Inconsequential ramblings of an Old Git

[mangocrazy]

The triple clamps and forks are identical for Gen 1 Milles and Falcos, so it fits both. And yes, I am intending to sell it.

[mangocrazy]

This year is drawing to a close so it's time to get all the bikey things done in the cold, damp, dark days of Dec/Jan/Feb so the bikes are ready to go when we emerge from the tunnel that is winter. First on the list is the LC. The bike is running beautifully now Dave (Muttsnuts) has set up the carburation and now the brakes and suspension are as good as I'm realistically going to get them. The one niggle that persists is a very heavy clutch action. It's even heavier than that on the Falco and as you use the clutch a lot more on a 2T than on a V-twin diesel, it needs sorting.

I'm fully expecting to have to replace the clutch basket, plates and springs, as the bike has done north of 20k miles and is still on all the original clutch hardware. There is also a mod to the gear selector mechanism that I might do, which is supposed to make for smoother gearshifting and makes it easier to find neutral at the lights. So yesterday I drained the coolant and gearbox oil and left them draining overnight. Today the Falco was unceremoniously punted out into the cold and damp while I assembled the Skylift from its component parts and strapped the LC to it. It's quite a small shed and there is scarcely room to swing a cat with both bikes in place. I also tend to get covered in scratches when I try it, so best not to then, yeah?

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Draining the LC's fluids is always a bit of a pain. To drain the coolant there are two drain plugs in the water jacket of each cylinder, but they leave a fair bit of coolant still in circuit. The only real way to fully drain the system is to drill and tap a hole in the bottom of the water pump housing. This is pretty much the lowest part of the system. Eagle eyes will spot it in the picture below. Draining the gearbox oil also needs some creativity if the contents aren't to be spread over the shed floor, as the drain plug is directly above the RH expansion chamber/exhaust. Mrs Mango's roll of kitchen foil was pressed into service to direct the oil into the cat's litter tray (only kidding, I have a big tray just for such eventualities).

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So what's stopping you from cracking on, I hear you say?

Lunch, that's what.

[mangocrazy]

With the howling gales and torrential rain behind us and a period of relatively calm weather in prospect it was time to push the Falco out into the garden, giving me room to work on the LC. I really didn't want to go through the palaver of disconnecting the oil pump cable and the oil supply and feed pipes, so had to find a way of hanging the RH crankcase cover out of the way while still connected. This was achieved with surprisingly little fuss, which is always a bad sign...

The crankcase cover had separated from the crankcases with comparative ease, and even the gasket emerged intact although I'm not sure whether to re-use it or buya new one. A small amount of oil emerged, although not as much as I'd expected, but what oil remained was a nasty sludgy black much like the stuff that energes from forks that have been untouched for decades. I can only assume it's waste friction material from the clutch plates.

The six bolts holding the clutch cover were removed without fuss, followed by the clutch plates, steels and rubber damper rings that Yamaha fit, which left me facing the clutch centre nut. The tab washer was duly flattened (a new one will be fitted on reassembly) and then it was time to break out the clutch holding tool, followed by the electric windy gun and impact socket.

Except that Yamaha, for whatever reason, chose to fit a 29mm AF nut to hold the clutch together and search as I might I couldn't find a 29mm socket. I must have had one to tighten up the clutch centre when I reassembled the engine from a box of bits back in 2020, but I'd be buggered with a splintery gatepost if I could find it now. So the photo below is as far as I could get. I now need to have a good hard think about where I could have mislaid my 29mm socket.

It's probably in France knowing my luck...

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[Eclipse]

I was brought up on RDs and X7s and have a real soft spot for them and made a clutch tool to hold the LC basket still, it looked like a massive pair of scissors

[mangocrazy]

Yes, back in the day I made up a (very sketchy) clutch holding tool from a plain steel plate and an old screwdriver blade. It (just about) worked. Glad to have a proper tool now though...

[Screwdriver]

Red ones are faster...

[mangocrazy]

Red ones are faster...

i've owned this LC from new and remember having to wait until August 1980 until getting delivery (I'd put my deposit down in Nov 1979). I really wanted the white/red colour scheme, but at the time you took what you were given, and I got a white/blue one.

I've come to terms with that now...

[mangocrazy]

I've always tried to get any updates/repairs to bikes done in the winter time, and preferably this side of Christmas. In my experience, if you leave stuff until the New Year, you suddenly wind up in competition with everyone who has just woken up to the fact that the biking season (nominally) kicks off in less than two months time (and one of those months is 28/29 day February) and who needs parts and work doing. Just like everyone else.

So my Christmas present to me (and dear old Elsie) has been as follows:

New OE Yamaha clutch springs (6 of)
New EBC clutch plates and steels
New OE Yamaha clutch centre lock washer
New Makita clutch basket (made from rufty-tufty 7075-T6 aluminium and hard anodised to boot)
New clutch damper pucks
New Pro-shift selector arm kit (improves gear shift and finding neutral)

Some of the above have already arrived at Mango Towers, the remainder are on their way and should be here before Christmas.

'Tis the season of firing up the shed heater and getting the spanners out...