Cam Chain Shrunk!

Answering your questions in order. If you have sludge in your bottom crankcase the sideplate will probably be just fine. But it might not. And you could do some very expensive damage, don't take the risk.
Having dropped that bloody sideplate more times than I like to think of I've had some experience retrieving it. Since you already have the bottom chain guide off, position yourself so you can reach up into the bottom case and feel around carefully. Chances are at least fair you'll be able to feel it and extract it. Failing that, I once had some success pouring some flushing oil down into the bottom case and swirling it around, dislodged the little buggar quite nicely (actually fell out when I took the bottom chain guide out again).
If that fails, splitting Laverda crankcases is quite easy compared to a modern Yamazukiwaki ....

And as for the bottom guide, remember "I have a fat middle", the wide portion points towards the middle of the motor. Somebody on this forum told me that years ago, I wonder how many times I'd put mine together wrong in the past?

Ken
 
Ken,

Thanks for that.  It seemed right to have the skinny bit out.  I fingered around inside and didn't find it.  Bought a couple more longish magnets, but they don't fit.  I'd rather not split the cases, but I'd rather not have that fuc%&r go where no side piece has gone before, either.  Ugh! 

Scott


 
Next time you'll remember to stuff rags in the cam chain tunnel when fitting joining links.

Good luck with the magnets. Don't forget that the link plate might not be in the bottom of the engine. It could be sitting on top of the crank sprocket or caught up somewhere else. Flushing the engine out might help.
 
mcnicol said:
I just bought from eBay for about $20 (that's REALLY cheap, if you're wondering) a flexible borescope with a USB interface and software to plug it into a laptop, LED illumination, 10mm diameter, 2m cable, video and image capture. Still on the way from Hong Kong but unless it's total junk (and that never happens with cheap Chinese stuff, right?  ::)), it's the sort of thing that would have been handy here. I actually want it for looking at things under the dash of my cars. I'm getting too old to stand on my head for hours and remove several hectares of plastic just to see what colour wire runs from one place to another.
And it's handy for finding the dropped chain clip in the bottom of the 3c motor. just Zip tie a little magnet on it and it's a retrieval tool too.

Ken
Click to expand...

And you are now able to do your own Colonoscopies  :LOL:
 
Davo said:
And you are now able to do your own Colonoscopies  :LOL:
Click to expand...

Well, trust a radiologist to see through my little subterfuge  :D. Yes, I admit it, that's actually why I bought it. Me, the rest of the family, the cats, we'll all have perfect GI health from now on. Plus I can find all the bits I drop into Laverda motors. Talk about a win-win situation!

Ken
 
G'day Ken

You'll need to zip-tie a pair of side-cutters to the end of your scope so you can snip off intestinal polyps.  :D

Let us know if the cheapo camera is any good. I've been toying with the idea of getting one myself.

Cam
 
My worst version of this is 27hrs (off and on) looking for the other 'broken' half of the circlip, poofta had stuck itself to the web of the crank after finding a rag gap - infuriating experience, but if you don't retrieve it you are potentially shooting your motor - like ken said - not worth the risk.

Good luck

Peter
ps: piece of soft wire with a bit of mirror glued on the end offers some assistance
 
It might be helpful to know what the inside of the sump looks like, so here's a photo. The floor is reasonably flat, so it shouldn't be too hard to drag the link plate out if it's sitting in there. You can also take the strainer plate off the bottom of the case, which gives you another hole to probe through.

Cam
 

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I've got a 'pen' magnet on a long shaft with a swivel, so it can be shaped to any angle; you can add coat hanger wire to make it longer and feed it into the cases, obviously concentrating on places where you think it might be ... sorry to have to say it, but can't believe anyone would miss that simple rag trick to block off the escape route for errant joining links! I reckon it's a mistake that you'll only ever make once. I'm sure you'll find it - persevere!
Quentino
 
Idiot that I am, I managed to drop the half moon doohickie that positions the camshafts down the same dark and horrible tunnel. Fly fished with a magnet for ages but could not find it. Soon as I got the pisons off, I saw it right away. May be easier to get the barrel and pistons off before splitting the crank. Just a thought.
 
I have one of those cameras on a stick (wife's description) Very useful , came with pickup tools. Cheap as chips and has saved hours of unnecessary dismantling of allsorts of things. Don't know that I would stick it up my anus though.
JW
 
I'm thinking of taking the whole lump of a motor to a junkyard where they have those electromagnets that pick up whole cars.  Open the bottom up and turn on the magnet.  Anything loose 'should' come right out......or get stuck somewhere really tight.  I dunno....maybe not such a great idea.

 
The link plate will have fallen straight down the camchain tunnel.
If it has not adhered to any residue on the sides it will likely be directly below where it fell.
You have 3 options to fish it out through a hole.
Camchain pedestal opening.
Oil strainer opening
Sprocket cover opening (once you remove the gearbox drum after removing triangular plate)
If you can't see it through any of these openings then buy a magnet on a telescopic aerial type thing from a pound shop and fish it out that way.
These links and joining clips have fallen down there many times, by many people, and the items have been removed, usually without full stripdown of the motor.
 
I've got the usual selection of magnets on sticks - but find my Boyer ignition magnet on a bit of wire  the best for getting into parts others cannot reach - regards - phil
 

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Years ago, when I first cleaned the oil strainer on my SFC1000 I found two cam chain plates(!) Both were ungraunched, indicating that they'd just sat on the bottom of the cases.

But if I'd known they were there I'd have done my best to get 'em out.

Dealer "serviced" bike before I got it. Ahem!

Good luck.
 
phil37 said:
I've got the usual selection of magnets on sticks - but find my Boyer ignition magnet on a bit of wire  the best for getting into parts others cannot reach - regards - phil
Click to expand...

I bought a borescope.  Handy doo-dad.  A bit larg-ish for this job, but it will come in handy for other things, I'm sure.  Haven't found the chain plate, yet.  But I did find a 'shelf' below the chain tunnel where the little bastard may have landed.  None of my magnets on sticks are long enough to reach, so I may try your magnet on a string idea Phil.  Thanks for the idea.  Took out the filter, but not there.  I had to tip the motor over to get to the inspection hole and filter on the bottom, so I hope it didn't slide out of view/reach of magnetism.  I guess I could take the head and barrels back off, but I'm not sure that would give me any more room to see where it might be.  Ugh!  Good thing I just finished reading 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' again.  I am very relaxed....
 
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