Cookie Bill's Custom Shop

Cookie Bill's Custom Shop One off fabrications in stainless steel & aluminium for your car/bike project. Give us a call with your needs and we will do our best to help.

We also undertake bespoke commissions and sell the occasional 'in house' built cafe racer project bikes.

A bit of time spent setting the ignition timing on the 1947 3T. All seems to be in order and I can confirm that we have...
13/08/2026

A bit of time spent setting the ignition timing on the 1947 3T. All seems to be in order and I can confirm that we have sparks at the plugs. Whether they are at the correct time remains to be seen! I am getting ever closer to trying to start the old girl. Exciting times……

I’ve checked the valve clearances today. They weren’t far off TBH and only needed to minimum of adjustment.When I fitte...
03/08/2026

I’ve checked the valve clearances today. They weren’t far off TBH and only needed to minimum of adjustment.

When I fitted the carb to the inlet manifold, there was a 5 to 10 thou gap in the middle of the fl**ge. This is quite common when the carb fl**ge is over tightened causing the fl**ge to ‘bend’ or ‘bow’. Obviously this would have leaked air leading to lean running, so I used some wet and dry paper on a glass top to lap the fl**ge back flat. The carbs now re fitted with no fl**ge gap.

And finally for today, I’ve rebuilt and re-fitted the Lucas dynamo. It basically needed a good clean and new cork gaskets. I did have a problem with a sheared screw on the wire connector which I managed to drill out and re-tap. I’ve bought a new lead insulator grommet as well. Ideally it needs a new set of brushes, but I’ll see how the bike runs first and then if all is good, I’ll replace them over the winter.

So I just have the ignition timing to check now and then I can look at having a go to get the bike running again. Watch this space…..

…..and there’s more! I’ve refitted all the other instruments and switches to the petrol tank instrument panel. The ins...
30/07/2026

…..and there’s more! I’ve refitted all the other instruments and switches to the petrol tank instrument panel. The instrument/inspection lamp switch was broken so I ordered a repro part. The problem was it didn’t fit properly and took about 2 hours of fiddling to get it sorted. These bits are quite commonly stolen off classic bikes as the originals are made from Bakelite and become brittle and often break.

I’ve sorted an issue I had with the gearbox. The gear lever was stuck in position, so I removed the outer cover to take a look. Because it’s been stood for so long the selector plungers had seized in position probably due to congealed grease and oil. It was a 5 minute job to free them off, clean, re-oil and re assemble. The front plate was then re- fitted using liquid gasket sealer.

And lastly, I’ve re fitted the engine sump strainer and plate with new gaskets. If you’ve been following my page for a while, you’ll remember that I had to sort out a bodged screw hole and ended up tapping out all 4 mounting holes to 5/16” BSW. The plate has been fitted with new high tensile socket screws and spring & plain washers.

That’s it for today, although there’s still loads to do. That’s the problem and the nature of the beast with these old bikes - almost everything you touch requires some kind of attention, so hardly anything is a 5 minute job.

I stripped and rebuilt the clutch on the 3T. Some of the plain steel plates were very badly scored, so they’ve been rep...
30/07/2026

I stripped and rebuilt the clutch on the 3T. Some of the plain steel plates were very badly scored, so they’ve been replaced. I’ve fitted new primary and final drive chains and today I stripped, cleaned and rebuilt the Amal carb. It’s gradually starting to look like a motorcycle again, but there’s still a way to go!

Wow! I’m on a roll. Another afternoon in the garage on the 3T. Today I’ve made up the new oil pressure gauge pipe usi...
28/07/2026

Wow! I’m on a roll. Another afternoon in the garage on the 3T. Today I’ve made up the new oil pressure gauge pipe using my small hand held pipe benders. Various different swaged connections were also needed for the in-line connector and the gauge connection itself. Luckily I have both DIN and SAE seating tools from a previous project. This pipe was not connected when I got the bike, so I’ve had to assume the route after a bit of time spent looking at photos of other 3T’s on the internet. The oil gauge is mounted in the tank (I bet that was pretty trick back in 1947), so the pipe can’t be made in one piece as you’d never be able to get at the connectors to fit it, or remove the petrol tank. I’ve therefore placed a small in-line connector just under the petrol tank which allows the line to be split so that the tank can be removed. I’m not sure if this is how it was done originally, but it seems to work and looks fairly unobtrusive.

