Edizione Finale…

…So just before I ride off into the sunset in a slightly smoky haze, I shall pick up from last time.

The seat.  Well, I have found someone local to me that are Master Upholsterers and have made plenty of motorcycle seats previously.  Take a bow the guys at Crowther & Sons who have done a fantastic job.  After visiting their showroom and looking at the different products I went for a tan leather in a specific style that is somewhere on another blog entry.  To keep the cost down my dad and I did some preparation work to the seat base which involved gluing some battens to the lip of the base which the leather would eventually be secured to…

 

…and it turned out pretty much okay, a couple of bits needing only slight adjustment by the seat maker.

Attention then turned to the intermittent starter motor problem whereby it would not engage correctly, requiring a little tap to help matters.  I know that's not the right thing to do so decided that a reconditioned unit might be required but tried a local auto electrical specialist first.  There was a dry soldering joint, a misaligned something or other and a droopy spring…so that has all been resolved now.  The chap who did the work knew from when the starter motor originated from 10 feet away but was surprised how heavy it is.  Thanks go to Electro-Mec for sorting it out.

As some paint was on the mating face of the starter motor I decided to take all the paint off.  As time has gone by I have got less and less enthused with it so have spent a few hours with Dremel and drill and a variety of flap wheels and wire brushes to polish it instead.  I think it looks a lot better for it too…

BEFORE…

 

…DURING…

 

…and AFTER

A period of shakedown tests will commence very, very locally before I venture too far afield.

So how does she look now that she is complete?  Well, I am slightly biased but think she looks gorgeous and has been worth every millilitre of blood, sweat and tears, not to mention ££££'s it has taken to get to this point, nearly three years after first starting this way back in August 2012…But, I shall let you judge the success of the completed Little Goose.

 

 

The next project is yet to be sourced.  It might be a bike.  It might be a car.  Who knows?  But whatever it is, it will be built with a passion for bringing back to life that which had previously been neglected.

The Man From The Ministry…He Say 'Yes'.

The bike has now received a 'Pass' of the Ministry of Transport Test and is considered safe to be on the road now that the weeping oil seal has been fixed.  I take responsibility for that failure point as I had 'butchered' the two oil seals when I re-assembled the forks quite some months ago now.  Lesson learnt…I need a proper bearing driver set rather than use a similar sized socket!  Anyway, fork oil seals replaced and no more leaks.

The P-clips arrived in M10 form so I could mount them on the lower yoke pinch bolts.  They are just perfect for moving the braided brake hoses away from the fork legs which was the other failure point.  And with all that done she was given a 'Pass' certificate for one year. 

The Red Bull can went the way of the bin and in its place went an un-required Brembo brake reservoir with a single side exit which was perfect for the job.  A little hole was drilled in it to release pressure and vapours.  This is only a temporary measure as the home-made oil catch tank has its vent to atmosphere at the bottom which means fluid is going to come out of it…it should be at the top.  I shall have to try and locate a properly fabricated one to fit in the very small gap I have.

 

This is the first bike I have ridden since 2006 when I sold my Ducati 748.  The first few miles I felt quite vulnerable but I think that was as much to do with riding a bike that I don't know and the thought at the back of my head that I actually built it and not renowned for my practical skills!!  Or common sense as I ran out of petrol on the way back…thankfully half a mile from my brother in law, who once again has been a diamond bringing me out a few litres of fuel.  I shall now experience range anxiety for the rest of my life!!

At the weekend my 11 year old daughter helped turn the tip we call a garage into a useable storage space…

…all it was missing was the Guzzi.

All that remains now is to source someone to make up the seat that I would like.  I am planning to visit someone tomorrow about this.  There is also a little intermittent problem related to the wiring whereby the lights/horn stop working…so I will attempt to trace that in due course.  And then that will be that.  Another project is being considered along different lines, perhaps a GPZ900R or 1100 Zephyr that might attempt to replicate the artworks that AC Sanctuary produce or maybe a late 80's early 90's icon such as a FZR1000, CBR600 or a 250 stroker if such a thing exists at reasonable money.

So all being well the next blog will be the last one with all the little paint jobs tidied up, a spit and polish and a lovely new seat.

I Have Seen The Light…

…in the form of a Metal Inert Gas (MIG) welder, wielded by someone who knows how to use such a beast. 

