Red is the colour - Painting a cam cover

Sorting out scabby cylinder head covers

I've been disappointed with my attempts to repaint the original engine covers of my 1991 Trophy 1200. Although I did my very best to strip off all the old paint, I was unable to get every last spec of failed silver paint off of the clutch cover because the casting has some tricky recesses for its retaining bolts. The cylinder head cover (or cam cover, if you prefer) and crank end covers are not as bad but still quite a bit less than nice. Time to do something about it - but how without being off the road?

'No' to being without working wheels; 'no' to scabby covers for Ruby

Dirty scabby sick 2001 engine

Cleaned but no less scabby 2001 engine

The new paint I'd applied to my 1991 Trophy engine has not adhered properly over the old failed paint. Result: new failed paint. Also, the VHT Clear lacquer has gone yellow and started to come away in some places. I used this clear coat over the silver heat resistant paint to get a finish that was close to the original. I now regret trying to repaint this with rattle cans and am going to go for a powder coat instead. However, I don't want to be without my 'triffic Trophy any longer than necessary, especially as the weather has been getting better. So I've been in a quandry about hating the insult of scabby cases that currently adorn my beloved bike and hating the idea of being off the road. Meanwhile, I hadn't done anything with the sick 2001 Trophy engine I'd bought last year, since stripping the top end. So maybe there was a solution here to my quandry?

Borrowed covers

I decided to use the cam, right-hand and left-hand crank engine covers from the 2001 Trophy engine as a temporary measure, plus the clutch cover from by Daytona engine. Yes, another piece of Daytona is temporarily migrating to the Trophy! Even then, the 2001 covers are even more horrible - and would need refurbishing anyway sooner or later. I decided I'd start the process off by working on the cam cover. It is a large casting and, as the picture above shows, had lost a considerable amount of its original black powder coat. I thought it would be a simple matter to shift the rest of it.

Paint stripper is rubbish, wire wheels are harsh and hard work ...

Well I was wrong. I used two types of paint stripper with Scotch abrasive scourers (fancy nylon scrubbers). Despite multiple applications, even leaving the cover in a plastic carrier bag with stripper over night, there were still some patches  that just wouldn't budge. Also, I was left with pitting and quite a number of blotchy dark grey areas in the casting where corrosion had wormed its way into the alloy.

After a lot of work with scourers and paint stripper, most of the powder coat has gone but pits and corrosion remained

In the end I had to resort to a wire brushes and a rotary ginding wheel on a drill and minigrinder (cheap Dremel clone). It took hours. I wouldn't do it again - taking it to a blaster would have been the smart thing to do. Oh well.

Washed down with degreaser

Belt sanding ribs

Ultimately, I was pleased with the finish I obtained although to get rid of pitting I had to remove quite a lot of aluminium from the ribbing that runs across the top. I used a belt sander for that - very harsh but much more helpful than a rotary wheel for keeping the surface flat. A good wash down with degreaser and I was content to get the paint out again. This time, I decided to go red because I had a can in my garage and, as a spare, I am looking at the 2001 engine as an opportunity to experiment some more.

Shiney Red Cylinder Head Cover: Mission Accomplished

After the first coat of red, I could see that the dark grey areas were not covering over very well. I had a tin of VHT Black so I gave the cover a blow over with that as an even colour  - like a primer - to work with and then started again with the red. This time, the red enamel was covering evenly. I built up the coverage in thin layers, each time using a hot air drier to partially cure the paint as I went.



Finally, I decided to use up the last of my VHT Clear. Yes, the same lacquer that had failed on my other covers, Clear lacquer makes such a difference to solid colours I thought I'd risk it. Also, if it does yellow, the effect will be less noticeable over red than over silver. We'll see. 

Red enamel and VHT Clear - a bit of fun

The result looks good to me for now. So I'm ready to swap the cam cover over, maybe this weekend, and to take the originals to a local coater.

Oily engine - proves its a real Triumph :-)

I'd noticed an oil mist around the cylinder head in the days running up to my winter clean up. Well OK, it was more than a mist. It was a seep. And then a bit more than a seep. And then it was obvious quite a lot of oil was escaping from the cam cover. I must admit I was disappointed by this because I'd replaced the large rubber gasket when I'd been through the engine in 2012. I had also gone along with applying instant gasket as per the factory manual's instructions though at the time I'd thought it was overkill. Oh well.

