Author Topic: 1948 Airone - restoration  (Read 23232 times)

Offline SED

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #120 on: March 07, 2021, 11:04:00 PM »
The plater did a nice job - looks great.
1983 LeMans III
1981 Monza
1947 Ariel Red Hunter
1939 Ariel Red Hunter
1937 Guzzi GTV

Offline Canuck750

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #121 on: March 08, 2021, 04:20:20 PM »
I got the spokes back from bright zinc platting, black oxide Caswell and soaking in ACF 50 before they go in the oven, The Caswell did not take as well to the zinc platting as bare carbon steel, impurities in Zinc??



48 Guzzi Airone, 57 Guzzi Cardellino, 65 Benelli 200 sprite, 66 Aermacchi Sprint, 68 Gilera 106 SS, 72 Eldorado, 72 Benelli 180, 74 Guzzi 750S, 73 Laverda SF1, 74  Benelli 650S, 75 Ducati 860GT, 75 Moto Morini 3-1/2, 78 Moto Morinii 500

Offline Canuck750

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #122 on: March 09, 2021, 01:38:33 PM »
Well the black oxide / ACF-50 just didn't work too well on the fresh zinc plated spokes so I vapour blasted them clean and decided on flat black powder coat.

I have this simple spoke hanging plate cut from 1/8" steel plate,

Spokes pass through the plate, nipples threaded on so just a few threads are visible below then cover the nipples with high heat masking tape



My DIY powder spray operation with the high tech hangers laying across a ladder hung on the wall



Then transfer the plate with the spokes into the oven, 400 F for twenty minutes



After cooling and removing the masking tape a fresh set of black spokes



Clean up is just opening the door and using compressed air to blow the area clean, doesn't get any simpler than that.

DIY powder coating is so simple even I can pull it off with good results again and again. No fumes, no drying time, will last a very, very long time and its cheap as well.

Eastwood Automotive is my source for all things powder. You can probably pay for the electrostatic gun and masking tape doing one or two jobs, I have had this for about ten years now and it still works great.

I use an old residential wall oven I get for next to nothing on the cheap adds but a toaster oven will work just fine for small stuff.
48 Guzzi Airone, 57 Guzzi Cardellino, 65 Benelli 200 sprite, 66 Aermacchi Sprint, 68 Gilera 106 SS, 72 Eldorado, 72 Benelli 180, 74 Guzzi 750S, 73 Laverda SF1, 74  Benelli 650S, 75 Ducati 860GT, 75 Moto Morini 3-1/2, 78 Moto Morinii 500

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #123 on: March 09, 2021, 05:18:42 PM »
 coming along nicely

Wildguzzi.com

Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #123 on: March 09, 2021, 05:18:42 PM »

Offline SED

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #124 on: March 15, 2021, 10:40:12 PM »
That powder coating setup is compelling.  Spokes look great.
1983 LeMans III
1981 Monza
1947 Ariel Red Hunter
1939 Ariel Red Hunter
1937 Guzzi GTV

Offline Canuck750

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #125 on: March 23, 2021, 05:49:20 PM »
It took ten weeks but the brake linings have been replaced and arced the drums turned, The local brake specialty shop was super busy this winter and my little old motorcycle job was on the back burner but these folks do a fantastic job and the brakes should be better than when they left the factory. The brake drums and hubs were zinc plated.





Had to go with thicker linings to be able to slightly turn the drums



A small box of parts arrived today from Retro; all the fork and shock seals and the wheel bearings, I can finaly get started on painting the chassis parts and then buildng wheels.

48 Guzzi Airone, 57 Guzzi Cardellino, 65 Benelli 200 sprite, 66 Aermacchi Sprint, 68 Gilera 106 SS, 72 Eldorado, 72 Benelli 180, 74 Guzzi 750S, 73 Laverda SF1, 74  Benelli 650S, 75 Ducati 860GT, 75 Moto Morini 3-1/2, 78 Moto Morinii 500

Offline Dave Swanson

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #126 on: March 24, 2021, 09:44:59 AM »
Ought to stop better than it ever has!
Dave Swanson - Northern IL
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Offline Canuck750

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #127 on: April 04, 2021, 07:14:29 PM »
The fenders on my Airone were in pretty bad shape, plenty of rust round the bracket rivets, paper thin steel in places. I was able to find a good used front fender, the Airone front fender was unchanged from the first sprung hydaulic fork design after WWII until the end of production. The rear fender is another storey, the early post war model (Astorino - rear hydraulic shock absorbers) was short lived and the fender and mounting brackets have many differences from the the later designs that utilized the scissor friction damper setup.

