TRITON! ...at last...

[grandpaul]

After the sad passing of my vintage roadracing mentor and Britbike friend, Malcolm "BritBodger" Dixon, I was asked by his next-of-kin to assist in liquidating his estate; we did our best to sell a house full of nearly 50 years of Britbike riding, collecting and racing, at fire-sale prices. Several thousand dollars in proceeds were donated to the BMOA Houston, and AHRMA, Malcolm's two favorite associations.

Malcolm's nephew, Paul, insisted on letting me keep a few bins of spares that remained after the sale; among the cool stuff in the bins, that will go on the TriTon, were:

- matched pair of new Amal MkII carbs with K&N filters
- slightly rusty but not dented 2-into-1 header
- Tarrozzi rearset footpegs (one broken, one cracked, but easily welded up)
- very slightly used M.A.P. alloy big-bore cylinder with lightweight pistons (no rings, but easy enough to match)
- used dual lead ignition coil
- used Lockhart oil cooler setup
- various crankcase & rockerbox vent fittings
- set of slightly used lightweight valve spring collets
- set of slightly used clutch plates (M.A.P., I think)
- M.A.P. alloy clutch pressure plate
- various chunks of aluminum plate stock that I can use to fabricate brackets from

There was so much stuff I could have used, heaps of stuff I'd love to have, and some pretty fancy go-fast racing parts; but my goal was to get as much of it out to the membership as possible, so my gleanings were from the leftovers! I really looked long and hard at several partitioned drawers full of whitworth hardware that I could really use right about now; one guy got the whole lot for like $20.

So, I will formulate some sort of tribute to Malcolm on the bike when it's done. I hope to do him justice.

 

[grandpaul]

From 7/12-

Had a little help in the shop yesterday, so I decided to do a quick tear-down of the '66 bottom end that's going in the TriTon.
Head was already off-

Jugs took no more than a tap or two with a rubber mallet to pop free-

Pistons looked terrible, very badly scuffed-

Cylinders were not too bad at all, no scars or corrosion (although these will go on the shelf for some other project)-

 

[grandpaul]

Exhaust cam followers were kinda rough, not too bad (I have a better set on the shelf)-

Ditto with the intake set-

Looks like the rods are not too bad off, but they've been oil baked at least once and partially cleaned, or so it would appear. Anyway, I've got a better set of rods, too, so these will also go on the shelf-

Primary was actually quite clean. I have a much nicer alternator that's going in-

 

[grandpaul]

Clutch plates including pressure plate will be replaced with MAP batch-

The stack came out in two glazed-together lumps with one curious loose steel plate in between (typical stuck Triumph clutch from sitting)-

I have found the old style locktabs to work MUCH better when you insert the tab into the hole in the basket!

Just a bit heavy on the grease, but it was still gooey-

 

[grandpaul]

Clutch and alternator out of the way, alternator rotor drew off easily-

Primary chain adjuster plug hole looked to be seriously abused and will need to be welded up and re-threaded. That gives me a chance to do a slightly larger standard thread with easily sourced plug-

We ain't playin' with a full deck here... 4 allen head screws, one slot screw, and one missing. Also, one countersunk hole appears "squashed". This will all get properly sorted-

The debate rages on about whether the book is correct or not. Personally, I believe the pressure in the crankcase is MUCH greater than the primary, and I install the main seal lip to the inside accordingly. This one was backwards (or correct, if you go by the book)-

 

[grandpaul]

Hmmmmm.... I wonder where this came from, and how long was it floating around inside the primary case?

Drive sprocket was a tad fishooked, it'll be replaced-

Busted case bolt lug, it'll get welded-

I've never seen that much crud in the main oil gallery-

 

[grandpaul]

What a mess. Someone had mangled the small case half bolt that sits in a tight recess under the tranny, then I made a bigger mess trying to get it out/off. I got the head chopped off, but it's going to need a bit of welding (that's three chores for the welder so far). I'll have him finish it off FLUSH instead of going back to the recessed bolt head situation-

Crank pinion slipped off easily, what little tranny lube that remained was very nearly turned to grease-

Sludge in the cases was expected by now-

Cool leopard-like rust patterns on the crank-

 

[grandpaul]

Just a couple of shots of the crud inside the cases-

The easy way to remove the drive sprocket nut-

Mainshaft seal was totally brittle-

Right main and mainshaft bearings-

Still need to split off the left main from the crank, open the sludge trap and pull the tube, and pull off the cams, but that'll wait 'till next time I have a helper around.

 

[grandpaul]

A few pix of the aforementioned parts: Carbs, filters, rearsets, oil cooler, and forgot to mention steering damper. The used bits are decent, I'll spiff them up and paint or polish before installing.

 

[grandpaul]

From 7/20-

Got down to the crank last week and forgot to post pix of the rod bearings, fairly well worn-

Crank is okay, will polish right up-

This is a "lightweight" (narrowed flywheel) crank. I'm thinking I might prefer a "heavy" crank (full width) flywheel. I happen to have one that is in great shape and even balanced with new sludge tube & plug already installed.