A bit more work on the 3T today. I’ve had a new cam oil feed pipe made which I’ve fitted to the bike. The old one had ...
28/07/2026

A bit more work on the 3T today. I’ve had a new cam oil feed pipe made which I’ve fitted to the bike. The old one had fractured and was not really repairable. Also, in line with the ‘oily rag’ restoration of this bike, I decided to try and reclaim the original Lucas Bakelite housing from the battery which was completely dead and useless. Using a vibrating multi-tool I’ve managed to remove all the original battery innards (lead plates and separator material etc.). I’m hoping to be able to fit a more modern 6v battery inside the original case to retain the originality of the bike. Yes, I know you can buy retro Lucas battery housings, but wherever possible I’m trying to use all the original parts from the bike.

I have think there’s something wrong with me. I don’t seem to be able to keep a motorcycle in one piece! I had a coupl...
11/07/2026

I have think there’s something wrong with me. I don’t seem to be able to keep a motorcycle in one piece! I had a couple of days in the workshop and suddenly it’s stripped to a rolling chassis! Being serious, I’ve taken the engine and gearbox out so that I can clean off the remains of 70 plus years of muck, grime and oil. It’s all sorted now so I’ve ordered a load of replacement gaskets etc. I hope to get a few days his week to get it all back together again and then hopefully get it running again.

A bit more work on the 3T. Managed to drill out the remains of the broken 1/4 BSW sump plate bolt and re tap at 5/16. ...
02/07/2026

A bit more work on the 3T. Managed to drill out the remains of the broken 1/4 BSW sump plate bolt and re tap at 5/16. At least that’s got rid of the wood screw that was used previously! 😁. As one of the bolts was already tapped out to 5/16, I’ve modified them all rather than have different sizes of bolt. I’ve started to clean up the engine and frame and ordered some spare gaskets etc.

So, it’s been quite a while since I last posted an update on any of my project bikes. Part of the reason for that is th...
22/06/2026

So, it’s been quite a while since I last posted an update on any of my project bikes. Part of the reason for that is that I was seconded back to my previous employer for around 14 months which rather curtailed any serious work on the bikes as I ended up working away from home Monday to Friday for a goodly portion of that time.

However, there has been lots of progress across all projects and I will be posting several updates over the coming weeks, so watch this space.

I can also confirm that I have been collating components for a lovely Triumph pre-unit bobber project which I’m quite excited about. Again more about that in future posts.

Today, I managed to get a little bit done on the 1947 Triumph 3T. I had got plans to get this running by the summer and take it for a long adventure to see my eldest son in Berlin, but I’ve had to temper those aspirations somewhat. I’m now planning to get it running by the end of the summer and get out to do some test rides on it. The bike is a 1947 model which means it will be 80 next year. I myself reach the ripe old age of 60 as well in 2027, so I am hoping that my Berlin adventure can be done then as part of a dual celebration. More about that in due course.

So, today I managed to get the rear wheel out ready for a clean up and tyre, tube and brake shoe renewal. I’ve also taken the sump plate off to check whether the engine had ‘wet sumped’ as it has been stood for some time. There was quite a lot of oil in the engine, so it was probably a good call. I also found that the sump plate was held on by two different size of bolt (I suspect that one hole has been drilled out and tapped a size larger at some time in the past, maybe due to a stripped thread or something. The final fastener as you can see from the photos was actually a wood screw, so that will definitely require further investigation! I’ve also taken off the primary drive cover to have a look at the clutch and other components. The good news is that all seems well in that area and the primary drive chain also seems quite new, so hopefully just a bit of a refresh is all that will be needed.

So that’s about it for now. As promised I’ll be updating on other projects (1991 YZ250, 1961 Triumph T120 Bonneville and the 1967 Triumph TR6C) in future posts, but rest assured there is quite a lot to show you.

Some great bikes at the Bike Shed Moto Co show at To***co Dock in London today
23/05/2026

Some great bikes at the Bike Shed Moto Co show at To***co Dock in London today

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