Triumph t140 ex Snuffy Smith race bike Rebuild pt 1

For those who missed the first post, I recently acquired one of my late fathers old race bikes from my cousin/bike builder, John McIlvaine. John was a Triumph/Honda mechanic for years and spent the better part of 1971 as a traveling wrencher for ex AMA Pro, Gary Fisher. His depth of knowledge is deep. Together we are rebuilding the racer and hopefully I will have it out on the track this year sometime.

Yesterday John came over to my shop to help me get a game plan for the engine rebuild. We are detuning the bike a bit as I have never raced but it's still a super hot motor with a lot of fine tuning done over the years. Goal? Make this Triumph go fast!

First we tore down the motor and split the cases, cleaned and evaluated everything. Adjustments were made as necessary. The number one priority is to rebuild the top end to suit my needs as a beginner.  John took measurements of the cylinder bore and pistons. We decided to go back to a stock cylinder for now with 9:1 compression pistons. The alloy cylinder/high compression pistons can be used later - once I get my feet wet. The head needs to have the valve seats re-dressed. John decided to take them up to the machinist who did the work originally. Cylinder is being sourced and will go straight to the machine shop for a bore and hone. Fresh pistons and oil seals will be fitted to what we have and the motor will go back together. Check back for frequent updates.

John McIlvaine takes a cylinder bore measurement

every bit of data has been recorded for this bike throughout it's life. john jots down more notes.

Cases split and inspected

modified head needs valve seats

John took the cylinder head with him to drop off to the machine shop.