I managed to find an Astorino rear fender on German Ebay but there was a mixup and the seller sent me a front fender and then to make matters worse he sold the rear fender I needed after shipping the wrong piece to me, I managed to come to a resolution but I still did not have a correct rear fender. Another Ebay seller in Italy had a nice used fender for the later type Airone so I bought that thinking I could swap the brackets from my original fender to the replacement and all would be well.

Turns out the later model fender has many differences, unpainted fender for the Astorino, the painted fender for the later type

All the brackets and mounting holes are different, fitted the Astorino brackets, I had new stainless 6mm rivets, I ended up spot welding them in place on the backside





I thought I could take apart the pressed fender parts and swap the side panels from my old fender then the brackets would fit,
The sweep of the curves is different but I could make part of the side panel fit, the sides came off without too much drama, I made a steel plate jig to straighten the locking seam



Then I removed the side panels from the replacement fender but decided to splice in 2/3 of the old panel and make a seam behind the tool box, 1/3 of the side panel profile is close to equal, Getting the sides off the replacement fender was much more difficult but they did finaly budge, made the splice cuts, refitted the lock seam and hammered the joints closed and tack welded the panels like the originals



Took a day but I got both sides roughed up, brackest fitted and tool boxes mounted for trial fit, I need to build up the rear subframe and mount the fender then dry build the rest of the bracketry and fix the rest of the rivets, then I can dissasemble it all and finish the welding and body work prior to paint



I think it will turn out Ok after body filler and paint



I have been MIG welding up all the old bracket holes and grinding the welds, more holes still to fill and the cross section curvature of the fenders is also slightly different so the tool box brackets need the holes elongated to level the tool boxes then I can rivet the tool box brackets to the fender

« Last Edit: April 04, 2021, 10:59:05 PM by Canuck750 »
48 Guzzi Airone, 57 Guzzi Cardellino, 65 Benelli 200 sprite, 66 Aermacchi Sprint, 68 Gilera 106 SS, 72 Eldorado, 72 Benelli 180, 74 Guzzi 750S, 73 Laverda SF1, 74  Benelli 650S, 75 Ducati 860GT, 75 Moto Morini 3-1/2, 78 Moto Morinii 500

Offline Canuck750

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #128 on: April 06, 2021, 05:31:47 PM »
Another day of fitting, grinding, welding and drilling, I should have fitted the fender to the chassis before I welded anything, lots of little rework to get everything to line up

none of the holes in the newer fender line up with anything, I ended up welding all the holes up in the replacement fender, mounting all of the chassis parts and fender brackets, placed the fender over the supports and drilled new holes through the fender



Stainless rivets welded to the backside of the brackets



I am going to try something new for paint prep, the powder coaster I use are doing a lot of high build powder primer, they tell me ist sand real nice and they can keep applying more coats fo primer between sandings.



Even though I have stripped the paint off the parts and sanded the crap out of the steel I want the professionals to go over all the pieces in their media blast room and cook out the oils in the oven before they apply the first coat of primer,



I have bought a can of very high temp epoxy body filler from Eastwood Automotive, its good to 1000 degrees F,



it apparently fills and sands like typical bondo, I need to fill in the panel seams I made in the rear fender and skim coat over the welded up holes.

Parts go to the powder coaters this week!

Retro in Italy came through for me with a big parts order of everything I could think of for the Airone, its going to be X-Mas in April!
48 Guzzi Airone, 57 Guzzi Cardellino, 65 Benelli 200 sprite, 66 Aermacchi Sprint, 68 Gilera 106 SS, 72 Eldorado, 72 Benelli 180, 74 Guzzi 750S, 73 Laverda SF1, 74  Benelli 650S, 75 Ducati 860GT, 75 Moto Morini 3-1/2, 78 Moto Morinii 500

Offline SED

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #129 on: April 09, 2021, 10:33:20 PM »
Great metal working - a tough job.  Your brakes look better than new!  Why the zinc plating?  Never heard of anyone doing it.

