Winter Project - 1974 Trident T150V Cafe Bike

[bongoman]

I changed the title of this thread today to better reflect the current state of the project. This build thread has taken a few twists and turns. What started out as a motor rebuild, moved to a Trident bobber-style build, and is now focused on a cafe-style bike build, all out of the same raw materials - an old Trident frame that was hard-tailed back in the 70's and a basket case donor bike and motor from a 1974 Trident - no matching numbers anywhere. The bobber is on hold for now, awaiting a650 or 750 twin. that will be another story. this story is about the cafe bike. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed building it.

Now, back to the beginning:

Got the cases back from vapor blasting yesterday, and they are as clean as can be.







I also got my crankshaft back from getting the journals gound to -10 and have now run into my first 2 snags.

#1 - finding -10 main bearing for the crank shaft. I have the rod bearings already, but having some trouble finding a source for the -10 mains, so if anyone is hoarding a set, please PM me!

#2 - grub screws in the crank shaft need to be removed to clean out the sludge traps. There are 3 of these screws in the crankshaft. I have already ruined 2 of them trying to get them out. Got some good advice from Triples On Line about saving myself, but no love yet. Trying again this weekend with a torch and impact driver. Then comes the left hand drill bit and easy out, and if all else fails off we go to EDM to spark the suckers out. What a job....

Wish me luck.

[=JL=]

No idea what the sludge trap retaining screws look like on a triple.
On a twin I just weld a nut to them and turn them out.

[bongoman]

Originally Posted by =JL=

No idea what the sludge trap retaining screws look like on a triple.
On a twin I just weld a nut to them and turn them out.

They are these 1/4-28 screws sunk into the crankshaft, part labeled 2 on the parts/assembly drawing.

[Troy Fab]

Wow, those look great!!!

[YETI CUSTOMS]

Yea those grub screws can be a pain in the ass,put allen key types back in as for the .010 mains(even tho I hate the prick as he made me redundent last year)british spares here in new zealand are showing some on there website but that can be wrong so if you get stuck give them a go part#70-9027

[bongoman]

Here is my Winter 2009 project - a Trident T150 custom. Started with this hardtailed frame from a 1969 Trident T150 that someone welded a hardtail onto back in the '70's (so I am told):


Here is the '74 T150 motor in a milk crate, covered in mud and full of crud:


The top end - no cracked fins, clean cylinders:


And the donor '74 T150 - frame numbers do not match the motor, and though I got them together, I have no idea if the motor was ever actually in this frame:


The donor tank - I couldn't get the flame job off there fast enough:


And some other bits and pieces for the motor, carbs, etc:

[bongoman]

Here is a very early mock-up using the front end, wheels, tires, oil cooler, and tank from the donor bike, and a ribbed fender and handlebars I bought locally:


The bars will get about 2 inches chopped off the ends to accomodate a set of inverted levers from Maund Speed Equipment. The seat pictured above is for mock-up only and will not stay with this bike.

[bongoman]

I was lucky enough to find a shop in New Zealand that specializes in custom exhaust systems for a variety of bikes (Paul Bryant - Viking Exhaust), including the Trident T150V. He custom makes the pipes to order. Here are the 3 into 1 pipes he made for me and the magaphone muffler mocked up in his shop in NZ:




Here they are back from the chrome shop:



And finally in my shop:


So, funny story: When I went to my local post office to pick up the pipes, the woman behind the counter was looking at the package kind of funny, and said "Are those body parts?" A random customer standing beside me said, "I bet those are header pipes! What kind of bike do you have to send all the way to New Zealand for header pipes?" The kicker is, when I told him it was for a Trident he started telling me all about the pre-unit Bonnie he has been rebuilding for the past year...true story....

[bongoman]

I did a complete tear down on the motor, bagged and identified everything and took about 1000 pictures that I won't bore everyone with:


Sent the cases all the way to Oregon for Vapor Blasting - which is great process for super cleaning Brit aluminum casings:



And am currently struggling with the 3 grub screws in the crank shaft so I can clean out the sludge traps:


As it happens, I had to have the journals reground - -10 on the rods and -20 on the mains - at a local engine shop - Manchester Engine Rebuilders.

[bongoman]

I had a lot of fun shaving the forks and rebuilding the front end, including a complete rebuild on the brake caliper and replacement of the disk:




In the picture above, you can spot some indents left after removing the front fender mounting bungs. I had to learn how to weld on aluminum to fill those in. Very educational process, but worth the effort.


The front end mocked up, new tubes, shaved fork legs, freshened calipers and new disk:



The bottom fork clamps will get shaved too....

[bongoman]

Most recent mock up as of a couple of days ago. In progress with the rear fender, mounting and making bungs and struts:




Messing with powdercoat (primer coat) on tank and fitting of inverted levers:



So much more to do. Hoping to finish up the rear fender this week and finish wet sanding the primer on the tank to bake some color on it.

By the way, I am the very lucky brother of a builder who can't just build his bikes, he has to build the equipment, too. Here's my tank in the powder coating oven he built from scratch:


You can see the oven and the powder coating booth he also built in the background:


Yes, I am very lucky.....

[oilstainedjeans]

kool project!!

[bongoman]

Rear Fender Mounting, Bung and Strut Progress:
Made the bungs on the lathe and mounted them to the fender. Welded the bottom end tabs onto the struts and bolted to frame. Getting things lined up for final fitting, cutting, and welding.



Headlight rough mounted with custom made side mounting brackets:

[dmar836]

Lookin' great! Looks like it'll sit just right. Way to take those extra steps to do it right.

[BIG WHEELS]

standard resto, cafe racer, streetfighter, fine,, but chop/bob, no way not with a trident,

[bongoman]

Originally Posted by BIG WHEELS

standard resto, cafe racer, streetfighter, fine,, but chop/bob, no way not with a trident,

sorry to insult your sensibilities - I've actually saved the frame and suspension from the donor bike to do a cafe style bike - maybe even do a hopped up engine, dual disc front brake set up, custom tank - that's next winter though....

[bongoman]

Fender mounted, struts cut and tacked in:






Remote master cylinder tacked in and rough plumbed:






Handlebars chopped, test fit of grip and inverted lever:

[YETI CUSTOMS]

It looks like it coming along great bongoman keep the updates coming.

[R-U-Up2-It]

lookin good!! I love bike build threads!

[limlam]

i think im going to run inverted levers on my bike. lets see some progress on this