California Motorbikes Minarelli Modification Log.

  • Thread starter Deleted member 35519
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Nickt919 said:
Not all the cast iron top ends are the same. If you pay $40 expect less than stellar results. I was warned and had to find out the hard way.

The Minarelli cylinders have 6mm stud holes. The CG cases have 8mm cylinder studs. So you have to either use 8mm-6mm threaded inserts to use 6mm studs OR drill the 6mm cylinder studs to 8mm so 8mm cylinder studs pass through the cylinder holes.

On the cheap cast iron cylinders.. the weight of my drill press chuck was damn near enough to push the bit down through. The metal is soft, porous, and will chip easily just using a small hand file to chamfer port edges.

I have bought from Smolik a few times. The Minarelli reeds he sells come packaged from Italy…not China. So while there’s no proof of such.. I would be inclined to believe he’s not using bottom of the barrel cast iron kits. His machine work speaks for itself. A zl40 crank can be bought for $30 shipped. I think Smolik charges $90 for a balanced crank. The time he spends drilling and truing.. he’s not making a killing.

The gomax balanced crank.. I’ve never used one but looking at the pics.. there’s 4-15mm holes through and through.
My cranks have 5 holes per side. It takes me 3 - 1/2” holes in addition to the 2 factory 15mm holes to get in the 42-45% BF range. My center hole is just about 15mm deep..the bit point is close to breaking through the back side. You can not drill the center hole all the way through. The bit will hit the rod. The outer 2 around 10mm deep or so depending on the weight of the top end parts.
My point of this is.. I’m not convinced the 4 hole 15mm crank will be balanced to get it mostly vibe free. A pic of a Smolik crank attached.
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Just because their shipped from Italy doesn't mean they're. Imagine olives, many come from Spain and they say their Italian once they hit US borders.. lol. Anyways I stand behind the trueing of their crank. That was kind of my point that those straight try drills doesn't show us numbers or Dyno. Any seller can say they Dyno but Smolik provides results regardless.
 
Deleted member 35519 said:
Just because their shipped from Italy doesn't mean they're. Imagine olives, many come from Spain and they say their Italian once they hit USS borders.. lol. Anyways I stand behind the trueing of their crank. That was kind of my point that those straight try drills doesn't show us number or Dyno. Any seller can say they Dyno but Smolik provides results regardless.
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You could be right about where the reed comes from. China could make em.
Most of the items I get that are made in China have Chinese writing on the shipping package somewhere.
.. the reeds labels come with Italian writing and an address.
Doesn’t mean much… any product made anywhere can be relabeled.

A lot of the upper end 2T engines and products are made in Italy so it wouldn’t be a far fetch to think these reeds are made there.
 

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Definately agree, what I've noticed many are replicas of each other, often having the same build and stampings but labeled with another companies name just for the sale. Granted China produced are probably well over 90% of all are national and trades of common produced product, it's very hard to determine this without having put both cylinders side to side as a comparison.
 
 
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So after research you can buy a mini drill press around $70 on amazon and then follow DLH's guide to balance and measure the percentage of your crank. After all that's spent. Smoliks would be cheaper unless you're looking to balance multiple engines and possibly resell for others.

The labor they do is a reasonable cost honestly...
 
Deleted member 35519 said:
So after research you can buy a mini drill press around $70 on amazon and then follow DLH's guide to balance and measure the percentage of your crank. After all that's spent. Smoliks would be cheaper unless you're looking to balance multiple engines and possibly resell for others.

The labor they do is a reasonable cost honestly...
Click to expand...

That said are they going to put the same time and effort into it as you would? probably not.

If I had room for a press at home, it's definitely a nice tool to have around.
 
Wyvern said:
That said are they going to put the same time and effort into it as you would? probably not.

If I had room for a press at home, it's definitely a nice tool to have around.
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I have the cheapest Harbor Freight drill press. It's better than a hand drill but by no means pin point accurate. I have to be very deliberate in my actions to get the bit to drill where I want it. A pilot hole or scribe point is usually necessary but it will drill where no hand drill will ever go.

A good bench top drill press is a tool where the cost is not justifiable for most users.
 
Nickt919 said:
I have the cheapest Harbor Freight drill press. It's better than a hand drill but by no means pin point accurate. I have to be very deliberate in my actions to get the bit to drill where I want it. A pilot hole or scribe point is usually necessary but it will drill where no hand drill will ever go.

A good bench top drill press is a tool where the cost is not justifiable for most users.
Click to expand...
Probably better off with a old used/pawn shop press.
 

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