Restoration help

[Luke Woods]

Hi there.

I am an injured veteran in Western England who is servicing/restoring a donated 1991 US edition 1200 Vmax for resale to raise funds for our charity Veterans In Action.

I am a Triumph rider and know little about this legendary bike. Looks in pretty good condition at first inspection, only known fault is the clutch lever does not disengage the drive - very soft at the master cylinder/handlebar.

We would be very appreciative of any guidance you chaps could help us with. Kindly, Luke Duke

 

[Parminio]

My real, heartfelt advice: don't bother.

You'll spend far more money trying to restore it than you will EVER get out of it.

Your clutch slave cylinder is bad and needs to be rebuilt. There are instructions on this site. It's not hard to do at all and will cost you about 40 dollars. (Forgive me for not doing the conversion.)

I would rebuild the clutch slave, clean it up real good and sell it for whatever I could get from it. Putting more money into it isn't really going to net you any more money at all.

 

[Fire-medic]

Parminio, that is in good cosmetic condition. It looks to be a '92 to me, which I think is my favorite paint of any year. The '05 also looks good in its anniversary paint & emblem.

I bet that it could be a needs-rebuilt clutch master cylinder followed a good reverse-bleed.

I'd put a piece of paper just inboard of the left pilot's foot peg to see if any brake fluid collects on it to indicate that the clutch slave cylinder was bad.

Even if both were bad but the castings were intact and not riddled with corrosion and holes causing perpetual leaks, a couple hundred dollars and both those things could be fixed to have a rebuilt clutch system. As clean as that bike appears to be assuming everything else is in decent condition I think it probably would be worth $4,000 in the UK. Or whatever that is in British currency. Perhaps more.
3185 British pounds I see.

 

[Luke Woods]

My real, heartfelt advice: don't bother.

You'll spend far more money trying to restore it than you will EVER get out of it.

Your clutch slave cylinder is bad and needs to be rebuilt. There are instructions on this site. It's not hard to do at all and will cost you about 40 dollars. (Forgive me for not doing the conversion.)

I would rebuild the clutch slave, clean it up real good and sell it for whatever I could get from it. Putting more money into it isn't really going to net you any more money at all.

Thanks dude - not planning on spending a lot of money. Get it clean and functional and sell it is the plan.

 

[Luke Woods]

Parminio, that is in good cosmetic condition. It looks to be a '92 to me, which I think is my favorite paint of any year. The '05 also looks good in its anniversary paint & emblem.

I bet that it could be a needs-rebuilt clutch master cylinder followed a good reverse-bleed.

I'd put a piece of paper just inboard of the left pilot's foot peg to see if any brake fluid collects on it to indicate that the clutch slave cylinder was bad.

Even if both were bad but the castings were intact and not riddled with corrosion and holes causing perpetual leaks, a couple hundred dollars and both those things could be fixed to have a rebuilt clutch system. As clean as that bike appears to be assuming everything else is in decent condition I think it probably would be worth $4,000 in the UK. Or whatever that is in British currency. Perhaps more.
3185 British pounds I see.

Hey there Medic (salute to a fellow veteran) that’s good advice. There is generally brake fluid damp inside that casing must be slave cylinder. How likely is it that clutch plates are stuck together in these bikes? It looks to be generally well serviced during most of its life…?

Grateful for a service sheet for these bikes - we have no service history. Wondering about valve shims etc etc... workshop manual -digital or paper essential - torque values etc.

Cheers, Duke

 

[MaxMidnight]

There is nothing particularly 'special' about the Max (apart than it IS a Max )

Is there a full compliment of fluid in the reservoir, if so the first step would be to bleed it. Do a reverse bleed as this is easier than trying to force the air downhill.
Hopefully that will give you pressure back into the system.
If it is empty then you will need to see where it is/ has leaked. Whist it could be via the slave seals there is a hexagonal link piece (#36) that can come loose on the slave and leak (I know this to be true).

