pidjones '72 T150V rescue

One of my most fun races ever, was at Road America a few years ago with a guy on a Trident and I was on my Seca 550. His trident was super clean and ran just great. I would follow him down the straights and then outbrake him into the turns where I could hold him off until the next straight. I could stay in his draft, but couldn't pull out to pass. In the first race we had on Saturday, I could only stay in his draft to the start finish line and I was 6" off his rear tire at the line for 3rd place.
On our Sunday race, I pushed him hard into the last turn so he ran a little wide to hold me off and I got past him. He drafted me up the front straight but couldn't pull off the pass until just past the line, so I got 2nd.
That Trident had the Slippery Sam body work on it and it looked and ran great, I'll bet his top speed was pushing 120-125.
 
I'll bet he had a new Trident with disk brakes. Mine has the "conical" (also referred to as comical) shoe-type brakes. Haven't gotten to them yet. Just poured water out of the forks. That will be fun. These girls are pretty wide and heavy for racing. Reminds me of my GL1000s.
 
Forks rebuilt. The left fork cap was seriously cross-threaded. Cap destroyed and tube threads badly mangled. Over about four total hours of time I was able to use a sharp 1/4-20 tap to comb the threads and restore them so that the remaining good cap threaded on smoothly. Two nice used caps from ebay in now and that is all sorted. except I didn't replace the seals. The existing ones really looked fine. The frame is now fully disassembled and will soon be cleaned more and any rust removed with etching primer applied.
 
Disassembled, cleaned, re-lubricated the front brake. To remove the nut from the axle, made a socket by cutting six ~3/4" slots in a 1' section of old antenna mast (I have used this piece for decades to increase mechanical advantage for variohs tools). Flattened each section with vice grips, tapped over the nut and used a pipe wrench for added torque. Worked great. When weather clears (welding must be done outside) the slots will be tacked up to give it a bit more strength and a cross-hole drilled for a bar to lever it.

Everything inside the hub looked good. Mild rust on the drum c,eaned up with crocus cloth. Linings looked great. Bearings felt good. Sqirted a bit of new grease on the bearings and reassembled. Adjustment was pretty simple, but it will probably be another year before needed.

Rear wheel might be next. Stalling on final frame cleaning. Want better painting weather before exposing bare steel. Case of rattle-can etching primer on order.
 
Beautiful day today, and I really should have been riding. Instead, after doing a few hour's work on the daughter's house, spent about six hours scrubbing the frame and components. I think that I finally have it to the point that it can be sanded, wire brushed etc, and then wiped with acetone before priming.
 
All the bits (well, there is always something hiding) except the main frame loop and rear sub frame have been stripped, primed, and painted. Waiting for the next awesome weather window (right now we have ~4" snow) for doing the remainder.
 
Speedo drive (a used ebay Smiths) came in today plus an Indian head lock. Those fitted up and the rear wheel looks correct when I slide it on the swing arm. Mine has the top hat spacers that go through the swing arm slot to adapt newer and older. Don't understand that, but for this mid-'72 machine it appears to be made from left-over parts anyway. No snap-off set screw, but I'll just use a regular one. Also parts for the handlebar mounting came in and I knocked the old external steel shells out of the top tree and installed the new ones. Still looking for a nice wide set of Euro bars for it. Might wait for the Barber swap meet.
 
Frame is starting to go back together. Fighting every step of the way, too. Finally got the front end on yesterday and today swapped front wheel bearings and mounted it. Left switches from a '79 GoldWing. Indian clocks in old rubber cups. Waiting for shock bushings to mount them and the rear wheel. Then, I guess it will be a roller.
Front wheel on.jpg
 
Showed the RD400c at a local church show amid blowing snow, sleet, rain, and bright sunshine. Happily temperatures remained above freezing so there was no accumulation on the streets. I would hate to have those high-dollar, high horsepower, wide-tired cars on snow! Happily, the storms passed and sun came out for the final hour of the show.

Shock absorber bushings arrived and were quickly pressed in with the aid of a dab of silicone grease. Installed the shocks and side stand. So,she is now a roller. Next to determine the pieces necessary to go back on before mounting the engine. I plan to lay both engine and frame on their side on carpet scraps, bolt them together, then pick up the assembly.
 
Got a wild hair this morning and wrestled the engine back into the frame. I only outweigh the engine by 8 pounds, but finally outlasted it!
BIF2.jpg
 
Decided to see how the carbs and filter looked on it. Fuel lines need another 150 degree banjo, so that is on order.as well as some 1/8" stainless tubing for the oil pressure gauge. I'll run nylon from the frame to the gauge on the handlebars, but don't trust it near the exhaust and copper work hardens and cracks too easily. Used the lathe to modify the 1/8" tube compression fitting to adapt to the 5/16" NF port to the oil galley.

Carbs and filter on A.jpg
 
Oil lines installed. Waiting for clamps. Other parts came in today, though. Slow progress. Discovered when I put the chain on it that there is no master link. Wired together to let me rotate the engine for timing.
oil lines on.jpg
 
Enough wiring completed to try starting once it gets a battery. Changing to negative ground and Sparck reg/rect. Static timing is set (using the original points). SS line from one of the pressure ports in the front is run up the front downtube to the headstock, the joined by a union to a short section of the nylon tubing that came with the gauge to permit mounting it on the bar clamps. Using an old GoldWing fuse box and (mostly) Honda wiring colors. Hoping to try starting the motor in a couple weeks.

And, I got registration and tags! Title should come in the mail in about a month. Downloaded the pdf form from the state (TN), seller provided a notarized BOS, filled out the form and called the Sheriff's office. They sent a deputy out who checked the serial, called it in, received clearance, and signed the form. Took the forms to the county clerk's office and after consultation (they see this kind of transfer maybe once a year) paid the sales tax and tag/transfer fee. They gave me the tags and registration plus a form showing the title is on order. Thank you for being a reasonable administrator, Tennessee!
 
I saw one of these that was cafe'd last summer at a bike show and thought it was super cool. I have been lazily looking for a deal on one. Keep up the work. following along!
 
Came close to rolling her out today and giving a kick, but it poured rain most of the day. I have spark on all three plugs and the oil pressure LED is ON (hopefully to go out IF it starts) with the key ON. She doesn't have any rubber on any pegs, and I don't want to slip off and injure myself, so hopefully it will dry up tomorrow. Really need to hear it run to know if the bottom end sounds Ok before going further. If the engine needs to come back out, I need to find out now.
 
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