Back By Unpopular Request.

[Paul in NZ]

how old is blackbird???

triumphs are cool cos they are british. a bit like marshall amps. the orginal.

but some of you guys are far too old for riding bikes. and far too old to be up this late.

you must have been right little bastards when you were younger.

Dad did tell me I was a great disappointment to him once when he saw me out with some gang type guys but I was only buying a bike that I made some $$ on so I turned out OK...

[merv]

That 5TA Trophy is maybe 1969 Merv - got the 7in twin leader,but the black barrels and lack of feeler guage access caps in the rocker boxes make it pre 71 at least.

....

He was told it was a 1970 Daytona but it has only a single carb engine and we'd thought the Daytona should have had the twin carbs. He bought it anyway because it was in good nick.

It is fun to ride but the slightly blurred vision it gives me from the parallel twin vibes shaking my eyeballs is something I've never experienced on any Jappa.

Great pic of your group too!!

[Blackbird]

Dover: I'm 59 in October and still irresponsible (ummm...according to Mrs B). May you live at least that long

Paul... you're right on both counts. It's my drag bike engine which started out as a 350cc 3TA but kept losing its piston crowns due to the excessive piston speed on a long stroke motor. I put on a 500cc 5TA barrel and head and machined a short stroke crank in the varsity engineering labs to make a very oversquare 350. If you were super nerdy, you'd notice that there is one fin less than stock on the barrel because I had to machine about 10mm off to restore compression. You can see some decent pics here: http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ad.php?t=25955

[Paul in NZ]

He was told it was a 1970 Daytona but it has only a single carb engine and we'd thought the Daytona should have had the twin carbs. He bought it anyway because it was in good nick.

It is fun to ride but the slightly blurred vision it gives me from the parallel twin vibes shaking my eyeballs is something I've never experienced on any Jappa.

Great pic of your group too!!

Easy to change that Merv

Bung up the engine / frame numbers are it's simple to tell what year it is.

[Motu]

Um - not 100% sure the 500's ever got the funny little feeler guage hole??

They definatly had the hole in the rocker covers,the '73 in my Rickman had them,and I had other rocker boxes with them too.There was no Daytona head,it was just a manifold change - so it's possible someone fitted a single carb to a Daytona for a sweeter running less fussy bike,you need to see the engine number,T100C was the Daytona I think..I used to switch from single carb to twin carb often - I couldn't run airfilters with twin carbs,and the Rickman had a superb airfilter for it's day,it was a shame not to use it.I used to run a 30mm Mikuni for a single carb.

My friend has had that photo enlarged and framed hanging in his dinning room for over 25 years Paul,it's a great photo of two Tiger 100s and two red featherbeds.It's possible his photo was taken by OWL who was a pretty good photographer back then,having done an album cover.Not sure how late the Mercury ran,but I know that was one of the very last.

My 99 was not really an SS,but had been made into one with a Commando cam,high comp pistons and a couple of 30mm carbs,the 600 was a happier motor than the long stroke 650,and not much slower at all.Mine actualy was the Norton bathtub version,but I didn't have the bathtubs.There was one on TradeMe a couple of weeks ago,restorded but in parts - I'm pretty sure she was the person I sold mine to,or at least the bike shop they owned at the time.I don't think it was mine,she was pretty attached to her own one.

[Blackbird]

[QUOTE=Motu;716008]They definatly had the hole in the rocker covers,the '73 in my Rickman had them,and I had other rocker boxes with them too.There was no Daytona head,it was just a manifold change [QUOTE]

Interestingly enough, there was also a T100C in pre-unit construction form which did have a twin carb splay head like a Bonneville. It was built for competition work and somewhere , I might have an ancient road test on it. There was another twin carb pre-unit 500 called the Grand Prix. This was parallel-ported and I believe the head originally came from a Triumph -powered generator unit from a Lancaster bomber. That's expended my knowledge of the more special versions!

[Motu]

Interestingly enough, there was also a T100C in pre-unit construction form which did have a twin carb splay head like a Bonneville.

Came across one of those,and didn't know what it was,we thought it was a Bonny head.The pre unit 500's had a spiggoted head and barrel joint,the 650's were flat.These 500cc splayed port heads were flat like a 650 - so my mate fitted it to his preunit 650.It already had some wild cams and 9:1 pistons,but it was puzzleing that it had an increase in bottom end power and didn't help the top end at all....then we noticed the small ports and valves.No one in those days had ever heard of such a thing...dunno what ever happened to it.

