Keeps it looking far better and original even with its few year wrong parts and less chance of the pipe falling of or failing and will pay off down the road.
people used to use Type F ATF in the primary all the time, because it was said to give good clutch action. Type F was the old ford specification. i don't know how well dexron/mercon works. the original recommendation was to use engine oil in the primary, but modern engine oil has friction modifiers that work so well your clutch will slip until you take it out. SH/SG oils were the last oils not to contain the modifiers. anyway here's the recommended fluids and lubricants for your machine from the 1971 owners handbook: the standard recommendation for the primary was 20W50 motor oil, which is what i always put in. but i have a norton with some kind of ATF in the primary, and i haven't drained it out yet. right now it has a grabby clutch, and i want to see what it does with 20W50. but lots of people swear by ATF. i have a friend who races land speed with ATF in there and he's no dummy.
I AM IN BRITISH HEAVENNNNN! It's alive!!! Did oil, primary and gearbox, fresh fuel and plugs, kicked her about 6 times until I realized I needed to tickle the carb (I'm used to having a choke) and she fired up and idled perfectly! I am in debt to the previous owner for putting her away properly! I couldn't be happier. Definitely wanna get the setup darkman posted previously. Right now I just have 1 fuel line (right side tap) ran to carb and the other inlet on carb capped, left tap off. I know, not proper. Waited at motor vehicle for hours until they closed without me getting a plate so only a couple trips around the block but she ran awesome. Only problem now is I'm gonna have to cut off my left foot cuz the opposite shift and brake is SUPER strange for me. Gonna have to be careful and extra aware until I get used to it. Now I can move to why I only have to running tailight and no brake light, I'm guessing the switch but I'm already gaining alot of knowledge on the engine itself. Thanks for all the advice, can't wait to dig in more...I'm hooked!
HMC_MT Good Man. Keep grinning and wait till you get out there in the world and people say what a great machine. They also want to talk and tell you about the one they rode. It's Great. Joe.
Well, here I am broke down on our first long ride maiden voyage. Got plenty of time to sit here so figured I'd post lol. Everything was going great, stopped to make a turn and dead she went. Pushed to side of the road and no power anywhere when I turn the key on. Checked main fuse, fine. Here I go attempting to diagnose...
no power anywhere? do you have lights? if you have any lights th eproblem is likely ignition, like darkman is suggesting if you don't have any lights, it could be a bad ignition switch or unplugged hot wire.. or you may have a second fuse downstream from the origina lone. with your bitsa it might have a mongrel wirin harness, but here is a 1969
that's actually good, because it means that there's probably a loose connection somewhere, and there are a limited number of wires that could turn everything off at once. if you have a volt ohmmeter or a test lamp, see whether there is 12 volts at these points - the battery -- the downstream end of the fuse holder -- the battery side of the ignition switch --the other side of the ignition switch if the battery is good, somewhere there will be 12 volts going in, and no volts coming out. the problem will be between those two spots-- a broken wire, loose connector, a bad switch . . . look at the wiring diagram for the wire colors. is there an ammeter in th eheadlamp shell?
look up at the wiring diagram. all the electricty from the battery has to go through it. another place to test for voltage.
I got inside the headlight bucket but I didn't have any test tools. When I pulled the headlight first thing I noticed was the blue not going to anything. One filament of my bulb was burnt which makes sense cuz I never had hi & low beam. There's nothing hooked up to the amp meter. The battery is brand new. I'll move to testing with a fresh mind tomorrow. I have a test light but can someone give me some super simple elementary example of how to test. I am terrible at wiring and I can't read a wiring diagram to save my life. In addition I believe this guy wired it himself so I'm not even sure the diagram would help. I don't have any lights and also no spark. But, while I had the plugs out I did a compression test and the bike has 160 psi compression on both cylinders. Literally the only positive this whole evening. Speaking of that, what's the story on all the positive ground business and does that affect the way I would test? Only time I've ever had a bike just lose power everywhere was a blown main fuse. Hoping I can turn this around and regain my joy for this bike.
Going back through your pics and looking at the last one it looks like a homemade wiring job as there are loads of wires missing, for the cost of a new loom i would fit a new one for a 69 T120 especially if you intend to keep it Also remove the zener diode and turn it over with the fitting under the bottom yoke
What does the zener diode do? Yes he wired it but was a seasoned British specific mechanic so definitely not a hack job. No answer on the positive ground bit? Help with testing? I'm heading to the shop now to dig into her.
The zener diode works with the rectifier (normally fitted by battery) to shed excess voltage/heat to earth and that's why the zener is mounted under the head light in cool airflow.
I'll post a pic of the battery wiring in a bit as this positive ground bit is super confusing to me. First thing I'm going to check is keyswitch. I know the bike is a "mongrel" but I also know I can trust the POs knowledge of the bike so I don't wanna go overcomplicating and tearing up wiring that was working already. I'm pretty sure I have a new keyswitch in the parts stash. When I'm using my test light I'd wanna clip to engine fin then test wires that should be hot? This is where the positive ground confuses me.