Love getting a big box of fun from Italy.   :laugh:
1983 LeMans III
1981 Monza
1947 Ariel Red Hunter
1939 Ariel Red Hunter
1937 Guzzi GTV

Offline Canuck750

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #130 on: April 10, 2021, 08:47:11 AM »
Quote from: SED link=topic=108253.msg1747938#msg1747938 date=1618025600 Why the zinc plating?  Never heard of anyone doing it.
[/quote

Only reason I plated the wheel hubs and drum was I did not want to paint the interior bits and this will prevent corrosion plus I had to fill a pail of parts to make an order with the plating shop so I figured why not. I plated most of the steering parts as well, they don’t get painted either hidden in the frame stem, overkill I know but it probably didn’t cost me anything.
48 Guzzi Airone, 57 Guzzi Cardellino, 65 Benelli 200 sprite, 66 Aermacchi Sprint, 68 Gilera 106 SS, 72 Eldorado, 72 Benelli 180, 74 Guzzi 750S, 73 Laverda SF1, 74  Benelli 650S, 75 Ducati 860GT, 75 Moto Morini 3-1/2, 78 Moto Morinii 500

Offline Canuck750

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #131 on: April 13, 2021, 05:15:53 PM »
X-Mas morning today, Santa brought a big box of parts all the way from Italy



Most of what I had asked for the Airone + some more GTV 500 engine parts, had to order a new cylinder and piston, new valves, guides and springs, rocker shafts, exhaust, rubber bits and so on



I dropped the head off at the machine shop to have the new guides installed, reamed and the valve seats cut



Spread out the engine bottom end parts to start the reassembly, like the manual says reverse order of disassembly .... sure .. translated the 48' Airone service manual and have referred to the GTV translation that Patrick H. and Shaun D. prepared and have generously shared



Refitted the sludge trap plug wit a new piece of stiff lockwire and locktight, assembled the rod on the crankshaft and retorqued the bolts, I could not get new con rod bolts, the old ones will have to do





Replaced all the crank case bearings and felt seals, bearings in the freezer and the cases in the oven to get them to 300F

This socket keeps the felt seal centered on the bearing while the case cools





Now to re-read the manual again and figure out the fitting and measuring of the output cluster as it passes through the case
48 Guzzi Airone, 57 Guzzi Cardellino, 65 Benelli 200 sprite, 66 Aermacchi Sprint, 68 Gilera 106 SS, 72 Eldorado, 72 Benelli 180, 74 Guzzi 750S, 73 Laverda SF1, 74  Benelli 650S, 75 Ducati 860GT, 75 Moto Morini 3-1/2, 78 Moto Morinii 500

Offline Canuck750

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #132 on: April 15, 2021, 08:33:57 PM »
I spent half a day bolting the crank cases halves together, testing the shifting and then opening up the cases and trying to figure out how to set the shift drum.



I had translated the 1946 Airone Service Manual to English and had the excellent translation of the 48 GTV prepared by Patrick H. and updated by Shaun D. to help me and though the manual covers the position of the shift shaft relative to the case internals, the positioning of the drum itself is vague. Guzzi was kind enough to score a line inside the case and stamp the number 4 (4th gear) inside the case as a reference to the toothed selector position, it is obviously imperative the shift drum forks are positioned for 4th gear.

The English translation regarding the placement of the shift drum is not very clear, for the benefit of anyone else who may be assembling a crankcase, I believe Guzzi is describing the assembly as follows:

Remove the gears form the transmission shafts to expose the two selector discs and pull them off the shafts, holding the selector drum in one hand and using your fingers to align the shift forks at appx. 12 and 2 o'clock, use a pair of channel locks to rotate the small gear at the underside of the selector drum fully clockwise, this will set the drum and forks at 4th gear position.





Then place all three components; the selector drum and the output shaft and main shaft with the gears into the bearings and bushing in the case  while sliding the two selector rings that are sitting in the shift forks over the two transmission shafts, once all three components are set into the case then reinstall the gears that were above the selector rings, add the final shims. Make sure the fork shit shaft and toothed crescent have not moved from the scored line '4' inside the case.

