Mr72's Wreck Restoration

[mr72]

Someone asked for it!

Background: I wrecked my 2012 Triumph Bonneville SE in August on a suburban highway and it was not insured, so I am fixing it up myself. The Bonnie was very close to mint condition before the wreck, and had been modified and dialed in just for me. Among the modifications were: some performance mods like exhaust, intake modifications, ECU remap and tuning, shocks and front suspension; reliability mods like MOSFET regulator rectifier & relocation, wiring mod to change the ECU starter cutout; emissions removal (complete); comfort and fit mods like a custom seat, Renthal bars, levers, LED lights, brake light flasher, etc. I considered replacing the whole bike rather than fixing it, but in the end figured that I'd spend nearly the same amount to do the same mods on the replacement bike as I would to repair my wrecked bike, and some of these mods were actually pretty difficult mental challenges, hard to put a price on that.

So now I embark on the repair process.

Major problem areas:
1. Front end: the forks are bent and broken. Front wheel is bent badly. Front axle and fork brace are bent. Handlebars bent. Levers are ruined. Bar riser bolts bent. Tach gauge cup is pretty much gone and the gauge bracket is bent. One turn signal is ruined, bar end mirrors are ruined, headlight bezel is ruined, headlight bracket bent.
2. Road side scraping: stator cover is shot, brake pedal is ground off and probably bent, exhaust system is competely ruined, rear foot peg is silghtly ground down.
3. Finish and other: on the high side, painted side cover was somehow screwed up a lot, the shift lever is bent, top of the tank has door-ding size dents all over the top of it, and the wrecker driver ruined the finish on the front fender tying the bike down.

The plan:
1. complete front end rebuilt with used/good front wheel, front axle, replace fork legs, new controls parts (bars, levers, mirrors, etc.), transfer tire to new wheel, new headlight bezel, turn signals, headlight mounts, fab new gauge cups for both gauges, new gauge bracket, straighten/modify(more later) fork brace.
2. replace scraped and gouged parts: stator cover, exhaust system
3. bodywork: send the tank, side cover and front mudguard too the painter to have them fixed.

Let's look at some "before" pictures!

Gauges, headlight, bars, turn signal...


Fork leg, this one is very broken, other one stanction is bent.


Axle bent, looks like wheel bearings probably ripped out of their hole.


Fork brace, that's not the original shape!


Tire holds air, maybe I get lucky and can save it? Wheel is a goner...


This took a good hard kiss from the road..


That brake pedal used to be wider. I tried to order a new one and Triumph says NLA! which is bull because they use the same part on current Street Twin and T100!... and I'll sell that stator cover! Someone could polish it and make it work.


Just a preview of damage to the exhaust


No idea how this happened to the tank, but my painter says he can fix it good as new!


Dunno how this happened, but yeah that's bent. I will try to bend it back before replacing, even though this Buell lever is actually pretty affordable.


Next post will include pictures of the replacement parts and and progress towards fixing. Since I can't walk on two feet for at least another month, doing the repairs are going to be very difficult. But I can operate a website so I am collecting parts and getting them ready!

[SK Racing]

Josh, it's awful to see your Triumph in that condition. I'm glad that you're OK. Good wishes for a speedy recovery. I hope it's not going to cost too much to fix the Bonnie.

[Sporty]

That's rough, but if the frame is straight and engine cases aren't cracked, you'll have no trouble saving it. At least you have plenty of time to hunt down parts.

With you saying "old Bonneville" and the user name Mr. 72. I was expecting one of these ...

[mr72]

I wouldn't mind one of those one day. I was born in 72. I like to collect stuff from 1972. I had a '72 240z.

[SK Racing]

With you saying "old Bonneville" and the user name Mr. 72. I was expecting one of these ...

I had one just like that. A '69 model. Brings back sweet memories.

[cbrfxr67]

ahh the carnage!! 

Ok this is going to be an awesome thread seeing you fix it!

[mr72]

I'll try to remember to take pictures. I usually just dive in and don't stop for that kind of thing.

[mr72]

Josh, it's awful to see your Triumph in that condition. I'm glad that you're OK. Good wishes for a speedy recovery.

Thanks much. My recovery is going fine, worst of it is behind me, other than another month of crutches and cast, which just prevents me from getting back to normal life.

I hope it's not going to cost too much to fix the Bonnie.

