Thursday, May 6, 2010

You down with O.P.P.? Other Peoples Projects: Benelli Cafe Racer

A few weeks ago I posted some pictures from the Chadds Ford Auction. Well as it turns out, my friend Justin and his girlfriend Nina snagged the Benelli Barracuda 250 cafe racer. Justins doing the rebuild and Nina will be doing the riding.

I happened to be out riding my BSA when I spotted Justin out front of his garage pulling the bike apart.

The engine was stuck and after trying to pull the top end it was discovered that the piston was cracked. Ouch!

On top of that, the Cylinder head was badly pitted and in need of some expert machining.

Take a look at that exposed notch in the valve sleeve. Justin is the king of J.B. Weld and entertained the notion that he could smooth this out with a little chemical concoction, but reality set in as the words rolled off his tongue and we had ourselves a laugh.

The inside of the shop is a sight to be seen.

In the foreground are a CB550-Four and a CB450-Four. The one on the right is for sale if anyone is interested.

Struggling to get the cylinder unstuck from the piston, we finally resorted to a block of wood and a hammer before calling it a night. Stay tuned for updates on this project.

2 comments:

  1. Good stuff, always like to know what happens to such interesting projects. Did he ever see it thru?

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  2. @My Clqassic Motorcycles:
    The bike had been disassembled and everything's been bead blasted powder coated, polished, machined etc.... Justin and I have the cylinder head over at R&W Machining hoping to get it re-sleeved. As soon as that is sorted out the bike can begine to go back together. I will be running a detailed account of the restoration on this bike as soon as Justin gets this thing done, or at least far enough along that there's something to photograph. I can say that the front wheel he rebuilt looks amazing!

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