The ‘79 California Rebuild Thread

[mikeyboy]

Thanks Mikeyboy. I got some useful reading with the bike:

Thanks for the link to the bolt supplier as well, that’ll come in handy.

The aim is to get gearbox and engine dismantled over the weekend and the casings delivered up to you sometime next week.

Carbs are fine, don’t need doing. I’ve got some soda blasting kit coming and will try that on the manifolds.




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No prob,I’ll get on with the blasting ASAP,and get some photos while I’m at it.
Not trying to teach to suck eggs,
When you strip the box,use a hot air gun on the cases ,keep everything in order,
They can be a bit of a faff to rebuild so don’t chuck everything in a box and leave it on a shelf for 6 months

 

[Nin]

No prob,I’ll get on with the blasting ASAP,and get some photos while I’m at it.
Not trying to teach to suck eggs,
When you strip the box,use a hot air gun on the cases ,keep everything in order,
They can be a bit of a faff to rebuild so don’t chuck everything in a box and leave it on a shelf for 6 months

Not at all - always happy to learn from a pro.

Looking back over the old MoT certificates, the bike hasn't done more than 500 miles in the last 20 years. There's no oil in the gearbox, so I'm assuming I'll need to replace all the bearings along with the seals. Then have a go at shimming it up which should be amusing.

Do you have a recommended bearing supplier?

 

[ShakeyGS]

I’m intrigued bt the Dyson drive shaft

 

[Davey B]

What a great thread, (beats the doom and gloom ones proliferating)

 

[Deleted account 211025001]

What a great thread, (beats the doom and gloom ones proliferating)

Indeed

Mind you, Nin has yet to rebuild the gearbox, you'd get plenty of 'doom & gloom' from me if I was attempting that

Only kidding Nin, honest I'm really looking forward to seeing this progress

Andres

 

[cookie]

The gearbox bearings usually hold up quite well IME. I haven't always replaced them. One is a Guzzi only oddball.

Unlike BMW airhead boxes, you don't need masses of heat to get the cases apart as the bearings stay in the cases not on the shafts. You do generally need to heat the cases to get the bearings out, then tap them down on a piece of wood. Sometimes they just fall out cold. Shimming is not so involved as BMW either.

In theory, you need a tool to hold the output shaft while undoing the nut, but again, as often as not they are only finger tight, held on only by the lock washer

You almost certainly will need the tool to hold the clutch hub* + the tool for the castellated nut on the input shaft. You need all three tools to put the box back together.

* make one out of an old clutch friction plate.

 

[Nin]

Cheers Cookie, useful advice. I’ve started making tools.

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[Nin]

An old bush mechanics trick my Dad taught me.

PS “Bush Mechanic” is not Australian for gynaecologist.

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[ChasF]

Who needs metric sockets?

Keep going - way to go before those casings are released and ready to ship to Mikeyboy

 

[Keith Chapman]

When I needed to remove my gearbox casing, I used an old UJ and a length of bar welded on to make a tool to hold the output shaft. and a cut down socket welded to another to fit the nut. Dont forget to to keep the gearbox upright when you take the cover off, otherwise the internals can fall out before you can remove them correctly.

 

[Nin]

Mikeyboy first customers

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[Nin]

I’m really pleased with how that went. It all came apart smoothly, internals were nice and clean, with no nasty surprises.

Bearings look and feel in really good condition, selectors are wearing evenly and there’s a nice coating of clean oil over everything.

On to this tomorrow.

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[mikeyboy]

No messin

 

[Nin]

Mebbe something about the Guzzi alloy, but the old heat gun seems to work a real treat on releasing these bearings. Much easier than the BMW, Vespa, and Jap jobs I've done.

 

[Deleted account 240831001]

If you want sockets or Allen keys to butcher send me a pm, I’ve still got quite a few spares lying around

At least I’ll have something interesting to read whenever I throw my toys out after something else doesn’t go to plan on my own projects

 

[theoneandonly]

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whilst you have this handy , measure the pin that goes thro' the pivot , then drill the casing 0.5 mm bigger , and the arm .

 

[Nin]

whilst you have this handy , measure the pin that goes thro' the pivot , then drill the casing 0.5 mm bigger , and the arm .

Er, OK. I'm sure you'll tell me why! I did blag a copy of Guzziology and all, good tip.

Another update to come, but Pizza is in the oven & beer is calling.

 

[Nin]

Quick update

Got started on the engine. Other than being a bit grubby, it’s in pretty good nick for a 41 year old.

Hmm, what’s all this then?

Nothing obvious behind it.

Woodruff has seen better days. The only evidence so far of ham fistedness.

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[Nin]

Gratuitous shots of the insides of an engine.

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[Nin]

Ready for tomorrow.

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