It's been a bit of an epic, resurrecting the Trident from the dead. She's been a very attractive room divider for the last three years, separating my kitchen from my sitting room, but my attempts to find out why the previous owner had given up on her had just resulted in more oil oozing onto my kitchen floor.
I was spurred into action a few months ago, after I'd been to see a Norton Commando that had been advertised on Craig's List. The Norton was in a dreadful state. I don't think that there was a single piece of metal or plastic on that machine that didn't need to be replaced or repaired, and it needed new tires as well..And the guy wanted $3000 for it!!!....
Anyway, when I got home I looked at the Trident with renewed interest... After all, I'd just saved $3000. Instant budget to at least find out what was wrong with her.
An appeal on Craig's List gave me the phone numbers of a couple of Triumph gurus to call. An ex-pat Kiwi called Barry Norman earned my business just by the totally fanatical enthusiasm for Tridents that he managed to convey down the phone. In fact, I didn't bother calling the other phone numbers. I'd found my man!
I don't have a truck (yet) only two seater sports cars so I had to rent a U-Haul for an afternoon to drag the bike over to Barry's place complete with the box of spare bits and pieces that had come with it.
I was prepared at that point to stump up for a complete strip down and rebuild, being convinced that there had been a catastrophic failure of a major internal component, but Barry just wanted to get her going and then we could see what she needed. I was paying for his experience so I took his advice.
Time passed, days turned into weeks, which turned into months, as the puzzle was solved, piece buy painful piece as the engine was stripped down a little bit further and a little bit further.
Eventually I had the message on my answering machine.... "the beast has roared"
A brief summary of the problems... well there were only two, but that's the problem with an unknown machine that won't turn over and has a bunch of non standard parts in it... Suspicion abounds... Why were the valve adjusters screwed nearly all the way out... why wouldn't the engine turn over freely without making a loud CLINK. Why were there three Boyer electronic ignition boxes with the bike... Why, why, why?
To cut a long story short, the timing gear was on the wrong keyway on the shaft, she now turned over, compression tests were done, the overall health of the engine was cautiously deemed good (the pistons, rings and bores had been inspected during the fact finding mission into the internals of the motor)
But the bike still refused to start. She had good spark, and fuel but no life. Barry was fitting the bike into his busy schedule as best he could, but I could tell it was an unappealing prospect for him in the middle of summer in Phoenix....Kicking over an unresponsive Trident again and again and again can not be fun!! More time passed.
Carbs were taken off and a set from Barry's own, fully functional, Trident were installed but no joy. Much headscratching ensued and more time passed.
Finally Barry traced the wires from the electronic ignition box into the wiring harness only to find that the wires had been spliced in and then spliced out back to front !!!! So it looked like the wires had continuity but in fact they were reversed with the net result that the spark was arriving at the wrong time. The offending wires were connected the right way around and hey presto! One functioning Trident!!
Funnily enough She was made in September 1974 and it was in September that she deigned to roar back into life after at least a decade of repose. Coincidence? I don't know.
I bought classic vehicle insurance for her so I didn't have to go through the hassle of Arizona Emissions testing.
There were a few little teething problems during the first 300 miles. The biggest one was self inflicted I'm ashamed to say, caused by my own laziness and tightfistedness.
I was supposed to drive over to Barry's after the first 100 miles to get the head re-torqued. When I called Barry to schedule this he said if I had a torque wrench I could do it myself. Save some money. OK, no problem. Easy job. Took me all of half an hour and most of that was spent looking for the torque wrench.
The next day I rode the bike to an appointment with a mortgage broker on the other side of town... After the appointment I was driving home when the bike started misfiring.. I dropped into Barry's on the way home and was going to leave it with him but there were logistical difficulties in getting myself home without transport so after messing around with her for ages we managed to get her going with the help of a couple of new spark plugs.
I stopped by a store on my way home and was rewarded by a bike that would not start. Arizona's still hot in late September. I was dripping with sweat by the time I got her going again. When I got home I had dark thoughts about British Bike ownership!
