Trevor's Triumph

There is a picture on AccessNorton.com where a guy has his cases in the oven at 250 for a hour and the bearings literally just fall out. Being that you’re into it this far, have you considered vapor blasting? It looks stupid clean when done.

vapor blasting >*

I’ve thought about Vapor blasting. Does anybody do that locally? I’ve been reading up on it. Seems like kind of a pain in the dick with all of the required prep work, but I do love the final result and it’s definitely worth it. I’ve considered slapping together a blasting cabinet for things motorcycle frame size and smaller. I could fill it with crushed glass and at least do the cleaning and deoxidization myself. I’ll definitely want some type of blasting cabinet for when I do get into powder coating anyway.

Double Deuce Speed Shop in chaffee has a vapor blasting setup, but I have been using a guy out of state because he does such a damn good job it’s worth shipping to him.

+1

Nils does some awesome work.

That picture of the Trident head, cylinders, and rocker box covers made me cum!!!

you’re
welcome

Wow. That all looks amazing. Reasonable prices? I’d probably want to send him the engine cases, jugs and my cylinder head. I suppose I could get a quote and go from there.

Some info from when I spoke with him regarding a SOHC Honda motor:

" I just finished a CBX engine and it took me over an hour to prepare just the cases for blasting. Covering bearing surfaces, cleaning out and then plugging oil passages and blind holes, etc. Then another hour to rinse and clean and remove all the traces of blast media. That’s $140 right there. A 550 engine is a lot simpler though, it would probably take about half that amount of time for your project. There are no shortcuts to doing a professional job! If blast media is left in oil passages, or got stuck to oil or sludge that was not removed before blasting then disaster is ahead. Same with blind holes and threads - media LOVES to stick in threads and it can bind up a bolt faster than you would believe, to the point of breaking a fastener. The solution? Don’t get it in there in the first place.

A complete SOHC engine takes pretty much all day - 6-8 hours or so depending on what all you send, plus return shipping, so $420+. As far as polish, I’d be glad to do the side covers etc to 'factory like" finish, but mirror/chrome finish is frankly a pain in the neck, so I stay away from that. That I can do a lot cheaper - it doesn’t involve expensive equipment etc :-). Generator cover, shifter and sprocket cover, clutch cover and points cover, valve cover no more than 2-3 hours I’d say, net $70-105. ($35 per hour)
Here’s how to work with us:

Clean your parts and remove ALL of the steel brackets, bearings, seals, clutch actuator, etc. If you’re stuck trying to extract something, leave it for me. If it’s one or two little things it’s on the house. One great way to do this is to get a can of Gunk engine degreaser and trot down to your least favorite local you-do-it car wash early some morning with some ratty jeans, a big milk crate, safety glasses and a handful of quarters. Soak the parts with the Gunk stuff as per directions (in the shade) and then blast them clean with the pressure washer. Wear the safety glasses, and put the parts in the milk crate so they don’t go banging around on the ground, breaking fins, etc. RINSE THEM WELL, and then dry them off with compressed air or in a warm oven before you pack them up.

Pack it all up in the sturdiest boxes you can find. If you’re sending us a head and a valve cover, please also send the rubber gasket and the cover bolts. Engine cases can be lightly bolted together with a couple of bolts, likewise the head and the valve cover. Wrap the rest individually with bubble wrap and pad between them with cardboard or rigid foam so they don’t get damaged in transit. If you hear clinking when you shake the box they are not well padded enough. An engine needs to be in at least two boxes or the shipping gets expensive because of overweight boxes.

If you can’t find a suitable box, head down to Home Depot and get a couple of their sturdy black totes with the yellow lids, pack into those and then use zipties in all the holes around the perimeter of the lids to seal.

Weigh and measure the boxes or totes and then email that to me along with your return address and I will email you a prepaid shipping label for a lot less than you can get at the UPS store etc. Tape it to the lid well and also put a copy inside the box for backup. Drop it off at any UPS store for free or hand it to a UPS driver, and you’re done. I’ll bill you for everything at once when your project is complete.

