Making the switch panel for the 1957 Triumph Freebird

Once again, .050 brass was used for this project.

The piece after a couple rounds of pounding and annealing.

The backside was filled with molten pitch and then laid in a larger pitch bowl to chase down the front side.

Fitting the panel to the contour of the light housing took a lot of time. It is a slow process of sanding and re-shaping edges.

A new Lucas three-position light switch and WW2 era aircraft panel lenses were used. Primary colors are my favorite.

The big hole for the switch was cut out with the aid of a jewelers saw, leaving some tabs to keep it from turning. Small brass screws were silver soldered to the backside to hold the piece down, and a recess was made toward the top of the piece to allow the headlight rim securing screw to be used.

After some sanding and fire coloring.

One of my complaints with the 1967 Bonneville indicator lights is that they are set at such an angle that I have to get right over them to see if they are lit during the day. These guys are going to be a lot easier to see from the normal riding position. The other great thing is that the panel looks like the face of a small dog looking at you…a reminder to watch out for small dogs when riding!

Making badges for the 1957 Triumph Freebird.

.050 brass sheet cut into rough shape allow the basic form to be started using anvils, hammers, and a shot bag. As it takes form, the edges get slowly cut and sanded down, making small adjustments to fit the contour of the tank. The original badges were helpful in the early part of the process,

This is after a couple rounds of beating on the shot bag with a small ball-peen. Between each round of beating, the metal is annealed, or heated to get rid of work-hardness in the metal.

At this point the ridges are starting to take shape. Metal mandrels, hammers, and anvils are used up to this point, but the repousse technique will be used to get the fine detail.

A buck was made of wood to fit the contour of the pieces. The back of the piece was filled with pitch and then laid on top.

Black German pine resin pitch that softens when heated is used to support the metal so the deep relief areas can be worked out. The ball-ended hammer handle allows it to rotate in the palm for rapid strikes .The small steel tools are traditional repousse and chasing type along with some homemade Shitame repousse type..

After about 30 hours…

Over 40 hours in the piece at this point, but nearing the end.

Over fifty hours in the pair at this point. There will be some more detailing on the right badge, mostly texturing the surfaces. Still trying to decide whether to go with a hammered or sanded and polished finish. There is a good chance the dark coloring will be used to match a number of other brass part regardless of which surface treatment is used..

At close to 90 hours.

Still some work to get these finished, but glad to be this far along. Studs will be applied on the backside to attach them to the tank.

#bf11invitedbuilder # bf11invitedbuilder #bf11 #bornfreeshow

The Jack Wilson 1967 triumph t120r bonneville revival.

A custom frame, but otherwise stock 650. Since purchase, it has been sitting in my shop and ridden sparingly for short trips until poor tuning put it away for the last couple years. It is ridiculous that someone who works on bikes daily does not have a reliable full-size bike to ride, so I am slowly getting around to servicing a couple for myself, with this being the first one. The only changes I have made were to add a Wassell electronic ignition, and switch the original Amal Monoblock carbs out for a set of new Amal 930’s along with new petcocks and tubing. The monoblock carb barrels were severely pitted (seen in a previous post,) and were allowing too much air to leak around the slide.Triumph changed from Monoblock carbs to Concentrics in late 1967, so they are not out of place on this bike. The bike is super easy to start and runs great with the new gear!

Because of a lean fuel mix from the poorly sealing carbs, there was a lot of heat that blued the header pies. Fortunately, I never took it very far once it started running so hot. The oversize main jets had been compensating somewhat, but it got to the point it was running hot and no amount of tuning seemed to make a difference, prompting the carb and ignition changes.

The tank is gold and eggplant, done by Jack Wilson. It was a Triumph color and was said to be his favorite.

Jack Wilson was known as “Mr Bonneville” for building the land speed record Triumph in 1956 that resulted in the name change to the “Bonneville” in 1959. A link to his history: http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?RacerID=293

There is nothing else to change about this sweetheart.

Getting the Wassell ignition unit timed and strobed. The flywheel has no marking and the crank lacks the notch at 38 degrees through the rear TDC locking hole, so the primary cover has to be removed and a degree wheel used. There are now marks scribed on the flywheel to make this easier in the future.

The “Hater” minibike in parade lighting for the Christmas parade season. There are a number of “Parade of Lights” events around here that the World Famous Wheelie-ing Elvi do requiring the floats be lit up. These are battery-powered LED fiber-optic strands.

Have a merry Christmas, everyone!