Drive one nail...

...every day.

That's the new motto flying around, and it works. Didn't get alot done today, but made some progress, and I feel really good about it. Took my XS wheels for the new tyres putting on, and started putting the Bandit engine back together.

I had noticed some grime in the bottom of the engine so after a quick trip to Halfords for some carb cleaner (powerful stuff!) I blasted a whole can of it into the bottom of the engine. I then washed it through with fresh engine oil.

After tenderly attaching the cleaned and polished pistons, I gently lowered the barrels over the top, realized I had neglected to push the chain guide in place, swore loudly, and took it off to try again.

Second time lucky, I'm really pleased with how its coming together. Just look at that gasket face gleeeam!!!

Bandit Engine

Poor old neglected Bandit. My first project has been sat for six months pushed to one side while Ive tinkered with the XS. So it was time to sort things out. The bike was running, but not running well, sometimes on all cylinders and some times only on three. A compression test showed it to be very low across all four. Fair enough considering its done over 60,000 miles, but I didnt want to pour even more cash into an old knackered engine.

Luck would have it, I found a complete top end at Newark for the bargain price of £20!! So the plan is to completely swap out the old for the (not-so-new) top end, pistons, barrels and all. And fingers crossed it will pump some life back into the old girl.

I have spent a long time cleaning up the 2nd hand top end I plan to use. And while I was at it I thought that I might as well paint it.

Im now at the stage where I have the old engine out of the bike and stripped down to its rude bits, eagerly awaiting its younger and refreshed new counter part. Just got a few more bits to tidy up, then it can all go back together, and I can find out if this has all been a complete waste of time and precious Dremel bits!!

Sissy bar

I did eventually finish the sissy bar for the Triumph. I used 10mm stainless steel bar (316) and used a propane torch to heat up where I wanted to bend it. Using my filler rod template and lots of TLAR ("that looks bout right") measurements I bent the bar around a round file clamped in a vice.
 

After lots of holding it up to the bike and tweaking bits I eventually got a shape that I was satisfied with.

 

Next up was to weld on the lugs that I had made. Holding them in place against the round bar was tricky, especially as its not magnetic! So tape and props were used...

There was a pair of longer tabs and shorter tabs and like a birk I welded the shorter ones in the wrong place dammit! But fortunately I realized that I could still get away with it if I opened the holes up a bit more. Also it seemed to pull the bar in nice and tight next to the rear sub-frame. So the mistake turned out to be a winner!

Here it is finished on the bike. Im cutting out a few steps and several hours of rubbing, smoothing, polishing, to get a nice finish on it to go with the rest of the bike.

All in all I am really pleased with my first sissy bar! And I have since road tested it with bags/tents etc strapped to it with great succes :) Just got to find a willing volunteer to properly pillion test it!!

Trip Out

Went down to the trip out on Friday afternoon with TC. Had an awesome time, partied hard with friends old and new. Was the first time this event had been run - I will definitely be making the trip next year. The bikes just blew me away, so many badass old motorcycles!!

Way too many pics to post them all here, so Ive just picked a select few. Feel free to check out the rest on my facebook.