Removing Nero Corsa "pork chops"

[Cam Lay]

I'm going to take them off, along with the valve covers and the alternator cover, and repaint the lot of 'em so that they match.

 

I wonder if someone who has done this before would be so kind as to provide some advice and guidance, things to watch out for, always or never do, etc., etc., please? Yes, I've searched and looked through the site, and there are lots of threads. Some say it's so difficult that one should just mask it all off and paint in place, others say it's a piece of cake so long as you line everything up. And there was something about 8' fluorescent light bulbs, a girl named Ginger, and a bottle of Tequila, too, I think.

 

Thanks in advance,

C

[richard100t]

The easy way to do it is to take off one pork chop, paint it and put it back on then remove the other side and repeat.

If you do go ahead and remove both sides at the same time, its a good time to grease the front u joint on the shaft drive. Also inspect all bearings and grease them while you're there.

It sounds like lining up the bike after reassembly is kinda tricky...I would suggest to snap a chalkline for reference instead of the light bulbs. As for Ginger..well I've always been a MaryAnne guy myself

[Cam Lay]

Yeah, same here. Not much on anything high maintenance...

 

The easy way to do it is to take off one pork chop, paint it and put it back on then remove the other side and repeat.

If you do go ahead and remove both sides at the same time, its a good time to grease the front u joint on the shaft drive. Also inspect all bearings and grease them while you're there.

It sounds like lining up the bike after reassembly is kinda tricky...I would suggest to snap a chalkline for reference instead of the light bulbs. As for Ginger..well I've always been a MaryAnne guy myself

[docc]

Since the side plates support the swingarm, this will be removed to remove the plates ("porkchops"). The manual recommends simply putting it back the way it was by first measuring how far the right and left mounting pins stand off the side plates. You can do this with a Vernier or dial caliper after the lock nut is removed, but before the pins are rotated.

Some would say that using a careful alignment method upon reassembly (glass, tubes, chalk line, laser, tequila - whichever) will give you a better result than the factory may have taken time to do. After my laser results, I'm in this camp. Yet, if I had the sense to take the measurements beforehand, I would have simply put it back the same.

With the swingarm off, it's a good time to service the shaft; check, clean, grease or even replace the swingarm bearings, and bleed the clutch. Great time to bleed the rear caliper as well while you can turn the nipple to the top.

Upon reassembly, use caution starting the threading on the shaft's pinch bolts. They are easy to get askew. Torque these in steps back and forth. Consider blue LocTite.

The foot shift lever could use a good clean, lube, and perhaps a little shim to get the most out of it. You might want to mark its location on the splines both fore and aft to get it back to the same spot. It's easy to get it off a bit where it may strike the porkchop on the down stroke and chip your new paint!

You getting her all spruced up for the South'n Spine Raid?

[al_roethlisberger]

What he said (Not meaning stupid though )

 

 

I'm not a true mechanic, but am mechanically inclined, and taking the porkchops off was a simple task even long before we had any "how to" posts floating around. So I bet you can pull it off.

 

They may sound scary, but they really aren't rocket science and only support/align the rear end of the bike. It isn't as if they hold the entire center of the bike together

 

I'd recommend taking them off for the repaint and then checking any number of things that are now easily accessible.

 

BTW, I recommend powder coating them versus paint, but either will work of course.

 

 

Here are some threads:

 

http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11740

 

http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15581

 

http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1575

 

http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2719

 

http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=902

 

 

Good luck!

 

Al

[savagehenry]

I just measured the depth of the lock nut faces to swing arm pivot pin face before breaking the lock nuts loose, and put them back the same, making sure they feel free moving and not just setting it back "exactly to the numbers". Definately check your swing arm bearings while in there, the limited range of motion tends to wear them in a smaller area than a bearing that spins. Also, check your outboard bearing in the rear trans housing as this is only covered by the large washer, and tends to be one of the most common ones to go bad.

[Keith Foster]

After painting the valve covers (which came out quite nicely) this made the porkchops rather scruffy looking in comparison. I've painted them in the past by leaving them intact and masking off everything. Being it's that lull after the holidays, this time I decided to tackle the job and do it right so I can glass bead them down to bare aluminum and repaint to really match the valve covers. That means removing them, which isn't all that complicated...but getting to the nuts on the back side of the plates can be quite the challenge. This is what has stopped me in the past, but tonight I conquered! I thought I'd post some pictures to help out those in the future, so here goes.

 

The nut at the 12 O'clock position is really buried. After shoving some cables out of the way and sort of forcing the wrench (a 17mm by the way)  into the remaining gap, it held the nut well enough to loosen it...next post...

[Keith Foster]

The 9 O'clock nut isn't too bad, but I still needed to remove the hugger (inner fender) to get a straight shot at it with the wrench. The next tricky one to get to is the 6 O'clock one. I ended up grinding the wrench a bit to get it in the small gap. While doing this I'm thinking, gee it would have made this job a lot easier if Guzzi had made the flange thicker and had tapped holes instead of a separate nut and washer. Anyway, positioning it like so:

[Keith Foster]

Lastly, from previous replies, I measured the distance the swing arm pivot pins stand proud above the face where the large lock nut seats. like so:

I'll add some more detail maybe as I work through the rest of the job.

[docc]

Yo, Keith, well done, man!    

[AndyH]

Just a tip on measuring the depth of the pivot pins (and mainly because I have so little trust in my own ability to measure consistently!): I mark the 12 o'clock position on the face of each pin before measuring them with the depth gauge, so that when reassembling I can rapidly return to the original settings without wondering if I might be half a turn out ('is that gauge really flat on the face, must get new glasses etc?')

[Keith Foster]

Yes, that is a good tip Andy - thank you.

[Keith Foster]

Here is a pic showing the threaded pin that people refer to, and how the ends interact with the swing arm bearing. Just imagine the pork chop in position, the big lock nut would be on the end of it..

 

[gstallons]

You should grind a taper on the end of the pin so it will go into the bore of the swingarm pivot bearing. Also, I would pop off the dust shield on the bearing and fill the cavity w/grease and reinstall the dust shield. 

 p.s. DO NOT mess up the threads of the "pin" or the pork chop. If you do , remove the chop and screw the pin in from the inside and back it out straightening up the threads. No one has to ask how I know this procedure .

[docc]

No one has to ask how I know this procedure .

"We few, we lucky few! We band of brothers!"