Aermacchi Engine Mods // Paul Brodie's Shop 

You're looking happier and stronger every week. Great to see that you're doing better. Always a pleasure to watch your work. Best from Sweden.

Good morning Paul and Mitch from the UK 😁 time for a coffee ☕

It's like watching Michelangelo chiseling out a beautiful woman from a block of granite! Genius!

There is a guy that makes this primary gears living 5 miles away from me. He has a one man company where he produces small Brass parts with 50 year old automation machines. Those old 'pre cnc' automation milling machines are very interesting stuff.

Thanks for bringing us this festival of Italian loveliness. You are truly talented Paul and it's a pleasure to watch you work. You are looking well and that is a real blessing. Shout out to Mitch for getting the camera shots too. Best wishes, Dean.

"loosing a case!" ....That's good machinist humor ! great video with great details , Thanks!

Who needs vice grip when you have tape grip :) Nice job!

I love watching you work and your thought process. I'm so happy your are back to posting content. Your looking great mate. Take care

First thing I bought with my very first check runn8ng a jack hammer when i was 15 years old.was some proflo clip on a crtt replica tail piece and a glass front fender from moto italia. I was 6 year's old when we started fixing the 65H. We got it running and I got to ride it 30 year's later. I don't talk to my dad anymore. This makes me feel like my dad and I are in the shop working on the sprint again.

The metric boys and girls are scratching their heads with all this imperial talk lol. Nice vid.

Wow Paul, you are truly amazing! I so appreciate watching you think through these problems, and develop elegant solutions. So nice!!!!

Paul, thank you for the video. I had a similar problem with the clutch hub nut on a Honda dry clutch conversion that I made. My solution was to turn down some of the face of the nut, leaving part of it as a sort of threaded sleeve, that fitted into a recess bored in the hub. Obviously a compromise but I felt it was better to have the full length of thread engaged.

Looking and sounding better everyday. !!

I've always used copper coat spray on gaskets because it goes on thin and doesn't squish and it seals really well. When you need to take it apart, it comes right off with the gasket and generally IF there is any cleanup, a rag with some brake clean or alcohol cleans it up really good. When I used to race my 70 and half camaro, we were always going through several sets of valve cover gaskets on a weekend and that bill added up fast so when we started copper coating, we could take the valve cover gaskets off between races and reuse them because the copper coat would seal up so good and we could go 3 months before needing to replace the gaskets. The gaskets always came off in one piece with no damage and went back on and seal again and again and again. We used it on exhaust gaskets and then ended all the issues with those and we used it lightly on head gaskets and never had a leak or issue. Trans pan gaskts, rear dif gasket. The only place it never worked was the carb gasket. The gas would dispel the copper coat and then the gasket would leak. We realized the carb gaskets were made to absorb the gas and they swell up to form a seal and the copper coat would prevent that swelling because it blocked the Absorbtion of the gas. The copper coat is tacky so it will hold when assembling components.

Truly a world-class machinist/mechanic. I can’t say I’ve ever seen another man with these skills. Thanks Gary

Thoroughly enjoyed watching you fool around. Solving problems.

Dude you getting better like wine. On point

It is a pleasure to watch you at work 👏👏👌 Cheers Chris

Amazing stuff Paul! (and great filming Mitch). Your looking and sounding a lot better man 👍

Nice to see you back at work. It is as relaxing and inspiring as a massage. Best regards from Germany

Brilliant, mate. I never fail to marvel at your knowledge and patience. A true gentleman.

Feeling the tension during the setting up of the boring tool makes for good watching. Fantastic channel. Thanks for sharing Paul.

You are Looking Good Paul, enjoying the Italian bike tutorial. Very informative on these engines and your expertise is appreciated.

Its great to watch these engineering/motorcycle videos with you working to perfection figuring out how to solve the problems you encounter, they are a pleasure to watch. As some have said you're definately looking brighter and healthier even though you will be having more treatment soon. Thank you.

What a beautiful piece of machinery. Assembly is so precise thank you Paul

Great to see you back in the shop doing well

Superb content as always Paul, Your a very clever guy and you make clear explanations. Top quality work.👌

great to see you doing better, me and my dad love to see you work at your shop. Best wishes from The Netherlands, Luca.

Hello Paul, great to see you setting up the engine, a real game of patience. Even better to see you looking so very well. Keep up the the good work! Thank you Kevin.

Great Presentation - the joys of building a race motor from a road motor - I am doing the same (Aermacchi 350) and appreciate the guided tour!

Nice to see you in the shop again. Take care and heal up.

I love watching the "Brodie maniacal math" of your custom work Paul. Top shelf quality, both your assembly, and the Mitch and Paul video effort. So glad to see you looking both happy and healthy as you whip the machine into compliance with your vision! Keep it up, I'm hoping for a few decades more of seeing you work, lol

Thank you Paul and Mitch. I fun sidetrack into retro Italian single cylinders.

