1966 250 Monza / Scrambler reassembly

[basketcase]

Hello all,
Sorry for the leave of absence. Life just dosent allow for enough fun project time.
Was tinkering with the Duke a little this weekend finally. If you recall, this project was a Monza that was converted to scrambler a long time ago. My Dad bought it and pushed it into the corner of the garage. As long as I have been alive (48) this bike never ran. It still had the Monza tank and wheels, but was stripped of all the other Monza stuff and added trials tires and Red wing rear shocks. The seat was missing.
Anyway, got the front end reassembled with new fork seals and steering head bearings. Those little 3/16 ball bearings are no fun to install. The cuss words definitely helped though. Also took apart my old school Red Wing shocks and cleaned and reassembled. Hopefully the seal will hold up cause parts are not available anymore.....that i could find anyway. I found a seat from a 1973 scrambler and made some mounts for it. I also used a tank from a 1964 Monza cause I didnt like the square 1966 Monza tank. If I find the correct scrambler tank I would rather use that, but couldn't fine one.
In its previous life some one spray painted the frame black. It looked like crap. So i started to clean it off to repaint it. But the original color underneath was blue metalac, And after i cleaned it all off....I kind of liked it. Its nicked up here and there, but I think its original.? You know what they say....It can only be original once. So painting parts is going to be kept at a minimum. Original patina is going to be used where it can. The tank had some big dents so they were pulled out, filled, and spray painted flat black. I couldn't save the patina there.
I am ordering new cables from Eurotrash Jambalaya and a VIN sticker. Hopefully I will be installing the engine this week. Then time to get back in touch with Bob to do the wiring.
Pictures soon.
Randy

[flynbulldog]

crazy! if it were mine I'd put it back to the original Blue Monza. That is a pretty cool and rare bike

[basketcase]

wOW, thats the color. That looks sweet! Rare....the color is rare? Or the Monza is rare?

[double diamond]

The earliest Monzas, Scramblers and Dianas had kingfisher blue frames. A few years later they were all black.

[basketcase]

Anybody know what size the screw is that holds down the 'Super Pratic B' cover on the twist throttle? My cover and screw were missing. I couldn't find a used cover, so i made one. Hopefully it will work. It dosent have the 'Hump' like the original. I did see them on line new, but this bike has lots of patina and a new one just wouldn't look right.
Also looking for a used exhaust clamp, a 'P' shape exhaust hanger and some cable adjusters. New just wont do.

[StewartD]

Hi Basketcase,

The Clymer manual, figure 126, gives the screw spec as 'TCC 3MA x 3'. I assume this means M3 x 3 long, standard pitch thread, which (for ISO standards), is 0.5mm. I don't know if Italian standards in the early 1960s conformed to ISO though. The pitch may have been different for an M3 thread. I would clean the thread as best as you can, before gently screwing in an M3 x 0.5 pitch screw. I have one on my Ducati, but my eyesight is not good enough to check it against a pitch gauge. It is very hard to check such a small and short screw for pitch.

Stewart D

[basketcase]

Thanks Stewart, I found a M3 screw, I don't know what pitch it is, but it went in nice. I hear ya on 'cant see the pitch gage on such a small screw'. I have to get the electric magnifying glass out to see.

[basketcase]

Here's some pics. I think this bike was a flat tracker.

[basketcase]

A couple more.

DSCN0350[1].JPG

[flynbulldog]

wOW, thats the color. That looks sweet! Rare....the color is rare? Or the Monza is rare?

OK, I don't know how rare the color or the bike is but I do know that a lot of Scramblers were sold in the US and much fewer streetbikes like the Monza were sold.
The blue is a very desirable color on those bikes and IMO the Monza in the blue color would be a far more desirable bike than the scrambler or a flat-tracker.
I'd restore it back to original if it were mine