February 2025

1975 Triumph T160 Trident 1000

The second bike on the transporter was this T160 with engine unit totally removed more than a decade ago, for reasons that are yet to be revealed. I am rather averse to assembling anything that I did not take apart, as that is part of the discovery process, so we will just hope that everything has survived in workable shape.

The fact that the bike has been stored for 15 odd years does not bode well for things like hydraulic brakes, so it is likely that there will be a bit of remedial work involved in restoring some healthy brake cylinders.

Apparently everything is contained within these two hefty storage devices, and from the weight of them I am pretty sure that at least all the major assemblies are there. I shall firstly need to uncover crankshaft, barrels, pistons and rods and the cylinder head and valves, so we can find out what ails the machine to the tune that a total strip was deemed necessary.

To add to the mix, this is a full Hyde 1000cc conversion, with a stroked crank rather than just my 830cc version relying on bigger bores containing pistons for which we might now neeed a set of new rings.

As matters in the shed are pretty diverse at this time I guess I am rather fortunate that at least one more bike is just a rolling frame, as these are far less space consuming than one with all its bits.

I am pretty happy to have such tasty machines visit of course, although I feared that I would not have enough room to work on them unless I moved a couple outside while work took place. Happily I was wrong, and can still operate indoors. albeit in a rather careful fashion.

Well - the contents of the bins is like aladdins cave, with everything carefully wrapped and super clean, so many of my concerns have evaporated. Brilliant work by the owner.!

I found the crankshaft lurking in the bottom of the heaviest bin, and other than a few scratches on the journals it looks to be fairly intact. Hard to tell how much the big ends have been offset, but it all looks very nicely machined and may have even lost a little weight.

I doubt that there would be any reason why the journal sizes would differ from stock, so there should not be any trouble sourcing new bearings for it, but we will have to ascertain whether or not the crank needs grinding to undersize or will respond to just a thorough polish.

The barrels look to be in very good condition also, perhaps a bit of a glaze in the bore needing a hone, but what we can find in the way of rings that will nullify the triples potential for an unhealthy oil appetite remains to be seen - or found.

The cam followers have seen some miles, but are good enough for another tour of duty with a good clean up. Camshafts are yet to be sighted but will hopefully be in similar condition.

And then the head.

I virtually never find a head with valves and guides this good. Usually they are obviously worn to their limit, and guilty of causing most of the problems that the bike has come in to have repaired.

The inlet guides are non-original and designed to have seals fitted, although there are none present. I prefer to use standard type guides like the exhaust valves feature here, as they at least allow enough oil down the stems to avoid rapid wear. I guess the bike is hardly likely to see the sort of mileage in future that would warrant changing them if they don't need it, but it would be prudent to find some seals rather than leave it to chance.

Pretty big holes down them inlet tracts, and I believe there are Mikuni carbs attached to them, so it should be quite a serious performer when going as it should.

While I have yet to sight pistons, rods and camshafts, I have not found any reason why this engine needed to be torn down as of yet. That bodes well for a fairly hassle-free rebuild as long as we can source whatever parts are Hyde specific.

After a fair bit of unwrapping I found the next important parts of the puzzle. I also found a reason for at least a top end strip, although I am not sure that the problem would have been apparent until it was in pieces.

Checking the newly uncovered camshafts I found one rather badly chewed lobe on the exhaust cam, and then found the offending cam follower which echoed the problem.

While cam followers are available locally, camshafts are pretty scarce worldwide, especially T160. As it happens, I have a pair of new old stock T160 camshafts that Les Williams supplied when I built my Hyde 830 back in 1991. My original cams were in such good condition that I left them in place, so these were just valuable spares.

I guess it means we are covered, but my first course of action will be to see if Kelfords are able to build the lobe up and re-profile it. I shall follow that up tomorrow after dropping the crank and barrels off for Glen to give his advice on our best course of action.

The pistons also came to light, and look to be in good enough shape at a glance. They are also a very firm fit in the bores, so as I had hoped, a hone and a new set of rings could be a lasting fix. Sourcing the rings will now be the tricky bit, as T120 Bonnevilles were a lot easier on oil rings, but Glen may have some input on the matter.

Those pistons are 71mm and I likely have the very same in my bike, which is probably well on the way to also needing a set of rings after 25000 miles of my fun, so we shall see what some of the owners forums have to say on the subject.

Finally, at the bottom of the bin, I found the conrods.!

Well well. From the profile I am picking that these steel rods are carillos, so we need lose no sleep over their life expectancy. They also contained some fairly good bearing shells, so I now know the journals are -10 on the bigends. The mains I cannot tell as they have markings that do not show up in any search results. No doubt Glen's micrometer will provide the answers we need in quick time.

I will also need to research the torque figures for the big end caps, as from memory they use at least double the tension of the original alloy rods. Thats two wins and one lose today.

I think thats a major win overall. I have even ordered a new cam follower and some main bearings - get 'em while they're hot.!

Well - the game can turn around quickly.

There was a bad score in the centre bore, which was explained by the failure of the piston. On both sides above the gudgeon pin the alloy had broken away beneath the oil ring, and no doubt the resulting debris was responsible for various scratch marks on the bearings and journals. A little bit of grit goes a long way.

We now have two puzzles to solve. Will the bore clean up within the max oversize pistons we can acquire, and what pistons may they be. While Norman Hyde do stock oversize pistons for the 1000cc engine, I am reeling at the 600 pounds asking price for what are basically T120/TR6 pistons available locally for $270 a pair. Problem is - will their oil rings satisfy a Triple.

They would also need their skirts machined to match the current items as I figure that is a necessary crankshaft clearance requisite.

On another front, the oil feed to the crankcase is still the early 5/16" pipe, rather than the later 3/8" version, and when you are this far into the engine it would be foolish not to uprate it. We do have some signs of premature wear after all, so more lube is a sensible move.

But there is a win. On Glen's advice I dropped into a camshaft shop nearby his workshop, and am very pleased that they are indeed able to rebuild the one damaged lobe within a few weeks. I was also impressed with the two chaps who run the place, as they were both pleasant to deal with and knew their stuff.

So many of these skilled people have thrown in the towel of recent years that it is a rare thing to find some more experienced people still supplying these services. Long may it last.

As I was preparing another oil feed uprate I did them both together, removing the pipe and drilling the oil passages out to 5/16" which is the inside diameter of the new 3/8" pipe. This involves drilling in two directions - one where the new pipe will fit and the other into the back of the oil pump cavity. This one is on the right, all ready to go.

The hole at about 4 o clock is the one that leads to the oil tank, and yet the two larger holes are those whose job it is to handle the outputs from both sides of the pump - one to feed the engine and the other to return all the used oil back to the tank. You would have thought that they might have spotted the crease in the plans a bit earlier in production, that enough oil has to come through that smaller hole to be delivered to the vital parts of the engine through a larger one, no.?

While it is not earth shattering, it is easy to spot the obvious increase of diameter in the second pic. Once you have been here you would never leave this setup as-is if the engine was being stripped this far. I have another T160 in the shed whose engine is not being stripped, and yet I am tempted to do so just for the benefit this mod provides.

It goes without saying that the corresponding hole in the oil pump backplate will get the same treatment.

With all the major bits away for attention it has been time to find all the small bits that are equally important in the grand scheme of things. Like handlebar controls.

The brake master cylinder is hopefully ready to move fluid when commissioned, and the other parts are finding their best locations. I am not sure if the left side handgrip is partially off or if the clutch lever needs to move outboard a little, but as it seems a mirror image of how the right side is set up it may have been deliberate placement to get the levers positioned to best suit the rider so I shall leave it like that.

Finally - something has returned from one of the outsources over whose timetable we have no control. I hope this marks the end of the drought.

The exhaust camshaft is back and they were pleased with the overall result. Apparently the cams were originally nitrided which makes the building up process more difficult, but these guys are used to such obstacles so they were only informing me of info I am not familiar with.

At less than half the cost of a replacement camshaft and with zero freight this was a real bonus as far as overall costs go. Soon to be united with its new follower.

Many moons passed while Glen was suffering staff shortages, so I set about finding as many anticipated parts as I could to fill the time. There had been some odd main bearing shells in place which certainly needed replacement, but these were unlike any I had previously encountered. I had wondered if the size of the journals had been uprated during the Hyde conversion, although the big ends were of standard dimensions and already .010 undersize. Glen finally identified the main shells as being from a crossflow Ford, and they had been fitted due to the crankcases having been line bored. I would see that as being a very wise move due to the average quality control of the time, and the added need for accuracy with becoming a 1000cc powerplant and the expected extra loading this would produce.

Glen thinks he is able to obtain new shells for the mains and I have some NOS copper/lead big ends, so we are back in the game. The first major piece to come home was the drive side outer crankcase, complete with its uprated oil feed pipe, so both outers got cleaned up, threads cleaned and new outer main bearings installed.

I am over the moon to be assembling this engine at last.

Next will be the centre case, crank and rods, which after cleaning can be bolted together and the reassembly of the complete bottom end begins.

The new pistons have arrived in the form of two sets of two, as they are T120 type and sold in pairs. These are for 71mm bore and are thus probably the same as my Hyde which is 830cc using the standard stroke.

These pistons will need their skirts machined to create enough clearance to clear the crankshaft webs when at BDC.

I was suspicious of the failure of the original Hyde piston in this engine, as it seemed very thin below the oil ring where it collapsed. It appeared to have been machined to accept the 3 piece oil rings that were in use.

These pistons look definitely beefier below the oil ring groove and I am confident that the cast oil rings they supply actually do their job well thanks to the expander which fits inside them.

And today - it all came home.

Whoopee.!

Time to start moving this thing along.

Glen made a nice job of imitating the skirt profile needed to give clearance to the crankshaft web. We also have 1 spare which will hopefully never be needed, but would save huge effort if ever it was.

Pleasing to note that even the skirt thickness is beefier on the Hepolite items, and there is approx twice the distance between the oil ring groove and the gudgeon pin recess. I would have to suspect that the original pistons were always going to fail in the way one did, it was only a matter of when.

Having to now troll through all the boxes and bags full of parts the engine arrived in, finding certain small bits is going to dictate which things get assembled first, such as the head.

Apart from the centre exhaust manifold, here it is complete along with its new red inlet stem seals. Glen does a brilliant job of valve and seat prep and they are a joy to put together.

Because the inlets are 35mm for some matching Mikunis there are no gaskets with which to replace those in place between inlet stubs and head, but I shall inspect them for integrity and possibly add a smear of silicone if necessary.

Next step is to trial fit crank and block to ensure that it is possible to assemble the engine in my preferred fashion due to the liners being of greater dimension. Especially considering the degree of extra effort needed to compress the current style of oil rings, this method makes everything very controllable and as stress-free as it could possibly be, which is a necessary consideration for those who work alone as I do.

It allows the pistons to all be fitted from the top of the bores, meaning ring compressors can be used easily. As the extra conrod travel of the stroked crank requires cutouts in the bottom of the liners it would be very difficult to try dropping the barrels over the pistons, and far more likely to result in fracturing these brittle rings.

The good news is - it works - the camshafts are able to pass through the centre case with no clearance issues, so we can proceed as planned.

Usually having got to this stage I would continue finalising the torquing of main bearing caps as the crank would not be needing to come out again. Unfortunately whoever stripped the bike 15+ years ago had decided in their infinite wisdom to remove the gearbox layshaft blind needle roller bearing from the left side of the centre crankcase. I realised after I actually found the old bearing that the case would have to be heated in order to get a bearing back in there, and this would entail pouring boiling water inside the gearbox housing, so working with a crank sticking out the sides was not an option.

