Strange Monobloc Float Cover

Just scored this off of the Bay, not sure what to make of it. The listing said it's from a chopped Monobloc, it was sitting at six quid, no bids and an hour to go, so it was a speculative bid, and now I own it.
Thinkin' about it, has a chopped carb got a tickler, or float ???? probably not, both fed from the same float needle and rely on Archimedes to do the rest.

Mystery Triumph Revealed

This is the bike that appears on page 37 of Harry Woolridge's Speed Twin and Thunderbird Bible. It looks like it was built in 1949 as they talk about "the new Triumph Spring Hubs",  and it's still got the iron top end, capable of an easy! 120, with a bit more tweaking the man says.

1957 Triumph Tiger 100 RS

 In Triumph terms they don't get much rarer than this T100 RS. Produced from 57 thru 59 this was the factory road racer for the States, bearing in mind that Meriden showed very little interest in Britain and Europe regarding road racing.  132 were produced in 1957, with numbers unavailable for the other two production years, although almost definitely fewer were built during those years.

Shown here fitted with the Delta head, the forerunner to the Bonneville head in 1958, it came equipped with 1" GP carburettors and a bracketted remote float chamber on the gearbox post. A Lucas K2FR provides the ignition, while no dynamo is fitted as expected the drive is utillised for the Smith's RC126 tachometer.

E3134 cams and competition shop preparation resulted in 42 bhp out of the crate with a potential of 45 with even more tuning. 

The gearbox carried a close ratio set of cogs, and a reversed lever to suit the factory rearset footrests.

The front brake is the Mk2 8" single leader as fitted to the contemporary T110, the back is the normal 7" SLS unit found across the twin range for much of the post war production period. A one gallon oil tank fitted with a froth tower was also used, possibly unique to this model.

Any additional information or corrections to this post or any subsequent entries will be gratefully received.

Peter's Nostalgia Drag Trumpet Blows A Tune

Peter has finally added the last ingredient to the mix, and as anticipated, it sounds as good if not better (if that's possible) than it looks!

Hope you're taking it to the HayRide Peter.

You Want Salt On That?

Think salt and you either think of Fish 'n' Chips or the great white wasteland that is Bonneville Utah USA. Well it ain't always the case, John sent over these pics of his rigid Thunderbird at Lake Gairdner in Oz, Those boys down there in The Great Southern Land have got their own horizon to shoot for.

I'll take the lazy option here and let John tell y'all what's been done.

As you can see its a rigid based bike and I call it a 54 as that was the last year of the rigid frame and first year of the big bearing alt cases for the Thunderbird. I've tried to use as many pre unit bits as possible, though there is certainly a mixture with the frame being a 49, rear wheel, oil tank, guard, gearbox and triple clamps being early fifties, fork sliders are 57, front wheel is duplex type 8" hub. Tank is mid 60's T100? and the tacho bracket is 70's. All other bits are aftermarket or home made.

Engine has big bearing alt cases with a unit crank fitted balanced to 85%. Ball timing side and roller drive side main bearings. R&R billet conrods, 3134 cams with R cam followers. 9.8:1 comp pistons. Standard 5 fin Thunderbird head (58-60 type) with standard thunderbird valves. Lightened and polished rocker gear. Single 30mm Mk1 Concentric, K2FC maggy with manual advance and 1 1/2" pipes with reverse cone meggas.

Managed a best speed of 108 mph at Lake Gairdner earlier this year which I was really pleased with for a first time out on the salt.

Well over the ton on a single carb 650 iron Trumpet, outstanding achievement John, can't wait for further reports on what the twin carb head does for the top end performance.

Nice pic this one.

Off Yer Rocker

...and so it begins.

This is one of the rocker boxes that will be used for the motor in Skankweasel, no point in showing the pair of them as they are pretty similar. The rockers will be lightened around the adjuster boss and ball pin areas only, the rest will be blended where needed and polished in accordance with Dwain Taylor's suggestions. The rocker spindle shown here, is the early type without the "O" ring on the drive side end, it also shows slight mushrooming on that end, so it will be replaced.

Realised, when it was too late, that it would have been easier to slacken the adjuster nuts off while they were still in the boxes. Rather than risk damage by clamping the rockers in the vice, I slipped a 2 metre length of 12 mm tube through the pivot bore, this provided enough leverage to allow the nuts to be loosened without damage or drama.