AERMACCHI-WORLD

With the help of an old Aermacchi friend I found the reason why the bike spit oil out of the exhaust. The fitting (oil inlet) on the cylinder was defective and over time 2- Stroke oil flooded the crankcase simply by beeing parked in the garage. The fitting has an integrated back pressure valve. I replaced the oil-line fitting and removed the excessive oil from the crankcase and from the exhaust and since then the bike runs good again after spreading the remaining oil everywhere in my driveway out of the exhaust.

I am currently writing an article for a “classic motorcycle” magazine in Germany about the SX-175. Today I took the bike for a little spin and a photoshooting for that article.

Just a comparison of the bike before and after the restoration.

Yeah, I am almost there. Only the accelerator cable and the gas line are missing and then it’s done.

A litte life sign. Haven’t done much work on the bike lately but I am progressing slowly with the wireing harness.

As you can see in the first few pictures there had been a few dents and even holes in the exhaust manifold, also some smaller dents in the muffler. As the 1974 model has a different exhaust as the later models I wanted to keep this exhaust for my restoration. In the first step the exhaust was sandblasted and cleaned. After that the dent in the manifold was cut out and the exhaust was welded by a professional welder. I then grinded everything back to it’s original shape. As the welded spot had a very smooth surface compared to the rest of the abrasive or rough material I had to adjust this part to blend in again. In the end I sprayed it to it’s original black color again. The exhaust grill was already rechromed and ready to mount as well as my SX-175 emblem which was laser cut and custom built by myself.

Kickshaft and seal (20-30-7) needed a replacement. The clutch cover is ready for beeing remounted to the crankcase. Luckily I had a brand new kickshaft at home.

There were some pieces broken off the crankcase. One large piece was missing below the flywheel. I have no idea how this happend. Maybe a previous owner hit a stone while beeing off road with the bike? Another large piece seemed to be knocked out by loose chain. I bought a used left crankcase-half and cut out pieces to fit in as “spare parts”. I didn’t intend to replace the whole crankcase as I wanted to keep my matching frame & engine Vehicle Identifican Number (VIN). So, I went to a welder and asked him to weld my cut-out-pieces in my old crankcase. I asked them for laser-welding, but as you can see my request was totally ignored. This meant a lot of work for me as now there was a whole lot of material that needed to be grinded of. This took me a lot of time and two more rounds of adding material to get the surfaces smooth to blend in with te rest of the crankcase nicely.

Here you can see my selfmade decals mounted to my bike. It was a lot of work to get them designed correctly but they are perfect reproductions to fit exactly the 1974 SX-175 gas tank.

Okay, at this point we had a good rolling chassis. All the parts are there and some are already restored like the frame, wheels and front fork.
>>Brake check?<<
>>Nope, doesn’t work!<<

The pleasing result of the aluminium polishing and the glass-bead-blasted cylinder head.

The completely redone seat with the original seat pattern and Harley-Davidson lettering in the rear and a powder coated seat pan.

Just some parts before the restoration.

As the aluminium rear hub was broken I ordered a NOS replacement part. I also gathered  two sets of brand new brake shoes and springs.

Parts back are back from powder coating and the meanwhile overhauled front forks are freshly polished and fitted with new seals (32-42-7), reflectors, sliders and new rubber dust covers.

I have disassembled the front fork so I can overhaul it. The sliders will be replaced with NOS parts.

Marzocchi:
32mm;
Fork seals: 32-42-7 – two each side;

The previous owner of the bike did cut off the turn signal stuts so I had to remanufacture them and have them welded to the frame.

• New project
  • It’s an early 1974 SX-175 (someone repainted it in 75 design)
• Work done
  • Frame
    • Sandplasted & powder coated
    • Mainstand removed and replaced with original sidestand (NOS)
    • New fork lock (was missing completely)
    • Welded a hole in the oil tank
    • Rebuilt turn signal struts for the rear and welded back to frame
    • Skid plate sandplasted and powder coated
  • Wheels
    • New rims, new stainless steel spokes
    • New tubes, new tires
    • New seals
    • New real wheel hub
    • New brake shoes, linings and springs for the front & rear
    • New rear sprocket
    • New tube holders
  • Electric
    • New (used) ignition switch (was missing)
    • NOS original turn signal for the bike (were missing)
    • Rebuilt the whole wiring from scratch
    • Replaced headlamp with original CEV type but with modern H4 lamp
    • NOS tachometer
    • NOS speedometer
    • New front brake switch
    • NOS rear brake cable
    • Replaced licensce plate holder & taillight with NOS CEV parts
    • New NOS horn
    • New CEV169 switch
  • Fornt & rear end
    • Front
      • New head-bearings for the front fork
      • NOS front fork tubes (Marzocchi)
      • New fork oil
      • Front fork kegs polished
      • All seals replaced
      • New reflectors
      • Handlebar replaced (wasn’t original)
      • NOS handlebar grips
      • NOS brake & clutch levers
      • New speedometer cable
      • All cables replaced (carb, clutch, brake)
      • New rubber mounts for the instruments
      • New early HD-style chrome mirrors
    • Rear
      • NOS original rear shocks
      • Rear fork sandplasted & powder coated
      • Sand plasted and powder coated triple tree
  • Body works
    • Right side cover replaced with an original part
    • Airfilter housing sandplasted & powder coated
    • Battery cage, brake pedal, chain-guard sandplasted & powder coated
    • All screws replaced or overhauled
    • Seat pan sand plasted & powder coated
    • New seat cover
    • Repainted gas tank
    • Crafted new original gas tank decals
    • Front mudguard holder polished
    • Front mudguard repainted and new bushings
    • NOS rear fender also repainted
    • Side cover replaced with early original and repainted
    • New rubbers for the footpegs
    • New rubbers and rubberband for the gas tank
  • Engine
    • New airfilter
    • Cylinder dry-ice-cleaned
    • Cylinder head glass bead blasted
    • New custom made piston
    • Repaired crankcase
    • New cylinder base gasket
    • New bolts & nuts
    • New shaft for the Kickstand
    • Rechromed kickstand
    • Replaced most seals
    • Polished chaincover
    • Polished clutch cover
    • New engine oil
    • New spark plug and cable
    • Carb ultrasonic cleaned
    • Replaced all inner parts of the Carb (needle, jets, gas filter…)
    • New drive chain
    • New front sprocket
    • New oil lines
  • Exhaust
    • Sandplasted
    • Welded
    • repainted
    • Exhaust grill rechromed
    • New exhaust grill emblem