Benelli 2C Restoration

The Restoration of a 1974 Benelli 2C Motorcycle - Part Four

The Engine Revealed

January 2009 With the strip-down complete it was time to lift the engine out of the frame and have a look inside. The heads and barrels were taken off with the engine in situ and then the whole lot lifted out. Here follows some advice. A Benelli 2C engine weighs almost nothing. It can be carried under one arm. However, fit the barrels and it weighs about the same as a six bedroom house. The cast iron barrels on this little bike are the heaviest little barrels I have ever encountered. Definitely take them off before engine moving!

	Heads Off Mostly good news here. The pistons move up and down freely and don't wobble side to side too much. Obviously we will do proper measurements but at least this makes you feel confident. Some genius in the past had decided to drill holes down through the left-hand barrel fins. I'm not sure what this was meant to achieve. When we took the barrel off possibly the same individial had attempted to "port" the barrel with a file. The right-hand barrel was unscathed. Luckily I have a spare left hand barrel from my swap-meet activities.

	Motor on the Bench Barrels off and motor on the bench. Here we discovered an amazing thing. These little motors have four little "legs" cast into them on the bottom so they sit nice and square while you work on them. We agreed that this was the only possible purpose of the lugs. This has to be another good sign (maybe I'm grasping at straws now!).

	The Motor Inside And that's what it looks like. Apart from a little gunk and some minor corrosion the inside of this motor is in great condition. We removed the crank and sent it off to a specialist crank rebuilder. He pressed it apart, replaced all the bearings and seals, re-balanced it and had it back to us in a week. Now it is well lubricated and wrapped up in a safe place!

	Mid-January 2009 We sent the frame off and had it sand-blasted (after masking all the holes and threads). The frame was then powdercoated in Coral Black (a deep, high gloss black) and we started re-fitting some components. The centre-stand has been re-bushed, the triple clamps have been polished and all the fasteners have either been replaced or zinc-plated. The swing-arm had almost no wear. Note that a special tool is required to remove the swing-arm. We made one but I understand they are available through Benelli parts suppliers.

Want to contact us? Sure! Drop us an email at tonym@mistgreen.com