I sealed the cases with flexible gasket maker, Honda in this case



If all is sitting correctly once the cases are joined and the shift selector mechanism is installed over the shift shaft the 4th gear indicator should align with the stationary score in the selector mechanism outer case.



Clear as mud right!

Once all bolted together I temporarily installed the shift pedal and linkage rod and was able to shift back and forth from 4 ~ 1. The shifting take a pretty solid push to work but I attribute that to being a Guzzi transmission, no oil in the case and the gears are not rotating. Hopefully it shifts well once the bike is finished.

The machine shop finished replacing the valve guides, grinding the valve seats and they decked the head as well, only took a couple days, excellent service!


48 Guzzi Airone, 57 Guzzi Cardellino, 65 Benelli 200 sprite, 66 Aermacchi Sprint, 68 Gilera 106 SS, 72 Eldorado, 72 Benelli 180, 74 Guzzi 750S, 73 Laverda SF1, 74  Benelli 650S, 75 Ducati 860GT, 75 Moto Morini 3-1/2, 78 Moto Morinii 500

Offline SED

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #133 on: April 17, 2021, 05:16:51 PM »
Beautiful work!  And you have a constant mesh transmission.
1983 LeMans III
1981 Monza
1947 Ariel Red Hunter
1939 Ariel Red Hunter
1937 Guzzi GTV

Offline Canuck750

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #134 on: April 17, 2021, 08:56:52 PM »
Thanks Shawn, you mentioned the constant mesh, I was surprised to find little evidence of wear on the dogs, based upon the general condition of the Airone I was expecting some chipped dogs.

I got a new piston and cylinder from Retro in Italy, the original cylinder had a deep cresent rust spot on the bottom from the rings rusting into the cylinder, too deep to over bore.



The new guides had slightly larger heads on them, I had to ream the valve spring retainer plates to let the plate drop over the guide.

New valves, guides and springs



when I took the engine apart I found a cap on the stem of the intake valve but no cap on the exhaust valve, should there be a cap on the exhaust stem as well?


I also replaced the rocker shafts, the chrome was pitted pretty bad and the chrome on the cap nuts was all pitted



Fitting the existing head onto the new cylinder posed a problem, the fit was too tight, I blued the inside of the head mating surface and repeatedly bolted the head on as far as it would go without much pressure, removed the head and using a sanding wheel in a die grinder I sanded out the high spots, took a half dozen off/on passes to get it to fit snug

The push rod tube needed some sanding of the side of the base flange to allow for clearance to the side of the cylinder, the nuts are pretty worn out, may look for a new set



starting to look like a motor, still need to tackle the clutch, oil pump, fit the mag and dyno, carb .... I am putting this engine together very slowly, its all new to me, not that its a complex motor but there are prescribed clearances that need to be met and it seems I am doing a lot of fitting, measuring etc...



One of the rocker cover bolts was buggered up on dissasembly, I am looking for one of the shorter bolts if anyone has a spare.



And I have searched for a missing head nut, its not a standard thread and none of my box of metric nuts has the correct thread pitch, anyone have a spare head nut?
« Last Edit: September 22, 2021, 09:54:16 PM by Canuck750 »
48 Guzzi Airone, 57 Guzzi Cardellino, 65 Benelli 200 sprite, 66 Aermacchi Sprint, 68 Gilera 106 SS, 72 Eldorado, 72 Benelli 180, 74 Guzzi 750S, 73 Laverda SF1, 74  Benelli 650S, 75 Ducati 860GT, 75 Moto Morini 3-1/2, 78 Moto Morinii 500

Offline Canuck750

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #135 on: April 18, 2021, 05:44:27 PM »
Installed the cluch discs today, copper and steel clucth discs, I got these from Marco Valenti a couple years ago



The clutch rod passes through the output shaft to the opposite side of the crank case where a pair of big springs keep tension on the pressure plate, a knurled cap is adjustable by hand to set the compression on the pressure plate, a nice clean design if a bit odd



I installed the magneto I had previoulsy rebuilt, I cut new galvanized sheet steel shims (not reusing the cut up Shell oil can sections that came with th bike) shims are needed to set the gear mesh to the cam gear



big thick oil seal soaked with grease



and this thick plastic spacer between the magneto and the crankcase



new cover gasket, the mag gear nut torqued down



the oil pump and a couple of the oil lines installed



installed the rebuilt dynamo, one steel shim needed to set the gap to the main clutch gear