I inspected the end of the layshaft which had been running in the old bearing, and it is perfectly unmarked. Why pull it out then methinks.? I have inspected it carefully and there is no reason why I would not put it back in. It is definitely tight enough in the case that it will need heating to coax it in, so there is no obvious problem that I can see which justified its removal. Needle roller bearings in gearbox and primary drive of these bikes do serious miles without complaint, especially when they have adequate oil supplied, which these obviously do, considering how low down the case its home is. This is also why it is a blind bearing - so oil does not leak through it - and yet despite being a press fit the workshop manual also advises filling the slight recess on the outer side with serious sealant after fitment is complete, to be sure to be sure.

Today did not lend itself to setting up outside to heat cases and bash things, so instead I gapped all the rings and fitted them to the pistons, and then fitted pistons to rods, so now they sit as you see them here. These pistons do not have a 'front', as the valve cutaways are identical and the pistons are symmetrical, so I just fitted them with their part numbers all facing the same way.

The cam followers are all carefully fitted where they came from, except the new one which has only just joined the team. I retain them with cable ties, and these can be slid far enough to allow good oiling of everything before the block goes on the cases. I will also need to use sealant to hold the base gasket in place while the cunning plan proceeds, so that will get done soon and left overnight.

The pillar stud holes on the cylinder needed a lot of cleaning and a bit of remedial countersinking, as alloy had pulled upwards around the threads on a few, and you can't afford not to have everything working to best advantage either side of the head gaskets on these engines. As this one has a special copper gasket to clear the larger bores, it got annealed and will be cleaned up and reused with copper gasket spray coatings both sides when assembled. This is standard format for me, and only one engine has ever failed disgracefully to stop leaking oil until a special 'Cometic' composite gasket was used. There had been some damage done to the mating surfaces, and I was not prepared to pull the barrels off just for surfacing when this other gasket could do the job. Otherwise, always copper for me.

Weather was permitting so the outdoor op proceeded with all caution. I seldom find that boiling water is not enough heat for these bearing insertion/removal jobs, and thankfully today was no exception. Not that it just slid in, but with a neat fitting socket and extension it only took a minimum of persuasion to make it comply. I was also lucky to find amongst a bin of useful things that I had a suitable sized plug to prevent water going into the gearbox output roller bearing.

The finesse here is that the bearing should end up being between .073" and .078" proud of the housing when finished, so I opted for .075" and was able to get exactly that. The thrust washer sits around the outer edge of the bearing and slghtly proud of it, and all that worked out in fine style. Not sure why I give these operations a lot more focus than some of the seemingly more critical areas, but these can be the small things that end up causing a lot of grief when things refuse to assemble neatly.

Most pleased with the outcome.

Having dried it all off I was now able to fit the cranshaft into the centre case as a final fit. The centre mains only tighten to 18ft.lb which seems rather modest, but even though the caps are quite substantial they are only alloy, so there is the reason.

Last part is to fold the locking tabs against the flats of the nuts, wherever they came to rest, which gives one confidence that nothing can make a break for freedom somewhere down the track.

All sweet.

The plan from here was going to be to trial fit the outer cases to the centre, so that the cylinder base gasket could be fitted and trimmed as necessary before adhering it to the block and leaving it perched for 12 hours or so, but for no apparent reason I could not get the two outer cases to mate up. It seemed that there was a problem with the camshafts not wanting to fit within their confined limits, so I decided to remove them from the equation as they were not needed yet.

That led to the discovery of an issue with the threaded insert on the far end of the exhaust cam whose purpose is to mesh with the tacho drive gearbox input. It had been damaged in some way and was not threading far enough inside the cam. I screwed it out most of its length to see what ailed it.

This did...

Hard to imagine what had disagreed with it, but something had. I inspected the tacho drive, but it was seemingly uneffected and turned freely enough. I wondered if this threaded insert may be a separate part number, or if it was supplied as an integral part of the exhaust camshaft. The parts manual does not show it at all, but it is a T160 specific part as all earlier triples had the tacho drive in the front of the centre case.

I figured the answer in this instance would be some careful repair of what we had, but meantime I wanted to carry on with the base gasket, so the cases got mated up easily on second attempt.

I am always careful to ensure everything passes the acid test before committing to an assembly, but as this engine arrived in parts I am being 1 step more cautious so that I don't get caught out by some issue I have not yet identified, having missed the disassembly process.

One such issue was of course the base gasket itself. We are using a standard T160 gasket set, but barrels with bigger bores and odd replacement studs do not accept the standard base gasket, so some quite careful trimming and opening up of holes was necessary before the gasket would sit easily on the crankcases and the barrels. Once it did I applied a thin even smear of silicone to the top side and fitted it to the barrels. The resulting mix was then dropped onto the crankcases and all convinced to sit down and behave.

Which it did.

So that halts play until tomorrow as far as the crankcases go, so to make use of the time I turned my attention to the damaged camshaft insert. It took quite a bit of filing to achieve a result I was happy with, but as it seems there will be no replacement part available, then this is the only course of action that will get us to where we want to be.

I had never really thought about it, but the camshaft is hollow, and with the insert removed you can see right through the centre to where the ignition taper is at the far end. After some trial fits I got to the point where the insert would enter the cam thread either way around, so I figured it would probably accept the whole thing now, and screwed it as far in as it would go.

Which appears to be exactly where it should be.

Having allowed adequate time the barrels were lifted off the cases and the gasket is firmly affixed which is great. The next step was to fit all the pistons to their respective bores, which is simplicity itself with everything firmly planted on the bench.

Then the barrels are placed on spacers which hold them above the crankcases while the two outer conrods get tightened to their crank journals. They are currently just nipped up and will be torqued to 10 ft.lb, then to 40 ft.lb on the next sortie.

The centre conrod is just dangling between the crank webs for now, but once the cases are together and the barrels are fastened down, the centre rod gets torqued up via the hole where the sump plate fits.

You can see that there is adequate clearance to slide the right side outer case in using the main bearing on the crank to keep it aligned, plus there will be two studs at the top of the opening which engage while there is still about 3 inches of airgap between the joint faces. The camshafts pass easily through to the left side while keeping their lobes inboard.

Obviously both joint faces need to have been coated with sealant before getting mated together, and all the various O rings which seal the oil filter cavity and the gearchange cross shaft also have to be in place. Not that it is difficult to pull the case away again if necessary, but 'planning' should mean you don't have to.

The left outer case is the last manoeuvre, and it slides over the ends of the camshafts and the other main bearing tracks along the crank. It is all extremely controllable, whereas supporting the barrels in mid-air with one hand while you try to coax three unwilling pistons up their bores with the other is nobody's favourite magic trick, and one that can rapidly come unstuck.

In preparation for the right case going back on I fitted the camshafts back into their gears with the factory timing marks all lined up. One of the first jobs once the engine is back in the frame will be to check the cam timing to see if they were factory set as close as possible to spec, and if not, I shall correct that.

After a prolonged period of locating and cleaning the crankcase studs, bolts and allen bolts, I completed the first stage by torquing the big end bearings up in two stages, as called for by Carrillo. First step 10ft.lb, then up to 40ft.lb in a single sweep. It all performed as intended, so next step was to apply a thin coat of my silver silicone sealant to both mating faces. After that I fitted the two studs at the top, and gave all the cam lobes a good coat of assembly lube, and O rings got fitted to oil filter cavity and cross shaft joint areas.

The case was then introduced to the crankshaft as the cams were guided through beneath the block, until it also engaged with the two studs, after which it was a doddle to tap gently around the periphery with a light mallett and the whole thing slid home. A very rewarding process and totally free of any stress to any parts whatsoever.

The cylinder block is of course steadied by the fact that two conrods are bolted up, but the two wooden blocks keep it just high enough to clear the studs on the outer case which the cylinder will get dropped down onto once the left outer is in place. It is the simpler of the two to fit, so a nice downhill run from here.

I only nip the fastening bolts up immediately after the case is fitted, to give the sealant a better go at curing a bit before giving them the full treatment, which I did several hours later. You can see the tiniest bead that has oozed from the joint down the rear edge, but as the outer case has a small protruding lip around its inner edge, nothing can find its way to the inside of the crankcase.

Another day - another case. Despite being late November it is another crap day with minimal daylight entering the shed, so I change glasses a lot in order to see fiddly stuff. No real tricks on the drive side case, other than remembering the O ring seals, and there are less obstructions to applying the silicone sealant. It went together easily enough and the barrels dropped down smoothly.

As I now intended to torque up the final big end, I pinched the two centre barrel retaining nuts but left it at that. If anything should somehow fail to behave I might have to lift the barrels or even remove one of the cases, so I will nail it all down after the big end is happy.

Carrillo are quite concise about how they want you to approach torqueing up the caps on their steel rods, to the extent that they describe what sort of oil they would like to be applied to the bolt heads and threads.

As it happens I have just the thing, even though it was not for this purpose that I acquired it. Clear Mechanical Oil is actually the perfect stuff for fixing noisy controls on stereo amplifiers and the like, as it not only lubricates the shafts but also addresses the oxidization which causes crackles for mostly the rest of the life of the control in question. So I guess it is more versatile than I anticipated. So the whizzo bolts got a light dose of it.

After that, and with more mass holding the crankcases from moving about, the final tighten to 40ft.lb was a cinch and we were complete inside the cases. I am not entirely sure where the sump plate actually is yet, but it will be one of the carefully bundled bubble-wrap packages stowed about the place currently. I will do a final fit of it when it comes to light, as one of the first things I will do once the engine is back in the frame is to complete the oil circuit and manually pump some oil around the engine. Such is the plan.

I bolted the barrels down and fitted the crankshaft timing pinion to its key. I then set No.3 cylinder to TDC and timed the camshafts, with the inlet timed to the dash rather than the dot. This returns T160's to the more advanced timing of the inlet cam, most of which were retarded when assembled to meet more stringent emission controls in the USA. I have no idea whether this bike had already received this benefit as it was all dismantled before I saw it. On my own from new T160 this process still did not advance the cam to the optimum timing, so I changed keyways and got another third of a tooth. Same options are available here, so that gets done early in the piece.

Unfortunately the sump plate turned into a non-event, as in it is nowhere to be found. No plate, no filter, no old gaskets, no studs. I am sure the owner will be as disappointed as I am, and while you could understand if a piece went missing, an entire sub-assembly doesn't make much sense. I have a repaired filter we can use and have found a new original plate which I have ordered, so I guess we will concentrate on getting the engine back in the frame until these bits arrive.

Before fitting the engine I decided to investigate the oil tank filter, as it has to be modified to match the uprated feed line. As soon as the filter came out I knew that the oil tank would have to be removed as well - sparkly stuff everywhere.

This gives an indication of how much of the broken piston and worn cam and follower had travelled around the oil system, so the lines and cooler are going to be treated with utmost suspicion rather than allow contamination anywhere near the engine from places it could be lurking. I also spent a bit of time repairing the main stand which was planning to migrate, despite having had some copper wire wrapped around the offending bolt. When you get the chance to access places where things are not in a good state, you gotta use the moment.

At least I did also manage to restore the engine into the frame, and have begun to assemble the gearbox, beginning with the final drive oil seal housing on the left side, after which the camplate and mainshaft and clusters can start their journey into place.

I will also begin the camshaft timing as soon as another missing part arrives, being the nut that retains the alternator rotor. I will need that to hold my whizzo timing disc.

In other news, I bust my camera, which is a major pita. For 20 years it has done sterling service, and I shall find a used one of the same model if I can. Meanwhile the photo quality may be a bit naff...

Have spent a few days on a bike instead of under one, thanks to a mate visiting from Perth who was eager to get aboard the 955 Tiger I had sorted for him, so progress has slowed a bit. Prior to that I had reasembled the gearbox internals but the outer cover refused to fit back in place. I pulled a few gears out again but they were all as they should be. It seemed that the outer ball bearing was too tight a fit on the mainshaft, and I am not one to force things if they resist. Said bearing was not a very tight fit in the outer case so I plucked it out, and sure enough the cover now fits up snugly.

