This bloody bike. 1976 3CE

It sounds as if Ged has taken a good look at it , and has given you some idea of what remedial action needs to be taken ..........

but ....... ( here we go ) ............ Cam timing wouldn`t be too difficult to sort out yourself surely ......... and is it so unusual for a fifty year old engine to be considered as a bit of a bitsa ? ........ After all that time I wouldn`t be too surprised if some parts had been replaced ......... It`s the suitability and ability of those parts to do whatever they`re supposed to do which is the important thing .......

Although it sounds as though Ged has already started on the £5 grands worth of work ........

BTW ............First thing I would do to make sure it runs properly is to throw away that in - line fuel filter .............. you already have the tap filter , plus the carb banjo filter ...... what more do you need ?
 
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rocketonarail said:
It sounds as if Ged has taken a good look at it , and has given you some idea of what remedial action needs to be taken ..........

but ....... ( here we go ) ............ Cam timing wouldn`t be too difficult to sort out yourself surely ......... and is it so unusual for a fifty year old engine to be considered as a bit of a bitsa ? ........ After all that time I wouldn`t be too surprised if some parts had been replaced ......... It`s the suitability and ability of those parts to do whatever they`re supposed to do which is the important thing .......

Although it sounds as though Ged has already started on the £5 grands worth of work ........

BTW ............First thing I would do to make sure it runs properly is to throw away that in - line fuel filter ..............
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The cam timing would have been easy as I’ve detailed in other posts except the 180 engine has 120 cam wheels in it. I have had it in EVERY possible configuration. I was told it had Jota cams but they are A11’s. God knows what grind they have on them. Got fed up and have asked Ged to look into it. He tells me the head is not early 3C.
 
Robin Webster said:
The cam timing would have been easy as I’ve detailed in other posts except the 180 engine has 120 cam wheels in it. I have had it in EVERY possible configuration. I was told it had Jota cams but they are A11’s. God knows what grind they have on them. Got fed up and have asked Ged to look into it. He tells me the head is not early 3C.
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Well best of luck .... I believe Ged has a good reputation , so hopefully it will be sorted properly this time after all these disappointments and you can draw the line at £15 grand .........

Then you can use and enjoy it ...... and if you paint it red and polish those rims then maybe you will get a fair return if and when you decide to sell it on ........... it`s a nice looking bike .........
 
I dial in the cam timing on every engine I build except for the 750 engines as that is a fair bit more difficult to do
But on the triples it is very rare to find an engine that matches the Factory specifications for the Camshaft in use
Have found triple cams up to 14 degrees out, is not that uncommon at all

Is a straightforward fix, set Cam wheels up on the Milling machine with a Dividing head, drill and tap a series of 7mm holes
Each hole gives you approx 3.25 degrees shift in cam timing, set up Timing disc, Dial gauges to find exact Cam lobe center
Work the timing until within 1 or 2 degrees, machine new Timing marks on the Sprockets, job done

Is not that difficult, on my Race engines I used blank sprockets and vernier drilled them so I could set the Cam timing to my own specifications

Cam Timing 4

Cam Timing engine 2

Cam Timing engine 1
 
Great jig for your DTIs. That would save a lot of faffing about.
I must be missing something. 360 degrees divided by 14 would give 25.7 degrees divided by 2 gives 12.85 degrees per hole adjustment?
 
rocketonarail said:
Well best of luck .... I believe Ged has a good reputation , so hopefully it will be sorted properly this time after all these disappointments and you can draw the line at £15 grand .........

Then you can use and enjoy it ...... and if you paint it red and polish those rims then maybe you will get a fair return if and when you decide to sell it on ........... it`s a nice looking bike .........
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When I got it! Don’t know why I’m double posting the pictures.
1763630926657.jpeg1763630926657.jpeg
 
Alan said:
Yip, followed it from Aberystwyth back to Baskers in 2019 from memory, and it wasn't hanging about i can assure you.
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I think one of the major issues is it was left to sit for years and years after that whilst electrics and engine parts corroded. Must have been somewhere dusty as the carbs really were filled with a thick black grinding paste. Things were bent, the vast majority of nuts and bolts were finger tight at best. The right hand side of the tank was stoved in and full of a tin of body filler. The self tapper screws for the badge went through the filler and into the tank void. When you looked from on top the right badge was further forward over the left one by some way. So many issues without reading the whole thread it is difficult to remember them all. There were live bare wires inside the headlamp shell.
I once upon a time painted racers helmets so making the bike pretty was the easy bit. Knowing the owner, he was respected in the Laverda community, and he assured me in both the advert and vocally that the thing goes as it should, it’s been well maintained, I was looking for a bike to use my skills on. As I said before if I knew it had so many issues I would have walked away but I was given the hard sell. ‘I haven’t got time to mess about, if you are coming down you need to buy it. There is no negotiation on the price’ It was a 600 mile round trip for me so coming home empty handed wasn’t on the cards.
Having been woken from it’s slumbers it reved up ok on his drive, something I've been criticised about before on here, but you don’t red line a bike on someone’s drive when you are looking to buy it!
First ride it stuttered at 70mph and would not go any more. I thought CARBS and I’d sort that.. the more I ran it the more broke down and failed, such as the electrics. When the head came off a year ago there were bent valves that wobbled in their guides. The carbs were broken and their operating mechanism bent.
As Ged looks into it, it appears there are deeper problems in the valve train and timing.
 
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It's a sad, familiar tale. Hope it finally comes good for you. Finding the right expert is a challenge, based on all the reports you have. So many self-taught DPOs who confidently leave land mines and booby traps. I at least know my limitations, but so many just don't. Have shifting spanner, so must be an Engineer.
 
You've done a great job getting the bike back to it's former glory (which should give you some satisfaction) and I'd say you're on the home stretch. Possibly tell us who the "seller" was so others can avoid him. Unfortunately, there are some dirtbags in the bike industry.
 
I went to look at a 750 S in Cambridge . Guy was an importer to the trade- bike was rough but was a real “S”, it ran and wasn’t crazy expensive. Something didn’t feel right so I walked away, 500 mile round trip. Wasn’t a wasted journey for me - the bike was bought by a dealer up north ( Flintshire?) and has never reared its head since..your in so far now you might as well let GED get it going and put it down to experience. My old boss bought a race car with a ton of receipts for all the trick parts in the engine- they were all there, just in the wrong place!
 
My "needs nothing" purchase became a project. Tank so rusty inside, that fuel looked more like very strong tea, (solids included). Don't know how it even ran on two let alone started at all. If you get the A11's dialled in, (along with valve issues), you will have smooth, strong power this model is famous for.
 
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