48 Guzzi Airone, 57 Guzzi Cardellino, 65 Benelli 200 sprite, 66 Aermacchi Sprint, 68 Gilera 106 SS, 72 Eldorado, 72 Benelli 180, 74 Guzzi 750S, 73 Laverda SF1, 74  Benelli 650S, 75 Ducati 860GT, 75 Moto Morini 3-1/2, 78 Moto Morinii 500

Offline SED

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #136 on: April 18, 2021, 09:10:29 PM »
Looking great!
1983 LeMans III
1981 Monza
1947 Ariel Red Hunter
1939 Ariel Red Hunter
1937 Guzzi GTV

Offline Canuck750

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #137 on: April 19, 2021, 05:14:29 PM »
Thanks Shawn

I had spun all the shafts and crank before I buttoned up the motor but after it was all bolted up the crank would rotate about 340 degrees, as if there was a piston stop holding the piston from its full 360 degree travel. I pulled the primary drive off, the transmission spins but not the crank, I pulled the cam off, still the crank will not spin 360 degrees so it was off with the head!

Spinning the crank the new cylinder jumped forward a mm or two so I pulled the cylinder off and compared it to the original.

The original piston has a cut out in the bore at the skirt, the new cylinder does not, that cut out allows the connecting rod to travel through 360 degrees, no idea why the new cylinder doe not have this



I made a jig to transfer the location of the cut out across to the new cylinder





I bolted the cylinder tight to the engine to trial spin the crank



I carefully filed down the new cut out and trial fitted it back on the engine, still a tiny bit of resistance, took a couple more trials of file work to get it right

Flywheel back on for fit, it needs to come off top get the center painted red



I needed to find a valve cap and I tried my local speed shop / machine shop, they directed me to Summit Racing, there are all kinds of valve lash caps on the Summit web site and ordered a couple different thickness to match the stem diameter of the Airone. I was also able to get some for my GTV 500 engine valve stems.

The valves stems on my 1948 Airone are 11/32” in diameter, I ordered a couple from Crane Cams 9942-12, 11/32” dia. Valve stem - .162” tall and a couple from Howard Cams – 93205-1, 11/32” valve stem, 0.80” tall

For my GTV 500 engine the valves stems are 3/8” diameter, orders a pair of Crane Cams 99422-2, 3/8” stem, .162” tall and a pair of Manley Cams 42108-1, 3/8” stem, 0.80” tall.





« Last Edit: September 22, 2021, 09:55:27 PM by Canuck750 »
48 Guzzi Airone, 57 Guzzi Cardellino, 65 Benelli 200 sprite, 66 Aermacchi Sprint, 68 Gilera 106 SS, 72 Eldorado, 72 Benelli 180, 74 Guzzi 750S, 73 Laverda SF1, 74  Benelli 650S, 75 Ducati 860GT, 75 Moto Morini 3-1/2, 78 Moto Morinii 500

Offline Canuck750

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #138 on: April 21, 2021, 06:55:54 PM »
After buttoning up the motor I find the shifting is sketchy, seems to stick. The assembly instructions set the transmission in 4th gear when fitting the gear clusters and shift drum so the tranmission needs to be down shiffted, it shifted down ok (not great) but it is almost impossibe to get it to shift back up.

I pulled the engine completely apart thinking it may be a shim issue, I removed the crank shaft, shift shaft, shift drum and lay shaft, just left the output shaft in place and bolted up the cases. Checking each shaft for play / binding I added each piece back in, swapped a couple shims, ground down the shift shaft coil spring a wee bit and it all felt good.

So that left the shift poistive lock mechanism that is secured to the end of the shift shaft on the exterior of the right engine case. This is an interesting mechanism, there are two sprung pawls that lock into a heavy steel body secured to the shift shaft and set with a woodruf key. When the shift pedal is depressed either up or down (heel / toe) a drum that nests into the main body will release a pawl on one side of the body and lock the opposite side pawl. When the opposite end of the shift pedal is pressed down the reverse occure, opposite pawl is released and opposed pawl locks.



