TRIUMPH DAYTONA 1200
Oh dear! A simple sort out of the mighty 1200cc Daytona has left our Andy B with a big list of things to find and sort! And where are the keys?
Andy Bolas finds a few more faults!
So following on from last time we have managed to get the wheels out, then remove the tyres, discs and bearings.
The wheels actually looked like they were painted on top of the original finish, which isn’t nice at all! While removing the wheels I noticed that the rear caliper was weeping fluid so that was drained and removed for investigation later on. Things like this always crop up in even a mild restoration, don’t they...
While the wheels are getting a re-fresh I ordered new bearings and seals from the brilliant guys and girls at Wemoto. They really do seem to have something in stock for every modern classic bike – so do support them and try them. We at CMM couldn’t do much of what we do with our restorations and rebuilds without them.
So with the wheels back from the coaters we built them back up and Tony from AG Autos re-fitted the tyres for me. C J Wards (who are Niall Mackenzie’s powder coaters of choice, no less) did their usual excellent job on the wheels in satin black. These came up better than expected, considering the state they were in. Now the bike is back on its wheels we can start pulling more bits off.
As it’s been a long time since it was last fired up we thought it best to remove and strip the carbs down. What we found wasn’t very good at all, as you can see in the pictures! Where the main jet mounts has kind of crumbled away on carb number one, so I may need a new carb body to rectify this. Another thing we found (or moreover didn’t find) were the keys! We’re not sure how, what, why or where they are, but like a complete idiot I had the spare on the same key ring: DOH!
Well, a few months have passed since we lost the keys and its good news! While looking for some other keys Tony managed to find the Daytona keys. Hurray!
Considering the low owners and low miles of the machine, it’s not in the best condition under the bodywork so we’re going to give everything a good deep clean then either re-paint or powder coat the parts as required. Hopefully this isn’t going to turn into a full ground-up restoration as I don’t want a workshop full of dismantled bikes!
Anyway, we started to remove any little brackets that needed attention, and removed the clocks from their surround as this was looking a little worse for wear! While removing the oil-cooler mountings I noticed that the core was pretty well ruined so I will be on the lookout for one of those, too! We have taken all the brackets, etc., to a local powder coaters who did an ok job, but some of the crinklefinished parts will need stripping and taking to CJ Wards to be done again as the finish is rather poor. Lesson learned there – use the best in the business and only the best!
So with the brackets and clock surround all done we decided to take a few of the fasteners to be re-plated. Well, what a disaster that was, too! We sent in a batch of yellow, bright zinc, black and olive drab with all my plating for the Yamaha FZ600 we’re restoring in CMM – part one was last month! All this stuff, other than the yellow, came back bright zinc so I’m toying with the idea of replacing some of the fasteners now with stainless ones as I’m struggling to find a company local to do the black and olive drab finishes. I have managed to get Image Works in Derby to replicate the warning decals on the tank and also the Jack Lilley dealership sticker on the mudguard, so the bike should look as it did when it left the dealership with
its first owner! I have also discovered a small, but not insignificant coolant leak from around the water-pump so I will have to investigate further.
I’m not sure if the water-pump can be re-built on these or if you can buy seals and bits for them; if I’m lucky it may just be from the coolant hose itself!
Body-work wise, I have decided to keep the paint scheme standard rather than going for a Super 3 style paint job. We have also collected the silencers from Martin Leigh at Max Torque Cans Exhausts and he’s done a cracking job of re-sleeving the silencers for me. There is just a little damage left on the body of the one silencer, but I can live with that for now, and I might even see if Martin could make a pair of carbon silencers for it if I end up keeping it for the long term!
I have also started a list of bits I need/ want to replace and these include: Various fasteners (a bit vague, I know!) Seat (as the original one has been cut down)
New brake lines and fittings
New clutch line and fittings
Mirrors
Service kit including complete air-box New tyres
Carbs (due to corrosion)
Caliper seal kits
Brake pads all round
Silencer gaskets
Silencer mounting bracket.
Next we’re going to hopefully find out if the corroded carb is going to affect the running of the machine. Also I need to clean out the fuel tank as it seems to have a little surface corrosion so we don’t really want that going into the freshly cleaned carbs. We should also have a better oil-cooler fitted (if I can locate one). Hopefully, things will move a little faster on the Daytona now as 2020 is the 30th anniversary of the brand’s resurrection at the Hinckley factory, so ideally I would like it back together come March time (erm, when this magazine hits the shelves), but we’ll see!
I also need to contact the parts department at Staffordshire Triumph as the rubber grommets and elbow pieces supplied for the expansion tank only fit one hole in the tank. Hopefully this is going to be easy to sort. If not, I may need to improvise with the some parts to make them work!