Search results

The best of both worlds in those days often resulted in tuned Triumph 650 and 750 twins being shoehorned into a Norton Featherbed frame with Triumph twin leading shoe front brakes. I was once the proud possessor of such a machine built by John Tickle. Unfortunately the frequent servicing...

The rumour at the time was that the oil in frame T140 cracked enough to leak if tuned for higher revs, without expensive dynamic balancing, so back to Mr Shelby. Horse power sells cars (bikes) torque wins races.

I have run single and double carbs on British and Japanese twins and have found that keeping slide carbs exactly synchronised was slightly less trouble than balancing CV carbs acceptably. The behaviour of air and mixture is different and generally dealt with by manufacturers well, incidentally...

Eventually, should have checked earlier. I forgot "Always check the basics 1st." Weirdest similar thing. I had the tank repainted on a Norton once and it wouldnt sustain high revs but would cruise all day. After fitting clear fuel pipe I watched a blasting bead slowly be drawn into the carb...

Hi everybody, just to close out this thread on the bike of doom. The bike ran sweetly for a while and then not every time and I cleaned and set the carb put new plug in contact cleaned all the ignition plugs and connections so that on several occasions I declared it fixed. It wasn't, but on a...

I have had a little success on this point, as can be seen from the image pistons supplied for enlarged bores have the squish band on the outside edge of the crown and the actual depth is governed either by using thicker head gaskets or by skimming the head to achieve the ideal depth. The vendor...

Having got the head and valves fairly clean it was time to check the fit again, without a micrometer all you can go by is feel because standard calipers, even the digital powered kind, do not give an accurate enough reading. Valve have a less than ideal direction of travel with a certain amount...

Can i come back to the start of this thread for a minute. Having just bought a 750 kit I'm nearly ready to assemble I called the guy at Smedspeed, he sold me the kit, who was packing for a race weekend and I just got out the word squish when he said maybe 30 thou 40 if I was lucky. Surprisingly...

Some of you who have read my posts may have noticed I don't like paying other people to do stuff on my vehicles and I try to do as much as I can myself. A wise man once told me there is no such thing as a jobstopper, you may be victim to a lack of tools a lack of talent or a lack of resources or...

So I did some cleaning and lapped the valves until I had visible seats. You might be surprised that the exhaust valves looked like they had not closed all the way for some time but not me.What did actually surprise me were the substitute exhaust gaskets I found pictured below. Yes the po...

Black Head on another swings and roundabouts day. For those not familiar with old fashioned tools here is a story. This one is called a valve spring compressor and I haven't used it for a while, it works by setting the threaded bolt against the valve head while capturing the valve stem end...

OK so good boy day yesterday, on the advice of the supplier I have cleaned the surfaces of the big barrels. Whether you are installing new or rebored you should clean them, I do it like this. I suggest whatever material your sink is line it with something that wont scratch, sinks are easiest...

From a guy who trades as Smedspeed in the UK, he does an exchange modified plate or a machined from billet item. I know he ships stateside because he told me that is why he developed the billet item because it cost a fortune to ship into the UK so it was cheaper in the states just to buy the...

Life is funny sometimes, the motor that I removed from the black bike wasnt bolted in and when I opened it up showed ferrous swarf under the exhaust valve and, curiously rusted swarf of the same pattern on the outside of the motor. There was more uncorroded swarf in the exhaust side of the right...

My package arrived today so more pictures Milled from billet and looking very sexy, so is the sump plate.. If you think its dirty it was a lot filthier when I started.

I have almost the same plan as you, soon as the summer is over I will be looking for a puppy who will be bike portable next year, planning on getting some done while the sun shines this year. I am not a Chihuahua kind of guy so I think a Rough Jack Russel bitch will be first choice but like...

Yes, yes it does a bit, Frasier lifted the motor, stand, and me without budging the rod. Talked to the guy at Smedspeed today who is sending me a 750 kit ready to bolt on, after thorough cleaning, for an existing bottom end with 553 rods. He also offered to rephase the stuck crank motor for the...

I promised images, here is one. Does that conrod look a bit stuck to you?

Thanks 5twins that helps, head and cover look to be unbroken and already matched on this motor but I have lots that have been moved and I can now pair them up.

So, put the crane known as "Frasier" together and began assembly of the engine stand for which I have a name I cannot publish here. Well somebody did'n:t do their production engineering or quality control very well because when they welded the captive nut on the bottom beam pinch bolt they did...