboyracing that very same question. But what's done is done(or may be done someday).
Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time, so I just did it. Sounds like a catchy phrase, but to me it has developed into a life plan.
View attachment 41457
The engine started out as a 1973 Triumph Bonneville 750 five speed, which was still attached to its original frame (gasp)! It was low miles, and ran good. But that wasn't good enough for the Oldboy. A master of disaster, Oldboy tore the 750 apart and scattered the pieces about his Bloomington Illinois based shop, known as the Auto Clinic. "I then bought an alloy 750 cylinder from a guy in the Hemming's motor news catalog (eBay for old people). He told me it was for a 750 Triumph, and you shouldn't question the validity of any statement made over the phone from several hundred miles away. When it arrived I promptly installed it on the engine, only to find out the pistons at TDC were about 1/2" too far down into the barrels. That probably calculated out to roughly 5:1 compression, not too impressive sounding on a build sheet. I conspired with Dion Warner from Oreana Illinois to purchase a set of NOS JRC rods. Not sensible enough to quit while I was ahead, I then called in a favor from another friend, John Caplinger from nearby Towanda Illinois. I purchased an old drag bike engine core which I also dismantled and mixed all the parts together. For pistons I contacted Big D Cycle from the great Country of Texas. The core engine donated a set of Harman Collins cams, which the guys at British Only informed me the numbers on them were not in the Harmon Collins catalog. Added then was a Boyer Bransden ignition fired by an Accel Super Stock H/D coil. From the ashes I then constructed this engine which I cleverly named "750 Bonneville".
View attachment 41465
Since then I have ran into a couple speed bumps. The cylinder (a Dunstall 750) seized in storage and broke both liners. I have a Routt 800 kit for the 650 that I am installing on it until I find a set of liners large enough to run the Arias forged 800cc pistons, at which point I will probably sell the Routt cylinder with a set of Routt 800cc pistons I am planning to purchase.
View attachment 41458
The carbs are a matched set of 38mm Lectrons from the Woodstock (Illinois) swap meet that were cleaned up and modified by Oldboy so that the fuel lines were both to the center of the engine, and mounted on Mikuni manifolds. I used 1-1/2" automotive fuel neck hose wrapped in decorative aluminum sheet removed from plumbing no-hubs. To mount the air cleaners required 3" radiator hose from a Cummins Diesel, courtesy of the local Cummins repair center, and more no hub covers.
"I used the filler neck hose because of an incident with a set of Mikuni carbs on the stock engine a couple years earlier. One of the rubber manifolds, although NOS, broke unexpectedly and I attempted to hold up the right carb while operating the throttle with my left hand. Not the best idea I ever had, as you can only imagine. I flipped the bike in a construction zone, but thanks to the circus blood in my family (my grandfather, Henry Robbins, was a catcher with the Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey circus. My grandmother, Rose Whitsell Robbins, rode bareback horses and elephants with the same circus), I stopped, dropped and rolled, ending up in a handstand facing traffic. Luckily the full size Buick wagon, of which I only saw the oil pan barreling at me, was piloted by another good friend, Joe Houchins (hope I got that right, it's been a lot of years Joe). He stopped and offered assistance, and we uprighted the bike with almost no discernible damage. Oldboy wasn't as lucky, as I received numerous bruises and road rash on my arms and knees. This was the day before my 34th birthday, so the pain reliever from the pre birthday party was still able to help with dulling my senses (and the rest of my brain as well)."
Now back to the build.
View attachment 41466
This is the primary side. The cool red plate, also from the donor drag bike motor, which I thought was made by MCM houses a sealed bearing in place of the output shaft seal, and supplies outboard shaft support. Not in the photos is a Tony Hayward alloy belt drive overstuffed with a Barnett alloy driver and driven clutch pack. Power is transfered by a 32mm wide, 10mm pitch drive belt. I will be running an open belt primary with a custom cut chrome cover I purchased on eBay. Also being installed on the new improved version is a Wassell 16 amp alternator kit. I am planning to use titanium alternator studs and rotor retaining nut, as well as titanium clutch studs, cylinder studs, and oil pump studs to hold down the Morgo oil pump.
View attachment 41467
Polished cases provide the glare to blind oncoming traffic. Those looking closely will notice that the case studs look odd. I drilled the holes to 13/64" and installed 3/8" case studs handmade from grade 8 threaded rod. Also in the photo are the JRC rods mentioned earlier
View attachment 41460
View attachment 41461
I built the frame from an unknown custom B*A chopper front section onto which I welded a Honda 450 hard tail so I could stretch the frame about 8 inches. I then created the unique rear fender by plasma cutting the edges off two trailer fenders and welding them to another fender, then cutting and welding sheet metal to the sides to strengthen it since it doesn't use a fender strut.
View attachment 41463
This is the finished (yeah right) frame. I will be taking it out further for the 21" over springer fork below
View attachment 41464
I am missing the top plate and rockers, but I have found a 2"-3" over fork for parts and am in the process of arranging the shipping from Washington state. Thanks to James Ialleggio for working with me on this purchase. This saves me fabricating the missing parts, which moves my estimated finish date to somewhere in mid 2060. Don't laugh too hard, my grandmother from the earlier part of this post died in 2016 at the age of 99! On the other hand, my grandfather died in 1959, a year before I was born. Toss of a coin.
If you made it this far and are still alive, I will end this post. But rest assured I will make a hearty attempt to bore the life out of you again by posting what I like to call a progress report, which to normal people means more pictures and inane babbling about my next batch of ideas on how to never complete a project bike.Thanks for listening.
Cheers from Illinois, the frozen bung hole of America! thanks
Oldboy