Turnaround time is about a week for a project like you described. If you wouldn’t mind though, please visit the website and fill out the order form when you do, just so I have all the information I need to process your order.

Thanks for your interest! And feel free to call or email anytime to discuss or if I can answer any questions. The shop phone is 520-308-3705 and my mobile is 978-697-5838.

Best,

Nils Menten"

Now that’s detailed. I was a bit worried that the cost would end up in the $400-$500 range. Hmm. Guess I’ll have to think about that.

Bought a nice electric Maytag shop oven for $80. I’m going to install the proper plug that fits my welder extension cord so I can use it wherever in the shop. I got swivel rollers with 125lb capacity each, totaling 500lb. and I’m planning to make a frame for them onto which I’ll set the oven so I can maneuver it around. It’s actually pretty damn big in there. Glass cooktop, too. Good for warming anodizing chemicals and dyes. And boiling water for French Press. Fits both Triumph case halves on their sides inside without issue and would have room above for another shelf for the inner transmission cover. Also; powder coating.

http://www.clutchsuperclutch.com/images/triumphpics/IMG_20161218_174714.jpg

Hoping to play with that either tomorrow or Tuesday. Thinking about getting a 20-ton HF press just to have one. Could definitely use one…

Trevor-go on his website and check it out. He has pics of what he did and the cost associated with it.

I actually didn’t expect that to be so reasonable. According to a few Triumph projects he’s got posted there, I’m not likely to pay much over $400 with shipping. l suppose I didn’t fully appreciate how much larger/more complex an SOHC Honda motor is.

This job he claims, cost $280.

I’d send him the head and the cylinders as well. Why not? Blast it all.

I probably would have polished up those combustion chambers up a touch first, but whatever. That’s just me.

One more of those cases. Fuck they’re gorgeous.

Sold. I’m doing it. I’ll scrub them up real well this week and get the paperwork all taken care of. Maybe ship 'em out next week.

Holy detonation pitting on that cylinder head!!

you won’t be disappointed going with Nils.

Yeah, I saw that on his site. There is a guy re-doing a Norton on a website I’m on that was a flood bike. The head looks less pitted/scabby than that one above.

I just had to share this piece of wonderful sexiness that showed up today.

http://www.clutchsuperclutch.com/images/triumphpics/IMG_20161224_205636.jpg

http://www.clutchsuperclutch.com/images/triumphpics/IMG_20161224_205651.jpg

This should be arriving this week as well. Alloy pressure plate with radial roller thrust bearing. Hopefully this thing will end up with a really nice clutch feel.

This week, I’ll be scrubbing and blasting my engine cases, cylinders, head and likely the Amals, then sending them to Nils for vapor blasting. I’ll get a quote, but I’ll bet it’s around $400 provided I clean everything really well. Pretty much every external aluminum part will be vapor blasted. Now that I think about it, could I blast off the chrome plating from the covers [primary, timing, gearbox] and have them vapor blasted, too? Might as well have everything match, eh?

I’m ordering the rest of the parts the put the motor back together this week before I send it out. That way I’ll be ready to start reassembling it when everything comes back. Moving forward.

pro tip - use tinfoil to make a cover around the rods when putting the circlips in for the wrist pins.

I regret not doing that last night on a 1966 BSA 650 I was assembling and shot a circlip into the case…gotta try a few magnetic wands or the entire thing has to come apart and I want to avoid the fuck out of that.

Generally chrome should be chemically stripped off, then blasted. Tripp plating on william st in Buffalo just stripped my knucklehead lifter blocks same day for 30 bucks.

I did a lot of research after that post, and that’s what I’ve been reading. Apparently the thin chrome layer is somewhat easy to remove; it’s the underlying nickel [and potentially other layers] that’s the bitch. These are aluminum parts, so mechanical removal isn’t really an option anyway. I’m trying to head over to the shop shortly, so I’ll collect all of the gross chrome parts and bring them over to Tripp tomorrow. Thanks for the recommendation.

I fucking hate chrome. Especially shitty, peely, pitted chrome. Don’t nobody got time fuh’ nunna 'dat.