This picture is looking straight down the center of the shift mechanism, the cover portion of the mechanism is removed and only one sprung pawl is installed. There are three surfaces that can wear; the sprung pawls, the heavy body notched to recieve the pawls and the cover itself which rotates and grabs the pawl forcing one pawl ro retract.





It looks like everything is worn but the cover is the the worst, one side that mates to the pawl is badly worn, this is preventing the pawl from retracting and freezing the tranmission. With a lot of violence the pawl will retract but this is not a good situation.

This is a picture of the mechanism cover that contains the shift return spring. There are cut outs on each side and the leading edge of these cut outs depress a pawl as the shift pedal is pressed.

This side is in good shape, hence the transmission will shift up.



And this is the other side, the vertical edge of the cut out is chipped and worn away, this worn edge is not engagng the pawl, preventing the pawl from retracting and locking ths shift mechanism





Not sure what to do with this, I could try and weld up the worn piece, chiuck it in my lathe and shim the inside and outside back to spec and file the vertical edge, not sure the weld will have a hard enough surface??

Any ideas on how to repair this?
48 Guzzi Airone, 57 Guzzi Cardellino, 65 Benelli 200 sprite, 66 Aermacchi Sprint, 68 Gilera 106 SS, 72 Eldorado, 72 Benelli 180, 74 Guzzi 750S, 73 Laverda SF1, 74  Benelli 650S, 75 Ducati 860GT, 75 Moto Morini 3-1/2, 78 Moto Morinii 500

Offline leroy_can

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #139 on: April 21, 2021, 09:44:17 PM »
  I don't know what type of welding you have but I did some googling and learned about a few choices. I mostly use TIG and there is a rod called Weld Mold 958 which impressed me. Looks like your usual copper coated all purpose steel rod but it produces a hard face weld without any further hardening. The video I saw showed a guy laying a bead at the end of a mild steel bar and sharpening it into a chisel and putting it through it's paces with excellent results. Looked like normal tig welding but would be perfect for what u have there. If you don't tig maybe call around to local shops and see if they have this rod. Shouldn't be much to build it up and u could shape it as required with a variety of die grinder/cut off wheels/mini belt sander type tools. Easier than regular weld and then trying to harden it or worrying it won't last. There were also stick welding rods and mig wire and hardening powders but I liked the tig method best. seemed like all the other ones were laying beads in big loader buckets to slow down wear.
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Offline Canuck750

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #140 on: April 21, 2021, 10:10:02 PM »
  I don't know what type of welding you have but I did some googling and learned about a few choices. I mostly use TIG and there is a rod called Weld Mold 958 which impressed me. Looks like your usual copper coated all purpose steel rod but it produces a hard face weld without any further hardening. The video I saw showed a guy laying a bead at the end of a mild steel bar and sharpening it into a chisel and putting it through it's paces with excellent results. Looked like normal tig welding but would be perfect for what u have there. If you don't tig maybe call around to local shops and see if they have this rod. Shouldn't be much to build it up and u could shape it as required with a variety of die grinder/cut off wheels/mini belt sander type tools. Easier than regular weld and then trying to harden it or worrying it won't last. There were also stick welding rods and mig wire and hardening powders but I liked the tig method best. seemed like all the other ones were laying beads in big loader buckets to slow down wear.

Good advice! I have an ESAB mig/tig/stick but my Tig skills are not very good. I will look into that TIg rod. My smart mig settings do a good job but I don’t know how well the Mig weld will hold up. If the gear shift is properly set up the force depressing the pawls is probably not that great. I just don’t want to screw this part up.
48 Guzzi Airone, 57 Guzzi Cardellino, 65 Benelli 200 sprite, 66 Aermacchi Sprint, 68 Gilera 106 SS, 72 Eldorado, 72 Benelli 180, 74 Guzzi 750S, 73 Laverda SF1, 74  Benelli 650S, 75 Ducati 860GT, 75 Moto Morini 3-1/2, 78 Moto Morinii 500

