Triumph T595 cafe Racer

I've had this Triumph T595 Daytona just over two years and love it but last year the clutch flew apart and jammed the balancer shaft gearing up and then she blew a hole in the radiator . Here's a few pickies before i strip it down ready for the Café Racer rebuild/transformation.


I would have preferred an air cooled engine so the ugly radiators weren't there, twin shocks and wire wheels for the authentic look but i wanted to keep this bike so i'll just have to see what I can come up with.

Radiators aside it's a nice starting point! I'm looking at an XJR1200 at the mo, that has an oil cooler which sort of spoils the lines (makes it look huge across the front) but with a s/s cover I think I'll get away with it.

Good luck with the build and remember to post lots of pictures, some of us don't read too well!   

slowly getting there with the strip down, as you can see the engine is in a bit of a mess, one of the exhaust studs isn't behaving and staying put, i'll have a better go at removing it when the engine's out as I don't want to strip the threads in the block.


I fancy polishing some of the engine casings up before she goes back in but they are made of magnesium, has anyone polished magnesium? does it come up like polished ally? do I need to lacquer it afterwards? any tips ?

Mag-alloy comes up really well, just be careful with the stripping as it takes scratches quite easily.

In the 'good old days' I'd advocate a good slathering of Nitromors, but the EU harmful substances regs have pulled the teeth on that particular tiger and it's next to useless on engine enamel. I used Starchem to good effect on my CB750 a couple of years back. It's not cheap at 25-30 quid for 5 litres, but saves an awful lot of elbow grease. There's numerous stockists, just Google Starchem paint stripper.

You can protect the finish with a couple of coats of good quality car polish, Maguires or Poorboys works well, lacquer is good too, but it can turn yellow after a while, particularly when subject to heat.

The trumpets all stripped down now , was quite enjoyable apart from the seized headstock nut (had to get nipper sitting on the other end of the frame to try and counter act the weight of the HUGE spanner to undo it.... ) hopefully the rebuild will be just as enjoyable   
here's a couple of pics of her 'in a few bits'   

Haven't really made my mind up on what colour to do her yet, would love to chrome the tank and mud guards but they're all made of plastic so still looking around for inspiration   

Going to watch this progress! Have the same bike that will become project once I've finished Ducati.

Are you going to swap out for custom sub-frame?

yeh i'm gonna modify the sub frame i have and make it straight and level with the ground as the original Triumph one sticks up in the air and looks too much like a street fighter and will probably keep the front mountings but make the rest of it out of tubular steel (as opposed to the original box section) to try and keep it more authentic looking. that's the idea any way   

had a couple of days off so made the most of the time and got in the garage....

cleaned up the forks, new seals, fork oil and re-sprayed the bottoms satin black (tried it gloss black first but it didn't look quite right)

Fork stations and clip-ons back in where they should be. Head stock bearings were ok so just re-greased them

I'm keen to see how this turns out. Once my Guzzi's done I'll be looking at another project, but I can't see what else you can do with a liquid-cooled, beam-framed bike other than streetfighter it. I'd imagine giving it a whole new look will be pretty difficult, and I'm not sure I have the skill or patience to carry it out.

True what you say, the modern liquid cooled beam framed bike doesn't lend itself to the old fashioned cafe racer look especially as most of them don't have spoked wheels either. Hopefully with a single head light, single seat, remove all the plastic I can and try and fab up a set of twin exhaust pipes with older style chrome silencers I might just about get there. Truth is I'm just making it up as I go along. so only time will tell I spose.

just been polishing /painting and refurbing stuff for the last couple of weeks (trying to pluck up enough courage to start stripping the engine down :/ )

bit more cleaning and refurbing done....

The chain was only a month old before I layed the Triumph up and it had some surface rust on the outer links (should have bought an gold/chromed one    ) so I've just wire brushed it and give it a light coat of satin black spray which hopefully'll look ok once its back on the bike...

Halfway through sorting the rear swing arm out. The rear wheel bearings and hub etc were all fine and just needed a lick of paint and some grease , but he rear suspention linkage bearings were all shot to pieces so new ones on order..


Still not quite sure how a single sided swing arm's gonna look on a café racer so I'll have to suck it and see later  

new drop link bearings and seals fitted, so the swing arm's all ready to go back in frame.
Started stripping triple engine down to try and work out whats knocking in there, came across a tooth missing on the balance shaft and its opposite gear wheel slightly damaged on the crank   ..... new bits on order, just need to try and remember how it all goes back together  

fitted a new balancer shaft which was a bit more involved than I had hoped had to remove the crank and timing chains to get the new shaft in which was I bit of a fiddly job in a garage too full up with crap!! nearly all rebuilt now and will give it a fresh lick of paint, any recommendations?? have used Granville cylinder block paint in the past but that has a matt finish, I fancied a shiny black engine for this bike.

Just read your start of thread. I polished the cases on myT509 and they're real difficult to keep that way as they oxidise very quickly. A word of caution if you are thinking of polishing the wheels, which I also did. Once you get the (very) thick paint off the wheels, the alloy is a sort of orange peel finish and not smooth......takes forever!

ah thanks for the advice on polishing haven't quite finished putting the engine back together yet but I had the wheels powder coated gloss black a few weeks back and they came back with a glass like finish, well impressed, just need to save up for some rubber now :/

Hi Russ, if you are going to paint the engine as opposed to polish it I'd recommend finding a proper engine enamel rather than just normal paint. VHT do a good range, you can get them off Fleabay for around £7.00 for an 11oz can, but the postage is almost the same again, better to find a local stockist if you can.

Hugabog, try polishing then giving your cases a good coat of quality car polish, did that with my Triumph Bonnie and it lasted a good few months before needing reapplying.

cheers paul, that looks like the stuff i'm after