Apart from that you probably only need to do what you would do to any other bike but just to help a service check sheet is attached.
Let me know if you need a Service Manual.

One word of warning though, when you do get it running don't ride it...you will want to keep it and sell the Triumph!

 

[Parminio]

Hey there Medic (salute to a fellow veteran) that’s good advice. There is generally brake fluid damp inside that casing must be slave cylinder. How likely is it that clutch plates are stuck together in these bikes? It looks to be generally well serviced during most of its life…?

Grateful for a service sheet for these bikes - we have no service history. Wondering about valve shims etc etc... workshop manual -digital or paper essential - torque values etc.

You're WAY over thinking it. Just do the clutch slave. You'll be fine.

 

[Luke Woods]

You're WAY over thinking it. Just do the clutch slave. You'll be fine.

25,000 genuine miles. 1991 bike. Came with no other service history than annual govt MoT road safety tests. Gotta be fully checked and serviced before selling. Need to get top dollar for our veteran projects.

 

[Luke Woods]

There is nothing particularly 'special' about the Max (apart than it IS a Max )

Is there a full compliment of fluid in the reservoir, if so the first step would be to bleed it. Do a reverse bleed as this is easier than trying to force the air downhill.
Hopefully that will give you pressure back into the system.
If it is empty then you will need to see where it is/ has leaked. Whist it could be via the slave seals there is a hexagonal link piece (#36) that can come loose on the slave and leak (I know this to be true).

Apart from that you probably only need to do what you would do to any other bike but just to help a service check sheet is attached.
Let me know if you need a Service Manual.

One word of warning though, when you do get it running don't ride it...you will want to keep it and sell the Triumph!

Thanks for your guidance, good diagnostic process on clutch components. Will be checking it out tomorrow. Thanks I found a PDF shop manual here. Hey My Triumph is a restomod and tuned 130bhp ‘95 Thunderbird- already stuffed two Vmax on it being only 189kg dry too.

 

[Fire-medic]

Sounds like the Thunderbird is doing very-well in the HP dep't. and with it undercutting the VMax by 80 kg, I don't doubt your claim. I'm old-enough to recall the Meriden Triumphs, when Denis Poole and John Bloor were big names in the performance British bikes and Triumph had a Thunderbird 650cc parallel-twin model back then. Pretty-sure that was a single-carb model.

Since you're in the U.K., you might appreciate a bike my friend re-did. His parents were Triumph, BSA, and Bultaco dealers in the 1960's. He had 4 brothers and they all were involved with bikes. The BSA USA distributor used the family members in motorcycle magazine ads in the 1960's: ride a BSA, and win like these brothers!



Here's the same bike, decades later, the one on the right. A resto-mod Hornet, and not to-worry, all the OEM running gear is stored should they wish to make it factory-spec. After a couple years of racing, they sold the bike to another racer. They traced it to re-acquire it and to re-furbish it.



And last, a BSA Gold Star they re-did. For you youngsters, the Gold Star was a 'do it-all' bike in the 1950's/'60's being used in roadracing and dirt-track competitions.

 

[Luke Woods]

Sounds like the Thunderbird is doing very-well in the HP dep't. and with it undercutting the VMax by 80 kg, I don't doubt your claim. I'm old-enough to recall the Meriden Triumphs, when Denis Poole and John Bloor were big names in the performance British bikes and Triumph had a Thunderbird 650cc parallel-twin model back then. Pretty-sure that was a single-carb model.

Since you're in the U.K., you might appreciate a bike my friend re-did. His parents were Triumph, BSA, and Bultaco dealers in the 1960's. He had 4 brothers and they all were involved with bikes. The BSA USA distributor used the family members in motorcycle magazine ads in the 1960's: ride a BSA, and win like these brothers!

View attachment 93977

Here's the same bike, decades later, the one on the right. A resto-mod Hornet, and not to-worry, all the OEM running gear is stored should they wish to make it factory-spec. After a couple years of racing, they sold the bike to another racer. They traced it to re-acquire it and to re-furbish it.

