After much pondering regarding the seat arrangement I concluded that a wooden base rather than a metal base would be more practical. It’s a lot easier to fasten material to wood rather than metal with staples being the obvious choice. As the budget is severely depleted and there are still a few minor bits needed I had to raid my workshop to find some suitable material. In the end I found some 9mm thick marine ply that I could double up to make a substantial base. Each piece was marked out, made twice and then all the bits were glued up with waterproof PVA. It was all then screwed together with far more screws than are strictly necessary, It will be left to dry for a day or so before I start applying numerous coats of varnish, I don’t want it swelling or delaminating if it gets wet.
It is loosely in place at the moment just to make sure it all lines up, which it does, I am rather pleased with it now and confident it will turn in to something good once the foam and PVC covering are added. I shall converse with the lady that is doing the job before deciding whether to go for fancy stitching or buttons.
In the mean time I have ordered the stuff I need to do the clutch cable and I have also ordered a front brake pipe of the correct length – I don’t have the kit to make one. While waiting for those to arrive I shall have a look at the rear light and see if I can get that finished. I must get some exhaust pipe in the next two days as the country is set to shut down again in another three days, I don’t want to risk things being held up through bad forward planning.
I have repainted the tank yet again, this time I have used all Halfords products and the job looks to have gone well. They do a petrol resistant lacquer specifically for motorcycle tanks so I have used that. It hasn’t got a brilliant finish out of the can but it should flatten off nicely. It says on the can to do a max of 3 coats fifteen minutes apart and then leave for 2 days before allowing petrol near it and 2 weeks before applying cutting compound. Fortunately I am in no hurry so I will make it 3 weeks and then will give it a going over with 1200 wet n dry followed by cutting compound and polish.
It is now the first day of the second coronavirus lockdown so I spent the morning listing a load of exhausts for sale and after the postman had been I set to with a few jobs on the dog. The foam air filters arrived so I fitted those, they were a very tight foot on the carbs but with a bit of tyre fitting soap appliied they went on ok, while I was at it I connected the throttle cables up too. The cables are a bit longer than I would like but as they were free I considered them ideal for the job. If I find a pair about 75mm shorter I will swap them over.
Another thing that came today was a 130cm long braided brake hose for the front brake. I was looking in to kits to make custom ones but this was about 8 quid brand new including delivery so it didn’t seem worth fannying about. It looks surprisingly good quality for the money with nicely chromed fittings. I suspect it will need changing in 2 years but once again the budget dictates cheapness over quality.
The problems came when I attempted to bleed the system, it simply wasn’t having it and even though I managed to get some brake it felt awful. I decided in the end the master cylinder, which was from a Suzuki AN400, just wasn’t compatible with the Triumph caliper or that it was simply buggered. I swapped it for one off a CBR600 – a Nissin 14mm unit. At first that was a wee bit reluctant to bleed but by cracking the union at the master cylinder end and applying gentle pressure to the brake lever some air bubbles came out and the brake is now perfect.
I need to make a couple of simple brackets to hold the cable securely and safely otherwise I’m pretty sure Julian the MoT man will give me a Paddington hard stare and some red ink on the failure form.
Next job is to make a bracket for the front side light – the headlight doesn’t have one built in and it needs one for the MoT so one it shall have. I am using a unit off a Suzuki GSX750F, it will nestle between the headlight and the Triumph trinket bag. It will mount on to the headlight mounting bolt so I don’t have to drill any holes or make it any more complicated than it needs to be.
Article provided by David Powell of Boston Bike Bits.
