Another Benelli Egg bike

[cliffrod]

Great score- I think you’ll like that four shoe grimeca, Jim.   The bike is looking great!

[huub]

I got this in the mail from the UK yesterday, a Grimeca double sided single leading shoe front brake, I spent an afternoon stripping off a horrible silver paint job smothered in soft clear urethane. Then sanding, still plenty of wet sanding and finishing plus getting the shoes relined.



I think this will be a great upgrade

the 4LS grimeca might be a bit too much for the little benelli ,
the horrible paint is stock , i've got a new one somewhere in the shed , it came painted.
they are heavy , but apparently efficient.
I bought mine as a upgrade for the V7sport , but ended up fitting disks instead .

[Canuck750]

The brake is a double sided single leading shoe. It was stock on the Benelli 250 twin two stroke with drum brakes (and the corresponding Moto Guzzi bade engineered model) the brake also came on the Ducati Mark 3.
I managed to finally get all the original paint off and the pieces sanded and initial polishing done.
I agree that a double sided Twin leading shoe drum brake would be overkill.

The swept area of the brake shoes is about identical between the stock single leading shoe front brake and this double sided single leading shoe brake but I suppose that both sides are single leading there may be some brake improvements.
Honestly I wanted it because the backing plate vents are functional and it looks cool. 😊

[Canuck750]

Some progress on fitting a mechanical tach. I had a spare Benelli tach from my Benelli 650S restoration, the white face replica Veglia from India is as expected junk, the drive fitting thread is wrong, the glass came cracked, etc…
I bought an aluminum tach mount and Veglia 90 degree drive from Italy. The cable that came with the left side cover fits perfectly.







I now have to machine the left side cover from a 5 speed motor to fit this 4 speed engine. Not too much to shave off.



I owe Huzo credit for this Tim drilling idea, I bought another 18” front rim to fit to the double sided a Grimeca front brake hub. I made a 1/8” steel plate, formed to the diameter of the rim. Two steel bungs turned on the lathe with 10mm through hole. A removable sleeve that is 10mm outside diameter and 7.5 mm inside. A second sleeve that is 7.5 mm outside and 3.5mm inside. I used a piece of 3.5mm wire to form a spoke guide tool.











I drill a 7.5 mm through hole for the nipple then remove the guide sleeve and drill the dimple 10mm just enough to seat the spoke. The rim is set into the jug on the plywood sheet and the hub is dropped over a 15mm shaft welded to a steel plate. The curved steel plate with the the two bungs welded in are for the inner and outer spokes, each have a slightly different angle.

[cliffrod]

Thanks, Jim & Huzo.  Great to see that jig in action. 

I had wanted to build something like that over the years.  Some rims like 4402 borranis found on HD Sprints, are similarly drilled just a little different than proper Borranis or Akronts for a Ducati Single.  So the spokes flex just a little, like your earlier pics show.  Never had a failure but such things bug me, too.  I can see one of those jigs happening in my future.

[Canuck750]

Thanks, Jim & Huzo.  Great to see that jig in action. 

I had wanted to build something like that over the years.  Some rims like 4402 borranis found on HD Sprints, are similarly drilled just a little different than proper Borranis or Akronts for a Ducati Single.  So the spokes flex just a little, like your earlier pics show.  Never had a failure but such things bug me, too.  I can see one of those jigs happening in my future.

The jig worked well, somethings I didn’t explain very well.
First I made the steel curved plate, lots of heat and bending it across an old 18” steel rim. I ran a piece of 3.5mm steel rod, 90 degree bend at one end that drops into the holes in the hub. The other end of the 3.5 mm dummy spoke passes through the rim, then I put the curved steel plate against the protruding end of the dummy spoke and marked the contact point, then I drilled a large hole through the plate. Next I placed the first hollow dowel with the 3.5mm ID over the dummy spoke and passed this through the big steel bung with the 10mm hole, from the other (outer side) I inserted the hollow dowel with a 10mm OD through the hollow bung and grabbing the dummy spoke and smaller hollow sleeve. I aligned all of these three pieces and dummy spoke I. The hole through the plate and when the dummy spoke was running entered through the rim I welded the bung to the plate, repeat for spokes running in opposite direction.
Then I once again passed the dummy spoke throttle rim with the small 7.5mm OD sleeve, push the curved plate up against the dummy spoke and from the outside push the hollow pin with the 7.5mm ID through, once the dummy spoke is centered I clamped the curved plate to the rim and a second clamp holding g the curved plate to the plywood base. Then remove the spoke and small sleeve and drill through the rim with a 7.5mm bit. The. Pull out the larger hollow sleeve and with a 10mm bit and just touch the dimple to make a seat for the nipple big end.