Offline leroy_can

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #141 on: April 22, 2021, 08:13:31 AM »
  A couple of other considerations are: Is it chromed and is it a casting? Actually the presence of chrome usually doesn't hurt a tig weld but I'm not a metallurgist. Mostly I harden things accidentally like the cave man who dropped his meat in the fire and liked the taste. If you took the piece to a welding supply place or to a welding shop they might have more educated advice. I would expect any weld would hold up for quite a while as I don't expect huge mileages to be put on it. Is it external and easily accessed or does it require splitting the cases. Maybe someone has a better one and will see your post.
1973 XLCH cafe Shovester #1
1973 XLCH cafe Shovester #2
1971 Homemade cafe '08 XB12S motor 71 CH frame
2002 Buell M2 Cyclone
1987 LMIV SE 1400 conversion in progress

Offline Canuck750

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #142 on: April 22, 2021, 09:48:26 AM »
Thanks Leroy

The piece is external to the case so I can reassemble the engine. The piece has been rechromed so I will grind off the chrome prior to any welding. After I get the engine together today I will give the repair another try. I think I will just try a weld with Mig first and see how it takes.

Thanks again
Jim
48 Guzzi Airone, 57 Guzzi Cardellino, 65 Benelli 200 sprite, 66 Aermacchi Sprint, 68 Gilera 106 SS, 72 Eldorado, 72 Benelli 180, 74 Guzzi 750S, 73 Laverda SF1, 74  Benelli 650S, 75 Ducati 860GT, 75 Moto Morini 3-1/2, 78 Moto Morinii 500

Offline Canuck750

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #143 on: April 22, 2021, 07:20:06 PM »
I reassembled the engine today then clamped the shift mechanism body in the vice and ground some chrome off the worn surface of the part and sparked up the Mig. I welded about 4mm of length to the exposed vertical edge of the piece then chucked it in the lathe and machined back the outside, inside surface and the top edge.



A lot of hand filing to get the cut back angle to the leading edge, my weld was far from perfect but the edge surface is vertical again



After the shift mechanism was reassembled onto the engine case and the shift pedal fitted the gear selector rotates up and down. I also installed the kick starter and by swinging the starter pedal with my left hand to spin the gear set, and my right hand operating the shift pedal, the gears move up and down. Shifting is nothing like a smooth UJM but it feels similar in mechacial 'feel' to my 72 Guzzi Eldorado.



I hope the engine starts...
48 Guzzi Airone, 57 Guzzi Cardellino, 65 Benelli 200 sprite, 66 Aermacchi Sprint, 68 Gilera 106 SS, 72 Eldorado, 72 Benelli 180, 74 Guzzi 750S, 73 Laverda SF1, 74  Benelli 650S, 75 Ducati 860GT, 75 Moto Morini 3-1/2, 78 Moto Morinii 500

Offline Canuck750

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #144 on: April 23, 2021, 05:40:22 PM »
The powder coating shop finished applying the powder primer. The process is to media blast the parts then bake out the oils followed by an etch wash then the primer powder is sprayed and baked on. I am pretty impressed with the primer.



Most of the pieces had been sanded to bare metal and the lighter pitting sanded out. These coated parts will all be sanded down and powder coated primed at least one more time.

The primer sand real nice, I am starting with 220 dry, the coater tells me there is no need to sand any finer than 200 as the powder coats will fill any 200 grit scratches. I would say this powder primer is probably equal to at least 2 or 3 high build coats of wet primer. It sands without clumping, very nice to work with. I am blocking all the flat surfaces and using semi rigid foam backing pads for the curved surfaces.

Front forks sanded out, ready for another coat of primer.



Even if I choose to use conventional wet applied paints and clear I am pleased with this powder primer and would definitley use this method again.

Depending on how well the rear fender that I patched together turns out I may even use powder as the finish coat.

First coat of the high temp metal filler on the weld seams on the rear fender.



literature says it takes 24 hours to air cure prior to any powder re-coating and it needs to be oven cured at 400 F. I have never used this product but it is what Eastwood Auto reccommends and sells for use with powder coating. There is no activator, just stir it up and spread it on, max 1/4" thick at a time.



Hopefully is sands out ok. Once I sand out the filler I will take all the parts back for another primer coating.

