Featured T140e Recovery... (single Carb Conversion)

After 30 odd years of owning Jap bikes I thought I'd buy this T140E off a 'mate' as he was strapped for cash...


It has aftermarket CMA wheels fitted which look okay.



I knew it needed work doing to it as he told me there was a bit of engine work needed as the oil light wouldn't go off, even after he had put a new oil pump, pressure switch on. (Simple fix says me to myself...).



Anyway, the bike has had a 1 3/4" SU single carb conversion done on it with the cylinder head having a welded on inlet manifold.


The previous owner had the frame & swinging arm powder coated and had recently had fitted new barrels with standard sized pistons.

All the electrics worked, albeit a bit dull & slow to glow... (like some of the previous owners of the bike as I'm to find out later).

 

So, what do you picture vultures want to see first? Oil Leak(s)?




Not much corrosion under there that's for sure!

 

She leans to the left a bit more than it should I think...


And both wheels touch the floor on the center-stand...


Need to have a look at the side stand & center-stand lugs/mounting points for wear...
Rear shocks look are longer than standard, measuring at 13.5".

 

Thought I'd tackle the running gear first before looking at the engine as its the easiest (& cheapest) to fix...

Someone had been there before me by the look of the fork tops... I think they must of had trouble dropping the forks out of the yolks...


They must of used a Half Inch socket extension and a big 'Feck-Off' hammer.... that will get the forks dropped through the yolks alright!



So the fork gaiters came off to show that the tubes were pitted and needed replacing... just as cheap to buy new as to get them rechromed so I bought new.
Fitted new seals & tipped some 10W oil in to keep it nice n lubed.

Stuck the forks on for this picture just to get the thing mobile in the garage... gaiters will be put back on later.

 

At the same time I did the front brake... Someone in the recent past had fitted a metric bolt to attach the front calliper... 'Nice'!...You can just about make it out in the photo... This was only one of many metric bolts made to fit imperial threads on this bike... I supposed it saved the previous owner money on using threadlock!


I had the fork leg thread repaired and a I made a new stud made at work. I will put it back to look standard with a new Bundy pipe & associated brackets & pipes.

The wheel bearings were wankered (A nice musical grating sound echoed round the garage when I spun the wheel), so they had to come out. There is no information that I can find on the CMA wheels I have so I had to be careful as I didn't know if one of the bearings might slip inside the wheel when I gave the spindle a 'tap' to remove it.
Here's a picture of the front wheel with one bearing removed. (exciting eh?).


The spindle was not a lightweight piece of kit either, it was roughly machined from a gash bit of bar by the look of it... I had a new one machined in stainless.


Thought I'd paint the wheels in 2-pack satin black & polish the edges of the spokes & rim. (Like my LC).


I replaced the crushed stainless hose that it arrived with a new rubber one & associated Bundy pipe & bracket (see above). It didn't have a brake light switch for the front so I'm not going to fit one. (Does legally it need one to pass the MoT??? The back brake light switch actually works so I suppose its ok).


Finally fitted the Chrome Caliper cover...

 

The back wheel had the same treatment... I just chucked it on to keep the thing mobile in the garage.

 

I stripped the rear caliper down and sprayed it with caliper paint, a new Bundy pipe & rubber pipe were fitted. A new rear brake Master Cylinder had been fitted recently too by the previous owner so I'll have to check that before going any further.


The reservoir to master cylinder pipe was 'sweating' brake fluid... never seen that before... maybe the wrong type of hose was fitted? Anyway that got chucked for some proper brake hose.

 

After sorting Jap bikes for 30+ years I'd thought I'd seen it all but this bike takes the biscuit in some areas but it's mainly due to the previous owners lack of mechanical sympathy.

 

Its a bit of a squeeze in the garage with the wife's car in there as well....

 

This was the state of the Front Brake Master Cylinder... it was shagged... The Reservoir bowl was cracked and the cylinder was badly corroded inside and out. I loved the front brake pipe hose... that's going to end up on the 'shite removed pile'...


The switch gear looked a little worn out cosmetically and the internals needed cleaning properly & lubing so they could actually move and switch something...


Ended up just buying a new Master Cylinder & Repo Reservoir.
I also bead blasted the switch gear after taking it all apart, then cleaned & acid etch primed it and sprayed it in 2-Pack satin black. The white lettering is a faff and I can't be arsed to feck about with it too much in case I feck something else up.
I made up the short black braided steel brake hose myself from bits bought on the net.


The LH Switchgear wasn't to bad... the indicator switch was intermittent 'on off, on off' lol... the horn didn't work either so both got stripped down, cleaned & reassembled.

 

Next up was the RH headlamp ear that was bent & looked manky.


I ordered a new one online and it when it arrived I wasn't exactly pleased with the finish... it looked like there was corrosion under the paint so I stripped it off in a bucket of thinners.
This is what was underneath the thin layer of black paint.... the rust worms had been busy!



This bracket was supposedly brand new...
I ended up bead blasting it clean, etch priming and spraying it in 2-Pack myself.



A Quality 'British Made' product my arse!..... that was shite wherever it was made.