750 S3 - the recommisioning

[canuck750]

I decided upon powder coat for the frame, could not find a shop willing to spray the frame with an epoxy satin black for a decent price, quick turn around, got the frame back from the professionals today.

The fork lowers were done in the garage with my Eastwood Automotive powder coat kit and used Eastwood Rally Wheel Silver





I set the steering head races before I hang the frame up from the ceiling of the garage



Then drilled out the old steering lock and installed a new steering lock





New steering bearings and misc. steering stem parts





Hand packed greased into the bearings, used this drift to set the bearing onto the stem



Sanded the triple clamps for accepting the fork tubes







Little parts and pieces go on while I am at the front end and while I am waiting for the engine parts to come back

[mantaray]

Your building faster then the factory in the seventies did lol.

[smdl]

Your building faster then the factory in the seventies did lol.

... And with more grease!

S

[Chuck in Indiana]

Stunning.  ;-T

[canuck750]

... And with more grease!

S

Dang

there goes the accurate restoration! :D

[smdl]

Dang

there goes the accurate restoration! :D

I think the quality of your work already took care of that!

Shaun

[ritratto]

It's all just so much fun to watch! Now where do I get me one them S3s?  ;D

[canuck750]

The old tubes were pitted and rusted, the stock dampers about as strong as a screen door damper and the springs a good match to the rest of the old parts.

New fork tubes, progressive springs, FAC dampers and new fork wipes and seals.



Only reused parts are the fork lowers and the damper rods, spring end bushings, snap rings, and spring end covers

Attaching the damper rods to the FAC dampers



Drive the fork tube seals into the fork lowers



Home made spring compressor to pull the end of the damper od through the spring bushing and spring end covers then the snap ring can be fitted and the spring compressor removed



The spring, damper and tube are joined together



New aluminum crush washer and thread sealant on the bottom retaining bolt



Bead blasting the fork tubes caused the inside of the tube to become rough and the fork tube binds so I made up a long extension to a sanding wheel and then ran the wheel in a drill to polish the inside of the fork lower



This is what I came up with to get 50cc of fork oil into the sealed fork assembly, by slowly pumping the fork the fluid is sucked in through the drain hole, the fancy little funnel is from a medical IV tube, my wife is a nurse and years ago she brought me a big bag of out of date supplies form the hospital, finally came in handy.



Fitted the forks into the triple clamps, waiting for the headlight ears and clip on handle bars to come back from the platting shop, so the tubes will come out once more.

I stopped into a bolt supply shop to find new dome rivets, they are '#4 X 3/8" self seating fasteners', fit the S3 frame tags perfectly, much larger than the rivets on the V7 Sport and Eldorado and Guzzi used only 2 instead of 6 on the S3, DeTomaso cost savings??

The FAC dampers have air fittings, I need to replace these with 8mm threaded special bolts to accept the instrument cluster.

[canuck750]

Pulled the shocks out of the bin, they look pretty decent

a little rust on the shock body



These are Paoli shocks, they come apart from the bottom, the cast aluminum adjustment ring turns and lifts off the shock body when the spring is compressed.





Removed the paint and rust and dipped them in metal etch solution



One of them is leaking, the seal is done and these are not rebuildable, the shaft is welded to the top of the shock and the body is sealed.

So I will need to find something modern to use for riding and keep these for show.

They painted up good and the chrome polished up fine.



I forgot to send the signal light parts to the chrome platter so another box will be mailed to the shop in Calgary



These Aprilia signal lights are so well made. cast bodies, steel chrome stems with locking buts and lucking plugs to secure the body to the threaded stem in the correct position, but the best part is the lamp holder is mounted on springs to isolate it from the cast body, very cool



The cast and steel parts ready to be plated

[injundave]

I am an avid follower of this thread and get a kick out of seeing your progress. I sent my threaded shafts that the turn signals mount on away for plating when I did my T3. When they came back the threads had been eroded by some part of the plating process to such a degree that they were ruined. They were made from some sort of muck-metal. I got around it by using threaded rod with stainless tube, thus being able to shorten the front ones. Check yours carefully before you send them away.

