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.

Nearly There…

…well it feels that we are closing in on the finish line.  No doubt there will be more issues to resolve once the finish line has been passed.

The first issue that came to light once a 50m test ride showed was that something was holding the bike back.  This was traced to an everso slightly too long pair of bolts holding the rear brake caliper on…might have been my fault that…picking up the wrong bolts.  The disc has been slightly scored as a result but nothing major that will impact upon the braking operation.

As can be seen from the photo above some bits of paint are going to need touching up where brake fluid has got on it whilst bleeding them.

As can be seen from this photo below the brake calipers are in my ideal position behind the fork legs, simply aesthetics.  However, reversing them to this position has the unintended effect of making the speedo needle try and run backwards.  Also, as I didn’t get the tyre taken off and reversed the correct rotation direction is now back to front.  I could have spent an age looking for an anti-clockwise speed drive and taken the tyre off and turn it around, but it was easier to put the fork legs back as they were from the factory.

 

The white residue that can be seen on the wheel and mudguard is from using brake cleaner to remove brake fluid…it will all tidy up by the end.

 

 

The process of removing the front wheel, whipping the forks out and bleeding the brakes was surprisingly straight forward.  The brake lines will be clamped to the forks with p-clips to tidy it up.

 

Considering how useful the centre stand is I am thinking that although it keeps quite a bit of weight on the bike I may keep it on permanently…not sure yet, but whilst debating the pros and cons I thought I would put another spring on it…not a lot of skill required.

After a little tweaking we now have a working throttle assembly from a Honda 250 crosser.

…and whilst balancing the carbs the throttle is working perfectly. 

 

Once the brakes had been filled with fluid and bled using the back bleeding method with a syringe on the caliper bleed nipple the front brake lever still travelled too far back to the bar.  As the span adjuster screw was in as far as it would go it was decided that the actuating rod that enters the master cylinder could do with being longer.  So a slim bolt was cut down and shaped and has firmed up the lever with enough travel to work the front brakes without going back to the bar.

 

With a little stutter we tried the Little Goose up the road…in the second clip you can see flame coming from the nearside (left) exhaust silencer….hmmm…unburnt fuel for some reason?

 

 

Can’t beat a misfire late at night!  Consideration is being given to the float possibly sticking in the left carburettor as the left hand cylinder and exhaust silencer were both barely warm compared to the other side which was as hot as you might expect.  So a clean of the carb is on the cards…again.

Next time more fabrication on the seat, fit grips to the bars and pop a bar end mirror on…then we might be ready for the MOT once she runs right.

It’s Always The Little Things…

…that throw a spanner in the works.  This time in the form of leaky carburettors.  They were a little gummed up and have been given a bit of a clean out but there’s still something sticking that is making fuel torrent out of the overflows.  So, some work there needed, with maybe some more adjustment on the float height and cleaning.

Seen in the daylight proper for the first time in a while, resplendent with a super new loom…back of a trailer doesn’t really count.

Just add fuel…

  

  The nearside carb was whipped off and given a cursory clean whilst a puddle of petrol can be seen under the offside carb in the close up.

 

…and then back on and and off with the offside carb.  Cleaning and what I think will be the start of a process of elimination with float height ended with both carbs pouring fuel out.  So the carbs are the ‘little things’ that have chucked a minor spanner in the works along with the starter motor solenoid which was previously suspected as being a little sticky and requires a gentle bash from time to time to waken.  This will require a strip, clean and re-grease in the none too distant future.

So that was Saturday morning…Friday night was more productive with the correct braided brake line fitted at the front and partially bled.  Not having done this before on a bike, I was surprised how long and delicate a task it is…probably half way with the fronts being bled and just the rear brake to do.  The banjos on the front calipers are orientated so that there is ease of access to the pads…which was a great idea…not thought up by me I hasten to add!

And just to prove that Friday nights are better than Saturday mornings, a quick video of the bike alive and breathing with lights and sound.

(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.

Elecktrickery, De-Linking & …Progress.

Well this was a quite unexpectedly early blog to be making seeing as the wee Guzzi has only been at its temporary home for just over a week.  But, how things move on when you know what you are doing.  Of course the ‘you’ to whom I am referring is not me but said Electro-God brother-in-law!

Once my girl had settled into her temporary abode she was disembowelled of the rats nest of wires that had masqueraded as a wiring loom.

Now that mess is being replaced with precision, care and attention to detail…

  …by someone who knows what they are doing.

The previous owner of the bike had continued with the quirky (flak jacket donned!) linked brake system Guzzi bestowed upon the V50 but had upgraded the master cylinder with a handlebar mounted one that on inspection is going to unbalance the brakes as it is so much more powerful than the original frame mounted cable operated gubbins.  The Brembo bar mounted master cylinder is expensive especially as it required a new lever and clamp…probably around £170 ($260)…so rather than replace that we are going to de-link the brakes.

The original Moto Guzzi system has the brake lever operate one front brake caliper whilst the foot brake operates the other front brake caliper plus the rear caliper in order to evenly distribute braking and enhance stability under braking.  On the rear brake master cylinder there is a banjo splitter one side of which sends brake fluid to the rear caliper via a short braided hose whilst the other sends brake fluid along some copper brake pipe which then connects to braided hose to one of the front calipers. 

SPLITTER

So the plan is to remove all of the copper piping and place a blanking plug in the corresponding connection on the banjo splitter seen above.  Given the angle of the screw in brake light switch it seems easier to blank off one side of the splitter than go for a single banjo that would present problems when attaching the side panel.

Up at the handlebar mounted master cylinder a double length banjo to allow two braided hoses from both front calipers will be inserted into the master cylinder separating the front brakes from the rear as in a conventional braking setup. 

I am aware that it is likely that the rear brake will become quite hard as it is only actuating one caliper as opposed to two so I may choose to go to a smaller capacity rear master cylinder if I can find one that has 50mm mounting hole centres.

The ignition wiring circuit is complete now, although the routing and taping up of all the wires will still be needed.  So whilst the lighting circuit is being worked on, below is a quick video showing how with some fuel the Little Goose would come to life!