Engine Home To Roost

First I just want to say it's HOT in my garage.  The temp here today was 106.  It was all of that in my garage but I thought I could stand a few minutes to drop the engine back into the frame.  Nothing ever goes as planned so I spent about an hour sweating and cursing before getting the engine nestled back into the frame.

Triumph did NOT plan for this engine to be easily removed or replaced.  The lower oil drain bolt interferes at the bottom and the cylinder head interferes at the top.  Couple that with the fact that I'm working alone in a hot garage with the bike on the ground and you have for  a frustrating process.  The one thing that did go well was that I didn't mash even one finger.  I'm either getting better at this stuff or was lucky today.

There's more to tell but I'll save that for another time and will just add a few pictures. There's nothing wrong with your eyes or computer. I blurred the background to save myself the embarrassment of the cluttered garage.

Carb Completed

The weather in Phoenix, Arizona this time of year is not conducive to my restoration project as it's VERY hot in the garage and the humidity is too high for my evaporative cooler to be effective.  I was motivated to get some work done so I moved inside for the carb rebuild.

One piece of disassembly I hadn't done was removal of the jet block. I wasn't sure how it was connected but a bit of searching led me to believe that it is simply pressed in. It is, in fact, a press-in assembly and a few light taps with a dead-blow hammer using a deep-well socket as a "punch" knocked it right out with no damange.  here is a small screw in the carb body that keeps the jet block from rotating  that must be removed. The block had a fair amount of oxication holdin it in place but it cleaned right up. My rebuild kit included the paper washer which fits below the jet-block.


I did all the cleaning outside in the morning while it was relatively cool.  I'd done some rubbing with scotch-brite pads to get the worst of the grime and oxidation off of the main carb body and used carb cleaner on everything else.  I read somewhere that a dip in a 3:1 mix of water:muratic acid would brighten up the aluminum so I figured I'd give that a try too.  This treatment helped remove most of the oxidation, especially in the hard to reach corners and crannies.  It probably would have done more if I had let the parts soak longer.  I only put the parts in the mix for a couple of minutes before reinsing them and neutralizing the acid.  A quick spray with silicone lube once dry gave everything a nice luster and should help protect the parts from oxidation.

My rebuild kit included all the gaskets and I also ordered a new float needle.  Everything went back together without any issues.  The slide and barrel look good and slide well without slop. I shouldldn't have to open her up again unless I have to re-jet one of the circuits after I get her running.  I put the needle back in the same groove I found it - assuming it ran that way some time her distant past.  I won't know if that was right until she runs.

I need to find a new o-ring to fit between the carb and engine, an air intake tube, and some type of filter and I'll be ready to mix air and fuel.

Here is a picture after the clean and rebuild.  The carb is an Amal 376.

Starting On The Carburetor

While I wait for parts to arrive in the mail to finish up engine assembly I decided to get started on the carburetor rebuild.  The carb. on the Triumph is an Amal 376.  I ordered a complete rebuild kit.  All the o-rings, washers, gaskets, and a new float valve.  All of the jets looked shockingly clean so I didn't order new ones.  I may regret that later but they're not hard to get and I'm not under any real time pressure.

I took a LOT of pictures.  Even though I have a parts manual and a service manual for the bike I've found having pictures when you start reassembly to be worth the few minutes it takes to capture them.  It also gives me good visuals for my blog posts, which would be boring without without them.

To that end.  Here is a before shot of the carburetor to compare with an after shot which I'll take once I'm done.  So far I've only got the tear-down complete and some of the parts washed.  I'll start polishing up the body next.  Not looking for a really shiny finished product but, as you can see from the picture, it's pretty oxidized and dirty right now.

Amal 376 - Before

Headless No More

I'm one step closer to a complete engine.  I've just ordered a few miscellaneous parts that will allow me to button it up but here's the latest shot of my progress.  After some fiddling and improvising a tool to align the pushrods to the rocker arms I got the head bolted on... twice.

After some struggling I found a 'tool' that holds the pushrods in place while fitting the head down onto the bolts.  The tool, along with a rubber band between the two rocker arms to hold them against the top of the rods, once aligned, made the job MUCH easier.  Even with that the rods switched places on me the first time I got the head on.  The exhaust valve was opening on the down-stroke of the piston, instead of on the exhaust stroke - DRAT!  I had to remove the head, reposition the rods, and start the frustrating procedure of lowering the head back onto the bolts while aligning the rocker arms with the rods.  It went together a bit more smoothly the second time but not without some problems.

Attempt number two and the rods were opening and closing the valves at the proper times.  I then set the valve clearances and put the rocker arm covers in place.  Once I get the timing pieces and a few other bits I'll finish up the assembly of the engine and get ready to put it into the frame.  I've got to get the carb rebuilt first.  I'd like to do as much work on the bench before putting the engine into the frame.  I don't have a stand on which I can put the entire bike so once the engine is in the frame things become more uncomfortable to work on.  I may look into building some sort of stand for the final assembly.

Here are a few pictures of the engine.  One of it nearly complete, the second is a shot of the pushrods being held by my fancy 'tool', awaiting fitment of the head.