Unfortunately, Terry can't jump into the ’38 Speed twin restoration immediately as he still has to finish a 1974 Norton Commando that is progressing slowly. That hasn’t stopped him from starting his parts search however.
The first call Terry made on his parts search was to Kevin at Ace Classics in London http://www.aceclassics.co.uk/home to find the sheet metal and nuts and bolts required for the restoration. Some of you may know Ace Classics from the TV show segment that “Café Racer” ran on that company last month.
Kevin was able to provide the correct front fender and stays for a girder fork, the correct two piece rear fender as well as the lifting handle and stays. He also furnished the top and bottom chain guards, rear stand, all the fixing hardware and the front stand. He had a set of handlebars that are a very good match for the trashed originals along with all the engine and gear box studs. He also went out of his way to locate a set of headlight mounting stays.
After that, Terry contacted Peter at Cornucopia in Germany http://home.arcor.de/cornucopia/. In the past, Peter has provided some very hard to find parts for Terry’s restorations but unfortunately most of Peter’s old spares have now been used up. Peter once provided Terry with a front wheel speedo drive box but that supply is now gone. Peter also had provided 8" headlights in the past and says he may be able to make some in the future but currently the 8” headlight is still on the “unobtainium” list. On the positive side, Peter was able to supply the front brake rod and the shielded speedo cable, so some progress was made.
The Altette horns and brackets are becoming increasingly hard to find and expensive but there is only one place to go to find out where to get one … "Taff the Horn" http://taffthehorns.com/. Lynn Isaac has an amazing knowledge of horns and has done restorations for Terry in the past. Although Lynn was somewhat reluctant at first, Terry persuaded him to sell the correct horn he had just finished.
EBay has been somewhat helpful to Terry. He found a gentleman in Australia who was making the knurled adjusters for the girder forks along with the top spindle nut. Of great importance is that the correct front wheel speedo drive box may now be on the way to Terry but he won't know for certain until it arrives. These drive boxes are hard to find and if you are trying to source one, be very careful as it is possible to get an incorrect version as many rotate the wrong way for a Triumph.
The fuel tank has been sent to Dave Wedlake in Portland so he can assess the condition under the nasty paint. After that, Dave will then send it on to Ross Thompson http://www.execulink.com/~rosst/ so Ross can restore it and get it chromed. Ross has done tanks for Terry in the past and as you can see from his web site he does incredible work. After Ross is done with his work, Dave Wedlake will paint the tank and the rest of the bike, if and when Terry is able to obtain all the parts. Dave painted Terry’s 1948 Tiger 100 as well as about half of the Triumphs in our collection so the quality of his work is well known.
The engine restoration is going to be a challenge. Some of the fins are broken from previous "mechanic’s" work and as this is a very rare barrel so the fins will have to be fixed. Fortunately, Terry’s engine guy is Bruce Holland, an old time Triumph racer and dealer. Bruce thinks the engine repairs will be "no problem".
Bruce and Terry have decided to put in a crank shaft with shelled rod bearings rather than the white metal bearings the engine came with. This will make the engine run much better and be infinitely rebuildable which is important as Terry plans on riding the bike. Terry plans to do the disassembly of the gear box and engine himself and only go to the "experts" if he runs into something he hasn’t seen before.
Terry still needs help finding the following parts and any help or suggestions would be appreciated. Please respond in the comments section below.
1. Eureka oil gauge or the location of somebody who can restore the one he has.
2. 8" headlight … this one has no instruments in it … it is just a Lucas King of the Road with button on top.
3. Smiths or Jaeger 90 mph Speedo
4. Genuine Lucas light switch for the tank top
5. Genuine amp gauge for the tank top
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