I love avoiding stuff ups with info like this, the filter I used to run took days to position. I am hoping this one fits better and is easy to swap when needed. Good points regarding oil use. The Penrite oil I use has 3 levels available mineral that I have used since the full engine rebuild 3 or 4 years ago, semi and full synthetic. I will slowly move up its spec. I have used synthetic in this bike years ago so know what to expect.
External Oil Filter/Magnefine Setups
- Thread starter ksoholm
- Start date
More worm cans. These mounts are made by Earls out of the USA and come with a 3/4 inch UNF thread that apparently fits Harley spin on Fuilters. Harley filters from what I have found are the right width 76mm and 102mm long. That's longer than I would like, Everybody else uses filters in the 75mm range including Ducati but Ducati ones don't fit as their thread mount is slightly smaller. BMW ones would be perfect but nobody listed what thread they use, so what filters have been fitted, by others out there? And maybe a length measurement and what bike they fit.
They do but I want to use these specific ones and they are a bit different. I am hoping to find a cross reference that uses a 3/4 UNF thread with a 76mm width and 75mm length. Maybe Metric Bikes won't have that thread connection but who knows? The filters below are of a higher spec, including backflow and over-pressure blockage bypass valve. Seen a few internal filter strips and they're pretty impressive. I think the latter should still work spring-wise with my 9mm oil pump. The Ducati one definitely won't fit but maybe others might. They just don't specify what thread they come with.
www.hiflofiltro.com
Hiflofiltro: RC Racing Oil Filters
Andy
Hero member
- Location
- Auckland, roughly
Watch the sealing surfaces. I’ve found subtle differences in the past, which caused leaks under pressure.
Mind you, this was a hydraulic pump from the peoples republic, so who knows, but something to be aware of.
Laverdalothar
Hero member
- Location
- Germany
Nick, please re-read Piet's comments. He has worked on Laverdas for about 40 years or so and has first hand information as a professional on this as he rebuilds cranks, engines etc. etc.. He has seen the difference as he said on how the mud in the oil-slingers of the crank looks like, how much there builds up etc. on engines with similar millage, one with and one without filter.
What I can tell is that the oil stays clear for much, much longer and never gets really black if you change it every 4.000 - 5.000km (without a filter, the oil turns black within the first 1.000km and should be replaced every 3.000km...).
I think the reason why non of the dealers offered a "plug- and-play"-kit was simply that there wasn't much demand for it. Those that wanted one made their own solution and looking at how different they are, I think not every potential customer would have been happy with any of these solutions... anyway: who whants one can make a solution for relatively low money with a minim of technical skills. No need really to develope a kit...
Oil was cheap, nobody gave a fuck... maintenance wasn't high on the priority lists, still isn't, for many. The bikes were simply thrashed to death and replaced with the next motorised toy. Nobody expected these bikes to get as old they eventually did and especially not that they're still getting their wheels ridden off. Reckon liability would be a major reason filter kits were never offered, there's a lot that can be done wrong. No dealer wants to be held responsible because some dumb-arsed customer can't distinguish between "in" and "out" or fits a wrong type of filter cartridge and scraps his engine.
I see nothing wrong in protecting an engine, the overhaul/repair of which has cost an arm and a leg, by adding an oil filter. Oil ain't cheap no more either, so what's to lose? I see a win, from whatever angle you look at it. While I quite enjoy building engines, I enjoy riding more. When rebuilding, I do it so I'll have a couple of decades' worth out of it, not just a couple of months or years. A decent oil filter can be a good investment in this regard.
OTOH, filter kits for brit bikes have been on the market for donkeys years. These generally have dry sump engines and external oil tanks, plumbing in a filter is quite straightforward. These engines benefit even more from proper oil filtration than roller bearing types due to their usually plain bearing cranks.
piet
I see nothing wrong in protecting an engine, the overhaul/repair of which has cost an arm and a leg, by adding an oil filter. Oil ain't cheap no more either, so what's to lose? I see a win, from whatever angle you look at it. While I quite enjoy building engines, I enjoy riding more. When rebuilding, I do it so I'll have a couple of decades' worth out of it, not just a couple of months or years. A decent oil filter can be a good investment in this regard.
