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Getting '74 Benelli 650S back on the road

6K views 18 replies 6 participants last post by  bantam1949 
#1 ·
Greetings from Minnesota, USA! This is my first post on this forum and was glad to find it. I have owned a '73 250 2C for about 25 years and have managed to keep it running pretty good (note it spent a good chunk of it's existence in storage). I am pretty adept at finding parts for this bike and my recently acquired '74 650S. The 650 is the reason for my posting here today. It is in fair shape and very complete with a little more than 10K miles on the odometer. It is not currently running but I am determined to change that! My focus at this time is sorting out the electrics. I am looking for any advice regarding bringing my electrical system back up to snuff and/or how to improve it. I did look through the posts ahead of time and hope I am not being redundant...thanks in advance.
 
#2 ·
Hi - Welcome to the forum. I've been working on my '73 Tornado for about 8 months now. (from AZ) I've documented most of the trials and tribulations at http://benellitornado650.blogspot.com/ if you want to have a look. Currently dealing with some ignition issues (left cylinder only fires under load) - but otherwise haven't had much trouble with electrics. If it's helpful, I can tell or show you how my bike is wired.

Lee
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the link...it is encouraging and motivating to see someone else tackling this type of project. In addition to the my electrical issues, my left cylinder reads about 60 psi and a leakdown test shows both valves leaking...will get to that next. My fusebox is a toast but I have found a replacement...a few wires are melted and there is a couple oddly placed wires...but I have pretty much memorized the wiring diagram by this point so I look forward to getting it all straight again. I also have quite a bit of side to side play in my swing arm. In any event I look forward to following your progress and hopefully learning from it.
 
#6 ·
Thanks Lee....your pic is helpful. Would it be
possible for you to tell me what color wires
you have coming from your starter/key switch and which
terminals they are connected to on the switch?
The four terminals are labeled 57,15/54,INT, and 30.
My wiring chart is difficult to read.
 
#9 ·
Getting close to completing the rewire! It was quite a mess. Trying to confirm the proper wiring for the headlight indicator light (between the tach and speedo)..diagram shows 2 wires on one spade...one wire goes to the back of the headlight and the other to ground. Can you take a look at yours as mine has the one wire going to the headlight bucket and the other is disconnected. If you look under the instrument cluster it is the only light with one spade and two wires. Any help would be appreciated.
 
#11 ·
Hath, sorry to jump in here, but I'm really in the dark about this...

How did you go about having Total Seal get you a set of piston rings? I was desperate enough to buy 2nd oversize pistons for my 650S, but I really want to just run standard pistons in there since it doesn't need an over bore. My rings broke when I removed them because they were frozen into the pistons. However, the pistons are completely fine.

Who did you call, or how did you go about ordering new standard rings? Also, what what was the approximate cost?

Thanks for any info! I'm going to bookmark your blog.
 
#12 ·
I took my old rings into the local total seal guys here in PHX and they had compression rings in stock that fit. (mine are standard size pistons) They were going to have to make the oil rings, but the ones I had were not damaged so I reused them. The guy you want to talk to is Ed Law at http://www.totalseal.com/. You can send him your old rings or your pistons and he will fix you up.

They are not that expensive. For 4 compression rings I paid $35. Oil rings are more but all in for both pistons I was looking at around $100.
 
#14 ·
Restoring a 1974 Benelli

Hi there, I bought a 1973 650 from the USA and had two main issues. The first was that the fuse box under the seat had a screw floating around in the base. I think since it left the factory, this kept blowing fuses by shorting out the circuit board. The second was that the mechanics at the first service set all the tappet gaps wrong (using metric settings with mm readings out of the book). It had huge clearances. I set me timing manually without that factory tool, but using a timing disc.It seems to start and run well. I have just put Bing carbs onto it for ease of running (see my post). Cheers Glyn.
 
#15 ·
Thanks for your reply Glyn...my bike originated in France but now finds it's home in my garage in Minnesota (USA). Just sourced .5 over pistons (Thanks Tony!) and need to get back to the machine shop for cylinder rebore. Long winters here so hopefully by spring it will be ready. Really looking forward to getting the bike back on the road and giving folks something beautiful to look at rather than all the new Harley's buzzing around here!
 
#16 ·
So this project has entered year two but my determination to get it back on the road has not waned a bit! I currently have an assortment of pushrods and trying to assess the best ones to use. My question is... how straight do the pushrods have to be? The best four I have when rolled on a flat surface seem to be almost perfectly straight but I have not checked them with instruments more scientific than that. Should I have them checked more accurately for straightness? Thoughts appreciated...
 
#17 ·
Good luck with the bike

Hi - I'm lucky enough to have an original Tornado too - it belonged to my brother and is currently in boxes having had a top end strip and the worlds worst respray back in the 80's - unfortunately I don't have the mechanical skills to restore it myself but want to get it fully restored to use - best of luck with yours - they are a beautiful bike and well worth the effort - regards - Dale
Tire Wheel Fuel tank Automotive fuel system Vehicle
 
#18 ·
So I started this thread and project a little over two years ago... many hours and a "few" dollars were spent... okay so it became an obsession (I know you all understand). Today I rolled it out of the garage, installed the battery, turned the fuel taps to "on"... blah, blah, blah... I'll get to it...it fired right up, burned off the oil used in assembly, and after a slight adjustment to the Dellortos' adjustment screws it settled into a nice idle. It is a beast to ride compared to my 250 and that gearshift on the right is going to take some getting used to but I had an ear to ear grin as I buzzed the neighborhood! I learned a lot and asked a lot of question (a good share were dumb ones) along the way. Many thanks to all of you. Gonna enjoy this for a bit then drag that 250 Super Sport out of the corner and do it all again!
 
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