This process is far more time consuming than I imagined. I knew it would be difficult as I have no electrical skills whatsoever…in fact everything I have learned mechanically has pretty much been the result of resurrecting the Guzzi. All that has been done so far on the bike has been achieved with maybe eight – ten hours a month and has all been stuff that can be seen. The wiring is a different kettle of slippery fish altogether. What is definitely going to help me in the very near future is an A3 sized colour wiring chart that a helpful chap on the Moto Guzzi Club UK forum will do for a not unreasonable £10. I have yet to use it in anger but it is far better than the monochrome tiny one in the workshop manual.
So although the build is going very slowly I have learnt how to solder….in a fashion. Another thing that looked easier to do than is reality! The bike’s previous owner had all earths running through two points on the bike, primarily the bolts that hold the battery tray down. I decided not to reinvent the wheel and use the same points ensuring that paint/powdercoat was filed back to make a nice clean contact to the frame through the captive nut. Insulation tape has been wrapped around the connectors after these two photos were taken. There are five earths here on the nearside of the bike and two plus the battery negative on the offside of the bike.
I have conceded that the bike will not be on the road this summer now given how long things take and the little time that I have but I will have it running *prays* within the next couple of months. In terms of wiring this is what remains to be done:
- Switch gear on both sides of bike.
- Cut off and replace some connectors.
- Join some areas of the loom together when I have worked out where they go!
- Purchase a digital speedo and wire that in.
All of which looks to be a good two or three months working at the slow pace at present. Then a seat needs to be bought, exhausts wrapped and fitted, fluids of all types added, re-torquing of all bolts and almost certainly some trouble shooting. I expect that this little Goose will turn a wheel on Tarmac sometime in Spring 2015.
In my last blog it looked like I was part way through fabricating a seat mount…anyway I have binned that off as being an unnecessarily large and ugly piece of metal work that on reflection I did not need. Now, I have fabricated a bracket out of 2mm thick steel bar instead, primed and painted it and I am sure you will agree it looks better than the other monstrosity I was planning.
