General Category > Bike Builds, Rebuilds And Restorations Only
1974 Police Eldo Rejuvination
Cam3512:
Count me in!
Cam
Dave Swanson:
Due to the last ride this bike had with one of the rods hammering away many moons agp, at the very least the crank was in need of a re-grind.
While commiserating with Joe Walano (The Guzzi Doctor) he offered a complete bottom end that was donated to him years ago from a crashed Eldo! Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth I immediately accepted his gracious offer and drove the 100 miles to his shop to pick it up. Joe is in the process of moving his shop and is culling what he doesn't want to move to the new place, therefore perfect timing for the both of us.
Upon tear-down of this donor engine I found the bottom end to be in fine shape. The crank is on it's standard grind. The main bearings are in great shape, and the shell bearings are almost usable. A gracious and generous gift to the project indeed. :bow:
brider:
--- Quote from: Dave Swanson on November 18, 2023, 03:43:42 PM --- It will not be given a total restoration, but will be spruced up and refreshed where necessary.
--- End quote ---
That's quite a "spruce up". I'd hate to see what you charge for a total resto. :thumb:
I wonder if that's the same Eldo I saw Bob ride to the MO rally back in '95-'97? Great job so far. I wonder how that low-end bearing failed? I didn't know they were prone to that...how many miles? Chrome cyls?
Dave Swanson:
--- Quote from: brider on November 27, 2023, 06:18:43 PM ---That's quite a "spruce up". I'd hate to see what you charge for a total resto. :thumb:
I wonder if that's the same Eldo I saw Bob ride to the MO rally back in '95-'97? Great job so far. I wonder how that low-end bearing failed? I didn't know they were prone to that...how many miles? Chrome cyls?
--- End quote ---
The speedo shows 35K. It could be the bike he rode to the rally back then. No one around here can remember Bob riding it for the past 25 years, so the time frame lines up.
It did have chrome cylinders, but no evidence of chrome contamination. The likely culprit would seem to be oil starvation, but I haven't found the smoking gun.
The spruce up is now out the window. Ha! But, all the tins will retain the original paint, so will not be a total restoration. :grin:
brider:
So I wonder what Bob's opinion was of riding on chrome cyls? I know there are opinions that run the full range of "kiss of death for the engine at first start-up" to "anecdotes of flaking chrome far exaggerate the reality", so maybe he just figured it wasn't worth NOT riding the bike for. I wonder myself because I have an old Ambo with good chrome cyls, and wonder if I should get it running as-is.
One of the phrases I remember Bob saying when I looked at his stable (considering buying an Eldo, passed because it had Amal carbs.....what a dummy!), and commented on the nice (non-chrome) patina of most of his bikes was "Chrome don't git ya home".
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