Making Tools to add to the Laverda tool box

Nick will sell you his for an untidy sum, but think about it, if you are rebuilding an engine and you have to hire the tools ??????????????????
maybe just maybe you should not be doing it at all. Especially bearing in mind that piston ring compressors are not generally one make specific, I also use a home made device, two strips of very thin steel (alloy will not do) and a pair of jubilee clips.
CLEM
 
Er, Clem, I am not actually proposing to flog a couple of 2 a penny jubilee clips...just winding old green fingers up a bit! Apart from the compressors, as you showed me, you really need to get the studs out so there is enough room to manouvre.
 
CLEMTOG said:
maybe just maybe you should not be doing it at all. Especially bearing in mind that piston ring compressors are not generally one make specific, I also use a home made device, two strips of very thin steel (alloy will not do) and a pair of jubilee clips.
CLEM
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So are you saying that if we don't have the tools that we should dump the idea of making the tools again?  :o
 
'71 SF said:
So are you saying that if we don't have the tools that we should dump the idea of making the tools again?  :o
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Definitely. If you flood the market with counterfeit Laverda tools, the value of my genuine ones will crash. :P

                                                                            Dave
 
A propos tools, had to buy a tool to get the spark plug caps off my R1200... First bought the cheaper plastic version which was shite, then the alloy which works well.seems bloody daft to need a tool though. Reminds me of first time changing wheel on Audi ...in airport long stay parking after 14 hour flight! Toolkit wrench seemed not to fit wheel nuts! Read enormous handbook....special tool hidden in kit to remove metal looking but plastic wheel nut covers. Mad.got them off only to find wheel seized on by corrosion, so had to call recovery anyway...
 
He's a lawyer. The only thing he rotates are the zeros on the end of his clients bills...  :-* :D
 
nick7 said:
Reminds me of first time changing wheel on Audi ...in airport long stay parking after 14 hour flight! .....only to find wheel seized on by corrosion, so had to call recovery anyway...
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With wheel raised above the road, loosen the nuts a bit and boot the wheel with something blunt - like your foot (or head) :D, I alternate hitting the tyre with my hands each side (I am a clanky by trade, so I have hammer hands), you might think you are getting nowhere but eventually it will free off!
I too have an Audi!!!!!
 
FFS it was less than 2 years old! Had had tyres changed though..confess was in such a rage that they didn't bother to grease it that I drove straight to the tyre fitter and got them to take the lot of and do it! Simon you are right...but after a 14 hour flight and never having encountered this, booting it on a not massively stable jack was resulting in a wobble or precarious moment...andI knew what could happen next would not improve things! You can get people to do stuff for your bike or car or anything else, but they rarely take as much care as you would if you are able to do it yourself.
 
Re piston ring compressors - I have a set of genuine Laverda ones and to be honest a bit of sewer pipe and a hose clamp works far better and is what I prefer to use even though I have the genuine ones at hand! :)  Ditto most of the other "special" tools, aside from the blind bearing pullers (improvise - rawl bolt) and alternator pullers (improvise - Mk2's front axle) there's precious little required.  When I did my first engine I laboriously replicated the factory gudgeon pin pusher, never use it these days, warm the piston up a little and the pin just pushes out with your thumb.  Stuff like that.

One thing that is actually useful but not necessary is the clutch centering tool, you can certainly do it without but it's quicker and easier with it.  It can be made up out of an old clutch drum if you have one.  Interestingly, it's a different casting to the actual clutch drum itself.  If you're just doing one engine once then work out how to do it without the tool.  That way, when you go on tour, and get really pi$$ed, and decide that teaching your missus how to do top gear burnouts on her RGS is a good idea, and on the 1000k ride home the poor abused clutch plates cry enough, you can stop at a country town and strip the clutch down and put it back together without any drama. #justsayin

Perhaps the best 'special tool' I have that is bought and not improvised is a DID chain breaker / riveter.  Worth the coin, particularly now it's all but impossible to get chain with a clip link.  In terms of engine tools, other than the above, the main thing I use is some brickies string and a couple of old crank bearings with hooks attached to hold camchains open, some adapters to securely hold a degree wheel and dial indicator for setting up cams/ignition, quality torque wrenches (Norbar), a mic and good feeler gauges for doing shims... Struggling to think of much else, other than a comprehensive array of decent quality "normal tools".
 