It is not a problem to fit the bearing after the cover is in place but I needed to know why it was tight. The answer seems to be that the spline which the kickstart pinion fits on has developed a few ridges on the outer edges of the spline. Presumably this engine is a bit harder to kickstart than a 750 and the shaft has complained a bit. Perhaps the ratchet assembly had been a bit loose, as they require over 40 ft.lb when tightening. I shall smooth the spline before the bearing goes in on final fit.

The suppliers who had an original sump plate discovered after I ordered one that they didn't have them at all. However, and much to their credit they emailed me and said that they had a good used one if that would do. Indeed it would, and it arrived a few days later.

After some suitable cleaning the sump plate assembly got fitted back on the engine with no problems. I chose to use allen screws rather than the original stud assemblies, partly because there are no longer any bare threaded ends to get damaged by rocks and the like, but also because the original arrangement gets to be quite expensive once all the parts are added to the mix, whereas these are the same stainless allen screws I use to hold the inlet stubs to the head, so I have plenty and they are cheap. Good combination that..

It is also my experience that these sump plates are seldom removed as often as the factory recommended they should be, due to the complexity of removing the exhaust collector, so I doubt it will prove to be in any way less effective, and does in fact give a little more clearance above the collector.

A battle ensued with the gearbox. The inner cover ball bearing continued to be a tighter fit to the mainshaft than felt healthy, especially as the two are bolted up really tight by the kickstart ratchet assembly, so I had to keep tapping the bearing along the mainshaft each time I trialled the gear selection after fitting the inner cover. Because of the tapping the thrust washer at the other end of the layshaft came off its locating peg, so it all worked, but seized up when I tightened the cover. The grease intended to retain it was being overcome by the oil applied to the gear clusters, so as a last resort I used assembly lube instead, which sticks like the proverbial to a blanket, and that got us a result.

So with the gasket in place the inner cover got its final fit, after which the kickstart ratchet was torqued to 42 ft.lb using the gearbox sprocket nut tightening in the opposite direction as the counter force. All that is left now is to fold the sprocket locking washer over a flat before the clutch hub and cover can go on.

As a final touch today I trial fitted the outer cover which will keep things clean inside, and the quadrant which can be seen in the opening for the cross shaft was easily able to select all gears. That was the acid test.

I had noticed that the hose which feeds brake fluid down from the reservoir to the rear master cylinder is totally perished, so I shall replace that before the engine mounting plate goes back on. Much easier both with that and the oil tank missing - still to be flushed out.

The next logical step would be to fit the clutch hub and housing, but I had already noticed that the hub splines are not up for another term of service without risking a total failure, and as expected the clutch plate splines are in the same boat. I have personally experienced several failures of these splines on my T160 in the past, but pleasingly the current parts available are of better quality and construction. The plate in particular is one of a batch made by Clive Blake in the UK and features a thicker lining which allows the clutch spring to go over-centre when fully disengaged and thus lightens the clutch action. I have yet to experience one, but as it is the only type available here I guess we are going to.

While we await those parts I decided it was time to deal with the cam timing. This entailed first removing the alternator mounting studs which in turn requires removing the seal nut that the alternator wires enter the timing case through. For a first time it turned out to have been loctited in, which made matters quite difficult as you can't really get a spanner on it, let alone apply much pressure. By removing two timing gears I managed that bit and the rest of the process went smoothly using my non-factory method of centre-lobe timing which has given brilliant results since I began using it. The real bonus is that it is far simpler and requires no fancy kit to undertake. For anyone interested I describe the process here

Any old DVD is used to make the timing disc and only three marks are required. The two critical points are the max cam follower lift for inlet and exhaust, while the TDC mark is the reference point and much care must be taken to establish it beyond any doubt - which I do by repeating the setting several times in a row. To be sure to be sure...

Pleasingly both inlet and exhaust were exactly where I wanted them to be, having already advanced the inlet cam by one tooth from where the factory assembled it. As often as not they can still be a bit off and need a 1/3 tooth adjustment, but these are fine. I don't know where they may have been set before the strip, but they are right now at least.

Now I have to refit the cam gears properly after which the alternator goes back in and the timing case can get buttoned up.

Two cool things happened during this period. First the alternator retaining nut showed up inside the the Boyer ignition pickup box, and second, I managed to buy another camera exactly the same old model as the one I broke, so normal transmission has been resumed.

Yay.!

So here we have the timing case pretty much sewn up, although I need to fit a new camshaft oil seal before the cover goes back on.

Due to a few parts having shown up missing I have begun trial fitting covers before assembling their internals completely, so that I don't have to do something twice.

Also I had already decided that the kickstart return spring, still fitted to the kickstart shaft, was past its best-by date and would likely not last very long before its inevitable failure, so best we do it now. As the new one arrived yesterday I would be able to complete the assembly of the gearbox outer cover next.

As it happened there was a part missing from the gearbox outer cover, being the very long top screw that holds outer and inner covers to the centre crankcase. At over 4 inches long and with an elongated head its a pretty significant screw this one, so once again, strange it got lost.

And - the search for the missing screw led me to tipping out all the remaining fixing screws which were jumbled up together along with the clutch adjusting bits from inside the outer primary cover, and they were also missing a significant part, and one that is now very hard to get.

None less than the clutch operating lever itself.

As luck would have it the screw was readily available, and I have already ordered it from the source shown, along with a grommet for the alternator leads where they exit the crankcase, probably being the world's most expensive grommet at nearly $20, but I guess that is what you pay to get a batch of such things from the UK.

The new-old-stock clutch operating lever pictured as available from Baxter Cycles in the USA converts to NZ$250 not including freight, but as it is one of few left in the world it may be our only hope. Unfortunately it sometimes turns out that when you attempt to order some of these rare parts they suddenly discover that they actually have none left.

There are now too many of these bits missing for me to consider that they were somehow accidentally overlooked.

That is not a happy observation for me or the bike's owner.

Perhaps it was a corresponding lowering of my vibration at this point, but I then spent a good part of an hour trying to convince the rear chain to fit, as despite a week soaking in old engine oil the joining link needed something nearly nuclear to get it apart, after which some remedial treatment was needed for the link itself, so that was a bitch.

While I did win I am still unable to assemble the clutch housing as the new clutch hub has not arrived.

Oops. I see they are closed for xmas, so we are on hold with the drive side until after 12th Jan. Oh well, I can still fit the clutch housing I guess.

This thing is getting a bit gritty.!

I finished today's effort by cleaning the pillar studs inside and out and fitting them to the barrels, albeit not yet tightened. The majority of the studs had quite tight internal threads, probably down to baked oil which had found its way into the threads. That in itself suggests that either the cylinder head or rocker box gaskets may have compressed enough for oil to leak down the head studs at some previous stage. Quite common before solid gaskets caught on.

The extra resistance in these threads can interfere with the ability to get a good head tighten, seeing as how they only go down to 20 ft.lb anyway, so they all got a good run through with a tap, although I never touch the external threads on the pillar studs as they have a "rolled" thread so a standard dye nut removes valuable thread. These are the most critical threads on a triple cylinder as the alloy tends to lose strength as a function of heat cycling and once the threads strip it takes a serious engineering approach to cure the problem.

I will temp fit the oil drain dowels next and do whatever it takes to make the original Hyde copper head gasket a nice sliding fit over studs and dowels, which they virtually never are, so a used gasket is most often a better starting point than a new one.

Next step the clutch housing got fitted, wiring harness tidied up back to the seat area, pillar studs tightened and head gasket dressed around the studs but not the drain dowels yet, and head trial fitted to ensure it is all sitting as flat as it should be.

Seems like it is, but if not, leaving it overnight with 10 ft.lb on just the outer bolts will begin the settling process of the gasket. There will be a coat of copper gasket spray given to both sides of the gasket when the final fit happens, so a bit of "training" will ensure it has the best chance to do its job.

The gearbox cover then came off and the kickstart oil seal got driven out. The new spring was fitted to the kickstart shaft in the correct position - there is one - and after oiling all the bits in the cover the shaft went in and the new seal and housing were driven back in place. The kickstart lever then got fitted as the spring has to be preloaded before the cover goes on and the leverage provided by the lever is necessary. Grease was applied to all the gear quadrant and kickstart ratchet teeth, and also to the new gasket before sliding the cover back on while the gasket held itself where it should.

Happily it all behaved as described so the cover was fully tightened apart from the still missing screw which is on its way. I had sliced the protruding excess gasket off the top of the inner cover gasket, and now see that this one is sticking up more than it should too. It may just be the shape of the gaskets, but I will loosen the outer cover again when the new screw is being fitted to see if the gasket wants to drop a little, otherwise it will get trimmed too.

Bloody green gaskets...

The gearbox screw turned up so I loosened the cover and managed to settle the gasket a bit lower before tightening the whole thing. Although the neutral light switch is not seemingly connected to the idiot light it still obviously has a hole to plug, so I will set it to have minimal contact with the camplate. When that is done I can fill the gearbox with oil.

I treated the gearbox and timing covers to a mild polish while trial fitting continues. There was only one of the nine timing cover screws present, but I was able to find a set of the three long screws at the bottom, and may also have some old screws to fit the top six, but if their heads are too far gone to grace this cover I will resort to allen screws which are a fraction of the price of genuine phillips head replacements.

Next step will be to fit and time the Boyer ignition pickup and run its wiring back to where the unit is located by the battery. The bike features an industrial type bridge rectifier - seen to the left of the kickstart lever - instead of the original finned Lucas job. This one had been suspended from the spring which once held the flasher unit, which I shall change. I had no less than three of these industrial types fail in relatively quick succession, despite adding a heat sink to the last two. They melt easily, and without being bolted to a reasonable piece of steel frame I can only imagine this one would be headed for the same fate. I refitted the old Lucas job to mine and have not had to visit it since. I put this particular popular modification into the "they say..." category, as the modern version is far less capable than the factory fitment, so once again - I think the factory got it right.

Having found a full set of screws for the timing cover I oiled all the gears within and also checked the airgap around the alternator rotor which was as it should be, and the cover went on with its new greased gasket. I managed to oil the end of the camshaft as well, so it would happily pass through the new oil seal.

The pickup wiring loom then got threaded through to the aperture, and with the engine set to firing position on the nearest cylinder the magnetic rotor went into its taper. The pickup plate was then fitted so that the screw head holding one of the magnets was visible through the provided hole. Pretty simple setup for the Boyer seeing it fires everything all the time. Next job will be to run the pickup wiring all the way back to the Boyer unit.

After waiting some days for the 'summer' rains to slow down a bit I was bracing myself for a pair of jobs I have a major aversion to. Cleaning a glittery oil tank and filter, plus modifying the oil tank feed to uprate the line size from 1/4" I.D. to 5/16". Because the T160 oil filter is unobtainium currently the existing T150 item has to have its delivery drilled out, and the retaining nut for the feed pipe - which is available - also drilled out to accept the larger pipe. While it is not too hard to drill the hole in the nut, the new feed pipe now has to have its flared end filed down in order to fit inside the threads of the nut. Its about the same fun level as gnawing your own arm off.

I began the tank with lawnmower petrol - its cheapest - then degreasing fluid, then water pressure, and when it has dried it will get the air gun as a final insult. I was not prepared for just how much metallic stuff came out, but then remembered that this engine had attempted to digest its own camlobe and follower, so I guess this is it here..

The tank oil filter had already had its outside cleaned before the drilling process began, then had another internal cleanup after four drill bits had passed through the boss in moderately quick succession. I then use another four drill bits to open up the nut, stepping up by 1/64" at a time, in order that things do not drift off centre, as there is absolutely no room left for errors.

The final tedium is hand filing the flare down until it will fit inside the threads, we are about halfway here. This is when you find that these things are not concentric at all, so you have to address that in the process.

It better be worth it...

Another session with a coarser file sped progress up considerably, then after smoothing and contouring the edges the pipe was able to be coaxed through the nut. The pipe was not keen to rotate inside the nut, but by trial and error I will be able to locate the outlet at the best angle to allow the feed line to sneak into alignment with this fitting.