Yesterday was a pleasant three hours tackling the seat fabrication mainly and adapting a throttle assembly.  Naively a couple of blogs ago I thought the finish line was within touching distance.  I liken this to the same way I find that it is the last mile to any unknown destination when using a Satnav that is the hardest to navigate; so it seems is completing a motorcycle.  To be fair, what I am learning now is that when deviating even a little from the original specification will no doubt require quite a bit of problem solving for the seemingly smallest of tasks.  Greater planning at the beginning of the next project, as there will be a next project, will hopefully be tackled with more forethought.

 

It was decided that in order to mount the original seat pan securely it would need a bracket to be welded to its underside for the most forward mount.  So a spare piece of flat bar that used to be the homemade regulator/rectifier bracket on this very bike was pressed into action as a seat mounting point.  Skilfully, my brother-in-law used the MIG welder to fill a previously drilled hole that was in the wrong place, so that a hole could be placed in the right place, allowing this bracket and therefore the seat to mount to the frame.  Welded to this were a couple of captive nuts for the locating bolts to attach from underneath the frame into the seat.  I describe this as I forgot to take photos of this bit but will post some next time.

 

…welding on the captive nuts.

 

…some grinding to prepare the seat to accept the newly made flat bracket.

Another bracket was formed to hang from under the rear of the seat that mounts the rear light…curiously not seen in this photo!

A new, supposedly ‘twin-pull’ RFX throttle assembly had to be modified as it was not a twin pull...it was a ‘push-pull’ type.  So another channel for the second throttle cable was formed in the assembly with an angle grinder making the cables both go in the same direction, transforming it into a ‘twin pull’.  As the assembly has the correct 90° bend in it, the cables will be routed correctly behind the headlight and along the main frame tube neatly.  The length of the plastic grip was also not long enough so the sealed end was cut off to all the throttle to meet up with the front master cylinder.

And just to be sure that the cable barrels/nipples I got last week, a quick solder proved they fit this throttle assembly just fine.

 

…and fitted securely in the throttle twist grip.  Brilliant.

So, what remains to do now?

• Clean out the carburettors , adjust their float levels and balance them if required.
• Clean out the remaining shot from the petrol tank when it was shot blasted.
• Use shorter fuel pipes from carburettors to the petrol tank taps, possibly with an additional set of glass fuel filters.
• Mount the rear seat to frame bracket with any welding if required.
• Continue with bleeding the front brakes.
• Put fluid into the rear brake system and bleed.
• Finalise the routing of throttle cables and ensure they work smoothly in the new assembly.
• Upholstering the seat is going to be left to a professional.
• Ministry of Transport Test!!!

(Dash) Lights…(My) Camera…(In)Action….

…for now at least.  The wiring is moving at a pace thanks to my brother-in-law Leon…a completely new loom is taking shape with wires that match the colours on a great A3 sized Guzzi wiring diagram I have compared with the random colours used in the botched loom. 

 

This is where the main loom joints together front to rear…

  

…some tidying required around the back of the headlight bowl as this is temporary to check that everything works…

…which it does!  This is an Osram Nightbreaker bulb and is brilliantly bright.

 

The dash is coming on also…the clocks are back lit but are quite dim so will look at changing them to LED’s if possible.

The dash LED’s are are super bright, particularly the High Beam.  Both the indicator dash lights are working and the Neutral light leaving only the Ignition/Charge light to wire in.  The front indicators, with their LED’s are working just fine…

  

…leaving the rear Stop/Tail light and the rear indicators to wire in and that should just be about it for the wiring loom.  It will then be wrapped in fabric wiring tape to keep it all neat and tidy as well as protected from moisture and grime.

One of the jobs left to do is to de-link the brakes as I mentioned in a previous blog.  So the nice people at HEL made me a brake line up that would do the job…except for the fact I forgot to specify a 90° bend in one of the unions…doh!  So I have now ordered another brake line but this time from Venhill (remembering the 90° bend!) whose unions are screwed onto the braided line rather than swaged on like the HEL ones meaning they cannot be removed successfully by someone at home.

Jobs to do…

• Fit the brake line when it arrives and put fluid into the braking system and bleed.
• Balance the carburettors.
• Check the nearside fork seal, as it wept when tied down on the trailer…too much compression!
• Commission a new seat for the old seat pan…below is my preferred option seeing as I cannot go Street Tracker with it due to the tyre cut out in the seat pan…safety over aesthetics.  I have ordered a 20cm square of race seat foam that I will stick to the bare seat pan to get it to the MOT (Ministry of Transport) safety testing station.

• Check all nuts and bolts…add medium strength thread-lock, then torque tight.
• Bin the current fuel pipes with their crossover and run a single fuel hose from each carburettor to each fuel tank tap.
• Take it for its MOT test…job done.