Claymores Wrench Report

[claymore]

Well, She is alive and purring like a kitten. Well, actually I have a question about that. Are these 350's known to have ALOT of valve train noise? I believe that it is mostly the top end rattling around. More than I have heard on other bikes....On to the report.

Flywheel Nut, Booger to get off. Borrowed a friends hands and still nothing. Being Fathers day weekend I bought myself a air driven impact wrench and the bitch came off like butter....Easy.

Now on to the "special tool" portion of the story, Thanks to Steve Scott in PA for his kind hand in lending the tool. It went on easily, using up most of the threads. Wrench on, nothing happened. Bigger Wrench on, still nothing. By buddies hands holding one wrench me on the other and SNAP! A LOUD Crack / PoP! Oh Crap...What happened? Well, come to find out, it did what it was supposed to, pull the flywheel off of the shaft. I guess it was WELL seated "factory style" and had a bit of rust to help hold her on. I was relieved to find out that nothing broke or sheared. Everything else was a snap. Parts off in order, sliced through the old belt with a razor knife, new belt slid on with a little help and all parts back on in reverse order making sure the timing was not lost the whole way.

Flywheel back on, careful to line up the key way with the key. Tap tap with the fist to seat. Lock washer in place and I tourqued the nut down with the impact driver all the while careful not to over tourque.

I had a chance to clean when everything was off. The gunk was not too bad. I polished the shaft with a clean old T-Shirt making sure that it looked clean and shiny. The inner hub of the flywheel was also cleaned well.

Cover back on, foot peg and brake in place and I was ready to add some fresh gas.

Badda Boom, Badda Bing. 10 or so kicks and she started!!! Running for the first time since 1985....Yes, I was totally stoked!

To catch everyone up, I had already:
Replaced the battery with a Odesey PC680 Military Grade Dry Cell.
Changed the oil, sparkplugs and cleaned the air filters.
Rebuilt the carbs.
Cleaned the Gas tank, very well...
Checked all wiring and hoses as well as air pressure in the original tires.
Lubed the chain, checked for tension.
Added Brake fluid and bled the front dual disk brakes.
Verified all electrical and lighting worked properly.
Cleaned some road grime off of the bottom of the motor and chassis.
I still have to clean the motor and wheels along with giving her a proper bath with bubbles...
...That is about it.

I was able to ride around the neighborhood, watching for the PoPo the whole time (cops). The tag still said "85" and I had no insurance card. It was a real treat motoring around, slow and stylin. I will have a tag and insurance by this weekend so a longer ride will be taken. I don't want to rack up the miles on her, she is sitting at 2689 total miles right now and I want to keep them low. I figure I ride until the miles are just shy of 3000.

I have added some snapshots (if I can figure it out) that the wife took during the start up day for you all to see what kind of shape this beautiful Morini has stayed in. Yes, I am taking offers as that was the original plan....Or at least that is what I told the wife....

http://s186.photobucket.com/albums/x59/claymorebiker/

[3potjohn]

Looks lovely-I have the K1 type with the black rather than chrome theme. Not sure if I have settled with no chrome but I will keep it as it was intended.I have been trying to get all the cabling and hydraulic pipework routed correctly so all these photo's are a help. Are the chrome strips on the tank base retained by the clips under the tank edge or with any adhesive?
I bled the front brakes yesterday only to find I could not get the old bleed nipples to stop weeping.I have cleaned them up but do not want to risk over tightening them. Maybe a new pair will cure it, if I clean out the brakes.

[claymore]

The chrome strips seem to just be crimped around the bottom seam of the tank. With the tank off, they slide toward the rear coming off very easy...Hope that helps. Let me know if you need specific pictures and I'll try to get them posted.

[robinh44]

Claymore,

Nice looking bike, I see you went with the closed off flywheel cover rather than my ventilated variation , your bikes a lot cleaner than mine, must be your climate.

Regards

Robin

[claymore]

Claymore,your bikes a lot cleaner than mine, must be your climate.Robin

And the fact that it only has 2600 miles and spent its entire life in storage with other fine Italian bikes....

[Steve Scott]

Great report!
It reminded me of my youth working on lawnmowers. We'd pull the flywheels off those old Briggs verticals with a giant (read "way too big") three-jaw puller from my Dad's toolbox and occasionally one would require a LOT of tension before letting go with a collossal BANG and it'd leap about 4 feet in the air! Great fun.

Yes Morinis are known to generate a lot of valvetrain racket. As my 'Guzzi buddies like to say "Loud valves save lives". The front piston might also slap a bit because the cylinder centerline doesn't intersect with the crankshaft centerline, although this is more prevalent in the 500s. It's probably a good idea to check your valve clearances since you don't really know the bike's service history. It's a super-easy job on the 350s.

Have fun with it!

[jb666]

Yes the rotor can leap off with a bit of a bang!! My dad (a fitter/turner - very useful!) educated me on using pullers and extractors like the one used on Morini rotors. He spotted me hanging on the end of a spanner trying to get something to shift with a puller. He showed me that if you wind a bit of tension onto the puller then give it a sharp tap with a hammer (a 2lb hammer is more than adequate) this is often enough to break the seal between faces. It also means you don't get the veins in your arm bulging and the rotor flying out the garage window!!

John.