The air compressor was now brought into play to dislodge any more debris from inside the oil tank, but nothing came out despite a pretty thorough attack from every possible direction. It pays to be as sure as you can be. Many rebuilds have suffered the ten years accelerated wear test when some fine grit got circulated through the new bearings on the first start.

Filter and pipe union got added to the tank and it was ready to be installed.

Checking the bike end of the equation reminded me that I had to replace the brake fluid line from the underseat reservoir to the rear brake cylinder before the oil tank got in the way, so I removed reservoir and line which was badly cracked at both ends. That might explain why there was no fluid in sight.

The new lines are larger in diameter than the originals, so the two P clips that support the line, one either side, need to be a size larger. As it turned out, the left one had split in half and the right hand was absent, so it will all be better after than before. The Japanese proved that making things well supported made sure that everything remained where it should for long periods of reliable service, so I place some importance in such detail work.

Cleaned out reservoir with new fluid line and retainer clip.

It is much easier to work on the rear cylinder after removing the rear footrest and muffler mounting plate, so that came off, revealing that the master cylinder pushrod had been put together incorrectly. It may be because of this that I find the cylinder also seems to be locked solid, as a locknut was at the wrong end which had allowed the large shaped nut that fits through the rubber boot on the front end of the cylinder to wind itself against the rear of the cylinder body, so it all has to come out to see what gives. The cylinder body has either been chromed or is an aftermarket type - perhaps stainless - which could influence things either way.

What we are doing here, besides an engine rebuild, is 16 years of delayed maintenance, so other problems are bound to come to light, but we can only deal with them as they do.

It does make some days feel more like going in the wrong direction, but thats just how it is.

For a bit of mojo restoration I fitted the oil tank and positioned the feed pipe to sit at about the only angle where the line can be fitted without interacting badly with other things. Because the T160 has the entire engine unit rotated slightly forward, which allowed the lower frame rails to be raised by an inch - a racing benefit - things around the oil filter outlet are quite restricted, so they put an angle in the outlet pipe itself to make things workable. Pretty much means that you can't remove the filter easily/at all without pulling the tank out.

I gave the tank the briefest polish and a new pair of screws in the badge to make it look bright and shiny.

Raises my spirits to see it there.

Assembling of the cylinder head continues with alloy rocker box gaskets in place and the Hyde pushrod tubes figured out. Quite a bit of compression of the seals so we hope not to encounter any leaks. I am averse to using silicone sealant on the pushrod tubes, and so far they have complied, but these use one joint which is the base of the tube against a fibre washer, which may need more convincing.

The rocker boxes would have responded to a soak in an engine bath, but are mostly invisible once the engine is complete and the tank is on, so we shan't sweat. I will leave the oil cooler off until the valves are all adjusted as access is far easier.

The inlet rocker box was well behaved so now we have everything where it needs to be and the head bolts are all torqued down to 20 ft.lb. This would normally be the time to set all the valve clearances, but without our clutch hub there is no connection between the kickstart and the engine, although I guess I could turn the engine backwards by using a monster spanner on the crankshaft sprocket nut which would otherwise just wind itself off.

Actually - that is a bloody good idea. I have been mindful of keeping the engine at firing position on No.1 while the ignition timing was being finalised, in case I needed to alter something, but it now seems that the Boyer may get the heave-ho in favour of a new Tri-spark, so that has all gone out the window. As has the wiring work, as there looks like being a new wiring loom also on the cards.

I'm thinking that progress will be going backwards again.

In preparation for the wiring rehash I have removed all the instrument cluster and exposed the ignition switch, which will be replaced as the keys were lost. This also revealed that all the idiot lights are just empty lenses, and the "wiring loom" was a piece of 5 core flex. Electrics were minimalistic on this bike. In the interests of perhaps fitting or refitting an electric starter the wiring loom has become the easiest route to reinventing all the other wires, so perhaps the oil light and neutral light may return as well.

Meanwhile things are looking kinda sad up the pointy end and I will have to identify what the wiring colours mean in the non-standard switchgear.

The problem with the rear brake being inoperative turned out to be the last thing you always suspect - the flexible hose is totally blocked.

Having removed it I was able to pump the cylinder enough to get rid of most of the old fluid, the rest will get bled out as soon as the system is restored. Locknut is now applied where it should be and the cylinder can be refitted to the bike where the rest of the process will be completed.

It is pleasing to note that the length of the new fluid hose supplied is significantly longer than it needs to be, so it can be cut to exactly what is required. This is a practice which used to be a lot more common than it is today, but is very welcome when one installation proves to be very different to another.

I tend to leave a fair bit of extra length tucked under the oil tank with these, in case the ends crack - but the golden rule is that the entire length should be a downhill slope so that it can be successfully drained just by releasing the lower end without having to disturb any other stuff.

The xmas break is over and parts are beginning to arrive again. Am having to source from several suppliers as nobody has everything any more, and some parts will not be easily restocked - if possible at all.

The new clutch plate is a Clive Blake item, with thicker lining material which allows the clutch spring to go over-centre and thus makes for a lighter lever action. We will see. The amount of wear on the teeth of the old clutch hub spline is immediately apparent when compared to the new one.

Also in the pic - a New Old Stock clutch operating lever which was a real find and close to home, so the absence of the original has ceased being a potentially large problem, as they are in scarce supply world wide.

And then the major order of parts including a number of items I was not initially intending to be fitting to the bike under the original brief, but one has led to another and so it goes. A repair becomes a restore in very few steps.

Having an electric start would make the finished article much easier to manage for the owner, and I do have access to a complete and new T160 starter - the original from this bike is long gone - but I had reservations about the Lucas versus 1000cc's of reluctant British gubbings. Considering the estimated price of the new original it seemed no more expensive to instead fit a Madigan unit, with a motor designed to prod a four cylinder Ford Ranger into life, and therefore pretty much guaranteed to do the job in all weathers.

The absence of any wiring left at all relating to an electric start dictated the need for a new wiring loom, so we might as well revert to a few more stock electrical arrangements. Much of all of the above is to be seen in this modest carton of parts hot off the press, whose combined value is pushing 3 grand.

The budget just took a big hit...

The game is back on, and the first thing to go was the Boyer. From here on the wiring becomes a critical issue, as we have to make the wires on the new harness all reach to where they are needed, so anything with wires will be in place first.

I fitted the Trispark rotor as prescribed with a 22mm gap between the top right threaded hole and the steel pin in the rotor, as it is here. First issue was that the supplied fixing allen screw bottomed out in the camshaft thread before the rotor tightened, but as the old Boyer screw had a pronounced taper at its inner end I tried that instead and we have a match.

As it happens, the crankshaft is still at firing position on No.3 cylinder where it was for the camshaft timing, and now needs to be moved to the timing mark for No.1 cylinder, but as the primary drive is about to begin its assembly process I shall wait until the kickstart is operating to do this and the valve clearance adjustments. This is a trial fit.

On the other hand - or side - this is a final fit. The new clutch hub has passed quality control and been bolted up using top gear and a block of wood under the rear wheel. I only use silicone sealant as a thread locker on both the hub nut and the three screws which hold the clutch cover, as silicone handles vibration better and the hub being both on a taper and with a keyway is hardly going to attempt to move, unless I have to remove it again for any reason, in which case that too will be a more agreeable situation than with loctite.

The black marker visible on the top rear edge of one tooth of the spline lines up with the keyway, making that easier to find when fitting, but it also marks the optimum position for the two splines to mate up together when the clutch assmbly goes on, and the clutch plate has a matching mark. Not all teeth are created equal...

We then ripped the clutch assembly apart, which has been lurking in a carton until this moment arrived. The only oil contamination had come through from the primary along the spline on the clutch cover shaft, and I fit an O ring to dissuade this from happening in future. Other than a good clean up the only parts which will be replaced are the plate and release bearing.

The plate that was fitted is a sintered iron type, as was developed for drag racing, though I find that their action is not as pleasing on take-up as conventional linings such as the new one has. I find that the splines between hub and plate are the fastest wearing parts in the clutch, so the lining material is academic in my opinion. I can understand that with a big bore engine and the intention of racing it one would think the sintered job a better option, but it would never have been my choice.

For similar reasons to the above I was concerned that a heavier duty clutch spring may have also been adopted, but having cleaned and measured its thickness I am more than happy that it is a stock item. Heavy springs are a bitch for road use, and with the thicker linings the new plate has it should prove to be a pleasure to use.

The clutch appears to have had some post factory balancing done, so care will be taken that it goes back together in exactly the same orientation it came apart.

Once I got into it there was a lot more oil residue than it looked, but mostly inside the assembly, meaning it had come in via the pullrod seal. Thanks to the sintered plate it seems it kept working, as it would have taken some miles to do this. Took some time to clean it all, and despite the oil there was a fair amount of rust to wire brush off, presumably from the time in storage.

I replaced the bearing in the pressure plate and then made a series of number punch marks so that I could align everything as it got assembled, including being able to fit it on the exact tooth of the hub as it went into place. The original locking tabs wire brushed up and were in good enough shape to do a second tour of duty.

With the pullrod fitted it slid into place like a happy thing and will now wait while a number of other preparatory things are done. First will be to strip the oil pump to make sure it has not suffered from the sparkly oil, and once I am happy with that it will get fitted before the inner cover as that is the easiest approach.

The inner gasket got a trial fit, as they have been a bit less accurately made of late, but this one will do the job ok. I also fitted the gearchange cross shaft as that will enter its new oil seal in the inner cover easiest in that order. I cannot time the cross shaft until the primary chain and sprockets go on, before which I will complete the oil system and pump some oil through the bearings while I have easy access to the drive gear.

Meantime I slung the wiring loom along the frame to see where things were going to end up. For $500 it is not a very good loom, with old bullet type connectors in the headlight area, but more annoying still a few of the wire exits are placed badly and will not reach to where they should. It is a sad observation, but I doubt I will be able to continue doing this sort of work in the not-too-distant future, simply due to the increasing shortage of decent quality parts. Too many of the quality manufacturers are gone and the current level of quality control does not even begin to reach the level of the price increases that my suppliers have no control over.

There will need to be a bit of nutting out of the wiring as regards the switches the bike has. The left side has a T150 switch which is used for high/low beam, but the horn and indicators have been moved to a small aftermarket switch also on the left side. I am hoping that the unused horn button can be repurposed as a starter button, but first I have to unravel the wiring colours.

Never a dull moment...

Well, as it turns out there is no working button on the indicator switch, so the original horn button is still in use for the horn. Not sure if the extra button on the LH switch unit can be wired up to actually do something - I believe it was intended to be used as a headlight flasher but have never known any to do such. Shall investigate in due course.

The oil pump got primed with oil then flushed with CO contact cleaner, but no signs of any sparkly bits. When opened up the pressure side was clean as, and despite a few more flushes nothing came out of the scavenge side either. Hard to imagine that so much got into the oil tank without there being any residue in the pump. I guess it just remains in suspension until the oil stops flowing and it settles out.

The end plate got its oil supply hole opened up to match the larger feed pipes, then got surfaced to remove any excess wear. Quite happy with the result.

The oil pump now got fitted to the crankcase and the first big O ring settled into its recess. The non-factory O ring is fitted to the clutch cover shaft at the rear of the spline, and will get compressed between there and the end of the cush drive spider, so no more oil into the clutch housing. It is a stock T160 part as it happens - for the gearchange cross shaft sealing between the crankcase sections.

The new gasket is greased both sides and the cross shaft is fitted so that the oil seal will be easier to coax over it without the risk of any tears in its feathered edge. While the new seal fitted easily into the inner case, it seems to be a very tight fit when presented to the 5/8" shaft, and it is of a different construction than what used to be supplied, which had a steel backing. It is however of the same slim nature that this seal must be to fit into the shallow recess next to the needle roller bearing.

I had the cleaned up inner primary case ready to go, with its two new oil seals and the second big O ring for the oil pump sitting in its groove. Neither of the two needle roller bearings needed replacement, and were an excellent choice to have been a part of the original design brief. They do tremendous mileages with little wear, so long as they get their oil needs met.