 

[Rocky]

Interesting series of events

 

[Oldboy]

What would be interesting is if something got finished.

 

[Rocky]

 

[triumph david]

Don't stop now sounds like you are on a roll.

 

[Oldboy]

As promised, some photos to update my lack of progress. This is a photo of the alloy stuffer plate.

This photo shows the Alloy Tech pressure plate without any springs or adjuster bolts.

This photo shows my cutout timing cover installed in a feeble attempt to make it appear that the clutch is complete again.

These photos show the differences in the valve collars. The seller on eBay offered to refund my purchase price including shipping, but I don't have enough sense to do that. My motto is "If it don't fit, make it. If you can't make it fit, a large hammer may help".

The retainer on the left is being a stick in the mud.

This is the fit on the valve.Not good.

These are the lower collars. Flat one is stock, the other 2 are different styles of Sifton collars

Don't ask me how I do it. I have a gift.
Stay tuned for another episode of
If It's Not Broke, Fix It.

 

[Oldboy]

Don't stop now sounds like you are on a roll.

It was a Danish, and I fell off it twice already.

 

[triumph david]

It was a Danish, and I fell off it twice already.

A Danish M/C? Are you sure, it must have been cinnamon powered.

 

[Oldboy]

A Danish M/C? Are you sure, it must have been cinnamon powered.

Well they told me it was a motorcycle.

 

[triumph david]

Didn't you say something about choppers? I just heard a rummer about a old fart (like me) having a used Tri. chopper with a D&D chrome springer front end for sale. Supposed to live outside of town some where, i going to try to look him up this weekend, now see what you have started!!!!!!!

 

[Oldboy]

Didn't you say something about choppers? I just heard a rummer about a old fart (like me) having a used Tri. chopper with a D&D chrome springer front end for sale. Supposed to live outside of town some where, i going to try to look him up this weekend, now see what you have started!!!!!!!

If you want me to say I'm sorry you are out of luck man. But I will give you 5 thumbs on the thought, and 5 more if you get it!!!!!

