What did you do to or for or with your Laverda today?

Yesterday, I finally picked up my RGA Sprint's bodywork from the painters (Bernie's custom studios in Sturminster Newton, Dorset). It's only taken 2 years, but there's been health issues on his part, and tank health issues on the Laverda, with plentiful pin holes and two liners to be removed. I wanted to take some photos, but given that I picked them body panels in the first serious storm of the autumn and it was an experience just to move them to the storage unit on the farm next door, I decided against it! He's done a lovely job, and going from gloss black to the original Laverda orange wasn't the wrong choice. The next job is to get the wiring system built and get the engine running.
 
It's the usual have to wait story. A mate recently got some head work done on his SS Bevel by a famous Bevel specialist. 6 months later, he got them back. Great work, but glacially slow. I tried getting a small job done on my Atlas; had similar done before on my 3c, but after another prima donna type speech I decided his attitude sucked, so fuck you too. You ring, be polite and run into my shit; doesn't stink reply. It seems the more famous you get, the bigger a dickhead you become. I have no problem if you're told they are busy, but it wasn't just that; where did begging become the preferred business model
 
It held like stink! Took me an hour of heating and gentle movement with the 3 legged puller to get it off. I would recommend it for worn splines, really needs more heat to break it, but I didn't want to put the gas bottle on it, just the heat gun.
 
Jesus nut undid ok with the rattle, it wasn't loose. This is on the ex Chris P '81 Jota with the stuffed crank. The reason I was pulling it apart was excessive wear in the 3C oil pump. Photo below you can just make out the damage. Test with the drill indicated not enough flow to the top end. The 81 jota pump looks brand new, even with a blown up crank. I reckon the fine mesh filter stopped the chunky bits from getting to the pump and damaging it. So the 3C is running the fine mesh filter from the donor jota, and now the oil pump as well.

Made a new 5mm drive pin for the oil pump gear, from the shaft of a drill. Test with drill shows a healthy amount of oil getting to the head. Happy days.
 

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martymoose said:
Jesus nut undid ok with the rattle, it wasn't loose. This is on the ex Chris P '81 Jota with the stuffed crank. The reason I was pulling it apart was excessive wear in the 3C oil pump. Photo below you can just make out the damage. Test with the drill indicated not enough flow to the top end. The 81 jota pump looks brand new, even with a blown up crank. I reckon the fine mesh filter stopped the chunky bits from getting to the pump and damaging it. So the 3C is running the fine mesh filter from the donor jota, and now the oil pump as well.

Made a new 5mm drive pin for the oil pump gear, from the shaft of a drill. Test with drill shows a healthy amount of oil getting to the head. Happy days.
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Mr Pritt is hard on the gear (pardon pun)
 
Didn't do anything with my bike, but took my degree wheel and adjustable piston stop to a mate's place to check his 3C after a suspected hydraulic lock last time he tried to start it. He said it sounded like it fired on one cylinder and then came to a sudden stop. He pulled the plugs and cranked the engine. A heap of fuel blew out of the middle cylinder. Not a good sign.

We needed to check for any crank or conrod damage. Checked crank phasing and compared piston heights at the top of their stroke for all cylinders. Fortunately everything checked out OK. Phasing was spot on and all pistons were coming up to the same height (no bent rods). So we started the engine and it sounded good. No weird engine noises. You can be lucky sometimes.

I guess any cylinder that has a gutful of fuel will most likely still have a pocket of air in it that will cushion the shock of any hydraulic lock. Maybe that was the case this time.

Incidentally, my Jota has an Ignitech ignition. I have it programmed to crank a full revolution on the starter before it starts firing the plugs. That way it's extremely unlikely to fire one cylinder while another is hydraulically locked. If you wanna be 100% sure, give it 2 revs without ignition. The bike we were working on has a Sachse ignition. As far as I'm aware, they don't have that programmable feature.
 