When the inner case was slid into place, carefully guiding the oil pump O ring so it didn't get its edges nipped, I paused the assembly so that the gearbox end of the cross shaft could be fitted to the spline at that end. This requires the shaft to be drawn toward the primary side just far enough to allow the link to slide into place, but it came out just a fraction too far and popped out of the oil seal. It was such a tight fit that I could not push the shaft back through the seal, so I took the inner case off again, to find the the oil seal had pushed right out of the case.

Hmmm - this seal was way too tight, and now it was captive in the middle of the cross shaft and would not fit over either bearing surface at the two ends. I had to cut the seal off with sidecutters. I had a look through my stocks of seals and found two cross shaft part numbered items, one the same as this and one of the original type. Some careful measurement showed that the original seals are designed for a 5/8" shaft, while the new ones are only big enough I.D. to fit 9/16". I shall use the original one and hope that I can source some more for my stock.

This photo was taken before the first fit, so it has the wrong oil seal still in place, but it got chopped off the shaft a few minutes later. With the proper seal in place I tried fitting the inner case for a second time. The shaft went through the seal much easier, but I am still not wanting to risk it coming right over the bearing surface and off the seat, so I halted progress for the night as other matters were requiringing my attention. I do not recall having the slightest trouble with this seal when I rebuilt my T160 in 1991, and everything is still in there and doing its job. I'm guessing it is just that the wrong seal was supplied, but being the newer design I chose to use it.

Here are the two types of seal I have been supplied with under the same part number, so it is worthy of note that parts can look seemingly correct at a glance, but not owe any real connection to the original part number. Both have the same O.D. so were a good fit in the cover, although the steel-backed one was firmest with nothing to compress on its outer edges.

I may have had these seals for some years, as they are not often required unless addressing a total strip. I think I have found some original type still available so I will restock while I can. No idea what the other seal might be from, but it does not seem to be any T160 part I can identify.

During the fitting of the inner cover for the second time I was easily able to guide the cross shaft into the spline at the far end, but only did so a mm or two while I lined up the 'foot' for the gearlever to mate with in the primary case. The idea is to align the lowest tooth of the foot with an alloy boss which is conveniently placed below it, although I doubt that was its only reason for being.

Once I was happy that it was all exactly where I wanted it to be I lightly tightened the spline retaining nut. I never tighten things up completely on the first try, as there is always a chance that something you missed may prompt you to take it off again, so no point in making life harder until everything has been considered.

For the same reasons as above, the inner case got nipped up without final tightening while I fitted the oil pump drive gears to ensure it all meshed as it should. After that the outrigger bush which supports this end of the cross shaft went on so that there were no surprises when it gets its final tighten.

While I always trial fit major assemblies, this engine is requiring an even more critical approach because I did not personally strip it down in the first place. That is when you find any signs of things in distress, or not mating up because of a bruise on their edge, blah blah.

Threads get tapped and hand tightened to make sure they are not binding, and if so - why. There is really only one proper way to repair things that are damaged, so that is what you do. We want whatever type of machine we are working on to be reliable and a pleasure to use, and doing it right is where the art is.

With the arrival of my preferred type of clamp for soft rubber hoses I was able to complete the assembly of the rear brake. I keep a range of sizes for use in those places where a jubilee just isn't the right choice. This is one and now it is finished, albeit not tested and bled yet.

I will dig out the Hyde rearset footrests and fit the right side with brake lever at the next opportunity so the bleeding process can proceed.

I keep changing the order of work as new priorities occur. I need to complete the oiling system so that I can pump oil into the crankshaft bearings, and this needs to be done before the assembly of the primary drive can continue.

There will be a new larger bore hose from the oil tank to the engine in keeping with the upgrade, but I had noticed that the existing scavenge line from crankcase to rocker feeds while being a 3/8" bore is very thin walled and has previously flattened out on a bend. I will fit a new hose of proper dimensions to prevent that, but find I only have 3/8" I.D. hose rather than 7/16" I.D. hose which is needed to fit over the steel pipes at both crankcase and rocker feed points. The steel pipes are 3/8" I.D. which means they are closer to 7/16" O.D. and my 3/8" hose is not going to play ball. I keep forgetting about this quaint old custom of British bikes, and often the required size lines are kinda scarce.

Not today though, so the order has been made and I shall have it in a day or two max. The two rocker feed lines are all cracked and throwaway but I have those covered.

Now that I was stymied for a day I figured I might use the pause to fit the brake lever and get the rear brake completed and off the unfinished list. I dragged the Hyde stuff out of its particular box and spread things out. There were a pair of large rubber bobbins whose purpose totally eludes me, but the rest looks pretty self-explanatory.

The footpeg rubbers are pretty much past their best-by and the brake lever could do with some paint, but otherwise everything on this side looks pretty workable. I had to pull it all off again after the first fit, as the peg was not tight enough and the head of its bolt is sandwiched between the Hyde setup and the original engine mounting plate.

All good now.

That would allow the bleeding of the rear brake, so I cleaned up the rear disc pads and refitted them, added some fluid and they bled up AOK. I used to lower the caliper so as to have the bleed nipple at the very top, but lately I am getting good results without needing that step.

I repaired the rear brake light switch and adjusted the actuating screw, then a bit of rust treatment and a squirt or two of satin black got the pedal climate proof, plus a cleanup of the rear footrest mounting plate and that job is complete.

However, I found another finishing touch. Amongst my assorted rubber parts I found a pair of BSA pillion peg rubbers, which proved to be a perfect fit on the folding footpegs. The BSA logo is hardly noticeable on the front and back edges, but I guess they can claim some right to be there seeing the T160 borrowed the Rocket 3's slanting cylinders.

Fair play and all...

It can be seen that the wires for the brake light switch are not long enough to reach it, nor would they have reached the original, so I shall need to make up a pair of extended wires to make that work. Otherwise the wiring is gradually assuming its place amongst the general scheme of things as progress dictates.

Next I chose to complete the cylinder head assembly, most of which was only to adjust the valve clearances. When in the first stages of this I fit the six allen screws along the front edges of the rocker boxes without their alloy washers. These are then fitted before the covers go on after valves are set.

To my mild annoyance the very last screw decided to strip its thread as the tension reached what is needed to squash the washers out and seal potential oil leaks. Luckily though, it was the last one, as that can be helicoiled without removing the cylinder head.

Phew.!

Here we are tapping the thread for the helicoil, having used a few smaller drill bits to clean the old thread out then reach tapping size, and I placed a small screwdriver in the near thread to give me a guide for keeping the tap perpendicular. You can handle doing this in one plane, but not two at right angles simultaneously. I got her indoors to be my eyes and keep me parallel to the screwdriver until things were far enough underway that it would continue thus, while I concentrated on keeping it vertical.

It worked perfectly, so after cleaning the alloy rocker box gasket and applying new silicone sealant the rocker box went back on. Then all the head bolts got torqued in the correct sequence again and I adjusted all the valves, refitted the round inspection caps, then fitted the covers with their new gaskets. I do not use any sealant on the first fit, and wait until the engine has run to decide if they need any or not. If not I then give them a smear of grease so they will come off again when needed without ripping.

The rocker oil feed pipes were then trial fitted with their original copper washers, as I will need them to be in place when the oil lines join the mix. The two small lines that carry the oil into these pipes are shagged and will need replacing. When that is all getting its final fit I will also add the new copper washers that were included in the gasket set.

As the new length of oil line arrived today I began the hideous job of attaching the feed and scavenge lines replete with their respective protective springs to the two pipes which exit beneath the crankcase and between the lower frame tubes. There is bugger all manoeuvring space down there so everything has to be managed carefully and has to want to fit before it will. Happily it did, and I am now at the point where the lower clamps are fully tightened, but the last job will be to add a sturdy cable tie behind the clamps as an insurance that neither hose will be able to slide off unless they both do at the same time. I figure the chances of that are as slim as anyone could make them.

I had been pondering how I would be able to flush the oil cooler to ensure that no sparkly bits would enter the oil tank again. This needs to be done in the reverse direction to normal flow, as the internals of the cooler are quite restricted, and it would be counter-productive to risk forcing any crap further into the cooler rather than out of it. The oil lines are too neat a fit to make swapping them end for end, then doing what I do with every oil change. After draining the tank and primary, I refill them both with new oil. The scavenge line is then disconnected from the top of the oil tank and placed in an ice cream container. The engine is then started and the remainder of the old oil from the crankcase sump and the cooler is bled off while it is still quite warm.

And there you have it - of course.!

I will fit this cooler to another bike's scavenge line when I am changing its oil, and bleed two coolers for the price of one.! Only about 2 litres of oil will be wasted, where one usually is anyway. Bonus is - the oil will still be hot, and there is no shortage of pumping pressure available from the triple oil pump. I have two T160s that would benefit from an oil change right now, but I will use the one with the cheapie Castrol GTX rather than blow a few litres of expensive synthetic away... lol.

Today I began by completing the oil feed line at the tank and adding my cable tie to the two lines under the engine. The return line is also in place and the wiring loom is getting pegged as it finds its best places to be. Mostly done by copying my from-new T160 which still has all its wiring where the factory put it. In the photo the alternator wires can also be seen to have been extended, as have those for the rear brake light switch.

While the soldering kit is out I will also attend to the neutral light switch which has no wires at all attached to it, but I shall solder a pair on. The oil light switch has been connected, but I have yet to put a meter on it to make sure it works.

I then thought I would fit the new starter motor unit as it also has wiring which needs to be added to the plot while things are still accessible. That got me to the "spot the deliberate error" section. The shaft on the new starter is larger than the original Lucas one so it will not fit into the resident bush, one being imperial and the other metric. I pretty soon rejected the idea of pulling various cases off again and figured I should be able to open the bush up the required amount by careful drilling - hence the shaped business card in place to avoid swarf going into the clutch housing.

I had already digested all the fitting instructions that came with the starter and there had been no mention of the bush dimensions, nor is there any hint of what the starter is being fitted to - it reads like a "standard replacement" scenario. I had another poke in the box it came in and found a bag of mounting screws, along with a new bush, slightly more substantial but seemingly of the same O.D. as the original. Well, at least I will not have to be super careful with the drilling, as I will just be removing the old one rather than resizing it. The difference between the two bush I.D.s is only about 1/32", but this means the wall thickness of the new one is even less than the old one, and as can probably be seen was bugger all to begin with. I shall find a suitable drift to aid the fitting, and will also use a flame to warm the alloy housing first.

Oh well, things were obviously going too smoothly...

Meanwhile the oil pump is nearly ready to do its thing with some oil. There are enough hoses in place that any surplus oil can be taken care of easily enough, although I must remember to reconnect the oil pressure gauge or things could get a bit slippery. If I fit the rocker box feeds and blank the cooler hose some new oil will be forced into the rocker arms which will do them good, especially during the first start.

I have been trial fitting the left side rearsets so that I can plan the order of assembly proper. It is more compliant than t'other side as it is well spaced out from the engine mounting plate and there is enough space to work between the two. The only potential snag is to remember to insert the long bolt that secures the actual footpeg, as it is too long to be fitted after the Hyde mounting plate goes on. It would be advantageous to have a working gearlever in the near future, so that is the catalyst.

The drilling of the old starter bush began with the first bit I had that was bigger than the old shaft had been. I kept drilling while increasing the drill size by 1/64" each time, which allowed a controllable process. After drilling I measured each bit and compared it to the new shaft size. I got to the point where I knew that the next bit was going to give slight clearance, and after drilling I cleaned up and trial fitted the starter.

It glided into place even though it had refused on the previous size bit, so the clearance must now be less than 1/64", and I could not detect any lateral play at all. The bush still has even thickness walls right around, and will in fact now be the same dimensions as the new bush. I have decided to leave it in place, and the new bush can be a spare part for future use if in fact it is ever needed at all. The original bush in my clutch housing looks and performs as good as new, which figures as it is only under load for seconds per start.