[canuck750]

Thank you for the heads up on the plating!

I will check wit the platting shop about what they can and can not protect.

Cheers

Jim

[canuck750]

The forks have to come apart, the tops of the FAC dampers need to be modified to accept the instrument cluster special bolt, I modified a set of FAC dampers to fit my disc brake Eldo so I know there is a lot of aluminum in the top of the FAC damper.

On the left is the FAC, on the right is the stock fork cap for the S3 (same as the V7 Sport)



My small lathe comes in very handy for small projects like this, first the hex head of the FAC is too thick, machine it down to match the stock plug





Then drill and ream out the center of the plug



And thread the centre for the 8mm special bolt



and now the new matches the look of the old



A little thread sealer



And they are done



Back together, much better, it would be very hard to tell that the forks are modified to FAC dampers



Stripped the rear end, gears and bearings are very nice





The case just needs on helicoil for the lower drain plug, the case alloy is very soft, no wonder the plugs strip so easy



A little permanent locktite on the coil



trim the tang and its done



the paper gaskets were brittle, new ones with a tiny bead of silicone



And torque it all back together and fit a new seal



Refit the shock stud



another part ready to go back on

[balvenie]

These pics are Great ;-T

[canuck750]

Finished the swing arm, new U joint bearing, U joint, circlips, and seals, zinc plated the pivot pins and fitted a new rubber boot







Fitted a new O ring



I reused the original pivot bearings and races, I figure that as long as they are decent a good cleaning and re-packing them with grease will serve for another 40 years





Ready to drop in when the frame is ready for it

[earemike]

Thanks for the awesome step by step pictures, they're a great guide for when mine comes together  :bow

[balvenie]

Lovely ;D

[Brightblade]

The time it takes to build, plus pics and comments.  Just awesome.

[canuck750]

Thanks guys for the encouragement, the beauty of a Guzzi big twin is they are very simple to work on, if an untrained guy like me can put one together I think anyone with some time, patience and asking timely advice on this forum can rebuild one. The 4 stroke Honda motor on my old gas mower was more complex.

A big box arrived today from Fast Industries in Manitoba, (Millennium branch office in Canada),turn around was about three weeks door to door, just like Christmas in May ;D

Cost on the cylinders was about $300 CDN each, factor in new pistons (Harpers has lots of new pistons and rings for the 750 Sport, 750S and 750 S3) and new rings, gudgeon pin and circlips and it's the same price as Giladorni kits but I have retained the original cylinders for this bike.



I had sent the original 750 S3 cylinders and heads off to be rebuilt, the cylinders were plated and matched to new pistons I sent along. The shop marked the pistons and cylinders as LH and RH sets



Heads were sent with new guides, valves and springs, they replaced the guides, ground the valve seats and shimmed the springs for each valve and fitted some Helicoils. Price per head was a little over $100 CDN + parts cost for valves, springs and guides.



Now to assemble a motor, MG Cycle provided a new B10 cam on exchange for the stock cam and supplied a new timing chain and tensioner along with a bunch of small items like rod bolts, cam retainer etc...

[canuck750]

In advance of assembling the engine there are a couple of housekeeping items that I learned from Gregory Bender and his excellent 'This Old Tractor' web site. Greg has amassed an amazing body of knowledge on all things Guzzi and anyone working on an old Guzzi really should take a read through the site. Loop frames are his specialty but the early Tonti models are well represented.

First to flatten the base of the engine block, I don't have a real surface plate but I have a nice piece of granite tile that I checked with a straight edge and a feeler gauge, pretty darn flat as is.

I use 200 grit dry sandpaper and spray glue to mount the sand paper to the granite tile.



Then I brush on some machinist blue dye to mark the base of the engine block



Then place the block onto the sand paper / granite and pressing down on the cylinder studs I rotate the block and slide it side to side and back and forth, in a couple minutes all the blue dye is gone and the surface of the block is true



Last thing to do on the block is to mix up some JB weld and seal the cam plug, the JB weld is self leveling, I use just enough to fill the recess in the block around the plug



Ready to start assembling the motor.