The fairing lowers had to be removed so I could get the cam cover off and anyway I couldn't bring myself to leave the engine so oily. Also, as I wrote in my last post, the left-hand fork leg was leaking badly and I couldn't get to the lower yoke to remove them with the fairing lowers on. So off they came.

 It hosed down nicely. 'No rusty!' as one of my German friends used to say about his leaky XS650. So degreasing, agitating with a brush and hosing down showed things are holding up well under it all. I was particularly relieved to see that the oil cooler was still in good order.

Oil soaked fairing inners. 

The oil had accumulated inside the fairing lowers. This was not at all nice, especially because the lowers in the early T300s have sound deadening foam pads adhered to the inner surface. They also turn out to be excellent gunge sponges. Yuk. However, Vanish Engine Degreaser did a great job on sorting them out, with a good hose down to finish.

When I'd refurbed the forks first time, I had just filled the rusty pits and repainted the lowers. I'd figured there was no point in putting any work into them until I was sure the filler has taken. I didn't even replace the fork seals in case the repair didn't work. Well the right-hand side has born up well so I'm confident I can sort the left-hand side and so will replace the seals and nylon fork piston ring. I popped by Trevors to get the parts so was ready to go. I tried to strip the forks but got stuck on removing the chromed stanchions from the alloy fork sliders.  Blast!. I'd made up a tool for my Daytona for  separating the sliders from the stanchions. It is necessary to stop the internal damper assembly from spinning when trying to remove the Allen bolt that holds the two large components together. But it was no use on the Trophy because, according to Haynes, it needs a 33mm hex end. The Daytona's adjustable Kayaba forks need a square section tool to stop the M8 allen from just spinning the whole damper assembly inside.

As Ruby is my daily transport, this represented something of a problem. So for the second time, the dear old Daytona came to the rescue by lending Ruby her forks. Further more, in case I had not properly sorted out the leaky cam cover, I didn't want to replace the fairing lowers without being sure it was done. So the Daytona also leant Ruby some little aluminium trim panels I'd made up years ago. The result is rather pleasing, at least for now.

Ruby with borrowed Daytona forks and aluminium fairing trim

Fixing a couple of mudguard niggles

When I did my main post-winter cleanup, I noticed that the front mudflap I'd made was ripped. It had done a good job at keeping the front of the fairing clear of muck and, in particular, the oil cooler. So I undid the brake calipers, loosened the six M6 mudguard mounting bolts and wiggled the mudguard free of the forks. I could see that the mudguard had been rubbing on the forks so I put some strategically place patches of duct tape on the guard to protect the paintwork. They are invisible when the guard is mounted - quite a pleasing fix to the first niggle then.

'orrible manky rubbish but ...

... rescuable and treated to new grommets

The oil cooler had been in a very rough state when I bought the bike. I had managed to restore it to a usable condition and so was keen to protect it as much as I could.

Now +25mm and robust

First attempt left, second attempt right.

The length of the mudflap was just enough to keep the road spray from the front wheel below the cooler. I decided to give myself a bit more peace of mind by making replacement mudflap about another inch longer. Also, my first attempt sometimes got caught against the front wheel when I pushed the bike backwards. I had fixed it inside the hard plastic of the mudguard. This time I decided I'd fit it to the outside. That meant making an aluminium bracing strip that was more substantial than the original.

I cut a length of 3mm aluminium this time instead of the 1mm sheet I used first time around. I put a curve into the new bracing strip so it would hold the rubber sheet in an arc around the profile of the tyre, helping it to resist the effect of wind at speed. I should have been more confident in making the bend really but it does the job.

Riding the bike over the following week showed that the 'tide mark' of muck now stops well clear of the lower edge of the oil cooler. Also, the replacement mudflap has yet to get caught by the front wheel. I've noticed that when I reverse the bike out of a parking spots that used to result in a gravelly graunching noise, all is smooth and silent now. A pleasing fix to niggle number two.

It was at this time I realised that the oiliness of the left-hand fork leg could no longer be dismissed as a bit of mist. It was a full-blown leak with fork oil accumulating running down the fork slider to the left-hand brake caliper. So it needed addressing as a matter of urgency. And then I got a puncture in my new rear tyre. Oh dear ...