1/ Clutch cover
First off, the clutch cover was in a horrible state. I had a go at getting all the old paint off but it was a struggle and couldn't remove all traces from the sections where it bolts on. There are quite a few difficult recesses and angles. The result over time is that my paint has bubbled up. Also, the VHT clear lacquer has started to yellow. The other covers I painted have not bubbled or yellowed, as far as I can tell. I put the clear lacquer on much thicker for the clutch cover than the others because I had polished up the Triumph logo. I wanted to make sure it was protected from the elements. In retrospect, I wish I'd gone easier with the lacquer and committed myself to keeping the Triumph shiny with autosol. Perhaps I'm wrong to list this as a 'didn't work'. I had a brake fluid leak when I was bleeding the rear caliper. I thought I'd cleaned it all off afterwards but evidently didn't do a great job. Smoothrite is definitely not brake fluid proof. However, the Finnegan's special metal primer has largely shrugged it off, much to my surprise.
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| Smoothrite doesn't like brake fluid |
I took quite a lot of trouble over the wheels. Really good degrease etc. then topped off with enamel red and clear lacquer. However the plain fact is that the finish is not robust and has chipped off in many places. I plan to get the wheels powder coated. I still like the red centres and silver rims but I'm thinking of trying a graded transition between the colours rather than a clean line. I've seen some three spoke wheels done this way. It could work on my six-spokers. I'll use the wheels from my Daytona whilst they are away. That's a nice thing about having a pair of T300s.
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| Enamel paint chips and scratches easily |
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| Wheel paint doesn't like petrol |
I stripped the tatty paint off of the filler cap surround when I was treating the tank with POR-15. I used aluminium wheel paint. First trip out, I dribbled some fuel on it getting the nozzle out at a petrol station. It immediately ate into the paint so now it looks tatty again. I had hoped it would be up to challenges like this because, after all, wheels live in a harsh environment. This paint is an acrylic formulation. Acrylic paint is just a terrible idea if there is any risk of getting petrol on it. 5/ Oil pressure sender
I bought the oil pressure and temperature gauges with senders (sensors) from the same supplier. They were cheap! Now, the temperature gauge has worked flawlessly and I have found the information it has provided reassuring and credible. Most of the time, for example, it hovers between 70 and 80 degrees. The factory manual specifies an oil pressure check with the engine warmed to 80 degrees. So that adds up. For what it is worth, the highest oil temperature I have seen was in Coventry on an extremely hot day after filtering in traffic for about 30 minutes. It was 97 degrees! Literally fry-an-egg temps. The engine shrugged it off though in its typically nonchallant power station kind of way, assisted by energetic blasts from the fan.
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| Faulty oil pressure sender |
Work still to do
This is not a thing I have done wrong (a sin of commission) but things not yet done (sins of omission?). I decided to fix up my Trophy from the inside to the outside. The outside - especially the fairing panels - have yet to receive any TLC beyond cleaning. Their time will come, probably next winter.
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| Old scratches are still old |
Ride safe!
2 comments:
I'd really urge caution with powder coating the wheels. Having done 2 sets now I'll not be doing it again. They look fantastic when they come back and the finish appears tough but I've found the coating cracks and then the corrosion starts, lifting it off the metal. It looks horrible. I did my old Z550 wheels a decade or two ago (ahem!) and they were awful inside 18 months. I did the CBR wheels 2 years ago and they're starting to go too. OK it's been ridden through 2 winters and 12K ish miles since but it's poor. Long time apart so technology should have come on. Also if you do need to get powder coating removed it's a swine of job; lots of scraping and chipping or extended dunking in vats of nasty chemicals. If I do it again I'll be going for stove enamel or 2 pack paint. It's more expensive but I think better.
On the oil temp topic, I got 99 degrees once ... rasp! That was after an 20 mile 90+ hurtle along the A1 with a big fat following wind and fairing lowers on. Oil temp seems to bear little resemblance to water temp. Before I took my oil cooler off I did some reading around and the consensus seemed to be that 140 was the absolute max before the oil starts to break down.
You are right about water and oil temperature varying independently. I put a simple water temperature gauge on mine for a bit. As you have found, oil temp rises to 85-90 at motorway speeds whereas water temp stays pretty low. On the other hand, the radiator fan can be on at pootling speeds with the oil at around 75. I'll let you know if my oil temp ever exceeds 100 degrees. I think it is unlikely to happen, after the recent hot weather we have been having when the highest I saw was 96 (just below my Coventry record reading).
I'll give the wheel paint some more thought. My powder coated Daytona wheels have been through a winter unscathed. I specifically asked the chap who did them to lay it on as thick as possible because I wanted a robust rather than a cosmetically wonderful result. However, I would want something beautiful for the Trophy. I'll look into the two-pack route.
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