I am allowing the bush to soak in oil overnight, and will grease the shaft before refitting the unit tomorrow.

It looks more compact than the Lucas, but promises to deliver more.

The starter got fitted after a final check of everything, and the job of wiring it began. There were a number of slight changes in wiring during T160 production, but as we are starting from scratch we should not be effected by that, more by the fact that this is not a factory starter unit.

The first problem was that the sub harness which connects the relay to the solenoid had the wrong connector on it where it picks up battery voltage at the solenoid. I was able to pry the offending terminal off and fit a lug which will fit the solenoid ok. Somewhat more concerning to an electrical guy is the fact that the two wires in this sub harness are less than half the cross section of the factory items. Hopefully the new starter might be a bit less hungry with its solenoid current.

Second annoyance today is totally related to non-standard bikes. The amount of wasted time involved in making things fit together that were never made to fit togather means that every deviation from a stock bike extends the time/labour content to a point of exasperation when so much time gets spent going backwards rather than forwards.

Obviously we are not going to all rebuild our bikes on a regular basis, but even maintenance can become a problem when your bike suddenly meeds the non-standard part which is now unavailable, because there are not going to be enough orders to warrant producing another batch.

I figure that my Hyde 830 uses mostly standard engine parts, but I have already had to have a part made as there were no suitable parts already in existence that would do the job.

The problem here is that the rather expensive starter cover - a very necessary part if you wish to avoid fuel fed electrical fires - was never intended to work with a 1000cc Hyde cylinder block. The base of the block extends further than a stock item, so the required clearance for the leading edge of the cover no longer exists.

I used a hacksaw to carefully create some more clearance just where that corner in the barrel base contacts the cover, but it is still not enough to allow the bolt hole to line up. There needs to be a sliver of the entire front edge removed, and I am not set up for much in the way of metalwork, so I may have to resort to a bench grinder for any serious result. I would rather be progressing with engine work whose success is pretty much guaranteed, but things have to move forward in unison or they begin to introduce complications simply due to access problems. The wiring work will become more difficult once the cover goes on, but it has to as the alternator lead passes through the side of the cover, and I cannot solder the bullet connectors on until the lead is through its grommet.

'Tis a trying time..

Now - I know that it takes me much longer to do detail jobs such as this, but I already know in my mind what it has to look like when its done, so I just have to keep going until I achieve that result. I probably spend a third of the total work time on any bike trial fitting and mucking about with things that don't fit to my satisfaction, and I do not charge that time to the owner, because I am not really working on their bike - I am working on it like it was mine.

Is that obsessive - of course it is - but I need to be happier with the final product than the owner is, or I couldn't really do this at all. For many years I would not, because I could see worse problems on the bike than the one I was being asked to fix, and I couldn't see the point. the whole thing is only ever going to be as good as the worst bit. Once people started saying "well if you think it needs doing - do it.." then I finally could. So every part of every bike has been looked at and or tested, in the limited mileage that I test them over, because the bit you didn't look at is the bit that has the imminent problem.

I like to imagine that there were people like me who worked at the factory in the early days, but once management turned into bean counters that whole philosophy could no longer survive.

So - after that mini-rant - I got the result I needed to get, that being it looks better than it did before I started, and even fits.

I had to remove about 1/16" right across the front edge and reshape the tapers at both sides, plus the bottom corner in the above photo had to be given a larger radius as it fouled on the crankcase. I looked at another T160 here and that corner was bent outwards for that very same reason.

I have a suspicion that all - or at least some - of the original covers had a thin spacer welded to the inside edge of the bolt hole in order to create a bit of clearance. I will put a washer in there if space allows, and glue it to the inside of the cover.

So there was space and I did fit the washer.

There is a piece of rubber which prevents the electric start from interacting with the top of the starter motor, and while that is on its way I cannot complete the installation, so I turned my attention to some other electrical stuff.

There is a ballast resistor needed as the coils are 6 volt, and that has been mounted beneath the battery tray. The new rectifier is where it belongs and has been connected. The flasher unit mounting is in place and I have a relay to mount where the condensers used to be, whose purpose is to provide the power for the Trispark ignition direct from the battery rather than going all the way up to the ignition switch and back, and through numerous connections which can cause voltage loss. The ignition switch will then only turn on the relay which is a tiny amount of current, leaving the harness free to do other things like power headlights better. The main purpose of the relay is to ensure that the electronic ignition gets as much voltage as possible while the starter motor is in use, because that sucks most of what the battery has, and some ignition systems fail to operate below a certain supply voltage.

As the relay makes an audible click when the ignition is turned on and off it makes a helpful faultfinder in the hopefully unlikely vent of power loss.

As I was unable to proceed further with that I attacked the tail light and rear indicator wiring. The indicator wires were rather vulnerable where they hang in midair so they got sleeved, some new rubber grommets and the wires extended with correct colour wire to meet the harness where it terminates against the rear subframe.

As the wires from the tail light were odd colours I had to pull the light apart to see who did what, and found that the wires at the lamp were in the correct colours - just not inbetween. That made sorting the connections much easier than reinventing the wheel, and will make any future work easier as the factory wiring diagram and the bike now agree.

I ran out of solder bullet connectors at this point, but they are coming with the starter rubber, so should be here today. I also bought some more of both single and double push-in connectors, as there are a zillion wires in the headlight that are going to need them. These old Lucas connectors do their job very well for many years, so they are a firm favourite with me, but like other bits are becoming harder to source. A major Auto Electrical outfit in Christchurch used to stock all these parts, but understandably have dropped them as demand has wound down over the years. We are most fortunate to have NZ bike parts suppliers who have filled the breach and even continue to add to their stock when available.

I next used the delay to trial fit the oil cooler in place, and immediately found that it was caught between the mounting and the exhaust rocker box cover. Of course. The block is taller with a stroked carnk, so whatever minimum clearance used to be there for the cooler has vanished. I looked at the mountings to see if I could create any improvement, because the soft alloy cooler will eventually wear away with engine vibes and they are hard to find replacements for.

The only possible relief I could see would be to drill the mounting bracket holes out from 5/16" to 3/8" so the brackets will move up a little around the bolt that holds them to the frame. Unfortunately one of the special bolts which holds the brackets to the clamps that wrap around the cooler had a nut that would neither tighten or undo, so I had to hacksaw through both nut and bolt to get the bugger out.

Figures..

So after a decent struggle, here is the cooler with its mounting brackets bored out enough that it can move 1/16" higher in the frame. Its not much, but enough to stop the contact taking place. I guess it will be necessary to remove the cooler from its mounts in order to check exhaust valve clearances, as it must have been before, but we should only need to do that once between here and the finished article.

There are special shouldered bolts which hold the brackets to the clamps, so that the bolts can not be overtightened and destroy the rubber mounts. Unfortunately only one bolt was the proper item and that was the one I had to hacksaw off, so a new pair will be fitted.

Meanwhile, the parts arrived today that enabled finishing the starter cover assembly, which now has its rubber insulator and the alternator leads are finally connected. The wiring underneath is complete but still has to be finished at the relay end. The cover looks a bit strange with a shorter motor lurking underneath, but that is a sign of the progress that has occurred in 50 years in the design of starter motors. Its lighter too...

Today's parts arrival also provided the missing connectors to complete the rear lights and indicators. I appreciate how compact the multi-pin plug was that the factory originally fitted, compared to the 5 bullet connectors. They are still available, but as the new loom had bullets already in place we shall not waste time and money restoring that feature.

At least this means that the bike is fully complete from here back now, so some things have gotten off the to-do list.

Continuing in the electrical vein I began sorting the headlight contents. The total lack of a right side switch assembly means that there will be a bit less clutter inside here compared to a stock bike, but I intend to find a pushbutton if possible for use near the throttle. I had considered using the headlight flasher button as a starter button, but then I found that the wiring was all in place for the flasher to work as intended so was having second thoughts.

What clinched it was thinking was that using horns and flashing headlights are uncommon and sudden events. It would be rather counter-productive to find that you had just operated the starter by mistake, especially at speed, so I reckon we need to put a button on the other side near the throttle to make it more intuitive.

It can be seen that the blue and blue-yellow wires with spade terminals are never going to reach the switch in the top of the headlight shell. This has been a recurring issue with the new loom, and I will need to add a couple of short extenders to make it happen. Their measurements seem to have been a bit flawed.

Next will be a bit of soldering on the indicator switch wires so they can mate with the loom on the other side of the headlight. The new bullets will only accommodate rather small wires, so I shall recover a few of the original soldered items which can be re-used and will allow the bigger wires we have to fit properly.

I replaced the two rocker feed oil lines so that I would be able to pump some oil as soon as I had reattached the oil pressure gauge. This also gave me the opportunity to replace the copper sealing washers which reside either side of the feed banjos and beneath the domed chrome nuts. They will leak if given any excuse, so they are tightened up quite thoroughly.

When it came to the oil pressure gauge I discovered we had a fail. The nature of the fittings with these gauges is that they compress as the final nut is tightened and bite into the rigid plastic fluid line. Unfortunately the line has been cut or snapped off the fitting and there is no way to re-use it. I have had a difficult job finding such fittings in the past and have had to import them from L P Williams in the UK. However, I shall try the local people who repair automotive instruments and see if they can come up with something.

Meantime I attached my oil pressure gauge instead, as I do need to measure the oil pressure from the first start.

In better news, I could now add oil to the tank and bleed the system. First the pump is wound around with the oil filter cavity cap removed, and this flushes the first section after the pump. The filter now goes in and gets buttoned up and the pumping continues. Just as I began to feel back pressure begin to build on the pump gear I heard it sucking the last of the oil from the tank, so I added another litre.

The pressure now began to build up immediately and my gauge registered 40psi - pretty good considering I was winding the gear at only about 60RPM. I then checked underneath with my meter, and sure enough the oil light switch had switched off. I could hear oil escaping the crankshaft bearings under the pressure, and I kept going until oil began to fist appear at the end of the return line where it would normally connect to the oil cooler. We now have a totally primed system, and a little into the rockers as well. When I test the electric start oil will also flow right through the cooler, which will push more into the rockers, so nothing is left to chance.

Some engines suffer their most dramatic accelerated wear during their first start, so it is well worth the effort, plus it serves as a timely alert if anything leaks.

From there I went to the oil cooler for its completion of bracketry. Both the clamps which fit around the cooler were fitted back to front, which makes it a bit harder to fit the bolt that mounts it to the frame, while also putting the nuts out in the front wheel spray causing them to rust in fairly quick time. So they got reversed and all the rubber mounts squared up. I probably should wire the reflectors on as well, as the glue that holds them on is well past its best-by date, and they disappear in an instant. This job is a bit less fiddly if done when the cooler is in place, so I will not panic at this point.

The cooler is now ready to receive its reverse oil flushing, for which I need a few gubbings set up outside so that everything is ready to go the moment I return on the donor bike and we thus get the added benefit of very hot oil.

We also need a fine day - not as guaranteed in late summer as you might think...

As the oil priming is complete it was time to assemble the primary drive, and to begin that I unpacked the cush drive from its carton and got it on the bench. I was pleased to note that the oil seal in the retaining nut had been fitted the correct way round during the last assmebly, and loctite had also been used within it. Both vital steps. The fact that a reasonable amount of oil had in fact made its way inside the clutch would suggest that the oil seal was no longer doing its job.

It seemed to me that this assembly had come in for attention in the not too distant mileage, just by its overall appearance, and the locking tabs had not weathered for a long period. This may indicate that the rubbers had been replaced not too long before the failure that took the bike out of service.

Then I spotted the "deliberate error"..?

What we are looking at is the rear of the cush drive. That radial bearing should be on the front, and takes the thrust loading when operating the clutch. Perhaps the dismantler just put it here so it remained with the rest of the assembly, although when I removed it there was a good coating of old oil keeping it stuck in place. If it was running like this for very long I would expect there to be some extra wear on the face where it should have been, which would now be running against a steel thrust washer - albeit well lubricated by the oil contained in the primary case.

