Stefano

wow wow wow wow wow this is fantastic news. Pictures please

you mentioned that they do not like 50 weight oil? what do you recommend

 

I know that AMC had a thing about using engine oil in the primary chaincase, principally to protect the engine shaft shock absorber I presume, but I use 30 grade with no ill effects because I think this helps protect the clutch plates from gumming up. Has anybody else got any thoughts on this?

Alas, no 3HW girders I'm afraid

Well, it's certainly wet sumping - if after ten minutes running there was still that much oil in the crankcase I shudder to think how much there was when you started up. I suppose that you could have wear between the pump body and crankcase but from experience it doesn't seem to be a common malady. A pump usually dies because the worm drive or the actuating groove has worn out, but very rarely the body itself. Wet sumping can depend alot on where the engine stops I suppose - if the feed port is open the only thing that limits oil from pouring into the crankcase (to an extent) is the clearance between the crankshaft and the bush - now that does wear. Another thing to check is if the scavnge side is doing it's job properly, apparently there are some duff oil filters around that create too much back pressure leading to the crankcases filling up, it's never happened to me but that's what I've heard. On another note, do check the oil level in the primary chaincase, because engine oil can finish in there as well, and our clutches don't take kindly to straight 50....

Keep us updated on how it works out,

Cheers,

Stef

Bought mine at Beltring, brilliant book. Just wish it was about 1500 pages longer...

Ron,

As you say, the crankcases are definitely 8 stud. I was intruiged by this as well, but the crankcase doesn't look as if it's been ground down and the numbers seemed original. Unfortunately I haven't seen enough '38 Speed Twins to notice if any others have the '39 set up. I suppose that it's not beyond the realms of fantasy that the bike grenaded it's engine early on in it's life and the Service Dept. installed new crankcases with the original numbers stamped on, It was a common enough practice at Triumphs as regards frames, so I don't suppose that it would have been any different with engines.

I don't have the '38 Spare parts catalogue, because consulting that would almost certainly lay to rest whether any 8 stud cylinders were used prior to to '39 season. Triumph spares catalogues were the best in the industry as far as I'm concerned, and gave (nearly) every mid season modification plus frame (or engine) number changeover points.

Like I said, I'm amazed at myself for not jotting down the frame number (for two years on the trot to boot), but I was probably lugging around some Morris bits at the time....

Regards,

Stef

Ron,

Thought you might be interested in a couple of photos I took of the Speed twin last year. I've sent you the engine and g/box numbers via P.M.

Cheers,

Stef

Just to say that I found my Cab.11 C15 in France, whereas my Morris CD/SW was in Northern Italy - now that lorry must have a few tales to tell...

I brought the subject up because a friend said he saw a lovely WD panel tank OHV Triumph twin at W&P. ( I missed it). I'd like to know what info or provenance the owner has!! Ron

It was there last year as well, only this year pannier frames had been added - a shame in my opinion - and for some reason I keep forgetting to look at the frame number. The engine is 1938 but the gearbox number dates to around 1940, so who knows. Whatever, it's a wonderful machine.

Horn should be a standard ww2 issue Lucas Altette (HF 1234 I think). The bezel should be fixed to the body with slotted cheesehead screws (not acorn nuts). If you're as mental as me and you look at such things, the build date is stamped on the little triangular fibre plate that slips over the terminal posts.

Stef

Sometimes you'll get a spark when the plug is sitting on the cylinder head but nothing will happen under compression. I've seen this crop up a couple of times over the years and it's beyond annoying...

Sonds like the magneto armature is on it's way out (insulation breaking down) - a get you home dodge is to to cool down the mag with wet rags - generally works (for a bit).

Cheers,

Stefano

I confess to having a particular liking for the G3L - admittedly it's a pig to get at things, and the engineering can seem occasionally perverse, but that's also why it's such a beautifully compact bike. Ground clearance is very rarely an issue, especially with the tucked in exhaust pipe, and the tele forks make it the most comfortable to ride. Add a pair of H.L. cams and an extra tooth on the engine sprocket and it can be reasonably quick as well, with handling to match. It's true that they need setting up with care, but then again don't they all? The Triumph is probably the best of them all on the road, but the mud in Americas field on Thursday saw the 3HW surfing along on it's bash plate with very little in the way of foreward motion. I suppose that the Ariel would be first choice in conditions like that seeing as it really is a trials iron, but I've heard it said that it can get a bit fidgety on the road at speed.

