Daysie's Diary

[Lee337]

More news:

A few more hours fettling in the garage and I'm at the point where I think she's ready for a start up.

All the electrics are sorted, most of the bodywork is now on. I replaced the bulb for the temp gauge so that now works & bought a cheap horn from the local motor parts shop. That works too. Oddly, with the ignition on for a couple of minutes the low fuel light is also now working.

In theory all she needs is fuel in the tank and I can give the starter button the thumb.

Looking back on some of my notes, there's a few more jobs I need to do though. While the tank is on the bike, I still need to find 3 bolts, missing in the garage somwewhere. I also have to adjust the oil in the forks. I purposely left this as to adjust it properly, needs the weight of the bike copmpressing them (according to the book). I put the reccomended amount of oil in each fork, but just need to check them for piece of mind.

I also need to check all the coolant hoses & thermostat housing for leaks. I'm a bit concerned about the thermostat housing for 2 reasons.

• while I checked the thermostat and gave it a good clean, I'm not convinced it was working correctly.
• when I put everythign back together, including fitting the temp sensor, I couldn't source any seals, so cleaned up the ones I had as best I could and reused them.

I think if anything fails, it's going to be the seals in the thermostat housing. I could buy a pressure tester for around £25 which may be an option, at least I'll know before I start her & throw coolant everywhere. Maybe I'll do that. 

I also have to fit the fairings with some shiny new Dzus fasteners I've had on the shelf for around 2 years, and free up a seized bolt on the belly pan. I've then got to find a replacement as Triumph no longer sell them. Sure I'll find something though.

Another day closer to finishing my 3 year Daysie project. I'm sure Tabitha Trophy didn't take this long.

P.S. I was right Tabitha took 1 year 5 months.

 

[Lee337]

A flurry of activity in the garage over the past few weeks. I know Daysie wasn't toucged for 8 - 10 months, but now I've got my head back in the game, a lot of stuff has been done.

Yesterday was spent with the battery on charge and me tidying up the shelves where all my bike parts are stored. What I was actually doing was looking for the bolt that fixes the rear of the tank to the frame, I know it was there when I started, but I have no clue where it is now.

But the upshot of all this searching is that I've now thrown a lot of rubbish, reorganised the 'parts' shelf, found the box of fairing bolts etc (which I haddn't realised I'd lost) and now also have a fully recharged battery.

I also attached a battery optimiser connector direct to the battery, so I don't have to keep removing the seat & rear hump every time tbe battery needs a top up.

I'm at the point now where I can't really delay things any longer - I need to throw a few litres of fuel in the tank & see if she'll start.

Except there's a slight issue with the temperature gauge. When I turned the engine over on the starter yesterday, I happened to be looking at the dash and noticed the temp gauge needle jumping up to H. As soon as I stopped turning the engine over, the needle returned to rest. I had a look at the wiring diagram this morning to see if there was any obvious connection between the temp gauge/sender and the rev counter/ignition coil, but there's none I can see., not even a common earth. I suspect the sender but don't really understand why the temp gauge is behaving as it is.

Over the next few days I'll remive the temp sender & check it to see if I get the readings expected at cold/hot. If it is a fualty sender, I'll have to buy a new one. Thankfully Triumph still sell these.

The last pic shows the missing nut holding the rear of the tank in place, the other two are from this weekend. I know they look veryy similar to a couple of photos I took nearly 10 months ago, but honestly, a lot has been done in between 

[Lee337]

Pulled Daysie off the bench last night & put some fuel in the tank. I was only going to check that there were no leaks, which I don't think there is, but as I had the keys handy & the battery is fully charged, it'd be rude not to at least try.

So, with key in the ignition, I turned her on, all the dash lights did exactly what they were supposed to, the fuel pump whirred away. I switched the ignition off again when the sound of he fuel pump changed, not in a bad way but enough to indicate it was now full of fuel.

Switched the ignition on again and pulled the clutch in. Thumbed the starter & the engine turned over, then backfired.

Turned the ignition off, then back on again, more fuel pump whirring and thumbed the starter again. this time I noticed a vapour coming out of the exhaust just before it backfired again, but no start.

I figure one of two problems, either the injectors are blocked, unlikely as there was a strong smell of petrol, vapour coming out ot the exhaust & it backfired, or more likely, I reconnected the plug caps in the wrong order. Either way, I'll lift the tank off again at the weekend & take a look.

I'm also still concerned about how the temp gauge is acting when I turn the engine over. I've checked the wiring coming from the sender & that's OK and I'm pretty certain you can't mix up the connectors behind the dash. From memory, they can only be connected one way. Another thing to investigate at the weekend.

But still closer to that magical day when I can ride her for the first time.