asbestos....

[lazlokovacs]

anyone know which guzzi parts have asbestos in them? older gaskets and brake shoes?

 

thanks as ever

[JohninVT]

Exhaust gaskets, brake pads/shoes, clutch plates...pretty much any place where heat resistance in wear items is required. 

Asbestos is pretty interesting stuff and I’ve been involved with quite a few home remediation projects. 

[Rough Edge racing]

 In the USA, asbestos was gone from most automotive friction devices by 1997 at the latest. There can be asbestos in older bikes of course, brakes, wiring , heat shields, etc...The risk from exposure is not something to worry about for a hobbyist unless you like grind on old brakes and clutches....If you are exporting or importing an older bike into some countrues, Australia being one of them, it can be a big deal.

[SED]

Asbestos was supposedly eliminated from brakes and clutches sold in the USA sometime in the late '80s (IIRC), but I've often wondered if this is also true for vehicles and parts from other countries.

So I looked it up.  EPA attempted to eliminate asbestos from new vehicles and repair parts in the early 1990s, but the repair parts rule was fought in court and so aftermarket parts, especially from China and India still contain asbestos.
https://www.freedoniagroup.com/Content/Blog/2017/05/22/Asbestos-in-Brake-Pads-What-the-Average-Consumer-Might-Not-Realize

The safe assumption is that all brakes and clutches contain asbestos.  EPA recommends that home mechanics get a spray bottle with water and detergent, spray down the dusty area and rinse or wipe clean. 
https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/documents/brakebrochure-paginated.pdf

[bigbikerrick]

When I was a youngster in the mid 70s, I worked for about 5 years in an old school  small town "Gas station" where we would do oil changes, brake jobs, tires, etc. When a brake job came in, and most vehicles were drum brakes back then, we would use compressed air to blow out all the brake dust , and the whole work bay looked like a dust storm of brake dust. It was fine stuff, and would stay in suspension for a long time. I can only imagine how much asbestos we breathed in , during those times! We also used a big pan of gasoline , out back,to wash  greasy parts in, when our ears  started ringing, and sounds would "echo" we knew we had to take a break, and get some fresh air.I would go home, and blow out all kinds of black stuff out from my nose in the shower.
  How times have changed... and for the better!
Rick.

[Sasquatch Jim]

 Love the smell of asbestos dust in the morning.

[rocker59]

We also used a big pan of gasoline , out back,to wash  greasy parts in, when our ears  started ringing, and sounds would "echo" we knew we had to take a break, and get some fresh air.

I worked for a construction company in the 1980s and 1990s.  We used oil-based paints for striping roadways and airports.  About the only thing that would cut it was Toluene and Xylene.  So, that's what we washed our hands with to get the paint off.  Nasty stuff! 

Thankfully I'm not dead yet, though I believe one of my deceased friend's demise from bladder cancer was directly related.  He had more exposure over a longer period of time, as the owner of the construction company.

[pete roper]

My longtime friend David Mildwater died of Mesotheliosis in January. His only exposure to asbestos was as an adolescent helping his dad renovate a fibro house.

Don't screw with asbestos.

Pete

[Green1000S]

Used to clean clock parts in 2 gallon open container of benzene.
Small miracle I did not blow up myself or die later of exposure.
Some of the rental properties I was involved with had asbestos wrapped pipes in basement. First thing was to wet them and paint over. To remove was way more complicated....

[wirespokes]

Wasn't that what did in Steve McQueen?

I got the data somewhere that asbestos really only affected smokers.

[rocker59]

Wasn't that what did in Steve McQueen?

I got the data somewhere that asbestos really only affected smokers.

Yep.  Mesothelioma.

Heavy smoker.
In the Navy, worked removing asbestos from pipes on a troop ship.
In Hollywood, being exposed to asbestos on sound stages.
In racing, brake dust and insulation in fire resistant racing attire.

Who really knows the real cause?, but he was sure he had been exposed in several different situations over the years.

[Rough Edge racing]

Wasn't that what did in Steve McQueen?

I got the data somewhere that asbestos really only affected smokers.

  Odds of getting abestos related diseases are much higher for smokers but non smokers also get it...

[SteveRivet]

Wasn't that what did in Steve McQueen?

I got the data somewhere that asbestos really only affected smokers.

It is what did in McQueen - heavy exposure from shipyard work earlier in his life. 

I worked as an abatement engineer for a couple years in the 80's and it's nothing to mess around with.  As for the smoker effect, what the data showed was a multiplicative effect on getting cancer if you smoked and were exposed, but even exposure without smoking jacks up your lung cancer risk significantly.

Steve

[SteveRivet]

Other fun fact:  that scene in the Wizard of Oz where all the midgets are dancing around in the snow was actually asbestos being blown out of fans onto them. 

[wirespokes]

Damn! interesting trivia!

And how about in the good old days (1800s) when hat makers used mercury in their craft? That's how the phrase 'Mad as a Hatter' came about.

I sure hope we've got all the harmful things sorted out by now, and distant from us!

[EldoMike]

I think about it often as I've worked with vehicles most of my life...including having a tune up ad brake shop in the 80's...blew plenty of brake dust around...so far so good on my annual physicals

[pete roper]

Back in the '80's there was a company called 'Mr Fluffy' that went around blowing loose fill asbestos into roof cavities of houses as insulation in Canberra and surrounding New South Wales. When that was discovered in the early 2000's it triggered a wholesale recovery program by the ACT and NSW governments. A few houses in Bungendore were caught up in it. In the ACT all the houses were demolished, (In itself no easy task as they had to disassemble them pretty much brick by brick in a sort of all enclosing tent with extractor fans running the whole time and blokes in 'Space suits' working inside.). In NSW most places were just cleaned out.

There was one house over the road from my MIL's house that, being in NSW and being a double brick construction they just did the whole tent thing and then vacuumed out the asbestos. It was still pretty much impossible to sell even after it was given a clean bill of health and when it did sell it was for about a third less than any similar house in the village!

Pete

[rocker59]

Other fun fact:  that scene in the Wizard of Oz where all the midgets are dancing around in the snow was actually asbestos being blown out of fans onto them.

I'm pretty sure it was the scene in the poppy field near Oz, where Dorothy and her crewe were passed out and Glenda started it snowing to wake them up.

I don't recall a snow scene with "midgets dancing around".

[Muzz]

In the early 70's I was a trainee industrial chemist, and even back then I had learnt enough about asbestosn dust that you didn't blow out brake drums. I used to use a water based engine cleaner as a surfactant and washed them out.

Still going at 70 so that's a good thing I guess.

[Murray]

Related to Guzzi's what you need to do is find out when Europe got rid of asbestos, this will give you a guide on when its was pulled from Guzzi's.