Terrot MT1 Motorcycle restoration project

[smallspeed]

Is that the school at Prescott? I went to one in the "summer" last year - was great, but looking forward to going back in the green car when its finished, and hopefully the weather is better! The morning practice run (where everyone went at once) was great, but then it hammered it down for the rest of the day

[911hillclimber]

No, not Prescott. I did that school in 1991!

I run the 3 x school days at my Club's hill climb, Loton Park. I am the Admin Man, chief gofer and Dogs Body...

www.hdlcc.com

[smallspeed]

Oh cool! I might try there another time - I really enjoyed the day at Prescott (despite the weather) although my car isn't really much cop as a hillclimber! Way too heavy and underpowered

[911hillclimber]

Describes my Lola well...

[911hillclimber]

Went to the Beaulieu Spring Autojumble this weekend hoping to 'discover' some Terrot MT1 bike parts..
Found a book on a French book stand for 31 Euro, but in 15mm thick of book, just 4 pages on the 100cc MT1, so left that there, but bought a cheap seat cover for little £ and hop it will fit.
Found another general bike stand and bought bits off him, but that was it.
Lots of mopeds and strange bikes for sale, but the Terrot stays a rare thing!

On Friday we stumbled across the Sammy Miller Collection, what a place! Utterly brilliant.

[911hillclimber]

What a contrast this Terrot is to that HRD!
One day I will be able to restore them as good as that...

Bits and pieces getting done still when time allows.

New seat cover found at Beaulieu Autojumble and cheap at £22. Was quoted £110 by a pro shop recently.
Decided to get the carb on the engine and the cable sorted. This meant machining a nylon sleeve 0.75mm wall thickness to sleeve the carb body to the inlet stub.
Using my trusty Drummond model a I got it right 3rd time of trying.

The re-worked piston dropped in, the needle in, the new spring in and the top on and all seems good.
The universal cable was cut to suit and the inner cable soldered and cut to length.

Similarly, the front brake was done and the clutch too. Both have a lovely light action.

Next will be the tank and all the aluminium trim, knee pads and final fitting. The petrol tap has been stripped and it all seems good, but petrol and leak past anything old!
I suppose then I MUST do the engine timing and see if it works.

[Ashley James]

It's really great to see the photos and how good the little Terrot looks.

I'm slowly rebuilding a 356SC engine and being inspired by your work.

[smallspeed]

If its not coming into contact with anything nasty I can prob send you some "nylube" if you want it? It's nylon, stabilised and then impregnated with grease. Gives a very smooth running surface for thing like wear pads or liners.. Also because its dried then impregnated with grease its much better in terms of dimensional stability as it doesn't absorb anywhere near as much water as straight nylon

[911hillclimber]

Thanks Ashley for the kind words, esp coming from you!
I think you are miles ahead on my restoration skills!
Smallspeed; thank you for your offer, but I will leave the sleeve as it is as it fits quite well.
Machining the thin sleeve is tricky because as it get thin the wall moves away from the tool tip rather than the tip cutting it.
Go too far with the cut depth and the tip digs-in and the whole sleeve wall collapses into a ruptured mess.

The lathe and tools are not ideal and it is hard to keep the nylon cool when cutting and heat makes the material more plastic and very soon it will fail when cutting.

Even now I think I will need a layer of ptfe tape to get a seal.

[smallspeed]

I had exactly the same issue doing something similar - ended up making the inner diameter first (letting it cool to check the size) the turned down a scrap bit of Alu to put inside it and hold in the chuck (kind of a push fit). I then turned the outer diameter, and shoved it in the freezer over night to get it back off

[911hillclimber]

That is a technique!
Might try that to improve on what I have made...

[911hillclimber]

Spent a few hours in the garage this afternoon, and now the spare bedroom is free of Terrot MT1 parts!

Put the tank together.
It is quite a detailed assembly for a simple bike.
The side aluminium panels are cut to show the local red paint on the tank and adds a lot of colour to a bland black.
Everything went together well!

The old British number plate was re-painted and he registration number hand painted to the face and the old lens added. I hope it looks period.

I need to find/make/adapt a sprocket to the engine, the wear is too much to use the original, but I have a plan....

[smallspeed]

Looks awesome!

[911hillclimber]

Thanks!
It is shaping up now at long last.
Nearly finished all the easy stuff, soon going to be the tricky stuff (that makes it work...)
My mood might change soon.

[johnM]

Bikes looking great Graham.

Just goes to show, something that you'd turn your nose up at a few years ago, now is super cool!!