OTOH, filter kits for brit bikes have been on the market for donkeys years. These generally have dry sump engines and external oil tanks, plumbing in a filter is quite straightforward. These engines benefit even more from proper oil filtration than roller bearing types due to their usually plain bearing cranks.
piet
RGS1000RGS
Full member
- Location
- Dorset, GB
I've bought one, an EMGO mounting and cartridge filter : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363836782474
Laverdalothar
Hero member
- Location
- Germany
What exactly is your point then, please?
The point is, with such an apparently obvious benefit, and the solution to lack of filtration being known, it is very odd that no dealers or Laverda specialists stepped in to the void and offered the simple solution which I think many people would have gone for. Even now, nobody offers it, unless others know different. I don't agree that it is a simple diy fix...I certainly wouldn't attempt it.I like the idea..And I suspect that there are engines that have reached high mileages, with mineral oil changed regularly and normal tlc without the need for such filtration. Anyway, nobody offered it, are now unlikely to, so that's that!
Tippie
Hero member
- Location
- Dr?bak, Norway
Way too low volume bike for any of the accessory mobs be bothered making and marketing stuff for. How many dealers would have been bothered? The distributors I worked for in Australia had Laverda as a side brand, and living off sales of their big sellers, were not motivated to manufacture accessories for them, and the accessory houses made things for big selling bikes. Did Givi or others make Laverda specific systems? How long did it take before even an extended clutch arm came around, after many years of do it yourselfing. As need arises solutions came up from niche operators with ignitions etc. and now fabricating things like fuel taps in low volume. There is no compulsion on anyone to fit a filter, or feel like they are neglecting their bike if they don't.
This is my second attempt at a better oil filter, the first took heaps of work moving my oil cooler just enough to make it fit and even then it was painful to remove to clean it. That was one of those squares, 100 x 100 x30 mm sandwich-type ones with a very fine stainless mesh, even a small light that mounted on the dash when it was blocked and the bypass switched on. I have seen quite a few examples of canister-type ones on triples in pictures and they mostly look like a pimple on your beautifully sculpted nose. Finding a space that hides them isn't easy or it's so tight doing maintenance becomes hard. That is why I am looking at as small a canister as I can fit. BTW I already have an RGS 9mm oil pump, lots don't. This isn't mandatory and maybe not even a good idea for plenty of owners. It's a bit time-consuming but relatively cheap to do. I am hoping this one fits easily and is hidden.
Laverdalothar
Hero member
- Location
- Germany
Well - I think I answered that in the last part of my comment above (and some others commented the same way): demand to low, cost to high, different solution paths :some above the engine, some in the fairing, some behind the engine, some even somewhere close to the battery tray, one at least routed it back to the Y of the collector (exhaust; where the collector splits into the two pipes to the mufflers), one has it at the side of the downtube of the frame (me). So - which solution should be chosen?!? All of them are compromises (heat, length of oil-lines) and prone to people disliking or criticising them. And then there are potentially different options for the 120° engines and for the 180° ones...
I have done the conversion on my bike with my brothers help and it was fairly easy to do (he sold it btw. to customers in the 90's, but also just maybe a handful of them). We just had to buy a filter plate, an according filter and get two lines made that go from the left oil-line connector of the engine to the filter plate and one from the filter plate up to the oil-cooler.
Mounted everything during an oil-exchange and mounted the filter plate to the triangle that connects the engine to the left down tube of the frame (slightly longer screw and a distance piece made of an alloy tube). Job done. Costs were (at that time) somewhere around 200 DM (maybe 200€ today). If done by a dealer that needs to make profit out of it, it would have cost at least 3 times that much, considering he needs to consider a solution, get the parts made, test it over several thousand KM, proof it's working, get maybe 30 kits made and market them, which might take him 5 years to convince the Laverda owners and sell the last one. Not really a big business, right?
If there is interest for my solution, I could consider to make some more hoses so you only need to install the filter (will replace the oil-lines this season after 25 years, just to be sure they are not leaking due to ageing rubber...). The plus of my solution is, that it is maybe one of the easiest to install and maintain (super easy cleaning, no oil messing on the engine or somewhere else) and is also exposed to wind, which gives potentially even a bit extra cooling. The downsides are that it is exposed and might not satisfy your eyes. People said it might get off the bike if you drop it onto the left side, but I think that a) this is your least problem then and b) I dropped the bike twice on the left side, the filter stood in place. So...
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