Things were looking good, the tank arrived undamaged and it complemented the
seat unit, together looking like they were made for each other. All I had to
do was chop away all the original mountings off the tank and add new ones so
it would fit lower on the Triumph frame. The filler cap was missing and I
wasn't keen on getting a genuine part, so with my trusty hole saw I removed
the stock fitting and welded in a spare I had removed from a damaged  Harley
tank years before, I knew saving it would come in handy.
    The seat unit came with a note saying it had to have supporting
brackets under it to stop it cracking and give it a solid mount to the
frame, I also needed some where to hang the tail light, so first I cut up
some flat stainless strip and made the supports which I pop riveted to the
fibre glass base. The seat is for a solo rider and of course the Triumph
frame was made to fit a duel seat, this left an unsightly piece of frame
hanging out back. This was easily cured with the cut off wheel and the seat
fitted a lot easier without this hindrance, this did leave a bit of a gap
and nowhere to hang the rego plate and tail light. Still a couple of thin
extensions from the frame where I had cut the rear off and a piece of folded
alloy plate came to the rescue and to keep something Triumph on the bike I
used a rear light off a Hinckley bonny. Sorted.
    I had now a rolling chassis with tank and seat fitted, the motor in
place along with the oil tank and matching cover, a couple of brackets were
knocked up to refit the battery box to which I also welded tabs to mount
other electrical items such as the coil. Something was missing and I
realised the stock exhausts with a poor chrome finish and the silly little
chopper pot silencers that came with the bike didn't cut it and I had put
them in the naughty corner with other non-essential items. So back on line
and I found a set of Triumph pipes that were matt black but had a couple of
the shorty reverse cone silencers or should I say noise enhancers? These
seemed a good deal so I bid and got those sent home to me, the pipes were
non matching but would come in handy as a pattern but the silencers were in
very nice condition and these were treated to an extra polish before
wrapping up to wait for the new pipes. Next day a trip down town to the
local tube benders with my pipes and instructions for them to make a
matching pair out of stainless, they said to give them a week.
    In the mean time I found a company in the states who still did the
large finned exhaust clamps that I think have made a bit of a comeback with
the bobber craze, and another company who did a great deal on a magic black
box that would do away with the old diodes and other strange electrical
devices lurching amongst the old wiring loom I had removed. After running a
Boyer ignition on my partners Triumph 500 chopper for the last 15 years I
knew that one would have to go on this bike, especially after removing the
"how the hell did it run with these" from behind the points cover. This was
not good for my bank balance but I did want a reliable bike, and Joe Lucas
was not one to share these ideals.
    The phone call from the tube bender man came and I had a set of
Stainless pipes with no fittings for mounting and all the bends had scratch
marks from where they were dragged around the former. They were also left
longer than the pattern so I could cut to my own length, the first side I
fitted just wouldn't sit nicely and was lower than I really wanted, so I
chopped a small section out of the centre aligned it 'just so' and rewelded
it back together. Perfect, now all I had to do was the other side, to match
and fit the silencers. After a bit of jiggery pokery (a technical term) the
pipes were welded, tabs and brackets made for the silencers and after a
morning with a flap wheel I had all the marks out of the tubing.  Things
were looking good, it was time to strip the bike down and get everything
ready to be either polished, painted or powder coated.

Laters Jonpan