1972 OIF swingarm chopper build

[beerslave]

Here we go again, this time doing something a bit different from my last triumph. So the story goes.....I sold a tiger cub frame and parts to a guy down the road from me about a year ago, we always stayed in touch and I told him if he ever comes across triumph 650 parts to let me know. Well last week he texts me saying he came across a 1969 tr6r motor for 375 bucks, so I gathered some extra parts I had laying around the garage and we worked out a trade for the motor. The motor was locked up and looked in terrible shape like it had been buried in someones backyard for a few decades. But to my suprise it cleaned up really well with some elbow grease and after taking the top end off it even had brand new pistons in it! One of the pistons was rusted to the cylinder wall from sitting for so long, once free everything spun like it should. I already have a rebuilt crank that has been rebalanced and machined as well as brand new connecting rods and big end bearings, I also have brand new camshafts and all the bearings and shit so this motor shouldnt be too much for me to rebuild! needless to say the primary was full of water and slime!!

Moving forward to yesterday, I do a quick search of the old trusty local classifieds and what do I see listed for 500 bux a 1972 triumph swingarm chopper survivor! I contact the guy and didnt even make him an offer or anything and he comes at me "looks man just so we aint wasting each others time the lowest in gonna take is 300" So 300 bux it was and now I have a motor and a roller!

The plans are to basically leave the bike just as is rebuild the motor and ride the piss out of it! Pretty excited to have rear suspension, speedometer, and tachometer again this should be fun.

[beerslave]

And the roller....

[RedHerring]

Oh man. Swing arm choppers hold a special place in my heart. I can't wait to see how you build this one up.

[TriNortchopz]

Good scores, at least the guy with the frame didn't think he had a heap of gold. Great that you got lots of parts to rebuild the engine; anything else new in there besides the pistons? Good luck with your build.

[beerslave]

Good scores, at least the guy with the frame didn't think he had a heap of gold. Great that you got lots of parts to rebuild the engine; anything else new in there besides the pistons? Good luck with your build.

I’m going to split the cases this weekend, I’m looking forward to checking the sludge trap. If the sludge trap is cleaned out then one can only assume that this motor was rebuilt before thrown in a garage for eternity. From what I can see the camshafts are in really good condition the lobes are still nice and round not like ones I have encountered in the past that almost come to a point. If the crank and sludge trap are clean and everything checks out in there i’d be tempted to just replace the crank bearings and reuse the crank it has and save my rebuilt parts for when needed.

[Dougtheinternetannoyance123]

OIFs have a lot of upgrades earlier trumpets lacked, not much to fix or upgrade, Just check the small details such as do the cams have the right profile cam followers (IE: Std radius vs R radius) Make sure BOTH rods are matched (69 and later rods got an upgrade as well as a small length change around 67, rare but not unheard of for mismatched rods.)

The spring plate vs plunger in the trans is up for debate, Its nice to have one less leak on the bottom of the trans but many prefer the plunger for the cam plate detents. Oil pumps I like to use the later T140 4 valves and blueprint the openings and gaskets for the pipe on the engine as well as the mount face. (Switching to the 4 valves also requires the studs and nuts swapped, but cheap & easy)

The forks are a ceriani copy that perhaps ride nicer, many opt for a progressive suspension spring kit and call it good. The rear of the frame around the swing arm and where the frame tube joins the base plate is prone to cracking as well as resulting oil leaks. When its apart I often sleeve these areas and clean up the welds and beef it up, done right no one sees it but eliminates a serious problem. External oil filter keeps Mr Motor clean and happy, The Norton Commando ones work well and cheap & easy
Hide it under the swing arm pivot or hang it out for everyone to see, but a worthwhile addition.

Oddly enough OIFs were always cheap 2nd rate to the earlier ones but they ARE climbing in value. In the past I would advise people wanting a "Rider" not a show bike resto to go with an OIF as they ride better and less issues and if you customize no harm no foul, But that might not be as true in the future. But I am seeing a LOT more street trackers being built as with a few mods its hard to tell a trackmaster or other race frame from a well done OIF, and Just for grins, have you guys ever seen a TR65T?? They only built a few, but not hard to make one. I have a half assembled basket case one of these. Some of the factory stuff is WTF were they thinking? But some of the ideas are cool.
(Positives: Blacked out engine, 2>1 pipe raised suspension/longer travel, yellow and black?- Cons: that goofy muffler, front fender and overweight disc?)