Trident clutch and cylinders
Armed with a wrench, pry bar and beer, I was able to remove the cylinders today after work. Thankfully, none of the pistons were siezed and although stiff, everything in the engine moves. A couple of the ringa are stuck but they are all up for replacement so it is of no consequence.
Nothing would turn on the kick-start when we picked it up, so having ruled out the motor, what about the gearbox? I removed the primary cover, chain and clutch with little trouble and ran through the gears and all seemed OK. Back in to neutral and the kicker worked for a while before locking up. As I have stripped it apart there have been numerous clues pointing to the fact that since the bike last ran, the engine/transmission had been rebuilt in a fairly amateur manner. From the license plate I know it has not been on the road since 1992 so I would guess that the last owner rebuilt it and promtly died before he had a chance to find out what he did wrong. Either that or in the intervening period person or persons unknown made an attempt at resurecting the ‘Tri-Beast’.
I’ll probably never really know what happend for sure but am pretty pleased to find that the major mechanical stuff can and will be saved.
Tme to clean up and go for a celebratory beer!