Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Shell Pink 45
Nate's 45 before it had Cossack's dress? Not likely... it's not Burgundy Mist. Could be Fender Shell Pink though.
Magneto Unit
Posted on JJ by Classic Cycles. A unit Triumph with a pre-unit magneto.
"The cover was made when the cases were welded up. You take the "ear" off of a pre-unit set of cases where the mag bolts on and carefully weld it into place on the unit set of cases. So the gears line up and all that. Then weld the timing cover up to match it."
Pretty cool.
"The cover was made when the cases were welded up. You take the "ear" off of a pre-unit set of cases where the mag bolts on and carefully weld it into place on the unit set of cases. So the gears line up and all that. Then weld the timing cover up to match it."
Pretty cool.
As the Composite Material Truns...
Some progress! One of the vendors selling Herald bearings on eBay actually responded. Thanks Mr Britpartssource:
"Hi, OK...according to the Vandervell catalogue these rod bearings are for crankshaft diameter 41.275 mm to 41.287mm and in inches it is 1.6250 to 1.6255" for STANDARD Size."
The standard Triumph T100 journal is (I think mine is .010-IIRC):
=! match. Vandervell catalog... Some guys have all the cool stuff.
UPDATE - More from Britpartssource
...The 3 entries we have for the Triumph motorcycle in the Vandervell catalogue go back from 1955 on (not 1951)...the Tiger T100A is from 1957 on and the size is 1.4375", vandervell set# VP68..and the number on the actual shell is 2312M...Not that we have any of these bearings but I figured I have the catalogue out...The VP 243 set is for Austin and the size is 1.4379"...I looked under BSA Motorcycle Starfire 350cc and that is size 1.4375" (Closer) and is vanderville part # VP68, same as the Tiger T100A. Matchless and Norton cycles are both larger journals.
The set you originally asked on (VP421) for the Herald has the VP number on the shell as 2614M but the size is wrong.
As far as I know the Vandervell catalogue is not online...we treat ours like gold!
Good luck!
Mimi
"Hi, OK...according to the Vandervell catalogue these rod bearings are for crankshaft diameter 41.275 mm to 41.287mm and in inches it is 1.6250 to 1.6255" for STANDARD Size."
- britpartssource
The standard Triumph T100 journal is (I think mine is .010-IIRC):
| 1 7/16 | 1.4375 | 36.5125 |
=! match. Vandervell catalog... Some guys have all the cool stuff.
UPDATE - More from Britpartssource
...The 3 entries we have for the Triumph motorcycle in the Vandervell catalogue go back from 1955 on (not 1951)...the Tiger T100A is from 1957 on and the size is 1.4375", vandervell set# VP68..and the number on the actual shell is 2312M...Not that we have any of these bearings but I figured I have the catalogue out...The VP 243 set is for Austin and the size is 1.4379"...I looked under BSA Motorcycle Starfire 350cc and that is size 1.4375" (Closer) and is vanderville part # VP68, same as the Tiger T100A. Matchless and Norton cycles are both larger journals.
The set you originally asked on (VP421) for the Herald has the VP number on the shell as 2614M but the size is wrong.
As far as I know the Vandervell catalogue is not online...we treat ours like gold!
Good luck!
Mimi
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Decker Garage
This is a photo Jeff Decker posted recently. It looks just like my garage. Cole Foster is always dumping his bikes off at my house too...
Monday, July 4, 2011
Tiger Engine Update
Saturday I took my engine down to Craig Congleton to have him look it over. Craig does lots of work for local AHRMA racers and has several cool bikes in his own right. Below is a picture of his Benelli 250 racer.
Craig seemed surprised how good the overall condition of my engine is. I then spent most of the rest of the afternoon using my long forgotten machinist skills to measure and re-measure everything. Almost everything is on the upper limits of acceptable wear. Assuming I go for a pretty good rebuild rather than a perfect build I think I may be able to get away with main bearings, rod bearings and piston rings.
So how did I waste the rest of my weekend? I mentioned previously my dilemma with the mystery rod bearing inserts. I pulled a shell out and found a mfg logo and 3 characters of a part #, "****14M". The relief for the rod bolts goes right through the bearing number.
Eventually I was able identify the logo, bearing manufacturer Vandervell. I've gotten no where on the " 14M". Other than the relief for the rod bolts the bearings do not appear to have been modified.
Several Internet forum searches mention using Austin bearings:
They look the same. Perhaps "Vandervell XXX14M" is a legacy part number? I'd just order a set but I can't find specs for them anywhere. I have absolutely no idea if I need STD, 10+, 20+. If you happen to have access to old Vandervell bearing catalogs, A30/Seven/Morris Minor manuals or have any other clever ideas I'd love your input. I've started trying to contact some of the places selling NOS bearings for specs but haven't gotten too far as yet.
UPDATE - As if anyone actually cares, based on the fragment of Vandervell bearing number I had to work with I now believe the donor was a 1954-61 Triumph Herald (803cc or 948cc). The most current part number was VP421. The original Vandervell number on the bearing would have been VP R2614M.