Me too. I don't know how to check the frame for straightness so I am planning to just hope for the best. Engine seems fine but we haven't tried to start it, but all of the oil is still in it. I really think almost all of the damage is to the front end. The day of the wreck I guessed the repair to likely cost $2K in parts, then I started to make a spreadsheet just to make sure I ordered and accounted for everything, which made me think it might be under $1500. It'll most likely come in somewhere between, which is OK but if I am honest, I would rather have not had this happen in the first place.

Today's job is to finish up the reworking of the "new" stator cover, over the weekend I'll paint a new coat of epoxy paint on the sightly chipped up fork lowers, and probably try to figure out how to turn my poker cup holders into new gauge cups. There's a challenge or two in here. Oh yeah and I'll see about a rough straightening of that fork brace. Gotta love cold rolled steel. I'll take some pictures.

[mr72]

Job 1 is restoring this stator cover:



Those little chips/dings in the bottom right need to be sanded out and then I can "brush up" the brushed finish with a scotchbrite pad. FWIW I have already tried sanding on this by hand with 400 grit wet and dry, it's not really getting the job done, or if so it's very slow. Those little dings are deeper than I had actually hoped. But I'll see if I can get them at least a little better before putting this part on the bike. Probably work it with some 220 grit on a hard block. If that doesn't yield the results I want quickly I may consider the "aluminum brazing" technique to fill these chinks.

[Sporty]

Me too. I don't know how to check the frame for straightness so I am planning to just hope for the best.

If it were me, I'd look over the frame very carefully around the Steering neck and joining tubing. Looking for cracks and flakes in the paint... as well as obvious bends kinks or other abnormalities.

The very first part of the repair would be putting straight fork tubes on and visually checking alignment with the rear wheel of the bike... looking from front to rear and vice-versa (like sighting a gun) Also check rake at the point with a protector and level.

[mr72]

Yes I looked over that part of the frame carefully and there are no signs of it being bent. Also as it turns out Triumph really over-builds this part of the frame with a big box section as you can see in this picture:



So once the tank is off it should be really obvious if it is bent at all. It would likely crack those welds or at least show cracks in the frame in that area. But considering the impact obvious to the fork/wheel it will be prudent to check this as well as I can.

I have straight forks to go on it of course. First order of actual repair business besides my finish work on the engine case will be to transfer the front tire to the new front wheel and then I can mount up the fork. I don't want it to sit for weeks with no front wheel. But again I am really limited by my crutches and cast here, since changing the tire requires the bead break, which requires my big lever tool I made and a receiver hitch, and the ability to move around with a wheel and tire in my hands. I imagine my dad and my brother will be happy to help with it when the time comes, but I will wait until I get the forks repainted so we can do the wheel, tire, forks, headlight ears, all at once. I figure that's going to be a Saturday right there. Last Saturday in September probably to do all of that. With that and a new handlebar plus new riser bolts, the bike should at least be rideable.

[mr72]

Gonna call this good enough... once it's on the bike I'll match the brush pattern with the sprocket cover.

[SK Racing]

That looks fine. Must have been a lot of sanding. 

[cbrfxr67]

Looks great to me

[Sporty]

Yes I looked over that part of the frame carefully and there are no signs of it being bent. Also as it turns out Triumph really over-builds this part of the frame with a big box section as you can see in this picture:



So once the tank is off it should be really obvious if it is bent at all. It would likely crack those welds or at least show cracks in the frame in that area. But considering the impact obvious to the fork/wheel it will be prudent to check this as well as I can.

I have straight forks to go on it of course. First order of actual repair business besides my finish work on the engine case will be to transfer the front tire to the new front wheel and then I can mount up the fork. I don't want it to sit for weeks with no front wheel. But again I am really limited by my crutches and cast here, since changing the tire requires the bead break, which requires my big lever tool I made and a receiver hitch, and the ability to move around with a wheel and tire in my hands. I imagine my dad and my brother will be happy to help with it when the time comes, but I will wait until I get the forks repainted so we can do the wheel, tire, forks, headlight ears, all at once. I figure that's going to be a Saturday right there. Last Saturday in September probably to do all of that. With that and a new handlebar plus new riser bolts, the bike should at least be rideable.

Those frames that use "engine as a stressed member" all seem to have a beefy top tube and steering neck.