Anyway, the current idea was to check the condition of the cush drive rubbers, so I should proceed with that as the most necessary agenda right now. As luck would have it, the rubbers were indeed quite new, so we may be lucky with all of the suggested scenarios.

So that got cleaned up and put back together with a clean bill of health. I must say - I was ready for something to go in our favour...

The face which the bearing should have been working against showed some quite visible wear, as many do, but there were no signs of distress such that it should not perform its task as well as required. I thus considered it to be time to throw it all into place, which meant checking that all previous parts had been fully tightened and locked in place where it is intended.

That gets us to here..

All that remains within the primary to complete it is the final tightening of the two main nuts, the front sprocket with its locking tab and the cush drive, which first needs its oil seal for the pullrod to be fitted. However, it is important to make sure that the primary chain alignment is within tolerance, so there needs to be a trial fit of the outer cover to get the cush drive sitting where it normally lives - against the radial bearing - before the alignment can be measured. So that comes next.

Meanwhile I soldered a pair of tails to the original neutral light switch, having made sure it functioned, and it is set to operate at least in a cold engine. I have found that these switches often need readjusting when the engine is hot, as normal practice is to avoid too much preload on the camplate in the gearbox by the switch as it makes gearchanging more difficult. For this reason I am leaving the wires disconnected for now, as once they are pressed into new bullet connectors they do not come apart easily, so best to get things adjusted under normal operating conditions before doing so.

The oil pressure light switch to the right is good to go as it switched back on some minutes after the oil pressure I supplied had bled off, so it is functioning normally thus far.

Happy with progress today.

As the wiring is proceeding front to rear it was time to fit the Trispark so its harness could join the fray. Before beginning this process I decided to check that the ignition coils were healthy, as one had already been replaced so at least one Lucas OEM had expired to date. The replacement item was on the centre cylinder and was of German manufacture. I have come across a lot of these type and they seem to be reliable enough, and are obviously being supplied locally.

I was glad I checked, as another Lucas coil was reading high on the HT side, and while I have no idea what effect that might have on its ability to produce a good spark, it is a certain sign that the coil is changing which usually means windings are misbehaving. As I had a good used coil from the same German company I fitted that and the old Lucas will find its way to the bin. Or maybe the scrappie.

The fact that we now have a working kickstart thanks to the primary chain being in place made it a cinch to move the engine to No.1 cylinder on its firing mark, checked by both the crankshaft drilling and the 'B' timing mark on the alternator rotor.

The rotor was easily moved from its previous position for the Boyer to the new measurement of 22mm between the dot and the centre of the forward stud hole, so got tightened there. The allen screws can bottom out in their threads and I had already decided to use the old Boyer version which worked better than the one supplied with the Trispark. Still, I tightened the screw without a washer until it would go no further, then counted the number of turns it had gone as I wound it out. Now I fitted the washer and counted the turns on the way in, and it tightened up 3/4 of a turn earlier, so I feel confident that it is properly tight. I have been caught out in the past when one came loose and the rotor moved, causing a trailer recovery from quite some distance, and I do not intend that to happen again. That one was down to the washer being too flimsy and buckling during the tightening, so it doesn't take much for them to loosen off in service even when you think they are probably not going to come out of the taper even if the bolt was not getting the best grip.

The unit now went in and is pinched at mid-adjustment until we get the elctrics working and I can use the LED to get the static timing spot-on.

The Trispark harness now got run all the way back to the battery tray area, with plenty cable ties securing it and all the other wiring going in the same direction. They provide a good length on this harness which can be seen tied to the underside of the main wiring harness and curving around just behind the new ignition relay.

All of the original coil wires in the main wiring harness are reconnected to the coils which only need one terminal per side, and the wires are all coloured as they are shown in the factory wiring diagram. Those same wires travel around the battery compartment and their other ends, which used to be connected to the condensers, can be made to exit just behind the accessory plate right behind the relay, where you can see four spade connectors sticking out.

There are five wires in the Trispark harness, four of which connect to the spade connectors, and the main power feed, which connects to the relay. The connectors then get tucked in behind the accessory plate and can easily be accessed if needed by removing the battery. As I spend a lot of time faultfinding electrics I know how pleasing it is when the wiring diagram and the actual wiring tell the same story.

Electrics continued to be the main course with the final installation of both the ballast resistor and the starter relay, and also involved the continued use of the original wiring wherever possible. The ballast resistor resides beneath the centre of the battery tray, with the starter relay exactly where the factory intended on the front lower edge, so all the necessary wires were well placed to reach their intended target, as were the wires from the starter which operate the solenoid.

The flasher unit looked as if it might collide with the sidecover, even though it is where it should be, but a trial fit of the cover showed that they would co-exist happily. The ignition relay and the rectifier are all complete and the only remaining task is to join the Trispark wires to the coil feeds. That will have this area sewn up, although there are still a gazillion wires in the headlight area to play with...

For some mechanical light relief I tried to trial fit the outer primary case, which I then found had to be fitted before the rearset peg mount, so that came off again. with the cover finally on I pulled the clutch assembly outboard to its normal running position then whipped the cover off again to check the primary chain alignment, which was very slightly angled inward at the rear sprocket. That is exactly as it should be as it will be brought outwards by the thickness of the cover gasket on final assembly.

I had marked the position of the gearchange foot on the cush drive face through the small aperture in the outer cover, which is there for timing the gearchange cross shaft. When I took the cover off it was apparent that the timing was out by one tooth, which is also one tooth of the spline at the gearbox end, so I loosened the nuts at both ends and made that adjustment, after which everything lined up spot-on.

The original philips head screws around the primary cover were in fairly rough condition, and despite running a die nut down each one they were a bit tight when fitting. It turned out that there was also one missing, so I paused at that point.

Checking the parts stockists for these screws showed that they were available, but at quite a price. By comparison, a set of allen screws for most of all the engine covers would cost about 1/3 of the price of the original screws for just this case.

I made a command decision...

While waiting for that to bear fruit I continued by fitting a clutch cable to see how it fell into place. Not very well actually. The handlebar design means it is not possible to arrange a very gentle bend up front, which often leads to a fairly heavy clutch action. We shall see. The primary end also had some issues, mainly because some of these cables have abutments which are in no way related to the adjuster they are intended to locate in.

Besides allowing the cable to wander about this also encourages oil to leak around the entry point, which only causes owners of "other" makes to criticise your bike for having the "usual" oil leaking habits. This shits me to the point that I take extreme care to try and eliminate all such issues before they happen.

So I decided to make a reducer which would make the cable a firm fit. Unfortunately the reducer was too small to allow the oversize nipple on the end of the cable - which would not fit into its swivel in the operating lever either - to pass through, so that had to be reduced as well.

So here are the finished pieces before assembly. The reducer sleeve was made from a large electrical terminal and required 1/64" to be drilled out of the adjuster to accept it. Being made of copper it was easy to work with, and I opened the I.D. of it the bare minimum so that everything is as firm as it can be. Yes - the nipple now just fits through it and also locates better where it lives.

There are a variety of opinions regarding the size of the three ball bearings which sit behind the clutch operating lever. They began life as 1/4", but owners have experienced some improvement when using larger balls up to 7mm in size. I trial fitted a set of these in this case, but found that they caused the pullrod to sit futher enough outboard as to risk colliding with the inside of the cover plate.

Once when riding my T160 in Brisbane I was sitting at some lights when suddenly I was underway. I thought someone had run into the back of me, but there was no other traffic, and I soon discovered that I could no longer free the clutch. Upon inspection I found that one of the original 1/4 balls had neatly split in half. The nearest size I could find nearby to replace it was 6mm, which is slightly smaller. To my delight the clutch seemed noticeably improved, which may mean that the faulty ball had already been in trouble for some time, but whatever the reason, the 6mm balls are still in there and I have a delightful clutch, so I have fitted the same in this bike, with the bonus that it provides the greatest clearance between the pullrod and the cover that can be had.

Here's hoping...

So a trial fit was in order, and the cable is nicely secure, although not yet fitted properly as the adjuster is missing from the clutch lever on the bars, so I now need to find one of those. The cover plate cannot be fitted while the rearsets are in place, so they cannot be finalised and adjusted until all of the above has happened.

Spot the shiny new allen screws which now adorn this side of the cases. They are such a breeze to tighten - pinched but not strained - and it is nice to be able to do so without surface damage such as that experienced by philips head screws once they have been in and out a few times. The countersunk head screws are not supplied with the kit so the originals remain in place.

The wiring is now all complete in the battery tray area and attention will move to the headlight next. I have received the new switch which will be fitted next to the twistgrip and restores both killswitch and starter button features - once I have figured it out that is..

The new switch had some extra wires whose purpose is unknown, but they were hanging out the side of the harness, so they got cut off. I used a meter to ascertain which of the four remaining wires went to switch and button, then trial fitted it to see how the wires would perform. First discovery was that the "compatible with 7/8" bars" did not apply to our bars, so I opened it up and found that it was not fitting together correctly due to bits of plastic colliding with other bits of plastic, so a round file cured that. With the switch unit now in position it was obvious that the wires were too short apart from one. so followed an "extending wires" process which was today's main theme.

Other wires which also needed extending were the three that came from the small aftermarket indicator switch on the bars, and I was able to use the original coloured wires so any troubleshooting in future will be easier to tackle.

Once those wires were complete I tested the switch to find that the right side indicators had no output, so that switch came apart too and I removed 16 years worth of rust then oiled it, after which it decided to behave.

All the extended wires then had bullet connectors soldered on and were fitted into the connectors that will hopefully allow them all to do their jobs reliably. I took some care to keep the bulk of the connectors in the lower part of the headlight shell, as the headlamp plug sits well back into the centre of the shell.

The final two extensions in here were the two which connect to the switch in the top of the headlight, as they had also been shortchanged.

But wait - we are not out of the woods yet.

Before fitting the connectors the meter was used again to ensure that the right switches were about to connect to the right wires in the main harness. While they all turned on and off happily enough, it became apparent that the new "Run/Off" killswitch is on when it should be off and vice versa. Strange that there was no mention of that in the blurb.! I am torn between two options now. Either I pull it apart again to see if I can reverse the sense of the switch, or we leave it as-is and treat it as an anti-theft measure...

The good news is that the headlight wiring is nearly complete, with just the plug for the actual headlight to be connected after its tiny wires have been upgraded. That means I shall be moving upstairs to the ignition switch area where another nest of wires are waiting to be sorted.

Strangely enough, there may be some wires that need extending in that lot too, as the light inside the oil pressure gauge was connected to stuff that no longer exists..

After a brief interruption due to life on the planet, I got back to the wiring side of things. The oil gauge light wires got extended and mated to the wires going to the speedo and tacho lighting first, then the ignition switch and idiot light panel got assembled before the clocks went back in for their final fit.

While untested as yet, this is the last of the wiring work except for the actual headlight itself.

The tacho drive came apart to be cleaned and lubed, and I took the opportunity to add an O ring inbetween the input shaft bushes while it was apart. I had a previous T160 with an annoying oil leak from the tacho drive and this was the cure I invented for that, which is still working. Seeing it was apart anyway I figured it was a good mod to apply.

With that fitted the tacho cable got added and both gauges had their cables attached as they went in. Unfortunately there is a brake fluid line which now argues with the tacho cable on full lock, so I will have to undo that cable again and switch it to the other side of the brake line.

Always another narky problem...

Final move today was to install the clutch cable at the lower end prior to fitting it into the handlebar lever and adjusting it. However, with the tight bend it suffers at the steering head the cable was quite stiff to operate. I straightened the cable to see how much better it was when straight, only to find it was exactly the same. I think it needs some light oil down the inside of the cable.

