MORTICIA
Back Street Heroes|February 2021
I BUILT THIS CHOP 38 YEARS AGO (THE DRY BUILD WAS IN MY BEDROOM), AND I TRY TO KEEP IT LIKE IT WAS WHEN IT WAS FIRST FINISHED. I USED TO PRIDE MYSELF ON IT STARTING FIRST KICK, AND NOT LEAKING OIL – IT STILL STARTS FIRST KICK (OCCASIONALLY SECOND), BUT THERE IS NOW, NEARLY 40 YEARS LATER, ONE SLIGHT OIL LEAK…
WHYNO GRAHAM
MORTICIA

The reason it’s been so reliable/tight is the fact that the engine had everything done to it when it was first built – I worked as a mechanic in a specialist Triumph shop then, and had access to all the goodies available.The motor, from a ’73 T140 Bonnie, was fitted with an early (’71) splayed head; E3134 cams (as we all did back then); Amal carbs with bell-mouths; a balanced and trued crank; a seven-plate clutch conversion with needle rollers; a Tony Haywood belt-drive (one of the very first ones he did); and a Boyer ignition, and these days the ’pipes are one-offs by my mate Phooey. On top of the front rocker box is a pike nut that may, to you, look a bit out of place, but it was given to me by Steve ‘Pig’ Williams (RIP), a legend from the Wirral, to put on my very first chop, a BSA A7 that I built in 1975, and’s been transferred to all of my chops ever since.

This story is from the February 2021 edition of Back Street Heroes.

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This story is from the February 2021 edition of Back Street Heroes.

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