You said you didn't know (r.e checking for bent frame)... but I think you do 

[mr72]

Dr. says I'll be in a walking boot in a week and a half, so the assembly can get going in force.

Meantime, while on crutches, I can still paint. So today and tomorrow I will repaint the fork lowers and headlight mounting ears with VHT epoxy satin black.

The complicated part of this project is the front fork/wheel/brake/fender situation. See, Bonnies of this vintage come in four varieties, three of which have different size front wheels. As it turns out, the 17" mag wheel bikes are the least common and difficult to find replacement forks. So I bought a set of Thruxton forks that have the fender bracket mounts 3/4" too high. The fender mount on a Bonneville serves as the fork brace just like on a GS, it's made from 11ga steel plate bent into an arc with M8 tapped holes that the fender bolts come through. My stock brace is bent from the wreck but could be straightened. Choices:

- Repair and modify the stock brace so it sits 3/4" lower. Easier said than done, but not that hard. Would probably require cutting the mounting surfaces off and either welding on some 1/2" angle steel brackets to the sides or bolting it together. Would probably be stiffer than stock since it would be less curved overall. But it's a lot of work and might ruin the brace in the process, which wouldn't be a huge loss.
- Fab an entirely new fork brace of bespoke design, which may be challenging if making from the same 11ga steel. Likely harder than reshaping the original but would require no welding and could be made into a one-piece part. This would be a lot more work than modifying the stocker...
- Use an aftermarket fork brace that mounts above the fender bracing the top of the fork lowers together, and then I can fab up a fender bracket from easier to work material like 1/8" alloy since it wouldn't have to take any load. This is probably the best idea but costs an extra $200 which is hard to slip under the radar right now. If I'm still stuck with the wrong solution come February, I'll do this.

This weekend I plan to try to get the stock fork brace back to the stock shape. Then I can assess the difficulty of modifying it to lower the fender. I really wish I had a good friend who was good with metal fab and needed guitar repairs in exchange for welding and bending.

The other problem with the Thruxton forks is that the brake caliper mounts position the caliper 5mm further from the wheel center than it should be due to the fact that Thruxton has a 10mm larger rotor than Bonnevilles. This is easy enough to rectify by making a new brake mounting bracket, the little piece that fits between the caliper and the tabs on the fork, from some 1/4" alloy plate I have around from my GS footpeg project.

I could also just punt, sell these forks and go back on the hunt for the "right" forks and make my life easier but there are some advantages to the Thruxton forks that I'd like to keep, and eventually I really would like to mount a Thruxton rotor. I have one here and designed a hub adapter that my friend can make for me on his milling machine but it's out of budget right now. But it would be mega cool.

Pics coming soon.

[Sporty]

The Fender support / brace interested me.

One style that is easy to make, is the type that's on the old 1972 in the photo. It's just some round bar stock and a bit of flat stock.  Those are easy to make though a little welding and drilling  is required.

I went and looked to see what the factory brace/ support looks like for the newer bike..
A brand new one is only $32 from Triumph. 

[mr72]

Yeah but a new one won't help because it still locates the fender 3/4" too high. It would work with an 18" front wheel along with a 100/90 tire but with a 110/70-17 the fender is way too high.

So I have to fab something any I look at it. Either make from the old brace plus extra bending, cutting, drilling and welding, or make a whole new one, perhaps by also adding a structural brace.

I think the old style ones won't work because they're just not strong enough. Or I should say, they will work, but the handling will be impacted negatively.

Bending 1/8" thick steel is not exactly easy, but it's doable. I don't weld so that's the big problem.

[Sporty]

Yeah but a new one won't help because it still locates the fender 3/4" too high. It would work with an 18" front wheel along with a 100/90 tire but with a 110/70-17 the fender is way too high.

So I have to fab something any I look at it. Either make from the old brace plus extra bending, cutting, drilling and welding, or make a whole new one, perhaps by also adding a structural brace.

I think the old style ones won't work because they're just not strong enough. Or I should say, they will work, but the handling will be impacted negatively.

Bending 1/8" thick steel is not exactly easy, but it's doable. I don't weld so that's the big problem.

So if I understand, it's not the brace itself, but the location of the lugs on the fork sliders?

[mr72]

That's right.

But the brace is much easier to modify than the cast alloy fork sliders!