View attachment 93978

And last, a BSA Gold Star they re-did. For you youngsters, the Gold Star was a 'do it-all' bike in the 1950's/'60's being used in roadracing and dirt-track competitions.

View attachment 93979

Wow man that’s an epic story. I was born late 60’s so missed out on the glory days of classic British bikes. Jap ACME was my teenage/20’s era. So glad when John bloor bought the brand and launched the T300’s I was in the forces until 2012 when I wanted a Brit bike again so decided on a Tbird - looked a ‘65 Tbird and it was tiny so I bought a Hinckley Tbird off another warrior and still got him now. Yeah tuned the motor some - have plans to add EFI next winter or two, got more power v than I need now - midrange torque is great just effortless. Built really to launch and he does very well. Tesla smoking and Ducati leaving is what I enjoy the most.

 

[Parminio]

25,000 genuine miles. 1991 bike. Came with no other service history than annual govt MoT road safety tests. Gotta be fully checked and serviced before selling. Need to get top dollar for our veteran projects.

Again, you'll get no more out of it. You'll only lose money you put into it. If you sell it as is you'll make the most for your charity. Whoever buys it will be buying it to fix it and keep it, not try to flip it for money which simply CAN NOT BE DONE on a bike that old, that out of date and that not in demand anymore.

There are only about 150 left on the road in the UK according to their register charts. It's NOT going to be a hot item. It isn't here either. They're simply not worth putting money into unless you're the guy keeping it.

Any penny you put into it, you are NOT going to get back out of it. That's a simple fact. You'll LOSE money for your charity, not gain it.

At best, you'll get 2,000 for it. Maybe 2,500 if you get lucky. You fix the slave cylinder so the clutch works, clean it up and boom. 2000 to 2500 max. You do anything else, you're just throwing away that money because you're never, ever going to get any more than 2000 to 2500 out of it.

Best of luck.

 

[Luke Woods]

Again, you'll get no more out of it. You'll only lose money you put into it. If you sell it as is you'll make the most for your charity. Whoever buys it will be buying it to fix it and keep it, not try to flip it for money which simply CAN NOT BE DONE on a bike that old, that out of date and that not in demand anymore.

There are only about 150 left on the road in the UK according to their register charts. It's NOT going to be a hot item. It isn't here either. They're simply not worth putting money into unless you're the guy keeping it.

Any penny you put into it, you are NOT going to get back out of it. That's a simple fact. You'll LOSE money for your charity, not gain it.

Best of luck.

If I need more of your advice I’ll ask you first ok

 

[Fire-medic]

Just taking it to a few bike-centric places like racetracks, the Ace Cafe, or other gearhead meet & greet locales, and interest in a well-cared-for bike like yours seems to be, will likely get it sold. Once the clutch issue is straightened out, I suggest that you do the following:

Remove the faux tank cover, remove the left scoop. Look among the electrical fasteners there, and you will find one which is the only round one. That's the VBoost motor connection.

When you turn-on the ignition, you can hear a whirring noise as you also hear the tic-tic-tic of the electric fuel pump pressurizing the system. The whirring noise is the VBoost cycling full-open and then closed. Now the tricky part. Unplug the round VBoost electrical plug when it has the VBoost butterflies fully-open. Carefully replace the separated halves of the connectors out of the way. As long as they're not re-connected, you will-not hear the VBoost cycling open/closed when you turn-on the ignition, before you hit the starter button. That's OK, To do a carb synch, the butterflies need to be closed, which you can do by re-connecting the two round VBoost connector halves, and turning-on the ignition switch.

Here's what that no-cost to do modification does, it makes the VMax idle like a built small-block Chevy/SBC 'mouse motor.' Pull into any bike hangout, and just idle-by everyone, and watch their heads swivel. "What's that bad sound?" No need to jizz your throttle like the Harley-Davidson boys do, constantly. Just idle through the group, find a parking space, and take your time to shut-off the engine. I can pretty-much guarantee you will collect some curious people who haven't heard a VMax idling like that. The open butterflies VBoost is what does it.

