My New Project arrives after a 44 year wait!

[Deano400]

I agree with Ash the Yellow pasivation is brilliant - how did you do the steel carb blanking plugs - presumably you had to remove them?

They press out pretty easily Ted.

Ash, would you recommend any sort of sealant when replacing the caps or is it just a matter of pressing them back in?

[Laverda Dave]

Press them back in, no sealer required, they are pretty tight as they are cupped so are a snug fit.

[Deano400]

Thanks Dave.

[Laverda Dave]

Hi I know this is a side track for your thread, but as you have Laverda in your handle you might be have seen this or know where to look.

This is a photo of my friends dad as he helped in the pit crew for this bike in the early 70s in Canada, my friend is trying to track down the bike/current owner.

If you have any suggestions for him it would be appreciated.

Just noticed the bike is an SFC production racer, rare and expensive. JLO will likely know it's history and where it is now as there is a register of them. The frames on those were not painted but galvanized. A good mate of mine up in Scotland had one and he let me ride it for a couple of hours, absolutely fantastic, a true racer on the road. I know he sold it for £25k about 15 years ago and they are worth a lot more than that now. If the bike in your photo is a genuine Laverda endurance factory bike, name your price!

[Cb750r]

Hi I know this is a side track for your thread, but as you have Laverda in your handle you might be have seen this or know where to look.

This is a photo of my friends dad as he helped in the pit crew for this bike in the early 70s in Canada, my friend is trying to track down the bike/current owner.

If you have any suggestions for him it would be appreciated.

Just noticed the bike is an SFC production racer, rare and expensive. JLO will likely know it's history and where it is now as there is a register of them. The frames on those were not painted but galvanized. A good mate of mine up in Scotland had one and he let me ride it for a couple of hours, absolutely fantastic, a true racer on the road. I know he sold it for £25k about 15 years ago and they are worth a lot more than that now. If the bike in your photo is a genuine Laverda endurance factory bike, name your price!

Thanks for the reply. I think he’s made contact with a person named Marnix on Facebook, but the other info and person may help. I see those bikes fetch top dollar! I can’t say I’m well versed in them.

[Rozabikes Tim]

The sound of those adds a zero to any price surely!

[Laverda Dave]

A bit more progress to report with Ratty.

I managed to get some industrial paint stripper from a mate who had a drop left after stripping his Ford Pop Hot-Rod.  Despite being ‘industrial’ it still struggled and it took three coats to remove the paint from the tank. The PO said he had painted the black over the original yellow, there was no yellow at all on the tank so maybe it is another tank. There is some filler but this is a light coat as there are no dents in the tank that I can see and all is good around the seams. I filled the tank with DEOX-C and boiling water and wrapped it up in the NASA blanket to keep it warm whilst it does its work to remove the internal rust.

I replaced the wheel bearings before taking the completed hubs and new DID rims to a retired gent who has laced wheels for me previously. I dropped them off on Tuesday morning, at 3pm on Tuesday he called to say they were ready! I collected them this morning, £250 including the stainless spoke sets for both wheels and labour, pretty good value considering a stainless spoke set is about £85 per wheel.

Today I’m going to be soaking and scrubbing the various rubber components, I done it once but when they dried out they were still really grubby. I’ll use some rubber restore to bring them back up to a presentable condition.

[Johnny4428]

Nice work there Dave! £85 for a set of ss spokes sounds reasonable.

[taysidedragon]

The tank looks pretty good. Get some protection on there before it starts rusting! 😟

[Laverdaroo]

Good progress Dave, that’s bloody cheap for laced rims including the spokes in SS. In fact a veritable bargain


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[Laverda Dave]

Good progress Dave, that’s bloody cheap for laced rims including the spokes in SS. In fact a veritable bargain


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He gave me a big free jar of honey from the hives he keeps in the back of his house (next to the wheel building shed)🐝. Even better value 😁.

[Laverda Dave]

Some good progress over the past week.  Tank and side panels are now with the painter and just deciding on the paint colour to use (waiting for Honda Japan to confirm the correct code). The forks are now rebuilt with new seals, re-chromed stanctions and fresh oil.
Today I finally commenced with the engine rebuild starting with another deep clean of the crankcase halves that were blasted and painted. I have fitted new shells on the conrods and mains (thanks Ash). I've also fitted the complete layshaft and countershaft I purchased from Ted after giving everything a good check and all was found to be serviceable including the bearings. All new seals have been fitted. Tomorrow will be closing the cases and fitting the barrels rebored by Trigger with +50 NOS Honda pistons I purchased from Ted.
I have also fitted a taper bearing headrace set from Pyramid Parts and..............they don't fit properly despite being advertised as the correct kit! The top bearing (15mm depth) protrudes 6.5mm from the top of the steering head with the result I could only obtain one turn on the castellated nut and nothing at all on the top yoke centre nut!  I removed the 3mm washer from below the lower race on the yoke which itself was really difficult to do without causing damage and refitted the dust seal with the lower bearing sitting directly on it with no spacer at all. This allowed three turns on the castellated nut but still only one and half turns on the top yoke centre nut. I have been in contact with Pyramid Parts and asked them to comment becuase I don't think having only 1.5 turns on the top nut feels particually safe.

[Laverda Dave]

A bit of progress over the past couple of weeks.

The big win was getting the engine finished and installed into the frame although I seriously can't recommend lifting an engine on your own from the work bench and onto the floor!

The rebore was done by Graham (Trigger) with the +50 NOS Honda piston sets. Graham also refurbished the head and this included replacing a bent inlet valve and a couplke of exhaust valves as well as a bit of welding to the combustion chamber where it had a chip on the edge.

Once the engine was in I installed the sump, put the forks in and the wheels on a temporary basis to allow me to get the rolling chassis onto the bike lift.

[Laverda Dave]

Peter Horton refurbished the original clocks including converting the rev counter to a suitable 400/4 item from the 250 rev counter that was on the bike. They look fantastic and I asked Peter to put the MPH/KPH face on the speedo for no other reason than I like them :-).

This morning I collected the finished paint set from Tony at Cyclesprays in Horsham, Sussex. He has done a marvelous job considering the tank I took to him! He placed the decals on the tank (decals supplied by Piki (Reddice) on here) and clear coated them with the same on the side panels. I'll decide it I want to put the saving lives sticker above the fuel tank, I don't really like the look of it!

I went to refit the carbs yesterday but thought I'd bench test them first with fuel to check the floats, of course one leaked really badly (No 1). A frustrating three hours spent adjusting the float and re-testing got me nowhere and it looks like I'll have to fit one of the new Keyster float valves to replace the original as the tip looks worn. What is it about 400/4 carbs, they work fine one minute and flood the next!

Next job will be to fit the carbs and handlebars with the switches.

[magpie114]

Looking great, like the paint job! I think it’s better to complete the engine on the bench as you’ve done. I found it a little awkward putting the barrels on in the frame.


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