Triumph TR6C restoration-ish

[Kevin Maxwell Ostrom]

My good friend Dirk asked me to make his old Triumph look and run like/better than new. The poor bike has been through a few people's hands that were not as skilled as they should have been, and the motor nearly ate itself late last year. I am finally getting around to working on it. A friend of mine actually did his engineering apprenticeship in the Triumph factory and has the skill and knowledge to completely restore the factory finish on the old cases. These are the before pictures. Pictures of the finished project will follow soon.

[gomango]

My good friend Dirk asked me to make his old Triumph look and run like/better than new. The poor bike has been through a few people's hands that were not as skilled as they should have been, and the motor nearly ate itself late last year. I am finally getting around to working on it. A friend of mine actually did his engineering apprenticeship in the Triumph factory and has the skill and knowledge to completely restore the factory finish on the old cases. These are the before pictures. Pictures of the finished project will follow soon.

My father had one of these when I was young. I'll watch your progress with interest!

[Too Tall]

Thanks for that. I'll follow closely. I'm a HUGE fan of folks who work with their hands.

[dave1215]

Thanks for that. I'll follow closely. I'm a HUGE fan of folks who work with their hands.

ah, so you're client #9?

this tr6 thing caught my eye - a buddy of mine did a complete restore by completely disassembling a tr6 and rebuilding with new replacements for every gasket and other degradable part. what a project - practically building a car from scratch out of a kit. wish i had pictures to show. perhaps we'll get some from KMO.

[Kevin Maxwell Ostrom]

My friend Mike at Engine Dynamics Co. in Petaluma applied his "magic" technique and restored the finish on these cases. I cannot wait to see what the case covers look like!!!

[hmbatrail]

Mmmm,clean cases. Looks nice.

So was the sludge trap completely packed up?
Did you have any problem with the Whitworth bolts when you pulled the jugs off the case?
How many phillips head screws were stripped out (most or all of them)?
Are you going to electronic ignition (please say yes)?
How about a 3 phase alternator? It works great because you can run a headlight and not have your brakelight act as a kill switch. :)
Since it is a TR6 you have the 2 into 1 carb manifold, correct? If the slide on the Amal is shot to shit you can always convert it over to a Mikuni.
The gaskets from MAP are hard to beat when it comes time to buttoning the whole thing up and giving yourself a fighting chance to keep it from marking its territory.

Looks like a great start and I will watch intently.

[Kevin Maxwell Ostrom]

The entire motor was plugged up. The guy just gooped up the mating surfaces and sealer just got everywhere!! The sludge trap was nearly full of congealed sealant and a part of an old rag!! Almost all of the bolts inside the motor were just in finger tight and the transmission inner cover was cracked (from a misplaced spacer)!!!.

I will be converting the motor over to electronic ignition. I have not spent a great deal of time looking around, but the few people I have talked to recomend Boyer Bransden.

I have not heard of the 3 phase alternator, is this from a later model?

The intake is a single carburetor, an old dellorto. It looks good and before the modifications worked well with the bike. the exhaust is the annoyingly loud "pea shooter" with snuffer 'nots on them. Dirk loves these things and I have not been able to talk him out of them for as long as I have known him.

The top end has not been damaged, it was nearly new when the previous "mechanic" got a hold of it. It is a JRC 750 kit, the cams are from MegaCycle Marin County. Much of the hardware will need to be gone over and replaced as needed. There are various damaged bits that will not look good with the cleaned up engine.

The tins have been re-painted, but the frame, forks, and wheels need a going over. It totally depends on what my friend Dirk can afford.

KMO

Mmmm,clean cases. Looks nice.

So was the sludge trap completely packed up?
Did you have any problem with the Whitworth bolts when you pulled the jugs off the case?
How many phillips head screws were stripped out (most or all of them)?
Are you going to electronic ignition (please say yes)?
How about a 3 phase alternator? It works great because you can run a headlight and not have your brakelight act as a kill switch. :)
Since it is a TR6 you have the 2 into 1 carb manifold, correct? If the slide on the Amal is shot to shit you can always convert it over to a Mikuni.
The gaskets from MAP are hard to beat when it comes time to buttoning the whole thing up and giving yourself a fighting chance to keep it from marking its territory.

Looks like a great start and I will watch intently.

[maunahaole]

Sounds as though this one was built with the legendary Triumph contempt for quality control. Good on you for improving on the original and keeping this one running, it will be a fun bike. Keep the pics coming.

[hmbatrail]

Sounds like you have your hands full! I use the Boyer Bransden as well. About as straightforward as it gets. You can mount the reg/rec box just about anywhere you have a little bit of airflow.

On the alternator, I use the one from Sparx. It is aftermarket and is plug and play. It is reliable and easy to tune. Plus you can run H4 bulbs so people can actually see you at night.

Dellorto carb? Is it original? I did not know Triumph use them. I thought they all used Amal.

I'm excited for you.

[Kevin Maxwell Ostrom]

The Dellorto is not original, this was added by a previous mechanic named Twigg. He was a local British legend and did some very nice work, it was a shame when he decided to move to Spain. The next "mechanic" was the one who caused all of the problems. The new build will be much better. I will look into the Sparx alternator. Thanks for the recomendations.

KMO

[Kevin Maxwell Ostrom]

Here is the primary cover. It has a few blemishes, but it looks good. The timing gear cover and outer trans cover are almost done.

[Fixed]

beautiful work bro
imho cheers

[deluxerider]

very nice, but still with a little patina.

[TJ]

Any updates on this beast?

[ramjm_2000]

very nice!! Subscribed...