Lucky Phil

The noise from gear drives varies depending on many factors including engine harmonics but also mesh clearance cold and hot. I've had engines that wine when cold and have a slight clatter when hot. As the alloy crankcases heat up and the bearing centers that support the gears move away from each other the whine caused by tight clearances dissipates and is replaced by gear backlash noise. depending on many many variables is the volume of noise in hot and cold conditions. I was in the pits back in 1988 at Oran park round of the WSB talking to Robert Dunlop who was riding a Honda RC30 that year as a privateer and hung around to hear it start up before the first race. That was the first time I'd heard an RC30 with the backlash gears removed and it was quite noticeable. Although Honda would have run a decent amount of tooth clearance and relied on the backlash gears a fair amount as it was a production engine system. I owned an RC30 at the time so was interested in what modifications he was running in WSB. The list of engines that have used cam gear drives is like a who's who of brilliant engineering. Manx Norton, bevel drive Ducati, Guzzi V8, ahem...the Guzzi big block V twin and of course the venerable Rolls Royce Merlin. If anyone needs any more convincing after reading that list I cant help you Hears some engineering art to ponder. Ducati Desmosedici V4RR Ferrari V12 Ciao

The Daytona I've just assembled and just about every engine I've worked on over the years including Ducati race engines has used round section wire retainers. Button retainers that I've seen were generally used on drag racing engines. Ciao

Looks fine docc. Fit up the new stuff as you said. Ciao

Grind or rat tail file some notches on one end of the new one docc so you can get a narrow ended drift on the inner race. Even with the collars you can usually get enough radial movement on the spacer to help get the drift on the inner race. After you install one of the bearings drop the spacer in and check how it levels up with the bore end face on the other side. Remember the bearing will have a little lateral play to take into consideration. Ciao

I'd keep the the collars as you have found the spacer drops down and axle fitment is a pain. Some spacers have a notch ground on the face of one end so you can get a drift down the bore from the opposite end and get some purchase on the inner race for removal. I forget if the Guzzi has this or not but when I have them out I always grind another notch opposite the original if it has one or grind 2 notches for ease of bearing removal in the future. My rear spacer had a collar standard. Some spacers only have 1 collar and you can then lever the spacer over a little on the non collar end and get a better purchase on the inner race for drifting as well. Ciao

The collars on the spacer? Ciao

Oh, ok docc, I skimmed through the original posts again but missed the only 600 mile life. That's very bad indeed. Its always a worry when something unexplained like this happens. All you can do is assemble it all with the best engineering practice you can and monitor the results this time. Cant see why it shouldn't work out better than the original bearings with the correct spacer. If you are really keen you can flip out the seals from the failed bearings and wash out any lubricant and debris and use a magnifying glass and look at the races and see where on the races the wear and failure point is. Is it central to the race which would indicated the bearing has been overloaded or too tight in the bore or lacked lubrication or if the wear and failure indications is a little offset which would indicate lateral overloading from a short spacer. Ciao

Noise from cam gears is not really an issue. Honda V4's like my old RC30 and VFR750 had gear driven cams and met noise regs for road bikes. They incorporated backlash gears with the cam drive gears to help them run quieter. Ducati Desmosedici's are gear driven cams and are noise compliant road bikes. Lots of engines use a gear and chain hybrid drive for the cams these days. The Caruso gears in the V11 run very quiet. I can hear them but thats because I'm listening for them otherwise I wouldnt be able to tell them from the chain driven cam. Ciao

Yes 8 X 1mm thread. Torque, 2-2.2 kgm with loctite 601. Ciao

Didn't you ascertain docc the spacer was 0.045" too short docc? If that's the case there's your prime reason. Ciao

Taking off the transmission cover wont get you access to the clutch push rod. Did you reinstall the clutch push rod button in the clutch when you re assembled it? If you mean the slave cylinder securing screw head is chewed out then you really should fix that by drilling the head off and then removing the other 2 screws ,pulling the slave cylinder and then extracting the remaining stud. If its the thread stripped then you can remove the slave and timesert or helicoil it. Either way you should really do it. It just requires swing arm removal for access which is fairly easy. Ciao

