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.

The End is (Al)Most Definitely Nigh…

…accelerated by the magic of electricity.  I need to now start making plans for the Little Goose as she will be nearing completion soon.   

 

The rear light is in a rough position but all lit up along with nice wiring blocks also to the rear indicators…

…the taping up continues apace…before and after shots…

Working methodically from rear to the front of the bike with the fabric loom tape…

  

The clocks have come off to make the final bit of wiring easier and tidier.

 

Tape loom and shrink wrap applied…

…and applied to the LEDs of the dash lights

Much tidier.

…and finally another 10 second video of lights and sound…

 

All being well tomorrow should see the brakes completed and mounting holes drilled into the seat pan.  Then Saturday I will be taking said seat pan to an upholsterer’s to see if they can make the seat how I want it…watch this space.

(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!

A Trailer...A Trailer…My Kingdom for a Trailer…

…oh, here’s one I bought earlier!  Today, the Little Goose goes on a small holiday to have the stress of poor wiring removed without the added trauma of my incompetence with electrickery…that has been left to my brother-in-law who knows what he is doing.

So off she went on the trailer that we bought late last year and in the big wide world she don’t half look small…and  a little vulnerable without a seat and panels on…oh and her frayed nerves hanging out and draped over her lithe frame.

…and in her new home for the next few weeks…

  Behind the curtain lies more Italian exotica!

But for now she shares space with a Honda XR250 that is being re-commissioned for the road.

So for the next few weeks my brother-in-law will be replacing all the wiring and at the end of it will be a fully functional running bike.  And I will get to learn some electric magic also into the bargain. 

After the wiring, brake fluids, carb balancing (if required) there only remains a seat to be sorted out…oh, and the nearside fork seal appears to be leaking…not sure why as yet. :(

When Is a Conservatory Not a Conservatory…?

…when it is a motorcycle workshop of course!  If my poor mum was alive…well, first off she wouldn’t allow this…which is why my dad has got away with turning his conservatory at the rear of his home into an indoor garage cum workshop.  Well done that man!

Plywood board screwed into the fabric of the house… 

Kitchen door on the left…bathroom window doubles as a place to Sellotape wiring diagrams to!

The table has been turned into a tool storage facility…

…and in the other corner next to the patio doors to the bedroom we have a trestle type table with ‘stuff’ on it and a make shift paint spraying area where the seat pan is…oh and not forgetting the exotic Italian in the middle of the room!

In my last blog you will have seen/heard the engine jump into life due to the magic performed by my brother-in-law Leon.  The replacing of the wiring will take some time yet as and when we are both available to do it.  Picture one shows all the cabling I have recently purchased in 3 different amperages.  So when Leon finishes the wiring it will be a brand new loom.

We have had a little rethink on the seat pan that we had made up…basically 2mm sheet cut to shape.  It seems likely that using that pan will foul the rear tyre under full rebound so we are going to use the original seat pan which has a great big cut out in it for this very reason, thereby allowing the tyre to move through its full range of movement.  Below you will find a photo of the style of seat I initially wanted, sort of a flat tracker style in brown with a tuck and roll cover…

…however, with the original Moto Guzzi seat pan on the bike I don’t think I can replicate the flat tracker style due to the very obvious shape.  Here is the seat as it was originally on the donor bike before I dismantled it…

 

…and how it is now mocked up on the bike.  Because of the change of plans and the fact that we have cut off the mounting point for the original seat catch a basic bracket was fabricated at the rear end which will be partly covered from the rear most point of view by the re-imagined rear light and  number plate assembly.  I shall have to drill a hole either side of the seat pan to connect it with a bolt that will go through the side panel mounting bracket.

 

The seat pan will sit upon the rails when it is in its final position.  The pan itself does have a natural raise in its profile.

 

This is roughly…very roughly…how the rear light and number plate holder, when fabricated, will be positioned.

Any suggestions in relation to how I might still achieve the flat tracker look from the seat will be gratefully received. 

Happy 2015 to you all!!!!