I daresay that Emily Blunt wearing a bikini and riding a Hesketh Vampire wouldn't receive as-much attention.



Well, maybe!

 

[Graham]

There is some good advise there on the clutch. Try bleeding it first. I wouldn’t worry about doing the valve shims. They are a very strong motor and built to take a hammering. Get it running first and determine what else it will need but hopefully nothing. A great cause you are doing this for and I wish you all the best. Hopefully you will get good money for your worthy cause and don’t worry about the naysayers. All the best. Cheers.

 

[Luke Woods]

Just taking it to a few bike-centric places like racetracks, the Ace Cafe, or other gearhead meet & greet locales, and interest in a well-cared-for bike like yours seems to be, will likely get it sold. Once the clutch issue is straightened out, I suggest that you do the following:

Remove the faux tank cover, remove the left scoop. Look among the electrical fasteners there, and you will find one which is the only round one. That's the VBoost motor connection.

When you turn-on the ignition, you can hear a whirring noise as you also hear the tic-tic-tic of the electric fuel pump pressurizing the system. The whirring noise is the VBoost cycling full-open and then closed. Now the tricky part. Unplug the round VBoost electrical plug when it has the VBoost butterflies fully-open. Carefully replace the separated halves of the connectors out of the way. As long as they're not re-connected, you will-not hear the VBoost cycling open/closed when you turn-on the ignition, before you hit the starter button. That's OK, To do a carb synch, the butterflies need to be closed, which you can do by re-connecting the two round VBoost connector halves, and turning-on the ignition switch.

Here's what that no-cost to do modification does, it makes the VMax idle like a built small-block Chevy/SBC 'mouse motor.' Pull into any bike hangout, and just idle-by everyone, and watch their heads swivel. "What's that bad sound?" No need to jizz your throttle like the Harley-Davidson boys do, constantly. Just idle through the group, find a parking space, and take your time to shut-off the engine. I can pretty-much guarantee you will collect some curious people who haven't heard a VMax idling like that. The open butterflies VBoost is what does it.

I daresay that Emily Blunt wearing a bikini and riding a Hesketh Vampire wouldn't receive as-much attention.

View attachment 93987View attachment 93988

Well, maybe!

Ha ha - Mary Poppins on a Hesketh gets my attention

All good advice buddy but in won’t be parading it around - brings up an interesting point though. What engine type - I did a good bit of googling but could not find an answer. What if it’s a lame 95 bhp model?

Frame/Engine type attached. TIA

Taking Triumph hill climbing tomorrow at worlds oldest motorsport track it not timed - more of a showing off parade at Triumph Owners Motorcycle Club 75th anniversary https://www.tomcc.org/Trifest/tomcc75

 

[MaxMidnight]

What if it’s a lame 95 bhp model?

This is what you should see from the top.


...and from the side


In addition you should hear the V Boost go through a cycle when the ignition is turned on.

 

[Fire-medic]

Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb​

Looks like a good time!

Here's one location I've been to here in MI, a hillclimb which began in 1923.

https://www.muskegonmotorcycleclub....ld is the site,Mount Garfield grounds in 1949.

 

[Luke Woods]

This is what you should see from the top.

View attachment 94050
...and from the side

View attachment 94051
In addition you should hear the V Boost go through a cycle when the ignition is turned on.

Hmmm I was wondering the same. Makes no sense though as full power models only ones worth importing… plenty full power here too as last owner bought this recently

 

[Luke Woods]

Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb​

Looks like a good time!

Here's one location I've been to here in MI, a hillclimb which began in 1923.

https://www.muskegonmotorcycleclub.com/our-history#:~:text=Mount Garfield is the site,Mount Garfield grounds in 1949.

Oh cool - I’ve seen this energy around. Imagine back in the day with basic bikes only