The Herald bearings look to be much more challenging to scare up than the Austin bearings. The engine displacements are the same and the crankshafts look nearly identical but I don't believe the Triumph engine was built by Austin. It would be nice to know real-world dimensions (STD, .010, .020) for either of them.
Craig seemed surprised how good the overall condition of my engine is. I then spent most of the rest of the afternoon using my long forgotten machinist skills to measure and re-measure everything. Almost everything is on the upper limits of acceptable wear. Assuming I go for a pretty good rebuild rather than a perfect build I think I may be able to get away with main bearings, rod bearings and piston rings.
So how did I waste the rest of my weekend? I mentioned previously my dilemma with the mystery rod bearing inserts. I pulled a shell out and found a mfg logo and 3 characters of a part #, "****14M". The relief for the rod bolts goes right through the bearing number.
Eventually I was able identify the logo, bearing manufacturer Vandervell. I've gotten no where on the " 14M". Other than the relief for the rod bolts the bearings do not appear to have been modified.
Several Internet forum searches mention using Austin bearings:
- Austin A30, Austin Seven, Austin Countryman (1952-56 with 803cc engine)
- Morris Minor and Morris Traveller (52-56 with 803cc engine)
They look the same. Perhaps "Vandervell XXX14M" is a legacy part number? I'd just order a set but I can't find specs for them anywhere. I have absolutely no idea if I need STD, 10+, 20+. If you happen to have access to old Vandervell bearing catalogs, A30/Seven/Morris Minor manuals or have any other clever ideas I'd love your input. I've started trying to contact some of the places selling NOS bearings for specs but haven't gotten too far as yet.
UPDATE - As if anyone actually cares, based on the fragment of Vandervell bearing number I had to work with I now believe the donor was a 1954-61 Triumph Herald (803cc or 948cc). The most current part number was VP421. The original Vandervell number on the bearing would have been VP R2614M.
The Herald bearings look to be much more challenging to scare up than the Austin bearings. The engine displacements are the same and the crankshafts look nearly identical but I don't believe the Triumph engine was built by Austin. It would be nice to know real-world dimensions (STD, .010, .020) for either of them.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
C@D Report
I hadn't seen hide nor hair of Knucklehead Steven in a couple of months so I called him yesterday. He just wrapped up the 1934 HD VL he's been working on for a couple of years. We agreed to meet up and run it up to C@D.
She's quite a looker. I rode it a little too (the engine's not even broken in yet!). Nice bike.
Michael Breeding made it out for her maiden voyage too. Looks like the '38 UL hasn't totally displaced the '39 Chief. Word is the U is currently having the motor freshened.
Michael brought me a surprise gift. The small book has a copyright date of 1947. Speaking of copyright Michael mentioned that Floyd Clymer (of Clymer manuals fame) did a little time for mail fraud. Apparently you can't just reprint British manuals and call them your own... Pretty cool little piece of history. Thanks Mike.
Floyd had good taste in motorcycles though.
Wes showed up with his '70 TR6 along with a coworker riding the '69 Shovelhead he's owned for like 25 years. I hadn't seen Wes in at least a couple of months either. We had a pretty strong Meriden Triumph riding group last summer. We'll have to re-stoke that.
All in all a pretty good day (would have been better if Justin was around, he's off collecting doo rags in Sturgis).
Hopefully next time I'll get the memo when we're supposed to color coordinate motorcycles. I thought motorcyclists were supposed to be too superstitious to ride green motorcycles...
She's quite a looker. I rode it a little too (the engine's not even broken in yet!). Nice bike.
Michael Breeding made it out for her maiden voyage too. Looks like the '38 UL hasn't totally displaced the '39 Chief. Word is the U is currently having the motor freshened.
Michael brought me a surprise gift. The small book has a copyright date of 1947. Speaking of copyright Michael mentioned that Floyd Clymer (of Clymer manuals fame) did a little time for mail fraud. Apparently you can't just reprint British manuals and call them your own... Pretty cool little piece of history. Thanks Mike.
Floyd had good taste in motorcycles though.
Wes showed up with his '70 TR6 along with a coworker riding the '69 Shovelhead he's owned for like 25 years. I hadn't seen Wes in at least a couple of months either. We had a pretty strong Meriden Triumph riding group last summer. We'll have to re-stoke that.
All in all a pretty good day (would have been better if Justin was around, he's off collecting doo rags in Sturgis).
Hopefully next time I'll get the memo when we're supposed to color coordinate motorcycles. I thought motorcyclists were supposed to be too superstitious to ride green motorcycles...
Friday, July 1, 2011
Suzuki GT550
Suzuki GT550 - 0 miles. Cool and tragic at the same time. I think I'll buy it and ride it to coffee on Sunday.
1952 Trophy
Lifted from the Southsiders-MC blog. I seem to have some sorta Trophy theme this week. The Rockerbox looks like a super cool shop. Like the "low compression" pistons.
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