Mitch and Paul...Paul and Mitch! What a perfect pair to bring us all this information! Thank you both for sharing! Can't wait for the next video.

Fantastic patience and skills___ really enjoyed the video.Remember watching these being raced in the UK in late sixties .

Hello Paul. Wonderful to see you back in the shop. And you look better and stronger. 👍💪 Good luck with your treatment. All the best from Denmark 🇩🇰

Great stuff Paul. Thanks heaps!

If it's thick enough I'd consider machining a little recess in the clutch drum so you have room for the lock washer and also get the nut a little farther down on the threads.

Did you ever hear of a CMA racer from the 60's named Hanje ? He raced a 350 arremacchi with artificial legs ...every race was push start from the grid and I was amazed that he managed.

Never stop to show us your great skills!

Nice work. Nothing like aftermarket parts to teach you how much thought and engineering went into the original bits.

Enjoyed it !! hell yes 😉😇 loved it, thanks dynamic duo, this is an oasis of sanity at the present time paul & mitch "keep on keepin on"guys,👍👍👍

Regarding your response Paul to @Eric….my thoughts and prayers are with you Paul🙏 I so look forward to seeing you again in another teaching video. Much love and respect Paul❤️🙏🙂 Get well soon! And thanks to Mitch for all the awesome filming 👍😊

YAAAAAAH! New Video!! Thanks Paul!!

As always, great video. The old bikes are a challenge, all the way. I recall some of the 'compromises' I used to do were absolutely insane....but I was young, and the Gods of speed were on my side, apparently. On a bright note...I finally have an excavation for my shed slab! I'm not going to try to fool myself that that's the end of my woes, but here's hoping!

Another interesting video. 👍 If I remember right, 50 years ago when I put the cases together, I used a pipe, a plate, and a bolt screwed into the in of the crankshaft to pull the cases together. Although you did sand down the crankshaft, I always feared messing up the flywheel alignment by hammering it on the way you did.

A Man of detail. Continued prayers for Healing 🙏

Remember always think positive. Love watching this channel.

There is another way to achieve the clutch spacer. Yamaha part 24-6591 (starter gear retention hardware) The design could be scaled up to suit your application and allow adjustment via different thicknesses of the half-moon spacers. Just my thoughts!

At least you saved the Case Paul and no mess ups 😂😂 great job buddy 😁😁🤘🤘

Looking much better Paul.

Dear Paul, thank you very much for continuing the videos with Aermacchi's engine. As soon as you finish, I will start assembling my own engine. Be well!

I just flight yesterday from buenos aires to Madrid watching downloaded PB's video! my best flight so far

Wonderful video! I have bell alerts for many youtube sites, but your's is the one I always look for and go to first!! great job, plus you're looking great! I noticed that the crankcases don't need to be threaded as the crankcase bolts just go all the way through both sides with a stainless nylock nut on the other side, so you don't have to worry about stripping out the threads in the soft aluminum and fixing them with keenserts or Heli-Coil . Nice! Of course the locating pins hold the crankcases in the correct position. It looked like the second locating pin you tapped in went easier than the first, or am I just seeing things....lol. You said the clutch gear is German made, it looks like an aerospace gear with it's thin web and holes to lighten it that I saw at Lucas Western Gear plant near Park City (now called Triumph Gear), Utah many years ago. They made gears for the aerospace industry, fascinating! I bet it was expensive and it looks like it weighs maybe 40% of the original!! Thanks Paul!!

You're a mad man Paul Brodie!👍🍻

Tres complicated Paul - twisted my brain - it's a multi-layered Italian sandwich.

How great to see you back at it!Your shaper than you tungsten in a whole different level. Thank you sir for your wisdom and passion of the good almighty 2 wheeler.Regards Gentlemen!Miller Time.

Educated and entertained - Many Thanks.👍

I held my breath as you fixed the bearing bore. Whew!

love watching your content Paul keep up the awesome work. 👌 👏 👍 from Dwayne in South Africa.

I have noticed several time when things are reassembled and assisted with some form of knocking stick the note changes as the fit nears where it is going in a similar fashion to a tap filling a bottle with a liquid. Wood or metal, the change in note seems to work the same. Thank you Paul and Mitch!

Awesome.

Great! Here you are!

Many thanks from Germany 👍

Well done lads

As usual, top quality content and top quality videography. Good to see you both back at it and Paul, looking and sounding much better! I'm still confused by the need for the welded shim and the consequence of not being able to engage the lock nut fully on the clutch shaft, requiring you to omit the locking washer. Would it not be better to put a shim on the back side of the internal spline/gear to raise the whole assembly? I'm unsure if it will misalign the gear mesh with the drive gear, but I have noted it is a lot thinner than the standard helical gear it replaced potentially leaving room for it to be moved? Cheers, Gus.