breganzane said:
Re piston ring compressors - I have a set of genuine Laverda ones and to be honest a bit of sewer pipe and a hose clamp works far better and is what I prefer to use even though I have the genuine ones at hand! :)  Ditto most of the other "special" tools, aside from the blind bearing pullers (improvise - rawl bolt) and alternator pullers (improvise - Mk2's front axle) there's precious little required.  When I did my first engine I laboriously replicated the factory gudgeon pin pusher, never use it these days, warm the piston up a little and the pin just pushes out with your thumb.  Stuff like that.

One thing that is actually useful but not necessary is the clutch centering tool, you can certainly do it without but it's quicker and easier with it.  It can be made up out of an old clutch drum if you have one.  Interestingly, it's a different casting to the actual clutch drum itself.  If you're just doing one engine once then work out how to do it without the tool.  That way, when you go on tour, and get really pi$$ed, and decide that teaching your missus how to do top gear burnouts on her RGS is a good idea, and on the 1000k ride home the poor abused clutch plates cry enough, you can stop at a country town and strip the clutch down and put it back together without any drama. #justsayin

Perhaps the best 'special tool' I have that is bought and not improvised is a DID chain breaker / riveter.  Worth the coin, particularly now it's all but impossible to get chain with a clip link.  In terms of engine tools, other than the above, the main thing I use is some brickies string and a couple of old crank bearings with hooks attached to hold camchains open, some adapters to securely hold a degree wheel and dial indicator for setting up cams/ignition, quality torque wrenches (Norbar), a mic and good feeler gauges for doing shims... Struggling to think of much else, other than a comprehensive array of decent quality "normal tools".
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Now we're talking. When I did my SF engine eons ago (Scott just rebuilt it again after 25 years) I didn't have any special tools other than what was in my regular toolbox. With all the tools that we have to work on aircraft engines I didn't really have any issues through the whole process. That being said I did not disassemble the crankshaft, and the rocket spindle remover I bought from Roger Slater got used once and then broke (not sure what ya'll think of that tool but to me it was under-designed) so I had the head done in Athens GA when Cycle Specialties of Athens still worked on Laverdas and put it all back together.

Piet, Phil, Red, Scott, and  the rest of the big builders know what works best and what doesn't so getting the real tools that are needed is what really needs to be replicated for real use (unless they want to keep it proprietary and to themselves). For historical and collectability then the Laverda Tools are a nice addition to the man cave as long as nobody knows the difference  :o :o :o

Who wants to help  :D

Clay
 
You're a teaser Steve. You only give a tantalising glimpse of your workshop ingenuity but not enough information for anyone wishing to replicte your tools.

Did you wash the chalk dust out of the brickies string? What size and type of crank bearings are required? Are the hooks fish hooks? if so please specify the size#

Can you teach me how to do top gear burnouts?
 
Dellortoman said:
Did you wash the chalk dust out of the brickies string?
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Brickies string (stringline) does not have chalk. You are thinking of chalkline which is not adequate for the task described.

 
Thank you Davo, at least someone here knows their string.
Cam, the crank bearing is obviously the RHS one, since all the others fall apart.  Actually I threw you a curve ball, since in reality I use one crank bearing and Eddie's shagged triplex crank sprocket with no splines for the other.  I use welding wire to fashion the hooks, slightly more work than the commercial options you suggest but easier to get out when you jam them under your fingernails.  Burnout tuition can be sorted at Broadford.

:D
 
Just in case you thought I woz fibbin!

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Ahem...
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:)

That was a wild, wild trip actually. Down the coast, some fun in Melbourne then heading home during the big fires of 03.  Near misses with Brumbies.  Getting lost riding dirt tracks in remote Victorian forests with bushfire smoke and even flames visible. Evacuated out of Thredbo at midnight due to incoming fire and riding home half tanked.  Riding through Canberra the next day and literally watching the fires sweep in which took 500 homes and 4 lives.  Crazy. 
 
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