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September 22, 2013

Finished!

[Click pics for a larger view]

This project is essentially done.  In spite of a few setbacks this weekend, I got the Daytona started today.  First, when I went to set the valve clearance, I realized that one of my pushrods had slipped out of place.  Probably happened when I took the spindles out to groove them.  So off came the exhaust rocker box.  

The next job was to get the bike out of my basement shop so I could try to fire her up.  It was tricky, because there were a few stairs involved (going up), but with the help of my wife, a friend, and a winch, we got the job done.  Before I did that, though, I took some pics in the same location as some of the "before" pics.  ("After" is on the right.):







So today was the day to get her going.  I put in all the fluids, and after tightening a couple of drain plugs, there were no leaks.  The first hint of trouble came when I opened the fuel tap and had some dripping.  After tightening the hose clamps, fuel was still dripping from the bowl vent on the left carb--a sure sign of a stuck float, so off came the carb.  It was some gasket sealer that got on the float spindle and wouldn't let it rotate freely.  Got it put back together with a home made gasket.

Then I blew the fuse by shorting the negative terminal to the seat stay when hooking up the supply wire.  Luckily, I had the original fuse in the old holder.  
With all this sorted out, I did a static sync and rough carb setting, and kicked it.  It started on the third kick.  I anxiously waited for oil pressure. and after 10 or 15 seconds got scared and shut it off.  I double checked my oil plumbing, and sure enough, I'd stupidly reversed the feed and return lines.  I know I'd visually checked this before, but the two hoses were crossed over behind the swing arm gusset where I couln't see them, and I could only tell by feeling.  So, had to drain the oil, switch the hoses, and try again.  Another nervous few seconds, and the oil light went out.

I ran it up and down the driveway a few times, and while she doesn't run as smooth as I know she can, she had a thrilling amount of power.  I'm sure final tuning and timing will sort everything out, but I called it a day today pretty happy with the progress.  A couple of pics after the first ride:




Epilog

Triumph's parts catalog lists around 2000 parts for this bike.  A check of my receipts shows that I replaced a little over 400 of them.  All of the others were either painted, plated, or at least cleaned.  The 2000 parts  includes some fairly complex assemblies under a single part number, like the instruments, so the true number is larger.

Here is a pic of all the parts I replaced:



Together, they weigh about 82 pounds, so whether I go by number of parts or by weight, I figure about 75-80% of the bike is still original.  

A couple of people who have seen the before and after pictures have commented on the total transformation.  My reply was "Well, it's nothing that five years and $4000 can't do."

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Comments to:  elhollin1@yahoo.com