The pickup tube thats part of the whole lube assy enters the screen unit from a hole in the top.The filter unit itself is bolted to the sump floor. Its there to stop any particles larger than around 1/4mm from entering the pump. I fitted a new one to my Daytona engine during the rebuild as a precaution. Not the sort of thing you need to worry about very much. I wouldnt do a sump drop just to check its clean but if you have it off take a look. Ciao

Both of my bevel boxes have radial play. I don't like it but it doesn't seem to be an issue. It's also easy to mistake play in the outer bearing with wear in the small inner. There is a technique to distinguish the two I posted a few years ago. you can't really use the lock ring to eliminate the play either by tightening. I found when my rear wheel bearing badly worn I had a clatter feel through the footpeg with the throttle in a float setting. Power on and in the overrun was ok. ciao

Radial play on the outer input shaft bearing is normal Docc, you can't eliminate it unless it's originating from the small inner "nose bearing" on the pinion. Ciao

Or it has the Ethanol swollen tank issue? Ciao

Yep the red frames are the ones to have. Anything else is a fat horrid lazy barge who's owners should be shunned........ Ciao

Like this docc. You compress the ends and lock them via a knurled section on the end of the handle then insert them down the bore or hole and unlock them. You then feel them around until they are at the largest dia point and lock again. Remove and measure with your Mike or vernia calipers. Very cheap, this set is $36.95AU on ebay. Ciao

Brake rotor ridge is no problem docc, just use the calipers in enough of a radial position to avoid the ridges. The other thing you need is a set of telescoping gauges for measuring hole ID's. Use in concert with your calipers. They are as cheap as chips, maybe $30US. Ciao

Not an easy job I'm afraid. I recently replaced the rear eye end on the Ohlins shock ( TTX race shock) on my 1198 as I fitted a flat rear link which required a shorter eye end. To replace the bump stop you will need to remove the spring then the eye end or completely disassemble the rear shock and remove the piston from the shaft and fit it that way. I can tell you that to remove the eye end you will need a shock shaft clamp which isnt that hard to make. Biggest issue is though that sometimes you need to actually put this in an hydraulic press to hold the shaft while you apply a lot of heat to the eye end to break the thread locker. You will probably need to remove the eye end bearing so its not heat damaged to do this. So best case scenario is make a shaft clamp, remove the spring with a spring compressor, remove the eye end bearing ( pressed in) clamp up the shaft in a vice with the shaft clamp fitted and use a propane torch to heat the eye end while you try to unscrew it. Re fitting is easy. New bump stop, fit the eye end with a new bearing ( you may as well) refit the eye end, with thread locker and refit the spring. The easy way.......take it to an Ohlins specialist and he should have it done in 30 min max. Cost me $60 to get done and he did it while I went and had a coffee. This specialist was a national superbike race team that ran Ohlins suspension and the mechanic told me about the eye end removal difficulty and the sometime requirement for the shaft clamp to need to be in the press. Not common knowledge even for shock specialists. Dan Kyle the US Ohlins dealer I bought the shock off also recommended using plenty of heat for the eye end removal. If you take it to the suspension specialist it may be worth mentioning this technique just in case they run into issues. Ciao

Amazing balancing skills......no stand. Ciao

So I moved onto the side flow injector throttle bodies. I wanted to remove the injectors and run them in the ultrasonic cleaner as I had no idea of their history and they had been sitting around for years. I envisaged a painful time of it and I was correct. In their infinite wisdom the 2 4mm screws holding in the injector retaining plates are installed with red loctite!!!!!! What the hell. Naturally the first one sheared off flush with the TB and the rest came out with difficulty. I managed to get the sheared one out eventually but I was lucky for sure. Snap on easy out kit and a scary amount of heat and it was out without damaging anything. The injectors were also difficult to removed which I expected as the o rings dont like to release after years in place and the injectors are hard to get a grab on without damaging them. I devised a process and eventually got them out without damage. Next on the list is to strip down my spare gearbox so I can paint strip and paint the cases. Everyone needs one of these in the workshop. Cheap as chips and work remarkably well. I also have a 20 liter commercial one for the big stuff like cylinder heads etc. Next job. Break down strip and paint the cases to match the engine. Ciao