'75 Triumph Trident T160 - Cylinder Barrel Refitting

I rebuilt the engine of this Triumph Trident T160 recently and although it ran well, the engine was smoking badly. The general consensus was that the piston rings haven't bedded in properly (as is sometimes the case with Tridents especially) and they will require replacing and possibly the barrels re-honed. This video shows the cylinder barrels after they have come back from being re-honed by Smithcraft over in Lancashire. The pistons are then fitted with new piston rings, the pistons refitted to the con-rods and the barrels readied for fitting to the engine using bespoke piston ring clamps from Clive Scarfe copied from the original Triumph factory ones.

[@markpoling7917]

That was a quick turn-around from your machine shop Chris! Looking good and the cross-hatches looks much better than before....

[@Chris.rooke150]

🤞🤞🤞

[@kuldeepjadhav4951]

Waiting for your next part of norton rebuild video

[@Chris.rooke150]

Apologies, I have had to put that on hold while I sort the smoking engine out on the Trident I rebuilt before starting the Commando. As soon as that's sorted I'll get back to the Commando (most engine parts are still away at the engineers anyway)

[@martinowl]

Hope the barrels went on quite easily for you.

[@ianlawrie919]

Hope your refitting goes according to plan 🤞🏻Am I right to assume that an oil way brush is something like a pipe cleaner 🤔👌👏

[@Chris.rooke150]

Yes, very much like a pipe cleaner, but usually with a twisted metal core and bristle.

[@kevinphipps3644]

Is it a new thing to put the rings in the bore with no oil ?

[@Chris.rooke150]

I'm not sure how old the advice is, but it is usually associated with the rougher hone required with older bikes using cast iron rings (not newer engines which have a finer hone and steel (?) rings) The reasoning behind this is that you actually want the rings to cut into the metal honing on the bores, so smoothing them and making a good oil tight seal. If you lubricate the bores first then the rings will slide over the hone cross hatching rather than cutting into them, leaving the bores relatively rough and therefore prone to oil seepage and a lack of compression.

[@bobbyblueace]

I've heard of it only once before this occasion but dismissed it as nonsense. Interested to hear the theory.

[@kevinphipps3644]

Thank you very informative

[@bobbyblueace]

@Chris.rooke150 You've forced an intense Google session! It would seem it is indeed a controversial subject. Best debate I found is on "thumpertalk". No punches pulled. 🤣