[Canuck750]

I got the tachometer sorted, the engine side cover needed the front back section milled down 7mm to fit this 4 speed motor.



The tach drive unit needed a slotted fitting on the end of the flywheel nut, I don’t have all the bits Benelli used so I just milled up a slotted and threaded insert that screwed into the tall flywheel nut.





The cable fits nicely and I am pretty happy with the way the tachometer position and mount turned out.

[SIR REAL ED]

Looks fantastic!!!!

Nice work!!!

[Dave Swanson]

Its getting serious now! 

[Canuck750]

I have made some progress with the Benelli 250, the upholstery shop finished the seat cover, an experienced craftsman with over 40 years experience who is also a motorcyclist and does a lot of work for vintage enthusiasts. The seat pan was powder coated and the foam was saved with just a top layer of new foam, the grab strap is not installed yet, he copied the heat stamped pattern of the original cover and I am quite pleased with the look





I had repaired the stainless steel side bands by knocking flat the dents with a tiny brass punch, sanding the stainless smooth and polishing then fitting new stainless bolts and nuts





The front brake is together, new aluminum rim, Buchanan's stainless spokes, the hub and brake plates took a lot of hours to sand out the pits and scratches and polish them up, the four brake shoes were relined and the shoes arced on the brake plates in my lathe.
As per the original Benelli design for securing the stays to the fork legs, the plates just slip over the cast lugs on the fork lower leg and the fender bracket acts as a stop to keep the stays in position, this is how Benelli designed the dual front brake on the Tornado 650S and the 250C - 2 stroke twin that used the dual sided drum brake.The thinking must have been that the greater mass of the cast lugs were stronger than loading the 6 mm diameter threaded studs that hold the front fender. Every photo I could find on-line where this dual sided front brake is fitted to an egg motor Benelli or Motobi uses this mounting design.

I drew the brake plate stays in AutoCAd and had the pieces water jet cut from 3/16" stainless steel









I need to make up a pair of custom length front brake cables and I am going to machine a front brake lever dual cable perch to match the design used on the V7 Sport. The parts I got from Italy are pretty flimsy in my opinion and do not fit the cable adjuster in the lever perch nor does the cable holder really fit the lever. easy enough to make new pieces out of stainless steel to match the much better Moto Guzzi design.



I am waiting on a machine shop to repair the damage done to the cylinder head by the previous shop I had used. I had provided new custom made valve guides to be installed and the seats cut to the new valves provided. The shop failed to measure the outside diameter of the new guides and just drove them into the head, cracking the aluminum and setting the guides crooked. The shop told me I should have told them the guides may be over sized and either the head needed boring or the guides turned down to suit. I though a machinist should have actually measured the guides before just pressing them in!

After six weeks of trying to get the first shop to repair the head I just gave up and took the head to a new shop that will remove the guides, weld and bore the head and make new guides.

Very disappointing but sometimes I have to just move on and get the job finished.

[Dave Swanson]

The first "machine" shop isn't qualified to work on lawn mower engines. 

Sometimes you just wont be able to get satisfaction.  Good on you for moving on. 

[cliffrod]

The progress looks great, Jim.

[Canuck750]

The progress looks great, Jim.

Thanks Clint!



I finished fabricating the dual brake cable lever parts, copied the Guzzi V7 Sport setup, the parts need zinc plating to finish it off. I used a 2.8 slitting saw blade to cut the cable paths in the dowels, I don't know what the steel composition is of the pieces I turned, but after two cuts with coolant the darn blade is dull.  I just need to cut the cable ends and solder on brass ferrules

[Canuck750]

I made up two cable ferrule ends today, I had a length of scrap 10mm diameter brass, turned down to 6.4mm, drilled a 2.7mm through hole, parted off at 7mm, opened up one end of the ferrule to 4mm.



I am not too comfortable soldering cables, it seem the cable needs a lot of heat while the brass gets hot super quick, lots of flux and then solder



I think its a good solder joint?



The 6.4mm ferrule just slides into the 6.5mm opening in the post



and the two cables are finished



now if I could just get the damn head back from the second machine shop I could finish this bike and get to tuning it and final sorting

[Canuck750]

I needed to zinc plate a couple small parts I made for the dual brake cable pull, I always send parts out to my local zinc plater who does very good work with a very quick turn around but for two parts I really didn't want to bother him. I have a Caswel power source and some plating supplies so I dug out the box and set up a small plating operation.



