Back Together Again

The heart of the beast is back together again! Need some loctite and those seals I mentioned in the previous post before it's completely assembled. Sould be able to get everything buttoned up this weekend!

Heart of the Beast

Managed to get the main bearings with seals installed and the crank installed into the left case to prep for assembly soon.

First I had to get the old seals out which was made so much easier with the right tool, the $10 Lisle seal puller. This thing pops them right out with very little effort. Although it is available on Amazon I went to a local tool spot appropriately called Tool Mart which is family owned and gave it to me for a nice crispy $10 bill.

I will have to take a quick trip to another local spot, Bearing Agency, to pick up these other seals for the motor before putting everything together.

I have a brand new set of factory seals for the bike which can be seen here, however I will be using the sweet blue seals that came with the Polini Bearings. I will use that new O-Ring from the factory set.

Here is the case sans bearing and seal, ready for the new bits.

Here is the magic weapon I use to coax the bearings out and make way for the new ice cold ones....It's the Storm!

Here is the new bearing in place. Sign of the times, old bearings were made in France and these new ones Taiwan.

Before installing the new crank I was planning to match the cases, but The rose top end lines up so darn well I really think it would be a waste of time. See for yourself.a

Installing the crank into the left side case is made easier with this Aprilia factory tool. There was a steel washer with this at some point over the years, but as since run away and was substituted with some scrap aluminum I had laying around.

The City

Beautiful day for a ride through the city today!

Marcos cases split

I got bored with the chassis stuff so splitting the cases helped break the monotony a little! Haven't done this for a few years, but I have a lot of experience, the right tools, the shop manual, and the two stroke master Jedi Carlos (if needed) to make it as easy as possible.

First up, a look at some of the "special" tools from the Bats collection!

First one in action is the CN Racing custom made clutch holder tool that he made from old clutch plates and box steel. That sweet tool and a 19v impact wrench makes removing the clutch bolt a snap! 

The next tool comes in handy for removing the nuts on the main and balancer gears. We used to wedge a dime in between the gears for years before finding this tool!

Next up is just a regular old puller to get the balancer gear off, but it might be a little overkill.

With the clutch out of the way its time for my own custom wood blocks to come out for supporting the motor while separating the cases. The metal plate with a bolt in the top looking thingy is actually the Aprilia factory case separating tool.

That tool, plus a wrench, and love taps from my trusty rubber mallet make splitting the cases so much easier than all the other methods we used to employ when first splitting cases 10+ years ago!

Cases split, hopefully I can start rebuilding soon!

Project Marco Update

Worked on the controls today. Lot's of little details to address on this bike so it's definitely taking more time to sort everything out, but I think the end result will be worth it!

First up was the ignition surround. I had already cleaned up the one on Marco, but didn't like the fact that the printed information was missing. Luckily, I happened to have a spare ignition from one of our old race bikes so I popped the plastic surround off and replaced it with the near new looking one from the spare. Small detail, but makes the difference! 

Looks right at home!

Not many pics of the other tedious work, but I replaced the handle bars with nice and straight ones, nearly new stock grips, both sets of switches, and the broken brake lever all from spares I had laying around.

Just for reference her is what it looked like before! Notice that I also sanded, primed and painted the gauge/fairing support in nice black enamel.