In the end it just comes down to personal preferences and availability - they're all good'uns, and sheparding a convoy is an absolute hoot.

Jack, it was great to meet, and the invitation stands

That was a good day...

Actually, the 3HW box is quite a different beast to the ones used on later Triumphs (1950 on). The layshaft on the earlier box is completely different and is a sort of semi floating affair running on much smaller (iron) bushes than the bronze ones (or needle rollers) used later. Actually, there are very few parts that are interchangable between the early and late boxes (mainshaft bearings, 4th gear mainshaft bushes - need shortening though, selector rod and possibly camplate, most kickstart and preselector bits), which is a bit of a pain because that means that parts availability for the early boxes has pretty much dried up. However, unless something really horrible has happened to the gears these boxes can usually be brought back to life without any massive difficulty. The mainshaft can usually be reclaimed where the 4th gear bushes wear it down by hard chroming and grinding back to size, ditto with the layshaft, although it's probably better to leave this just a tad oversize and then ream out the floating bushes to suit, since it's years since I've seen any of these for sale.

On another note, it's surprising to think that the later gearbox lasted pretty much unchanged all the way to 1968 if you exclude the speedometer drive gear on the layshaft (a rubbish idea if ever there was one - thank the sprung hub for that particular wheeze), not that that makes much difference anymore because parts for these also seem to be in ever shorter supply - a depressing thought...

Thanks for all your suggestions chaps, I'll pass everyhing on to my friend and let him make up his mind!

Jules,

For the float you can try Burlen Fuel Systems, Hitchcock's m/c's or Surrey cycles.

BTW, the new floats are plastic instead of brass, but they work just as well.

A friend of mine sent me thes pictures to identify the box just in front of the line of jerry cans. Obviously he has greater faith in me than I deserve because I haven't got the foggiest idea of what it is (and no, it's not a biscuit tin ).

Any ideas?

Jules,

The wiring looms for these bikes were really very simple affairs. The early bikes used black rubber encased copper wire, and the colour identification was via little rubber sleeves in the appropriate colours at the terminal ends. The only piece of black rubber sheathing in the whole loom was used to bridge the gap between the headlamp and the frame, otherwise all the wires were exposed and just clipped to the frame in the appropriate places.

When the bikes went over to canvas handlebar grips to save on rubber it seems that the wiring went the same way and became black cotton braided.

As you can see, there really was no wiring "loom" as such, and it's an easy job to do.

Hope this helps,

Stef

Cheers Stef,how's that gun of yours coming along ?

 

 

Erm... Well not at all actually, I'm still just stacking bits up alongside it (alot of things to find as yet) -oh if only I could get my hands on a Quad...

What a gem it is - Well done!

How is the James by the way ?

Ah... Well the James is pretty stationary at the moment, I really need to get the wheel bearing cups & cones sorted (plus the spindles), and then I should be on the home run (fingers crossed). Obviously, being so far away from the u.k. means that sourcing parts for bikes can be a bit fraught, but patience always wins through in the end. And when a forum like this can enable you to tap in to the thoughts of people like Steve Madden the chances are that you'll do a proper job. The biggest problem really is trying to restore the bigger stuff, and the CD/SW and WOT2 have so far represented an almost vertical learning curve . Strangely enough, I've had more problems with finding parts and advice for the Fordson, since on the Morris front I've been lucky enough to get to know Rory Ballard and Tobin Jones, and they have proved to be first rate lads. Without their help the chances are that I would have probably given up hope by now. The same goes for my 25 pounder - Rob (rnixartillery on the forum) has been of colossal help to me in trying to get all the bits I need - like the saying goes, "it's not what you know but who you know". So far I can safely say that I've been very lucky .