LETS GOOOO NEW VIDEO WAHOOOOO

Dear Mr. Brodie. This was a complex episode, at least for me. Thanks for that. I hope u are doing better. You certainly look stronger. Thanks for this week's entry! And I am looking forward for the next episode.

Paul as for the clutch hub nut. is potable ta mill the clutch hub out just enough for the nut ta fit flush with top of the spindle shaft to use the washer. looks ta mee there is enough material to do that. I built my first bike back in the early 60's as a teenager.

I’m in bed at 23:30 watching this tired but captivated, only word to describe this is, genius. Good to see you getting better and stronger. Quick question does the clutch nut spin to tighten or loosen?

You finally used that Boyar-Schultz surface grinder. I'm amazed at how accurate such a simple machine like that can be. That Aeromacchi case is beefy.

Hi Paul Regarding the camshaft and the bearing and the seal and all that: I would have had the camshaft journal ground down from 17mm to 15mm and then you could have just used the correct seal and bearing time and time again. regards and get well soon!

Love the videos,I have a few,sure wish you could rebuild my 73 with your up grades. I have a 70 motor not sure if it’s a250 or 350, how can you tell.and keep making videos I learn something new every time

You’re making me worry now Paul wondering what I missed putting mine together all those years ago.

That engine is looking better than when they made it in Varese.

Have you considered reversing the order of the clutch plates so that the bottom plate meshes with the outer drum?

A bit unnerving taking metal out , worked out as you predicted. Thanks

Wonder if somebody at Shimano was looking at an Aermacchi clutch gear when they came up with the Uniglide cassette body...🤔

24:30 The bearing went in nicely but you could have warmed the casing up, it makes fitting bearings even easier.

After machining hundreds (thousands?) of bearing housings and knowing just how tight the tolerances are, trying to match the exact same diameter is just about impossible so machining just the lower section was a good call. As for the clutch hub, the nut isn't hardened so staking it into one of the splines may be a good idea? BTW, I've always referred to the parts as hub and basket or outer and inner drums (some service manuals also call them drive and driven drums)

Love the video's. Why not surface grind the nut the thickness of the lock washer? Just a thought.

I think I did hear Italy lol

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👍🏻

👍👍😎👍👍

I got lost on the seal. It didn't have one originally or it's land was way too small for reliability? Great show. Thanks Paul.

I have had to build so many engines from a box and I hate how no book or parts diagrams ever call out the thickness of shims and ow washers!! And customers wonder why it takes so long. Just like you, you have to guess or calculate end play and make sure everything is correct or it will not work, or wear out fast.

Hi Paul & Mitch, Another great video 👍 Just an idea on the nut & locking washer in the Clutch Hub, is there enough room on the outer hub next to the shaft to drill tiny indentation, Then you could drill and tap the nut to take an appropriate size grub screw, The grub screw can then be held into nut with blue Loctite, you could even tap two grub screw’s into the nut adjacent to each other, Hope this makes sense 🤪🤪🤪 difficult to see how much room you actually have by watching the video also is it feasible to drill two tiny little indentations in the outer clutch hub….. Mark

Could you do a talk on different bike frame materials. Why would you want a steel frame or an aluminum frame carbon fiber frame.

Bodie you are cool 😊, I would like some vice soft jaws like you. What is the Guage Brass you use? Thank you for responding to your fan base, other producers don't bother.

Washers, shims, washers, shims… does this motor need less than 200 of these ?? 😄

I guessing cutting the spacer and welding it back together is easier than machining the splines into it so it'll fit over in one piece?

Man, I really appreciate your work - but you should really use temperature to mount/unmount bearings and axels, and not always file them down so that they fit directly or use high pressure. You would create a much more durable fit - the creators of these motors really thought about the fittings. They would have made them fit directly if this would be great idea. No offense, but you may think about that.

Hello Paul, Close by in New Westminster. Looking good, nice to see you back at work, however you left me wondering on your choice of case closure fasteners. Do those nylock nuts have a temp rating, please? I have heat softened some on past auto and motorcycle projects and wouldn't want to see your cases separate after a few laps. Thanks, Marc

nice looking rod what make Carrillo??

Would machinating the nut down a little thinner, make it work better so it catches all the threads, or would it make it weaker ?? ND taking a punch and dinging the top thread after the nut is torqued would help to keep the nut from backing off..

With the clutch basket nut, it's only holding it in situ with very little loading right? Why not use your surface grinder to take it down to the right level and then use the proper locking washer, avoiding the need for locktite?

Is the need for that big clutch washer/spacer caused by mismatched parts (e.g. race vs. stock), or something else? I’m still confused why there was such a big gap. Thanks!

How did you cut the tig welded washer to get it off the shaft?

Did you use your patented Aermacchi XRay vision to see inside the case to figure out what was keeping it from closing?

Who makes that Dry Clutch kit? When you buy the one for a Ducati Single (I think NOVA makes it), you typically have to buy a longer transmission shaft for this exact reason, the stock shaft is too short, and cant be assembled!!!!