Luck there Cam. The spin before fire feature is debated a bit. I am sure that is why my race SF was virtually impossible to push start as even with two pushers it wouldn't turn over against the compression despite being drawn back against tdc, same procedure necessary on the roller starter. I got my road SF started on a hill with a flat battery though, far heavier crank and all the rest of it. Kick start bikes would be impossible too.
 
I decided against using that feature on the SFQ after failing to be able to roll start it down a hill - after the starter freewheel decided to partly disown the crank taper. And Hooksey and Walky will attest to how hard it is to push start the bloody thing (after a hefty kickback broke the starter chain!!). Kickback has been cured (overly rich) and it never occurred at cranking speed, but at around 2000rpm.
 
The Jota is difficult to push start, but not impossible in 2nd or 3rd gear. It makes sense that it would be easier than a twin because it has smaller cylinders.
My Ducati MHR Mille is pretty much impossible to push start, unless you can push it at 40kph and start in a high gear. In the first 3 gears it'll just lock the rear wheel on compression. Way back in the early 90's when I used to ride it regularly (it was my only bike then), it had a buggered starter sprag. I ordered a new sprag clutch but it took ages to come from Italy. In the meantime I had to roll start it down a hill. I lived on a hill then, so I could get it started from home, but if I rode it anywhere I'd have to find a hill to park it on to have any hope of starting it again. A bit of planning was required for any ride. If there wasn't a hill near my destination, I'd have to leave the bike at home. I was younger and more athletic then but still had zero chance of push starting it on level ground.
As for kickback. I set the ignition timing at around TDC at cranking revs. Makes it a lot easier on the starter system and pretty much eliminates any chance of kickback. That may not be possible with most aftermarket ignitions with pre-programmed advanced curves, but it's do-able with an Ignitech.
 
I had starter issues once on a trip to Melbourne on mt 3c. It proved easy to push-start, but it's a worry crossing a strange city in traffic. Fixing that was a big priority once I was home. Turned out the original starter relays are easy to pull apart and tidy up with a file, till they are not. I think mine was replaced with a Suzuki one. That was about the time Eades cobbled my Boch stater with parts from an RGS starter and told me I now had a brand new one for a lot of money. The good old days as a new owner, being separated from my cash by the local distributor, bless their heart.
 
Fitted new sticker to my 3CL. This is from I Say Ding Dong! I'll include a link. It is subtly different from the sticker fitted to the bike when I bought it but I don't think that was the original sticker anyway. I bought two incase I made a mistake and although I think I got the first nicely square and central there are two bubbles which I can't remove and I appear to have scratched it already. Might have another go with the second one or just learn to live with my first attempt until I damage it further. Both old and new stickers are surface fragile it seems.

I Say Ding Dong!

I Say Ding Dong!.jpeg
 
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Vince said:
I had starter issues once on a trip to Melbourne on mt 3c. It proved easy to push-start, but it's a worry crossing a strange city in traffic. Fixing that was a big priority once I was home. Turned out the original starter relays are easy to pull apart and tidy up with a file, till they are not. I think mine was replaced with a Suzuki one. That was about the time Eades cobbled my Boch stater with parts from an RGS starter and told me I now had a brand new one for a lot of money. The good old days as a new owner, being separated from my cash by the local distributor, bless their heart.
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Most probable was not Max with the high jinx, Vince, it was Norm whom had no morals at all, legendary the animosity between Norm and some of the true believers of Laverda machinery. Then you would be aware of the situation in those days. Clocked Norm the day at the counter i asked for Dell jets, looked at the used ones he proffered as "stock", obvious some had been drilled out though retained the orifice stamp size. Just looked at him and walked, never again...

Though his handy work reached a pinnacle when he took to an RGS Corsa mint factory headers with oxy torch to "rebend" the lower angle while the headers were still on the motor in the frame, Norm had no bottom in his lack of real engineering skills. j
 
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