Terry feels his progress on the restoration of the 38 Speed Twin has been a bit slow but nevertheless he has made some headway worth reporting.
First of all, Terry was able to contact Rob Stockdale in the UK who is a leading expert on pre war Triumphs. Rob has amassed an amazing amount of pre-war Triumph information and maintains a registry of bikes. Although most of Triumph’s records were destroyed in the war when the Germans bombed Coventry, Rob has still been able to resurrect a significant amount of data on the pre-war machines and he is able to determine authenticity for many of them. Fortunately for Terry, Rob found that his Speed Twin came from the factory as a matched engine, frame and gear box ... very good news indeed.
The next step for Terry is to completely disassemble the bike. Before doing so, however, he has been fitting all the sheet metal and other parts that he has obtained from Ace Classics and other sources. Pre-fitting all parts is a very important step before painting as any adjustments need to be made now so the paint doesn’t get scratched during final assembly.
Terry reports the front mudguard and stays went on without a hitch but the rear has been a challenge for him. It appears the front part of the rear mudguard is made slightly too wide and won’t allow the fender to mount straight. With some minor adjustments, Terry got the mudguard to mount properly and it is now aligned with the rear wheel but after that another problem surfaced. When he tried to mount the correct and original tool box, the fender won’t allow the box to sit properly as it runs up against the mudguard causing the tool box mounting tabs to not properly align. The mudguard is still too wide at that point, but Terry feels confident that with some time to study the problem combined with lots of head scratching, he will find a solution.
As you can see in the pictures, Terry has acquired an 8” headlight from Cornucopia enterprises in Germany and it is an outstanding reproduction of the original and a perfect fit.
Terry also acquired a speedometer drive box for the front wheel from eBay UK. It was expensive but he really had no other option.
He still needs a speedometer but other than searching eBay frequently, he hasn’t pursed any other sourcing options.
Terry obtained an original Lucas switch for the tank top but the chrome bezel needs re-chroming. Does anybody reading this posting know how to get the bezel off without breaking the switch??? If so, let us know!
The bike came with a Eureka Oil pressure gauge buried deep in a box of junk and in very poor condition. Terry sent a picture off to several repair company’s in the US and is going to try UK company’s that have been suggested by several readers of this website. So far, he has received mostly negative responses with the exception of Instrument Services Inc in Illinois who were very positive about being able to restore it. It is now in their hands and Terry has fingers crossed they can complete the repair.
Once Terry gets the tool box alignment sorted out and disassembles the bike, he can look at the engine and gear box internals as well as the girder fork spindles.
Terry will disassemble the wheels and get the rims into the chrome shop which is sometimes a 2 month waiting period. The wheel rims have to be done prior to paint as the rim centers are painted and lined on this model, of course.
Our next posting will most probably focus on the engine rebuild that will start in March or April when Terry’s engine guru returns from sunnier climes to the Pacific Northwest.
Many more pictures of this motorcycle appear in the photo album.
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