Had to resort to some serious measures to get the trap plug out of the light crank. Beat and banged on the plug with the impact tool after drilling out the dimple, couldn't budge it. So, welded up a big washer, using the inner diameter of the washer on the plug face, then welded a big nut to the washer. It turned off like butter-

 

[grandpaul]

This is what was inside the light crank's sludge trap, good thing I opened it-

Cleaning up the 'heavy" balanced crank. It's the one I'm going to use for a more stable idle and flatter torque curve-

Nice clean standard journals-

New trap & plug in place with two small peenings & loctite-

 

[grandpaul]

Nice clean rods installed with new bearing shells-

Original '66 exhaust cam, E4560-1B casting, E4561 stamping with tach drive nib-

Intake is a standard 3134 casting with breather holes (no photo)

I'm replacing these cams with 71-2887 intake and 71-0042 exhaust, both are nitrided. Although the intake is a later style non-breather cam, it won't affect me because I'm going with modified positive one-way crankcase breathing.

 

[grandpaul]

A very inauspicious start to head diassembly, first valve spring removed and there's already a broken intake guide-

Not much better, the first exhaust valve is loose enough in the head I can slip it out with thumb pressure-

Head was most likely built by someone who knew what they were doing (it had the lightened alloy collets & keepers), also has brass exhaust spring shims-

Valves are pretty rough, this one is badly burned-

Rogue's hall of shame-

One oversize, one broken, the other two loose...

 

[grandpaul]

Got the case & tranny inner cover back from the welder and took them over to my friend's shop to clean up the mating surfaces.

Tranny inner cover where the recessed bolt head area was mangled-

Nice clean new flat surface with no recess (just need to run a drill through it to clean up the inside edges)-

To me, this recessed area is one of those illogical design quirks; it causes headaches trying to remove the bolt. My repair allows use of a washer and normal bolt that can be easily installed and removed.

 

[grandpaul]

Primary cover had two broken areas; although I'll be running a belt drive in a dry environment and don't need oil tightness, I figured I'd fix them now so I can always change back to OEM chain drive in the future without having to pull the engine back apart.

Cleaning up the face of the rear mount area-

Knocking down some of the exterior welding irregularities-

The last little bit of cutting on the mating face at the primary adjuster plug location-

All clean, with a heavier finish at the plug area so I can use a slightly oversize standard thread plug-

(Still need to drill the mount hole, drill & tap adjuster plug hole)

 

[grandpaul]

MAP big-bore alloy cylinders; very lightly used, just need a pass with a hone to clean up-

MAP pistons, appear to have been run a little, then coated (or else that coating is unbelievably durable without witness marks whatsoever)-

(still need to sort through a stack of rings and sort a matched set)

Very sparkly titanium valve spring collets-

MAP clutch pressure plate-

 

[grandpaul]

Up-to-date now. Head got dropped off at the machinist's today for bead blasting, need to order a set of 2nd oversize (+.002) guides, but my regular supplier, JRC, tells me that Rowe is closing down after nearly 50 years. So, they'll be Kibblewhites.

I'm thrashing pretty madly these days, and now have a permanent working space inside my air conditioned office AND the workbench section of my shop cooled with a small window unit A/C, so I can work through the afternoon in 100+ days a lot more comfortably than before.

For what it's worth, what I've got going on in the shop (besides my personal Triton project) is:

- Teardown & correction of overly stiff Norton N15 engine so I can complete the client restoration that has dragged on
- Norton Combat 750 Commando engine overhaul now heading into assembly phase
- Triumph Trident 750 engine overhaul, about to get all parts washed up and also start assembly phase
- Norton 750 project buiild that will be for sale, engine overhaul done, chassis powdercoated and rolling again, ready to start assembly as I have time between client builds.

Of course that's not to mention welcoming a new grandson into the world (our 1st, a 5th generation "Paul"), marrying off my oldest daughter (her 2nd time), helping my son move back from El Paso after leaving the Army to get his degree and enter Officer Training (Green to Gold program), getting my oldest son's ZRX running and returned to him after he was released from 4 years of lock-up for being a bad boy, doing hospitality and running bike games at our 4th of July rally, and going to adoption court Monday morning to start the official process on adopting our grand-nephew. Oh, yeah, I guess I also need to start thinking about getting the word out to recruit my volunteer staff for the October meet at the Texas Mile (Standing Start Mile land speed record meet).

All this time on my hands, maybe I'll get a part-time job to help fund my TriTon project...

 

[CarlS]

You have been busy!! Thanks for the photos. That sludge trap was a mess! I learned about those! LOL

Congrats to Kevin on the Green to Gold program. I wish him the best in his studies. Where is he going to school? I am glad to learn your oldest is a free man. I wish him the very best.

My regards and love to your family.

 

[DaveM]

Paul this is a great thread and I will be watching it as it takes shape

 

[grandpaul]

Congrats to Kevin on the Green to Gold program. I wish him the best in his studies. Where is he going to school?

Thanx!

Kevin is at Texas A&M International University. Leaning toweard engineering, but not fully committed as a Sophmore. I wish he'd played out his full scholarship BEFORE joining the Armey, but God always has a good plan, whether it aligns with ours is secondary.