 

[triumph david]

Well it hasn't worked out very well yet this weekend but it ant over yet

 

[Oldboy]

As promised, some photos to update my lack of progress. This is a photo of the alloy stuffer plate.View attachment 43564
This photo shows the Alloy Tech pressure plate without any springs or adjuster bolts.
View attachment 43565
This photo shows my cutout timing cover installed in a feeble attempt to make it appear that the clutch is complete again.
View attachment 43566

These photos show the differences in the valve collars. The seller on eBay offered to refund my purchase price including shipping, but I don't have enough sense to do that. My motto is "If it don't fit, make it. If you can't make it fit, a large hammer may help".
View attachment 43568
The retainer on the left is being a stick in the mud.
View attachment 43569
This is the fit on the valve.Not good.
View attachment 43570
These are the lower collars. Flat one is stock, the other 2 are different styles of Sifton collars
View attachment 43571
Don't ask me how I do it. I have a gift.
Stay tuned for another episode of
If It's Not Broke, Fix It.

I figured out the upper valve collars. I believe them to be for a B*A A10. I am going to check them again tomorrow and determine if I can file the inside of the retainers flat. If not I will take the eBay seller up on his generous offer to accept a return on them and the set of lower collars as well. I still have 1 set of lowers already. I bought 3 from him, and had one that matched to make a set. I am going to give it to him as well for accepting the return.
I cleaned up the pile of P&P girder parts I purchased from eBay and using a set of legs I already had I assembled the fork. The chrome doesn't look bad for being almost as old as I am. I need to locate a shock since the one that came with it is a clump of rust I do not believe I can clean up. It looks like an average M/C shock, about 11-1/4 inches long with 3/8" or 10mm eyelets on both ends, chrome spring and body.
Amazingly enough I made some progress tonite. I will post a shot of the (mostly) assembled fork in the morning as proof of this allegation. I am still on course to meet my completion date of 2060.

 

[Oldboy]

As promised, here is a photo of the fork.

The cat shaped blur beside the fork is Abbi, a female Abyssinian that was abandoned at the mobile home park where I reside. As you all know, I try to take care of all the homeless cats in my neighborhood. Every cat is special to me.
When I find a shock for it, I will be back where I was before I sold the fork I had on the bike originally.
Except for the fact that this fork does not have the extra tall bottom plate that was on my first fork. The extra metal provided a set of mounting holes for my front fender, which is a modified steel Dunstall fender that was originally for a hydraulic fork. I guess I will be working on a way to mount the fender, hopefully without welding so I do not have to rechrome the legs.

 

[keystiger]

NIce work -- and good on ya for the cats--
the Misses and I run an unofficial shelter---for all things "critter" .....well .... its a FOOL BLOWN MENAGERIE at this point --
exotic birds-- cats-- dogs--- goats --pigs-- geese--doves-- chickens -- ducks-- turkeys-- bunnies---and assorted humans--- all outcasts-- injured-- abandoned -- homeless, some "special needs" etc. call this acre of Florida sand home

We give them a life and a home and it is amazing how they all "fit in" and actually work together -- unlike many humans of different "versions" --

this morning alone my wife found a miniature Frizzle chicken sitting on a nest of eggs -- with duck--turkey--chicken AND one huge GOOSE egg -- was all she could do to keep all the eggs under her body and both outstretched wings!!!

cats-- we have 4 -- they mull around the property -- they kill mice -- rats -- but know NOT to touch baby chicks or any other members of the "collective"

Dogs from 5 lbs to 123lb (9 dogs in total) all the dogs live IN THE HOUSE no "yard dogs"

never a dull moment around here --

 

[Oldboy]

Cool, I would move every cat in the neighborhood inside, but we live in a mobile home and they don't get along that well. I do try to find them places to get out of the cold, and get them food and water.

 

[Oldboy]

The upper valve collars will not work, a closer look revealed that the inner diameter of the retainers is larger than the valve stem. I will be returning them with the info on them I have found in hopes that the next owner will be able to use them.