Plenty of YouTube videos on line showing variations on the process, I used plain white household vinegar and Epsom salt with a few drops of Caswel zinc brighter, warmed the solution in a microwave to about 120F. In the small container I used I put in about a tablespoon of salt.



The videos seem to adhere to between .2 and .4 amps, about 15 minutes. I experimented with higher volatage / amps and found 0.4 amps was working the best.



The results are no where near as shiny as the professional work I get done but it will suffice in a pinch.



at least it won't rust

[cliffrod]

The plating is a nice touch, Jim.  So many original fasteners and pieces on the older Italian bikes were dull vs shiny.  Those look great.

[Canuck750]

Almost ready to start up the Benelli.
Mac D from New York State sent me a NOS head complete with guides! I reamed the guides and lapped in the new valves and it’s perfect. Amazing Mac had this NOS head wrapped in waxed paper from Cosmopolitan after all these years!!









Lots of small jobs completed over the last two days, fitted a throttle cable, it is a Venhill kit that I shortened to suit, replace the tach cable with a NOS item from William Kuhen, stripped and cleaned the petcocks, new fuel lines, I installed a Guzzi fender cable guide for the speedo cable, adjusted the drive chain, set up the carb for what is hopefully a good base point. I installed new points and condenser and set the static timing, new period correct high tension lead and a ‘pink’ Magnetti Marelli spark plug.
I flooded the crank case with 4 litres of oil and kicked the engine over at least 150 times, then drained the oil and refilled the crankcase with 2 litres of Castrol 10-40. I am getting a nice bright spark from the magneto ignition.



Then I hit a snag, no lighting or horn, I had replaced all the wiring but like the 200 Motobi I restored last year I initially kept the stock rectifier and regulator along with the convoluted wiring through the light switch.
After a lot of messing about I again abandoned the old reg / rec and fitted a full bridge rectifier and rewired the guts inside the headlight shell, mostly eliminating the CEV terminal block and wiring all of the lighting and horn circuits off the battery and feeding the new full bridge rectifier direct to the battery for charging from the two wire lighting coil.





I hooked up the 6v gel battery and as I had hoped I have a functional horn, brake light, head light and tail light plus high and low beam. I won’t know if the rectifier is functioning until I start the bike up but it should work. A good friend who was an electronic tech at the local university found me a rectifier to work and it cost less than $18! It takes two wires from the light coil and sends out DC + and - 



The reproduction header and muffler fit much better than expected, just one slight modification to the header Janet mid frame.

I welded on a new tab for the steering damper and steering g lock, I thought I had made the correct shape but when I installed the steering damper I saw I had to redo it, careful MIG welding and touched up with Por 15 black paint.



I am contemplating making up custom rear sets for the bike, not sure wher to begin, perhaps modify a set of Tarrozi pieces?

[cliffrod]

I’ve been studying some of the different Ducati single rear set configurations lately for my simmering projects.  I would think you could weld up very comparable parts that would look more period-correct than Tarozzi pieces. 

Original period-correct Ducati/Italian fixed and folding foot pegs for rear sets aren’t hard to source. Making and fitting folding pedal for the left side so the kick lever will clear is the normal dilemma..

[Canuck750]

I’ve been studying some of the different Ducati single rear set configurations lately for my simmering projects.  I would think you could weld up very comparable parts that would look more period-correct than Tarozzi pieces. 

Original period-correct Ducati/Italian fixed and folding foot pegs for rear sets aren’t hard to source. Making and fitting folding pedal for the left side so the kick lever will clear is the normal dilemma..

Good points Clint, I need to find some pictures of period Italian light weights to come up with some ideas.

[Canuck750]

After sorting out the ignition circuit I got the little single to fire on the second kick, sounds good, engine responds well to throttle. Stock 24mm Dellorto carb and stock energy transfer ignition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKxGGVWXg0A

After starting it and letting it warm up a couple times the kick start made a pop sound and swung with no resistance, something broke in the pawl ratchet, the motor will need to come out and the cases split, luckily I have plenty of spare parts, its a setback but something that just takes some time to resolve

[Canuck750]

I got back to the Benelli yesterday, pulled the motor and split the cases, the slick start shaft has a sprung square plunger that has a ratchet engagement to the starter gear. The back of the shaft has a plug welded in to close the jetway, the very sparse weld had popped free.





A liberal use of the MIg and the case is closed so to speak

[Ratso88]

Been watching your projects. All I can say is I wish that I was as talented!

Great work, keep it up.

[Canuck750]

Been watching your projects. All I can say is I wish that I was as talented!

Great work, keep it up.

Thank you for the kind words, its more perseverance than talent, I break half of what I fix!