I do this by cutting a bottom corner off a small sealastrip plastic bag, pushing the cable in through the cut corner then pvc taping the bag to the cable. Then you can half fill the bag with 3-in-1 oil and retain the cable overnight in a vertical position while the oil all runs down the length of the cable.

No mess Charlie.!

Actually, the oil disappears while you watch it, then I add a little engine oil just to be sure it retains as much as possible. The light oil can be felt on the cable down in the clutch operating lever dept within an hour which signifies that the cable has no restrictions.

With that done I fitted the cable to the handlebar lever after greasing the lever pivots and the threads on the adjuster, although I think that the adjuster will remain in the fully in position until the cable and clutch have done a few miles. The lever action has improved a lot with all of the above, and the clutch is set to free up at half travel which is my normal setting prior to any test runs.

With the clutch adjusted I was able to do a final test that the pullrod did not interact with the cover plate with the lever fully in, and that was all good. I leave the finger springs and holding bracket out of the mix down at the operating lever - anything that makes the clutch action lighter is to be encouraged.

With the cover and its gasket in place the rearsets and gearchange linkage could now also be fitted up. It is a shame that the gearchange on the rearsets seems to introduce a bit of vagueness to the gearchanging action compared to the standard setup, though as I have yet to experience it under use that may just be my imagination.

Next job is to try and restore the original oil pressure gauge line, either by using a new olive I was able to source, or better still, to recover the original olive by melting the remains of the old line out of its tiny recess by use of a gas flame, as it is a more robust and elegant solution. After I go get a new propane bottle of course...

After a more thorough inspection of the original olive it became apparent that all the propane in the Hormuz Strait was not going to revive it, and it was also discovered that an intermediate joint in the oil line to the gauge had exactly the same olives as the one I had been able to source. That made the decision easy. New olive fitted and the line secured to the oil gallery, which meant that the exhaust system could now be fitted.

When I say "could be fitted" I mean it would be appropriate. Actually getting the thing to go together was another matter. This is a "Legend" style such as Les Williams designed, on which the two centre header pipes now siamese into the outer headers just aft of the lower bends, but this introduces a real fiddle when trying to coax the centre pipes into the one-into-two alloy manifold in the centre exhaust port.

The final recipe was to have the outer headers only just sitting on the outer edge of their stubs, the inner headers resting in the manifold while it floated in midair, then wriggling the whole lot rearwards while forcing - that would be a good word - the manifold to go back into the port while the rear end of the centre pipes enter the outers simultaneously.

I had wondered why the exits from the manifold were quite enlarged, and now I see that they have to be or you would never get it to fit at all.

The mufflers are not really mufflers at all. They are amplifiers, being only a steel outer with no internals at all, although a hole at the outer end suggests that baffles were once fitted, or could be. This does not bode well for test running the beast around the neighbourhood, although I remember when I lived in Diamond Harbour and rode my T160 to work in the Port of Lyttelton - 17 scratchy miles away - I would sometimes leave my blackcap mufflers off for the trip, just as a special treat. Unfortunately, the local law do not seem as attracted to the sound of a full noise triple as we are...

Well - they are, but for less pleasant reasons.

Anyway, these muffler look-alikes have an entry hole that is larger than the header exit pipes, and have no side slits which would allow them to compress inside their clamps, so I shall need to use some brass shim to fill the space between the two, or they will rattle around until something breaks. The blackcaps used to crack above the mounting bosses if the clamps to the headers were not tight enough, as the weight of the mufflers made them roll around the pipes, stressing the welds until they surrendered. At least these aint heavy.

I have begun work on the carbs, which still have some form of soup inside them, so will need an extensive cleanout. The first thing I discovered when removing bits is that these feature examples of both the largest and smallest fuel delivery pipes in common use. I consider the braided hoses as nasty in the location they reside, as strands of stainless keep attacking your hands every time you work near them.

The other mechanism could have been a filter, but as it cannot be opened I guess it is just a manifold, but it sure isn't going to let a lot of fuel through. You wouldn't oughta be riding a 1000cc triple without both fuel taps turned on, let alone with pipes this small between the tank and the carbs, especially as both ends of the manifold feed only one of the two separate lines to the carbs each.

Major design flaw and potential piston eater here.

It can be seen that the carbs are all linked together to share fuel, so my idea would be to simply take each line from the taps straight to the carbs, which have a larger fuel entry than the manifold does by quite some margin.

Meanwhile I reviewed my ideas about flushing the oil cooler. Considering the length of time it has been sitting it would seem appropriate to at least use some type of solvent as a first measure. While I always flush oil through the oil cooler then discard it after first start, there may be more sludge in this one which might need more encouraging to leave.

So I chose petrol, being the cheapest version, and poured a little over 300ml in via funnel and hose until it left at the other end. That then sat overnight, after which it got some vigorous shaking then was blown out into a car sump to observe the contents.

Pleasingly there was very little to the tune of bugger all sparkle to be seen, although the dents and scratches in the bottom of the sump make it rather unclear, and certainly only tiny specs which would not be prone to lodging inside the finning. I cleaned it all up and proceeded to squeeze it into its normal space.

I removed the exhaust rocker box cover to make it easier to shoehorn in, and then tightened everything up in the order the bracketry demands. I was pleased to find that my minor mods to the mountings had created some clearance, and it may even be possible to remove the cover without loosening the cooler in future. We will certainly be finding out soon enough.

The horn was an easy task to refit next, and the wiring managed to just reach and no more. There was a missing tacho cable support bracket that keeps the cable away from the exhaust system, so one of those got fitted as the rocker box cover went back on.

Next job was to fill various oils, starting with the gearbox, where I use a synthetic 75W-90 to great effect. I place newspaper underneath to see if any drops dare to appear, and as they did not I gave the rear wheel a number of turns to spread the lube around, then a number of strokes on the kickstart lever to do the same. On about the fourth kick there was a distinct 'sprong' noise and the lever gained some extra friction. It also now parked at a rather low angle.

The only two options that seem likely are that the new return spring just broke, or it has managed to come off the peg which holds the outer end of the spring. I am now half way through draining the new oil out again. The drain plug is inaccessible due to the exhaust collector, so I removed the camplate plunger instead. Next the rearsets and the outer gearbox case will have to be removed, so I decided to sleep on it instead.

Two steps forward, one step back...

So everything came off, and finally the outer cover itself, to reveal that the spring had managed to escape its retaining pin. The pin was a lot smaller than the hole in the end of the new spring, but less so in the original spring, which had a better formed loop on the tail end. The old spring is also of greater cross section, so needs less preload to give the correct amount of parking tension.

Regardless of which spring goes back in, there needs to be a sleeve on the pin to reduce the free play between the two, as this seems to have encouraged the escape plan. I now need to remove the kickstart lever so that everything can be worked on more easily.

I am tiring of going backwards, but you don't know until you know...

The kickstart lever came off without a fuss, much in thanks to the work I did on the cotter pin during the assembly process. They are always in need of some cleaning up, but we do benefit when carefully fitted parts need to come apart again unexpectedly, as they do so in a compliant fashion.

I could not find any form of sleeve I could fit to the locating pin, which is only 3/16" but fits in the considerably larger loop in the spring. Having chosen to re-use the new spring I instead closed the loop up a bit in the vice, which worked well enough to seem it would not easily escape again. I then experimented with various preloads of the spring before being happy that it would park the lever firmly without offering too much resistance to being kicked through its complete range of travel.

Something had to be responsible for the spring dislocation and I am not taking chances, so avoiding any risk of coil binding of the spring has been a necessary consideration, as it has one extra coil compared to the old spring.

So here we are all back together and awaiting the adding of oil for the second time. I intend to give it plenty of action before I put the rearsets back on - just a kind of insurance policy you might say.

I also located the source of a rubbing noise that had happened when I was first kicking it over in gear to spread the oil around. The rear wheel has been changed to an 18", and the monster 120/90 tyre rubs against the chain for part of a revolution. Not sure if the rim is buckled or the tyre not seated on the rim all the way round. The inner edge of the chainguard has been hacked away to give clearance in the same area, so I will just make minimum clearance by altering the wheel alignment. The tyre looks pretty new, so it may respond to some cornering work and wear down a tad.

Reckon I would have stuck with a 19" and just replaced it more often. I have read reports from owners who had suffered some poorer steering performance after going to 18" rear, and the production narrower front than rear rim setup was originally found to cause some weaving issues over 70mph, as the rear tyre kept trying to align with the front, and which led to Les Williams adopting a WM3 front rim on the race bikes and the Legend. I was lucky to get his last set of 19" WM3 Borranis in 1990 and have never had the slightest issue with the frame performance.

So thats nice...

Well - what a difference a day can make.

Having refilled the gearbox oil and had no leaks, and then used the kickstart multiple times to both oil things and check the spring action, it all seems to be happy in that department, so the rearsets went back on.

I had run into problems with the left muffler(?) as it was proving to have a too large inlet to allow successful shimming of the joint. I decided to add some thicker shim material but could not retain it while attempting to fit the muffler, so decided to use an old jubilee clip to hold it. Looking in the 'old jubilee clip' box, which also contains various eahaust bits, I found that I had a brand new pipe reducer. It looked about the right size but surely would not be, but might give a better result. Well - it was a perfect fit in the muffler, and I noted that a similar reducer had already been inside the right muffler, so now both sides were able to be made to fit properly.

Next came the best thing you can ever remove from a bike. The awful braided fuel lines had to go for a number of reasons, but I was keen to re-use the fuel tap connections, as I had a cunning plan to come up with a much better fuel feed arrangement.

I pulled all the float bowls off the carbs and was pleased to find no fuel residue whatsoever, so it seems that the light oily stuff inside the wrapping may have been some WD40 or similar which has helped to keep things in great shape.

I trial fitted the carb assembly and noted that the jubilee clips had really long tails, and being stainless the ends take no prisoners but plenty skin. So they all got shortened in the cleanup process. The outer pair had already been done and I had just marked the centre lengths when this pic was taken.

The carbs would need to be in place before I could work out the plumbing, so after all the clips were reworked they went back on and I recovered the fuel tank from the loft so it could join the mix to show me where the fuel taps were going to end up.

Happily the fuel taps proved to be exactly where I wanted, but trial fitting the pipes to the taps showed that they ended up sitting on top of the carb inlet rubbers, so would in fact exert quite a downward pressure once the rear tank mount got bolted down if I was to route them as I wanted. This is down to the fact that the BAP taps are longer in the body than original types.

That led to putting all of the parts on the bench for a serious perusal.

The black manifold was part of the original setup, but as all the hose fittings are only 1/8" I.D. I decided this was not good enough. As I am familiar with the internals of BAP fuel taps I know that they also have a lesser flow delivery than original style taps. This bike's original fuel tap spigots are only 5/32", so it has enjoyed a rather meagre supply of fuel in its past life, and I can only imagine running on one tap would have been a bit like Russian roulette.

There are a pair of new T160 fuel tap spigots in the pic for comparison, which are 1/4" I.D. as are the fuel inlets on the Mikuni carbs, so that is the best combination of lines that could be implemented to avoid any over-hot pistons should much full throttle come into play, but more to the point, single tap operation would be reliable so the reserve feature could be useful again.

So, my plan is to replace the BAP taps with originals, which you can look right through when they are open, so there is no better flow than that. Original spigots are available with 90 degree bends so they will be used and each will connect directly to the two carbs which have fuel inlets, but I plan to route the lines under the tank and down to their respective carbs, which is not only pleasing to look at, but keeps the lines downhill all the way.

I also managed to fit a rubber buffer to the sidestand to park against, and have soldered the new wires to the headlight connector in preparation for that to be completed when I find some bullets to solder on their ends.

End of play today looks like this...

My work routine has been hijacked over the past week due to mates visiting from Perth, so as they are leaving tomorrow I should be able to push ahead with some extra time to do so.

Meanwhile I have spent some very cool time totally destroying my Sprint rear tyre on some demanding roads.

Good for the soul - not so much the pockets...

 

 

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