Topic: 1970 Triumph Tiger 650

[Powderman]

It serves the purpose of 1/2 a friction plate.

[grcamna2]

It serves the purpose of 1/2 a friction plate.

The material is more hard like a clutch friction plate rather than being soft like regular cork ?

[Powderman]

No, it's just cork gasket material.

[grcamna2]

No, it's just cork gasket material.

I wonder if it also quiets/smooths the clutch operation a little

[Powderman]

It's suppose to soften the lever pull and quicken the gripping of the plates on release. I may need to modify the pushrod as the extra plates may eliminate needed adjustment length. I've seen longer rods made or one guy cut the rod in half and installed an appropriate sized ball bearing in the middle. I think a longer adjustment set screw would also solve that issue, more than one way to skin a cat.

[Powderman]

Okay, back to the build. I have the bottom end pretty much ready to button up. Just need to put the clutch plates in and cap that before buttoning up the primary cover.


I have a new rubber sleeve and plug for the alternate harness, is it still necessary to fill the harness cavity with silicone, or is that overkill redundancy? I can squirt some in from the outside before installing the plug.





I pulled the timing cover off and the idler gear came with it, so I just need to set the timing again and button up that side with gaskets.The cover will get a new brass patent tag to match the gold trimmings, it may get brass hardware in other areas also.

[grcamna2]

That's looking good PM 

[Powderman]

Next time try this. Put the rings on the pistons.  Also, put in the 2 inner piston pin clips.  With the barrel upside down on the bench, use ring compressors or your fingers and insert each piston.  With the rods at tdc, set the barrel and pistons on some blocks on the crankcase.  Line up the rods with the piston pin holes, insert the pins, add the outer clips and drop the barrel over the studs. Job done.

I decided to give your way a try as the other was being a PITA. It was way easier this way. Even without wood blocks or  anything I was able to get the rings compressed with just my fingers and then lower the cylinder over the pistons, holding it in such a way that I could lower it and hold pressure on one pin until it slid in, then slid in the other pin. Made sure to remember the circlips and the base gasket and cinch the nuts down. Time to move on back to the clutch issues.



That liquid on the timing cover is sweat equity.

[grcamna2]

Looks like you're getting closer to a start-up 

[Powderman]

Looks like you're getting closer to a start-up 

Closer, Yes. Near, no.

[Powderman]

F**K ME, Got the cylinders installed and cinched down before realizing I had forgotten to install the tappets in the blocks.


So I had to pull it all back down and install them. I've heard how important it was to make sure each tappet goes back in the same place it came out, but in my case the cylinder was in a box and the tappets where in a different box so I had no idea where they came from. Fortunately the exhaust tappets have oiling holes in the bottoms and one side so locating them was easy as they could only go one way. the intakes were symmetrical so I don't know if they are correct for left and right or front and rear. they showed no wear so I'm not concerned.


Back together now after replacing the base gasket that destroyed itself on removal. Fortunately I had a spare from the top end kit I had purchased before I knew i would be doing a complete overhaul and ordering a full engine kit.

[MoMo]

Looking good PM, love the look of the black motor for an old Triumph...Larry

[Powderman]

Think I'll leave the push rod tubes chrome to compliment the chrome base nuts. The exhaust will be the only other chrome on the bike.

[grcamna2]

Think I'll leave the push rod tubes chrome to compliment the chrome base nuts. The exhaust will be the only other chrome on the bike.

  nice

[Retro Rocket]

Looking good Marc...

[Powderman]

Sweet touch

[grcamna2]

I like your engine stand Marc

[Powderman]

I like your engine stand Marc

$4 in materials and $40 for welding, I really need to learn to weld. I need to add a couple holes to put a pin through the 2 round tubes to stabilize it in position, it swivels too freely when I'm working on it. You can buy these for about what it cost me to make.

[Powderman]

I was glad to see they made Patent plates in brass and not just the aluminum ones. It matches the rest of the color scheme.




I sanded out the pitting in the cover visible about the patent plate and recoated it. It was hardly noticeable except in the right light,but I knew it was there so it had to go. Also powder coated the rusty timing cover bolts while I was at it.

[Powderman]

Ended up having a hell of a time getting the crush height on the push rod tubes just right. It calls for a gap of .040" before torqueing the head down. As it turns out my brother must have done some research when he wanted the Bonneville head and apparantly traded the whole top end of the 70 Tiger for the whole top end from a 66 Bonneville. This explains why the bike had no top end on it and all the top end parts were in a separate box. The top end works as a package so you must use the same year cylinders, tappet blocks, and push rod tubes. There are slight mods between the different years in the cylinder heads and the push rod tubes so getting the gap correct with the available seals can be tricky. There are basically 3 different thicknesses of seals usually using a thin on on the bottom and a thicker one on top. As it turns out even with 2 of the thinnest ones on top and bottom my gap was excessive and a solution was needed. Someone mentioned that cutting seal in half on the lathe was an option. So I went to work in my mind on how to accomplish this. I decided that slipping the seal over a piece of PVC tubing that was slightly larger would work. I pushed a socket snuggly over the end of the PVC tube and pushed the seal against it to try and keep it square to the tool. I put a new blade in my knife and turn it on and tried to carefully cut the seal in half. Well the blade wouldn't start the cut at all when it was turning under power. So I shut it off and started the cut by hand and once I was through the seal completely I turn the lathe chuck by hand carefully eyeballing the thickness and after a few attempts was able to get a number of different thickness seals made. 2 of them came out to be enough to exactly get the .040" crush I would need. The head can now be torqued down for the final time and I can move on to the next task at hand which is fixing a crossed thread on one of the clutch bolts to finish the motor build and get it back in the frame.












Here it is with a gap of .080-.090", too much gap.







Here is the head sitting on the head gasket with no seals, you want a .040" gap there before torqueing the head down. In the previous pic you can see the gap at about .080-.090".

[grcamna2]

How did that seal adjustment turn-out PM? Did it all get snug including the pushrod seal tube ? I hope you're ready now to put the engine in the frame 

[Powderman]

How did that seal adjustment turn-out PM? Did it all get snug including the pushrod seal tube ? I hope you're ready now to put the engine in the frame 

As mentioned I was able to get a pair accurately cut to give me the recommended .040" gap for proper crush. I can't torque everything down until the rocker boxes are ready. I need to strip them and powder coat them first to match the rest of the engine.

[grcamna2]

The dome covers will look nice in that same black also,if it was me I'd have polished aluminum up there myself.. imo.

[Powderman]

The dome covers will look nice in that same black also,if it was me I'd have polished aluminum up there myself.. imo.

I'm doing a mostly chrome delete theme on the bike, so little if anything shiny other than the pipes and cylinder base nuts/push rod tubes.

[Powderman]

Starting to look like a motor finally:









The parts book for 66 shows the carb to manifold bolt and calls for 2 of them, but the manifold has a smaller hole on the outside than the one on the inside. There were only 3 carb bolts in my box and they are all the same diameter and fit only the inside holes on the manifold.