The next time I rode the bike the idle was all over the place. Had a hanging idle as well. Thoroughly unpleasant machine to ride. I was squirting WD40 around the inlet looking for air leaks. I found that the tops of the carbs weren't airtight. Called Barry. A man of infinite patience. He made the gracious invitation for me to go round to his workshop with my carbs and I could re-build them myself, under his supervision. Cool, I saved money and learned something!!
I reinstalled the freshly re-built carbs, She started on the second or third kick. I went for a little ride.. all good.
I didn't start her for a couple of days and when I did try to start her again, she wouldn't start. Hours I spent, kicking and kicking and kicking. More research on the net, more talks with Barry on the phone.
Then Barry said " you did re-set the valve clearances when you torqued the head down didn't you?"
Well of course I hadn't. I've been living on a steady diet of modern American, Italian and Japanese machines that either don't need valve adjustment at all or need it so infrequently that I never have to do it.
Reluctantly I went through a lonely learning curve in my garage re-setting the clearances.. I even had to go to Ace hardware to buy feeler gauges. However it was surprisingly easy!! Access was excellent. The bike had obviously been designed for easy maintenance. And after it was all done I was rewarded with a bike that starts and runs really well !!!
But the bottom line is that this machine MADE me learn how to adjust and maintain her..I'm wondering what she's going to want next, and I'm thinking of calling her Christine.
Funnily enough She was made in September 1974 and it was in September that she deigned to roar back into life after at least a decade of repose. Coincidence? I don't know.
I bought classic vehicle insurance for her so I didn't have to go through the hassle of Arizona Emissions testing.
There were a few little teething problems during the first 300 miles. The biggest one was self inflicted I'm ashamed to say, caused by my own laziness and tightfistedness.
I was supposed to drive over to Barry's after the first 100 miles to get the head re-torqued. When I called Barry to schedule this he said if I had a torque wrench I could do it myself. Save some money. OK, no problem. Easy job. Took me all of half an hour and most of that was spent looking for the torque wrench.
The next day I rode the bike to an appointment with a mortgage broker on the other side of town... After the appointment I was driving home when the bike started misfiring.. I dropped into Barry's on the way home and was going to leave it with him but there were logistical difficulties in getting myself home without transport so after messing around with her for ages we managed to get her going with the help of a couple of new spark plugs.
I stopped by a store on my way home and was rewarded by a bike that would not start. Arizona's still hot in late September. I was dripping with sweat by the time I got her going again. When I got home I had dark thoughts about British Bike ownership!
The next time I rode the bike the idle was all over the place. Had a hanging idle as well. Thoroughly unpleasant machine to ride. I was squirting WD40 around the inlet looking for air leaks. I found that the tops of the carbs weren't airtight. Called Barry. A man of infinite patience. He made the gracious invitation for me to go round to his workshop with my carbs and I could re-build them myself, under his supervision. Cool, I saved money and learned something!!
I reinstalled the freshly re-built carbs, She started on the second or third kick. I went for a little ride.. all good.
I didn't start her for a couple of days and when I did try to start her again, she wouldn't start. Hours I spent, kicking and kicking and kicking. More research on the net, more talks with Barry on the phone.
Then Barry said " you did re-set the valve clearances when you torqued the head down didn't you?"
Well of course I hadn't. I've been living on a steady diet of modern American, Italian and Japanese machines that either don't need valve adjustment at all or need it so infrequently that I never have to do it.
Reluctantly I went through a lonely learning curve in my garage re-setting the clearances.. I even had to go to Ace hardware to buy feeler gauges. However it was surprisingly easy!! Access was excellent. The bike had obviously been designed for easy maintenance. And after it was all done I was rewarded with a bike that starts and runs really well !!!
But the bottom line is that this machine MADE me learn how to adjust and maintain her..I'm wondering what she's going to want next, and I'm thinking of calling her Christine.