[canuck750]

1st off let me be clear I am no mechanic, these pictures are just a record of how I go about assembling a motor, hopefully I am doing this right.

Fitting the crank shaft and flanges, oil feed tube still intact



Heat the case with a heat gun for a couple minutes and the flange will drop in to place without binding



Pre bend the new lock tabs  before setting the 8mm bolts securing the flange



These four are secured and the remaining two will come out once I fit the cam chain tensioner and then be brushed with Loctite and torqued to spec



Brush the mating surfaces with Assembly Lube



And the bearing surfaces of the crank shaft



The I fit two studs to hold the rear flange gasket and again heat the case



And check the rear oil feed tube is in place



Rear flange drops into place



Bottom two bolts need tread sealant or oil will leak out of the back of the motor



Locktite on everything that can rattle loose



Press the rear main seal into place using this home made aluminum and long bolt kit



Aluminum crush washers on each side of the lower breather tube bolt



New con rod big end shells, and new con rod bolts and nuts



Torqued into place



B10 cam from MG Cycle



A new cam bearing flange



And then an hour later I finally got the continues new cam chain and three sprockets to drop over the three shafts at once, 1st time I installed a cam chain, the gear sets on the Eldo and V7 Sport is far superior in my humble opinion.

[canuck750]

Got in an hour in the shop yesterday, unpacked the replated cylinders and rebuilt heads.

reusing the lifters, they are in nice shape, only one has some minor wear but I am not opting to get them ground



The new rings I got from Harpers (along with the pistons) come marked with 'TOP' on the ring surface, no confusion about getting them right

Millennium measured each piston and matched the plating / cylinder sizing to each piston individually, there was a few thou difference between the two



And these gaskets from MG Cycle align nicely with the push rod tubes, some others I got out of 'kits' don't line up very well



New O rings



And I replaced the wave washers



Torqued all six head nuts to 31 ft.lbs.



I polished the original rocker pins and rocker wear surfaces, used a white polish and the small imperfections cleaned right up



Nice and snug rockers



New oil feed line



Powder coated the breather box, new hoses and clamps



New rocker cover breather hoses

[canuck750]

I got started on the 5 speed, new bearings for the case and cover, I get to try out the bearing drifts I bought off a chap in Germany and I made up three other ones for different bearings



I heat up the cover and case to about 250 F,



then a smear of retainer on the bearing surface



Cold bearings drop right into a heated case and cover, a final tap on the drift to make sure the bearings are seated



Getting the races off the ends of the shafts was a real bugger! Tried the butane torch, didn't budge at all



It took the oxy acetylene torch to get the race red hot and the bearing puller to remove them



at least the new races went back on without too much drama, just warmed the races up wit a heat gun to 160F, a smear of locktite retainer  and the special Guzzi tool to drive them home



And the bearings are replaced



short of the one big end bearing on the main shaft, that is for another day



Now to shim the selector drum and reassemble the gear set

[canuck750]

Replaced the transmission shaft bearing, the special nut on the end of the shaft is reverse thread and it is 'punched' into a recess in the shaft, straighten the nut and it spins off with little effort



From MG Cycle I bought a deep sump with a recessed external oil filter, nice kit, comes with everything needed to make the swap



No instructions but the relief valve and the plastic / mesh screen needs to be swapped from the stock pan

The relief valve will not fit if the shroud is left on



So I removed the shroud and added a shim equal in thickness to the shroud



I like it, the oil filter is fully recessed below the deep cooling fins



The yellow tape reminds me I need to torque the timing gear nuts once I get the flywheel, clutch and ring gear on and I can lock up the motor.

[Warwick in NZ]

Then drilled out the old steering lock and installed a new steering lock

Hi there, love what you are doing here.

Question, if i may,

1: After drilling the lock out, how is it retained in there...?
2: Where do you get the locks from...?

I would like to do this for the Monza i have....

