February 2009
The fruits of three months of bidding on Ebay started to arrive in my post office box in January and February. Sadly, Australia seems devoid of N.O.S. Benelli spares - or indeed any spares at all - so I have relied heavily on Ebay searches. In what seemed to be an uncanny series of coincidences the exact parts we were seeking were listed on Ebay when we wanted them!
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Airbox arrives
The airbox came to us from an eBay seller in Germany. After sand-blasting, powdercoating and zinc-plating the fasteners it looks like new. A Ryco A5 filter was purchased from our local autoparts store (they told us it fitted certain English sports cars) and it was an exact match for the original filter. Most bikes seem to have lost their airboxes. There are good reasons. They are poorly mounted and would rattle terribly against the frame rails if they were even slightly loose. Additionally, the wing-nut in the centre (see photo) is tightening a plastic fitting (with holes) which cracks very easily. I suspect most owners threw away the airboxes. Oh, and another tip; fit the airbox before the motor - I can't see any way you could fit it once the motor is in place! |
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Pistons at last
The search for N.O.S. piston sets looked to be futile until ... you guessed it, an Ebay seller listed a number of sets! With the intention of building three bikes we purchased almost all his stock of matching pistons. The barrels have been bored to suit each set. Tip of the day; check your barrels against the piston types. Barrels are stamped "A", "B" etc. and match piston types "A", "B" etc. We assume this is the port location. Also remember pistons from the later chrome bore Benellis don't match the early iron bore models. |
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The Tool Tray
Buy a basket-case Benelli and chances are that you won't get one of these. The plastic tool tray rests between the top frame rails and is held down by the seat. Our experience is that they too were thrown away or lost. Ebay to the rescue - I purchased an N.O.S. tool tray from a seller in Italy. It even came wrapped in a huge Yamaha dirt bike poster, in Italian. Something more to stick on the shed wall. |
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Fork seal dust covers
Not from Ebay this time! I really wanted original dust covers with "MARZOCCHI" moulded into them. Hours of internet searching finally paid off when I discovered that Domiracer in the USA have them in stock. Fork seals were sourced from our local bearing shop at a fraction of the price of the N.O.S. or repro items. Each fork has two seals.
Sorry about the quality of the photo! |
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