Breva 750 clutch job

[Arizona Wayne]

What's the easiest/best way to get to the clutch to replace the clutch plate?

[rodekyll]

Pay a mechanic to do it. 

[Chuck in Indiana]

Sit the engine on a box. Pull the rear brake caliper and tie it up, unhook rear shocks, fuel, electric, etc. Have a couple of saw horses ready. Pick up everything that isn't the engine, transmission, rear drive, and rear wheel, and roll it away on the front wheel. Sit it on the saw horses. Unhook the bell housing and roll the transmission assembly back. You are now looking at the clutch. No special tools needed to change out the clutch, unlike big blocks.
Small blocks are easy.

[Arizona Wayne]

Thanks Chuck.  You make it sound easy.  Where are those pics of you seperating your small block here, please?

[Tom]

Sounds like "crabbing" the frame on a big Tonti. 

[Chuck in Indiana]

Thanks Chuck.  You make it sound easy.  Where are those pics of you seperating your small block here, please?

It *is* easy.
The pix are in the Lario Rehab and the Aero engine thread in the bike builds and rebuilds section at the bottom of the first page. Unfortunately, they are hosted by Photoblockit.. so unless you have the fix on your browser, you won't be able to see them.
I will post some pix here, but don't have time tonight. Maybe tomorrow evening.

[malik]

There's a blow by blow description starring Muzz on the MG750 yahoo site (gearbox repair Breva 750 Nick Webb) that I found exceedingly helpful. The 'screw of doom" of the 2TB bikes makes it mandatory to remove the throttle bodies, thus it's easier to have the motor separate for working on. Be warned - I found the removal of the throttle bodies & their replacement to be the most frustrating part of the exercise.

Have fun,
Mal

[malik]

Oh, and check out the parts prices from AF1 - some of the parts there were considerably cheaper than elsewhere.

[sign216]

There's a blow by blow description starring Muzz on the MG750 yahoo site (gearbox repair Breva 750 Nick Webb) that I found exceedingly helpful. The 'screw of doom" of the 2TB bikes makes it mandatory to remove the throttle bodies, thus it's easier to have the motor separate for working on. Be warned - I found the removal of the throttle bodies & their replacement to be the most frustrating part of the exercise.

Have fun,
Mal

Look in the Files page, as Mal said, for "Guzzi Breva 750 Gearbox Repair."   https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/MG_750/info

[Arizona Wayne]

Mal, after perusing your descriptive pics to repair your 750 Breva tranny, I now understand why you used phrases like 'blow by blow' and 'have fun'.    I'm going to try to apply your approach to Chucks approach and see if I can get something in the middle of your techniques to fix my clutch.  Wish me luck.    I appreciate your help a WHOLE lot.  Your pics will assist my bad memory when it comes time to reassemble the Breva to once again be rideable. 

[Chuck in Indiana]

Here's what you basically need to do.. no matter how you do it, you need to end up here.
1-013 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr
1-012 by Charles Stottlemyer, on Flickr

[malik]

Not my work, Wayne, I merely stand on the shoulders of giants -Nick Webb, Muzz & NOLAGuzzi. Thanks once more guys.

I had a slipping clutch (turned out to be oil) and a broken gearshift return spring. The Guzzi mechanic had quoted a minimum of 6 hours labour. But one of my mates said "what's the problem, you're retired, aren't you?". So armed with this (52 page) article & a few others, and the spare parts manual, a couple of mates and I set to.

From memory, (as the logbook kept with all the details was lost), it took us a couple of days to pull down the first time, the second time (the gearbox not reassembled properly) the best part of a day. After that, stripping the Nevada to get to the gearbox didn't take long, and stripping the Breva to get it's gearbox took only a couple of hours. All up, it took the three iof us the best part of 5 weeks to get the bike back on the road. You can do better.

All in all, it was a great learning experience, and I'm glad I did it. And I'd do it again. Though now that I've done it, it wouldn't take nearly so long. Best of luck.

[Chuck in Indiana]

^^^^ Uh, yeah. The first time I did it.. V50 MK 3.. it took 2 hours to get to the to the clutch. Well, I had to build the box.    I realize it will take longer on  fuelie bikes.. but not much.

[Arizona Wayne]

Thanks for your pics, Chuck.  I figure my attempt is going to be more involved with all the EFI stuff to deal with you didn't have to + my extra body work.   Onward & upward.   

[bmc5733946]

My personal experience with two Breva clutch jobs under my belt. Do not under any circumstance remove the injectors from the engine, it is nearly impossible to get them back on. Better to remove the airbox tubes, injector hoses, throttle cables (2), injector electrical cables, etc. The things I have mentioned are all simple jobs, the injector to head rubber fittings are nearly impossible to work with since they sit at complementary angles and are very stiff. Sometimes experience is a dear school, I am not a fool, I always learn from my experiences. I have done early smallblock clutches, the injected bikes have somewhat more complicated external arrangements and take more time, internally the are the same.

Brian

[malik]

Throttle body removal? Yes, very difficult, but not impossible. Couldn't see how to to get at the screw of doom (the top bolt to the gearbox behind the throttle body bracket) without doing so. It's worse getting the throttle bodies back on. The first time, we struggled with it for a couple of days, then gave up & went for a ride (5 or 6 days). After several hundred kilometers of "mental modelling", if was back on within an hour of getting back. I told myself that the factory gets it on as a matter of course, so there has to be a technique, in spite of the lack of room in there. There is - but it took a lot of wiggling and a lot more strength than we were initially prepared to exert.

A benefit of having the throttle body off, was being able to clean them. Mine were filthy black inside. Can't have been good for running. Next time, it will likely still be a struggle, but now I know it can be done, I can learn the tricks again.

[sign216]

The rubber throttle body manifolds were a huge pain for me too.  I found that if you abuse them, force them on violently, not caring if they rip or tear, they go on and nothing gets damaged.   Until then I made no headway.

I'd like to think that's a metaphor for some social situations, but...maybe not.

[Arizona Wayne]

My personal experience with two Breva clutch jobs under my belt. Do not under any circumstance remove the injectors from the engine, it is nearly impossible to get them back on. Better to remove the airbox tubes, injector hoses, throttle cables (2), injector electrical cables, etc. The things I have mentioned are all simple jobs, the injector to head rubber fittings are nearly impossible to work with since they sit at complementary angles and are very stiff. Sometimes experience is a dear school, I am not a fool, I always learn from my experiences. I have done early smallblock clutches, the injected bikes have somewhat more complicated external arrangements and take more time, internally the are the same.

Brian

10/4, Brian.  Really appreciate your input.    If possible I may replace the 'airbox tubes housing' with Uni foam filters after I see the setup.