Thanks Warwick :)

[canuck750]

Hi there, love what you are doing here.

Question, if i may,

1: After drilling the lock out, how is it retained in there...?
2: Where do you get the locks from...?

I would like to do this for the Monza i have....

Thanks Warwick :)

Once you drill out the soft brass lock cylinder any remnants of the lock will pull out with not too much effort. The new lock is retained by a spring loaded tab, you insert the key, turn the key hard to one side (can't remember if you turn R or L) push the whole assembly all the way, release the pressure on the key and centre the key in the position that will release it, remove the key and cylinder will remain locked into position. To remove the cylinder re-insert the key again turn hard to the R (or L??) and pull the whole assembly out with the key in the cylinder.

MG Cycle has the steering lock for the Monza in stock

http://www.mgcycle.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=49&products_id=3152

Cheers

Jim

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Once you drill out the soft brass lock cylinder any remnants of the lock will pull out with not too much effort. The new lock is retained by a spring loaded tab, you insert the key, turn the key hard to one side (can't remember if you turn R or L) push the whole assembly all the way, release the pressure on the key and centre the key in the position that will release it, remove the key and cylinder will remain locked into position. To remove the cylinder re-insert the key again turn hard to the R (or L??) and pull the whole assembly out with the key in the cylinder.

MG Cycle has the steering lock for the Monza in stock

http://www.mgcycle.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=49&products_id=3152

Cheers

Jim

It should be noted that the fork lock cover needs to be removed as the first step. A thin, flat-bladed screwdriver or knife is used to lever the rivet out and then the cover removed.

In the past I drilled out fork locks I didn't have a key for, but now I just hit them with a punch and large hammer. That breaks off the "tab" that retains it and the whole lock then pulls right out.

[Warwick in NZ]

Thanks Jim and Charlie, I'll see how i get on, Warwick :)

[canuck750]

The project stalled for a while, the original flywheel and ring gear were mailed off to be lightened, unfortunately some 5 weeks later and the parts have failed to show up at the shop I mailed them to, have to assume the original flywheel and ring gear are lost in some postal depot, frustrating

So I decided to go with a RAM clutch, I have one in my V7 Sport and it shifts very easily and clutch pull is a lot easier than on my Eldorado. I put on a couple hundred miles on the V7 Sport today mixed highway and in town and have no qualms using the RAM again.

MG Cycle rushed me a new RAM setup, comes complete with six new high strength bolts and some amusing instructions.

The RAM installation instructions in Italian and English (a poor translation from Italian) say to align the red marks to the white paint marks on the end of the crank.

Glad I didn't remove the paint mark!



The crank has been set to left hand cylinder at TDC compression using a degree wheel and a piston stop

And remarkably the red mark aligns perfectly with the notch in the top left hand of the engine block



There is another small mark on the RAM body that indicates Left Cylinder TDC in the Transmission inspection hole. I decided to stamp this mark 'L' and 'TDC' and paint a yellow line with a steel engineers square



Then locked the ring gear with the special tool and torqued the cam sprocket nut, the crank and oil pump and folded the lock tab over on the crank nut.



Installed a new seal on the timing chest cover



And a new timing cover gasket, 3 bond on the bottom third of the cover



And fitted the tach drive



Next to join the transmission and install it in the frame

[canuck750]

I read a while back a post where a fellow was asking how to move the engine to the bike, I improvise, creeper upside down on a pile of plastic bins on a wheel cart



Wheel the engine over to the bike lift, set the engine stand on the lift and raise the hoist up to match the cart, I have a bad back and I finally try to look after it as I get older



strap  it down so I don't tip the whole package over



Then join the transmission to the block



Fit the centre stand and lower frame rails, cad plated bits and pieces



It all goes back together fairly straightforward





Then drop the frame a bit and raise the hoist up and after a lot of jiggling and wiggling A meets B

Fitted the swing arm, set the pivot pins and attached the replated foot rests and the new IKON shocks









This should be a nice handling bike with the Ikons on the back and the FAC dampers and Progressive springs up front.

[balvenie]

Looks Great