Gregory Bender

Breather box - how to get the washer out

Moto Guzzi V700, V7 Special, Ambassador, 850 GT, 850 GT California, Eldorado, and 850 California Police models

Updated:

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When disabling the stock breather valve (to use a different style check valve), in my opinion it is very important (read: vital) to remove the spring and washer inside.

Thanks to Kim Schick who posted this information on the old Yahoo! Loopframe_Guzzi news group (which has now moved to Groups.io). In Kim's own words:

I need to chime in on the breather box thread that was going on a while back...

A Dremel tool cuts an excellent piggy bank slot on the bottom of the box and lets you fish the washer out.

Brazing the slot allows for powder coating, but J-B WELD works just as well (so far at least) as long as you're doing the paint thing.

Thanks to Dan Klestorny of Hippo Hands for sending me this information in a private e-mail. In Dan's own words:

A few weeks ago I removed the flapper from inside the breather box you sold me earlier. Something I don't usually do is take pictures of the procedure, but I did this time, thinking that you might want to add them to your website, if you find them useful.

I used a hacksaw blade to insert into the slot, then flipped the box up and down a couple of times, no more, and the flapper was sitting on top of the blade, that easy. Mind you, I tried with a knife before that, and spent about 12 flipping back and forth without success. Once out, I used black epoxy to seal the opening. It's not a concours restoration, so looks don't matter much to me, and you can't see that anyhow when the box is installed.

Photo courtesy of Dan Klestorny of Hippo Hands.

Photo courtesy of Dan Klestorny of Hippo Hands.

Photo courtesy of Dan Klestorny of Hippo Hands.

Photo courtesy of Dan Klestorny of Hippo Hands.

Photo courtesy of Dan Klestorny of Hippo Hands.

Photo courtesy of Dan Klestorny of Hippo Hands.