Removed stock airboxes and sidecovers, and replaced them with ‘60s-lookalike “Retro” sidecovers kit. I also used two K&N-type air filters that I’d bought years ago for my Yam XS650 but never used.
Things faked up to be “retro” don’t normally appeal to me. I like things on a bike to look like what they are, and not try to be something they are not. The T140 airboxes, on the other hand, I consider to be “retrograde”. Triumph were pandering to the US EPA by fitting such monstrosities, and it makes the bike look cluttered. First Law of Motorcycle Styling – design a bike with spaces you can spit through. Fitting the “retro” kit and K&Ns immediately opens up the space behind the engine, and allows you to see what things actually are on this bike. The bike now looks good – very neat (see photo below) .
NB You better believe the book when it says zener-diode metal has low tensile strength. I made a new steel heat sink for the zener since the aluminium inner airbox it normally mounts to has been discarded. Its stud sheared off when I attempted to use it to mount both itself and its heat-sink to the frame. Lucky I had a spare zener. Its stud should only be used to mount itself to the heat-sink.
I fitted NGK B7ES plugs, it having had B5s up ‘til now. I had several goes at synching the carbs using the Hughie Hancox hand/eye method (as seen in his Amal Carb Tuning video). I realized after a while that the throttle stop screws have to be backed right off or one can get a false reading for the moment of slide “lift-off”. It would seem to be balanced off the stops, but when wide open one slide would be lower than the other.
I removed the throttle cable entirely and immersed it in oil overnight to try and get rid of the notchy feel of the throttle. Refitted and spent ages synching the carbs. Once balanced with stops backed off and still balanced when wide open, I then eased the stop screws in until the cables could just be seen to lift out of the top of the carbs. I then turned both screws an equal amount (1 ½ turns) so there’d be an idle at next start-up.
