Waiting

Well, in order to finish off the rolling chassis I had to order a new front rim. I tried to straighten the old one but wasn't making any real progress - no progress at all. It was warped and twisted and not cooperating so it had to go. I've got a new shiny chrome one on back-order. It should be here in another 4 to 6 weeks.

In the mean time I'm starting to take inventory of the parts I'm going to need for the engine work. I shudder to think about how much they're going to cost. I'm hoping for a bulk discount from one of the friendly suppliers I've been researching but I'm not holding my breath.

I've also located someone to bore the cylinder, provide a matching piston, and re-work the head/valve seats. All I need to do is box the parts up and send them off. I hope to get than feat accomplished this week or this weekend.

The other item I've started on is the gas tank. I put a bunch of screws inside and shook it for about 20 minutes to knock the rust out of it. It'll probably take another hour of shaking, rattling, sloshing to clean it. I'm shocked at the noise a few screws inside a metal gas tank can make. I wrapped it in a thick blanket but it was still unbearable after 20 minutes of rattling. I'm going to use ear plugs the next time.

Once the cleaning is done I've got the tank sealer ready to go. I ordered the 2-part mix from Casewll Plating. Their 'kit' has good reviews and seems to be just what the rusty tank needs. There are a few small holes as well that will be filled/sealed by the epoxy sealer.

Things left to do in order to have a rolling chassis...

1) front wheel rebuild (lace, true, install bearings, axle and brakes)
2) finish rear wheel (true, install brakes)
3) paint frame, swingarm, and sub-frame
4) install wheels

Seems like such a small list but it does represent quite a bit of time and work. With the temps in the low 100's (F) here in Phoenix this time of year I was looking at swamp coolers at the Home Depot this evening. A swamp cooler is something we use in hot, low-humidity conditions to cool the air. They don't work once the humidity rises but here it's about 10% until late in the summer.

That'll cut into the parts budget but I think, if I'm going to make any progress this summer, I'm going to have to get something.

I promise pictures with my next post. I could show a picture of myself waiting for my new rim to arrive, but nobody wants to see that.

Making Wheel Progress Now

Triumph Cub Wheel
Originally uploaded by Gym_x

One Triumph Tiger Cub wheel mostly restored. I've still to get the brakes installed but I've painted the hub, polished the rims, cleaned up the spokes and nipples, and relaced the wheel. It still needs to be trued up, and for that I must build a truing stand for the bench, but I'm very pleased. There is still one missing spoke because I couldn't find a replacement and wouldn't spend the money for an entire set for just one spoke. Yes, the new spokes would be shiny and new looking but my goal is to use as much of the old bike as possible. Once I find a replacement spoke I can get it fit by only removing two of the other spokes, not too bad.

The next step is to get the brake outer plate painted so I can get the brake and speedometer gear in place. I'm going with colors as close to original as Dupli-color can get me. I think I'll stop at the shop tonight and might do some painting after work.

The First Refinished Part

One done, two actually, many many... many left to go.
The hubs are done and ready to be made back into round rolling wheels. I'm a bit excited about having something ready for reassembly. I've finally decided to rebuild the old wheels with the old spokes minus two. The way the spoke holes in the hubs are I can add the missing spokes when I find them without having to do much disassembly. So that's the plan.

Next will come the lacing of the rim back onto the spoke. I took a lot of pictures and measurements. These, along with my sketches and notes, should make the process fairly smooth. I've laced bicycle wheels in the past and the process is no different here. Frankly the Cub's wheels aren't much heavier than a mountain bike's anyway.

Here are a couple of pictures of the finished hubs. I hope to post pictures of at least one finished wheel after this weekend.

Front Hub	Rear Hub	A lovely pair

Wow! No posts for quite a while.

What have I been doing? Well... nothing on the cub. To be honest I have done a couple of small things but nothing 'blog-worthy'. I primed the frame. Now everything that I've prepped has at least one coat of primer and some are ready for the color coats.
I've been busy with other things lately and haven't spent any time in the garage. I'm planning to fix that this weekend by getting the hubs painted and the wheels rebuilt. I've got a bicycle to take care of for my dauther this week or I'd start sooner. That is the way it's been going lately. I think I'm ready to move ahead on the cub then something else comes up. It's going to get hot soon here in Phoenix and then it'll be very hard to get anything done. When it's over 100F outside it's over 100F inside my garage too. I may look into a small evaporative cooler this year. We'll see.
Since I haven't done anything I don't have any pictures to post either. I hope to be back to blogging more regularly - at least weekly - starting this weekend.