O.K,

What with the ongoing restorations of the James, the WOT 2 and a Triumph T110, plus the endless saga of the CD/SW (and a Superleggera Touring bodied Lancia Flaminia....... just don't), I thought it was time for a little comic relief and therefore have decided to get stuck into my G3L. (must be mad)

It's from contract C14499, which makes it quite a pretty one, seeing as it should still have the metal tank badges, allied to the canvas grips and full set of panniers. In any case, when I aquired it (bought is too strong a word) it really was a mess.

The rear end had been hacked about with a very agricultural sprung back end grafted on, it also had deeply valanced mudguards and a humpbacked petrol tank à la Moto Guzzi Dondolino (very nice....)

Basically, when stripped down, I was left with a front frame, a set of forks, an engine and gearbox, an oil tank and both wheels. Over the years I've sort of pieced it together: correct headlamp, all the handlebar levers (Amal in this case), rigid back end, both stands, fuel tank, saddle, a pair of repro mudguards, the proper WD footrests, etc, etc. So far so good.

Then it turns out that the rear frame is wrong, because it was of a type used only on the first contract G3L's.... So back to the drawing board and a new rear end is located. It needed a bit of work because as far as I'm concerned the G3L's rear frame is chronically under-engineered, so the rear plates needed a fair amount of welding and much hitting with hammer - I actually wonder if the forged rear wheel plates were actually any stronger than the earlier steel plate sandwich type.

After that a few helicoils were needed and the oil tank / battery carrier studs needed sorting (and what a crummy job that was )

Here are a few pictures of the frame going through the motions (notice the fancy Italian aftermarket aluminium primary chaincase - a shame it took AMC so long to do the same thing)

G3L spark plugs were 14mm with a 1/2" reach. Original fitment would have been either KLG F70, Champion L10 or Lodge H14

Accepted substitutes could be:

Champion L82C or L86C

NGK B6HS or B5HS

Bosch W7AC or W8AC

The first plugs listed are colder than the second, and if your engine has a tendency to oil up then you could go with the hotter plug. If, however, you've removed the compression plate I'd stick with the colder plug regardless. A cold plug at worst will stop functioning, a hot plug can melt a piston

If in doubt you can always do a plug chop to see how things are going.

Cheers,

Stef

I'd be intersted in the rearmost axle, it would seem to be the same as that used in the WOT2, and I've been looking for one for ages.. Anybody got any idea whether the ratio is the same?

Foch assumed overall command of the Anglo-French forces during the period of the last "push" of the tripartate alliance, and considering what those morons were up to in Whitehall it must have come as a relief to Haig that he no longer had worry about the antics of Loyd George and his merry men. To think that the Smuts overhaul of the RFC and RNAS into the RAF came during operation Michael beggars all belief...

In any case if we go down this road obviously it becomes a freefall of what if's: The French were desperate for reparations because the USA demanded that their loans to France be repaid pronto (surprise surprise) - Great Britain tried to restore the prewar exchange rate with the dollar, thereby deflating it's economy to a suicidal extent and almost wiping out it's productive base - The Weimar Republic tried inflation to lessen the burden, it got out of hand (in this context look what happened to Austria), the middle classes were completely wiped out and they consequently hailed the arrival of Herr Schickelgruber (can you really blame them?) and the rest as we say is history.

The what if's are awesome in their extent. If the Bolsheviks hadn't come to power, if Mussolini hadn't had his nose put out of joint by the British closing down the Gibralter straights after Italy invaded Abissinia, if the Anglo-Japanese alliance hadn't been sunk by the USA, if Britain had gone to war over Czecoslovakia instead of Poland...if, if, if.

The fact is that, unpalatable as it may seem, a great amount of Britain's misfortunes were wished upon itself by the conceited ineptitude of it's politicians and it all comes down to the sad realisation that the British Empire should never have fought and won the First World War (because that is exactly what it did, American feelings notwithstanding).

That it did should be an everlasting testimonial to it's greatness, but if it had left the French, the Russians, the Italians and the Serbiens to their collective destiny the chances are that everybody would have been better off in the long run (even the Armenians, sadly, as that particular genocide was going to happen whatever the British decided to do). After all, when the French were defeated at Sedan it was hardly the end of the world...

The fact is, that although given the gift of hindsight, we will never know how things might have gone, all we know is how they went...