Radiation

I had decided to fit a radiator from a later model Trophy 1200 because they are quite a bit wider and my bike had been running very hot before I took it apart. The 1991 models were all fitted with identical radiators, from the 750 Tridents through the 1200 Trophy. I'm guessing that hot running had been an issue with the early bikes because from some time in 1992, as far as I can tell, the 1200s were fitted with a version that is about 5cm/2" wider.

I got a second hand radiator from a 1999 model. It came complete with fan and stone guard, both formed in plastic rather than steel as in the 1991 versions. My original radiator guard and fan housing were pretty rusty but I have more confidence in the finer mesh of the original guard than the plastic version.

So I bought some gold anodized aluminium mesh from Homebase and cut it to size so that the plastic guard would hold it in place.

I decided to fit braided sleeving to all the hoses. I could pretend there's a functional reason for doing this but it's basically a cosmetic decision. The hoses on these engines are not pretty. I've either achieved a better blend to the look of it with the braiding or just drawn attention to it. You decide. I like it anyway.

I'd checked that the thermostat was working properly before installing the top hose. I bought a jam thermometer to do this, heating a pan of water up with the thermostat immersed. The thermostat is marked '83' and it opened at about that temperature, according to the thermometer. So all's good there.

The radiator is retained by two M8 bolts at the top, which also double up as mountings for the fairing subframe, and four M6 bolts at the bottom (two each for brackets on the lower corners).

I filled the radiator with a 50:50 mix of Bluecol and de-ionised water. That's a stronger mix than is needed in rainy England but the coolant also contains corrosion inhibitors so it seemed like it would offer more protection than a lower ratio might.

I had fitted stainless collars around the ends of the hoses, under jubilee clips. With the system filled I noticed a slight leak from the hose which connects the rear of the cylinder block to the water pump. I removed the collar and then tightened down the clip more than I would normally do. The result was no more leak. I'll have to check all the joints come start-up, along with the oil plumbing I added for the oil temperature and pressure sensors.

A moment in time

On the 21st of April, my trimotorevival journey was at a turning point. I realised that my efforts were on the point of shifting from stripping, cleaning and refurbishing to reassembly. It was a big realisation for me.

As it happens, there were still quite a few more components for me to refurb as I went. I found that each step I took showed up the odd bracket or so that needed a coat of paint or a polish.

Sometimes life gets in the way

It's quite a while since I posted anything about my efforts to get the dear old Trophy going again. Sometimes life gets in the way, by which I mean other projects or activities have taken priority. In brief: annual fortnight holiday, preceded by a not inconsiderable amount of necessary maintenance on the family jalopy, succeeded by some DIY which often seems necessary when returning from a holiday. Finally, there was fixing up my dear wife's bike, a Yamaha SZR660, which I had promised to do so she could sell it. It should have been straightforward but how often is that things that should be easy actually are?
The carb seals were blown - they had a putty-like consistency, probably because they had been attacked by new ethanol in contemporary petrol. The carbs cleaned up beautifully with the proper care and attention, and a nice new set of seals, but then I found a lot of niggling other problems. One of these was a non-functional rear brake light switch. As it happens, this is a Brembo master cylinder with a hydraulic switch that screws into the rear brake line. There is nothing to see externally. It just stopped working.

I had a look in the interweb to see if I could find any clues or ways to fix it. By way of clues, I found a car enthusiast who had suffered several failures with switches of this kind. He had sectioned one of them with a band saw (scary). It was made up of a hydraulic seal in the form of a diaphragm that bulges up when the brakes is pressurised. As it pushes up, it lifts a metal plate into contact with two terminals. The whole mechanism is encapsulated. He found that the plastic encapsulation around one of the terminals was swollen and melted from overheating. His diagnosis was that the current flowing from partial application of the brake caused arcing which, with the encapsulation, couldn't dissipate the heat generated as a by product. Anyway, this means no repair is possible.


So I found a dealer with a genuine replacement part (same price as pattern) and sorted it with a 50 mile round trip. One careful remove-replace-bleed later, all was well. Why have I troubled you with this non-Triumph tale? Because it proves I haven't been idle and, when I connected a very nice Motobatt AGM battery to Trophy 544, what should I discover but the only electrical item not working was the hydraulic brake light switch ... ... so today i did another 50 mile round trip to the same dealer for a Genuine Triumph replacement.


The replacement is a superceded part which incorporates a banjo bolt. The original was a banjo bolt with a threaded head, into which the hydraulic switch was mounted. Doh! I'd already found external corrosion so maybe I shouldn't have been surprised that it wasn't too good on the inside. Only I'm sure it was working before I stripped the rear brake down. I'm toying with the idea of putting a relay into the feed for the rear brake light. There's space for it right in front of the rear light unit, next to the fuse box so it would be simple to do. That would solve any arcing because it would mean the switch body would be dealing with a very low current. The twin lamps in the rear light mean that they currently have to deal with (2x21w)/12v=3.45amps. It's a thought anyway.

On September 30th, it'll be exactly 21 years since she first ventured out on the roads. So my new aim is to get her rolling for then. Wish me luck. (meanwhile, I think I've filled my blogger photo quota, so something else has got in the way of posting)

[Addendum 25th of September: I've created a Flickr account and am now linking to photos there, hence the two pictures in this post]