1971 Laverda SF Teardown

1971 Laverda SF Teardown

This page documents the teardown of the top end of my 1971 Laverda 750SF after I burned a hole in the right piston during some enthusiastic riding.

Overview of the situation.
Close-up of the sad piston.

This is an original standard size Mondial piston, so it gave good service for 50 years.

Side view of the damage.
Deposits of melted aluminum at the top of the cylinder liner.

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The fixed cam chain tensioner wheel is pretty worn.
The movable cam chain tensioner and its mounting bracket were destroyed.

It seems unlikely that the cam chain tensioner was damaged when the piston burned through. More likely the failure of the tensioner contributed, maybe directly, to the piston failure.

The head came through OK. Bad cylinder is on the bottom, with a fair amount of aluminum accretion.