In 1969 some important changes were made to the rocker boxes. First there were notches put into the side of the rockers eliminating the oil holes in the rocker arms. These are what came out of this engine. See the first picture. The springs and washers were reversed to get the oil out of the notches. The oil traveled to the notches and provided good oiling but it was necessary to change the washers. Second picture shows those notches point right to the adjusters and valve stem. Make sure the washers are to the outside of the notches.

This picture shows how the spraying feed holes help shunt the oil to open areas for the push rod balls.

The most important change was to the rocker spindles which were supposed to have spirals in them to feed the oil to the notches. Well, BSA who was making the parts failed to tell Triumph about that! An oversight? I doubt it. Early T140 spindles are replacement parts for this. The bottom spindle shows the washer. The spindle domed nuts have to be updated to unified thread. Oil flows great with the spindles.

Mr. John Healy, of TIOC and Mr. Don Hutchinson, Mr. Triumph, of Hutchinson Motorcycles, figured out the rocker issues when they went back into the literature. Very thorough.