[eliot-ness]

[QUOTE=Blackbird;716018][QUOTE=Motu;716008]They definatly had the hole in the rocker covers,the '73 in my Rickman had them,and I had other rocker boxes with them too.There was no Daytona head,it was just a manifold change

Interestingly enough, there was also a T100C in pre-unit construction form which did have a twin carb splay head like a Bonneville. It was built for competition work and somewhere , I might have an ancient road test on it. There was another twin carb pre-unit 500 called the Grand Prix. This was parallel-ported and I believe the head originally came from a Triumph -powered generator unit from a Lancaster bomber. That's expended my knowledge of the more special versions!

That was the TR5 Trophy. Introduced 1945/6, As you say, an ex war department generator engine. All alloy, twin carbs and at 47bhp pretty powerful for its day.An unofficial factory version won the 1946 Manx Grand Prix ridden by Ernie Lyons. It was later used successfully in the ISDT. iIt was a good allrounder in it's day.

[Paul in NZ]

[QUOTE=eliot-ness;716070][QUOTE=Blackbird;716018]

They definatly had the hole in the rocker covers,the '73 in my Rickman had them,and I had other rocker boxes with them too.There was no Daytona head,it was just a manifold change

That was the TR5 Trophy. Introduced 1945/6, As you say, an ex war department generator engine. All alloy, twin carbs and at 47bhp pretty powerful for its day.An unofficial factory version won the 1946 Manx Grand Prix ridden by Ernie Lyons. It was later used successfully in the ISDT. iIt was a good allrounder in it's day.

2 different models.

The TR5 trophy is my bikes grand daddy and it had a shorter than usual frame and higher ground clearance (basically a TRW frame). They were a well regarded bike but never developed like the 'Compy' AJS singles and were a bit heavy for trials.

The GP was a rigid T100 with a 'race kit' factory fitted. Both used the generator allot barrel / head with coase fins and parallel ex ports but in very different tune. Edward Turner did not believe in factory sponsored racing mainly because he knew the T100 would get creamed by the Manx and it was a waste of share holders profits. The factory did sponsor a GP at the TT and it did OK but Turner threw a spazz when he found out and it was really a bit of a fluke. The GP was a good clubmans bike but not fast enough as a top flight racer.

Both bikes get faked all the time from old RAF generator sets. (they provided power for bombers on the ground) but the gen set barrels have a hole on the side where the heat sheild bolted on, factory GP / TR5 ones don't (where is me welder)

Both bikes are now worth mucho $$$

Both went to the close pitched alloy motors but the GP was dropped as a model and replaced with the 'C' kit (twin carbs) T100 which was availiable only one year and is very rare.

The head Motu described was theoretically availiable (if you were a big dealer in the USA supporting a semi factory off road team I'm guessing) and was known as the 'Delta' head, a name that flowed over to the T120 head but was different.

Think thats right??

[Blackbird]

Here's some more nostalgia - was just looking through some of my books. A TR6 variant with no luggage grid. No info available but this might be a US tank. Also has chunky tyres.

The exploded view drawing of the GP motor was the 1947 version. There's also a photo of a 1948 ISDT model in my book and as Paul correctly says, it has the lug for the heat shield. Only one carb too.

[Motu]

The last of the 5T's used 6T cases,using the bigger ball timing side case,with the inverted eyebrow under the timing cover.That meant they could take 650 barrels,but they were still spiggoted.I guess those mini splayed port heads used under bored 650 barrels to take that head.I have been seeing one for many years at the Puke Classic meeting,it looks like a Bonny,but races in the 500cc class.

[NC]

Beautifulness!

[Paul in NZ]

Well - I just took her for the 'first' strop!

OH GOD! My babies back!! Damn, thats one sweet running bike and it was not just the cold night and the open face helmet that was causing my eyes to water. It was like meeting an old mate you had thought was dead in some bar and the years just melt away and it seems like you never parted...

Lots to do yet to make her safe and legal but - oh baby baby....... I'm in love!

Paul N

ps - Just a message to Vicki - Thanks for selflessly understanding my need to do this and squander money and time on a stupid old bike ... It's appreciated...

[Motu]

Good on ya,enjoy the buzz

[mangell6]

Well - I just took her for the 'first' strop!

My wife and I are honoured to be the first visited by said machine. Sounds so sweet, and ticks over like a new Triumph does, a few more MILES and it will be sounding proper.

It glistens, it does.

Thank you.

Mike