48 Guzzi Airone, 57 Guzzi Cardellino, 65 Benelli 200 sprite, 66 Aermacchi Sprint, 68 Gilera 106 SS, 72 Eldorado, 72 Benelli 180, 74 Guzzi 750S, 73 Laverda SF1, 74  Benelli 650S, 75 Ducati 860GT, 75 Moto Morini 3-1/2, 78 Moto Morinii 500

Offline SED

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #145 on: May 03, 2021, 10:36:12 PM »
That is going to be the nicest Airone!  Good info on the powder primer; never heard of it before.
1983 LeMans III
1981 Monza
1947 Ariel Red Hunter
1939 Ariel Red Hunter
1937 Guzzi GTV

Offline Canuck750

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #146 on: May 06, 2021, 06:58:26 PM »
Good info on the powder primer; never heard of it before.

I only learnt about the primer a month ago when I went into my local powder coater shop to talk about preping my Airone frame.
I have sanded down all the parts and sent the whole lot back for another coat of primer. It fills very deep nicks and gouges taht I could not sand out of the metal, I am very impressed with it.

The primer sands real easy, I went over it with 200 dry. I have decided to have all the parts spray painted with base / clear. My painter has experience with the powder primer and has no issues with spraying over it, he will seal the primer before spraying colour. My painter does a lot of custom bikes, hot rods etc and has very good experience with the powder primer.

My powder coater is super busy and its taking a very long time to get parts coated so progress has been at a stand still.
48 Guzzi Airone, 57 Guzzi Cardellino, 65 Benelli 200 sprite, 66 Aermacchi Sprint, 68 Gilera 106 SS, 72 Eldorado, 72 Benelli 180, 74 Guzzi 750S, 73 Laverda SF1, 74  Benelli 650S, 75 Ducati 860GT, 75 Moto Morini 3-1/2, 78 Moto Morinii 500

Offline Canuck750

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #147 on: May 11, 2021, 09:16:19 PM »
The powder coater is finished with the powder primer, two coats, 200 dry sanding after first coat of primer.



I sanded out the second coat of powder primer with 400 wet. The rear fender still needs finishing work, I will finish the prep with a conventional skim coat of bondo filler, 2 part putty and a coat or two of high build primer. Only the tops of the tool  boxes, which were very badly pitted need a slight skim of finishing putty. All the other pieces sanded put very nicely, the high build powder primer is pretty amazing. Everything will get a wet spray applied sealer and then I will go with conventional base / clear for the red finish. The new paint should last another seventy years.

I found a set of original Airone leg shields in Italy for the bike, they were solid, not damaged but have a lot of surface pitting, they will need some work to get them smooth.



I had the hubs powder coated red to see how it will finish over the primer, looks fine but these will get a final base/clear coat as well.

I pressure tested the oil tank, its solid, I sent it off to be rechromed, the original chrome side domes had been painted over with gloss black, after stripping the paint the chrome is all pitted and peeling, may as well go all in at this point.

I got my last order of parts in from Retro in Italy, new engine case screws, nuts etc to replace the chewed up original heads.

Hopefully I can this painted over the summer.
48 Guzzi Airone, 57 Guzzi Cardellino, 65 Benelli 200 sprite, 66 Aermacchi Sprint, 68 Gilera 106 SS, 72 Eldorado, 72 Benelli 180, 74 Guzzi 750S, 73 Laverda SF1, 74  Benelli 650S, 75 Ducati 860GT, 75 Moto Morini 3-1/2, 78 Moto Morinii 500

Offline keener

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #148 on: July 05, 2021, 07:53:56 PM »
Great work and dedication to the project .....Thank you for sharing , :cool: I am hooked
smile and tremble
1974 Z1 Kawasaki since new
1998 Suzuki 1200 Bandit
2005 Ducati Multistrada 1000s
2007 Guzzi 1100 Griso
2015 Kawasaki Versys 1000

Offline Dave Swanson

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Re: 1948 Airone - restoration
« Reply #149 on: July 07, 2021, 09:19:07 AM »
Again, I just got back from throwing rocks at all my bikes.   :grin:
Dave Swanson - Northern IL
1935 GTS
1968 V700
1973 V7 Sport
1974 Eldo
1974 Police Eldo
1976 Convert
1977 Lemans 1.2
1980 T3 California
1993 1000S - Sparklehorse
2004 V11S - Eraldo-ized
2016 Griso SE - Beetle-ized
2021 V7-850 Stone Centenario
2022 V85TT Guardia d'Onore
2023 V100S

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