I collected my old 888 from the workshop today (A Ducati mention on here ! ) , its had a service and a PC3 fitted, the dyno says it makes an extra 6 bhp, but what I wanted was to make it smoother and less hard work around town.. which it does thankfully. So all good.. I was surprised to find these two bikes in the dyno room.. The Harley was built by RSD three years ago to show off all their aftermarket parts and shipped over here by MAG Europe, in three years its never done a mile, so it was being serviced and setup on the dyno for MAG Europe to use at shows and exhibitions. The Monkey bike was bought as part of a Charity event where you have to buy a bike for no more than £300 and ride it 900 miles. With a bit of tweaking it made 6bhp and 19 lb/ft of torque, great fun and they got it to do 75mph Time for a cuppa and a choc éclair
Here's the dyno chart.. max rear bhp now 99.02, just shy of the magic 100 though on a colder day or with a harder rear tyre with high pressure, it could've made the ton.. doesn't matter as I don't often find it lacking in top end speed
I got so fed up waiting for some Guzzi content here, I decided to get my own bloody Guzzi to play with
Ahh fig so its you I've been posting in on in Guzzitech I recognized the bike very nice indeed. Just thought I'd say hello here too John
MAS Guzzi 151 BHP, and you lot thought they were all tractors DucCutters: MAS12 (Mandello Racing) John
Well hello John, and thanks for the advice. I'd be on the Moto Guzzi Club GB forum too if they'd sort out my registration
No, it's a mk4 with an 18" front wheel to replace the original 16", and a non-standard (shite) paintjob and fairing. Purrs like a kitten, it does
It's a MkV seat and fairing though innit? Front fairing is not OEM either I reckon.....neither is the front mudguard....... Sorry for asking..........I sort of lost interest in anything after the MkIII....... Brilliant engine and a piece of p*** to work on...... Wire up your oil plugs though and keep an eye on the driveshaft big bearing in the swingarm......they can spin badly in the housing.....sometimes even bearing fit wasn't enough...... ...soon sorted that out though. What's the ignition? Electronic or points? AL
Electronic ignition; the bodywork on IV's and V's was pretty much the same, this one's all standard apart from the fairing which was made by Sprint Manufacturing. The original owner ordered the fairing and the paintjob from new (the paintjob is identical to the 1987 Special Edition mk4). Aside from the fairing and some later handlebars the whole thing is bog standard. The last owner before me took the bike to a local Guzzi dealer for a full check-up, and it had a new timing chain and tensioner, new clutch plate and cone, couple of other bits and bobs, and the rest of the bike was given a clean bill of health, so I'm pretty confident it's got plenty of life left in it.
The engine etc is doddle to deal with.......much easier to sort out, so even if something is a bit iffy, you won't get in sweat over doing it. Don't go to the expense of timing gears instead of chain and sprockets.......waste of money, but you can make the tensioner adjustable from the outside. Has it got a clutch cable or is it hydraulic? If it is cable, you need to lubricate the pivot of the operating lever on the back of the gearbox........mine seized.........OK, the engine was in the bike at the time, but despite loads of penetrating oil and a bit of heat, the bl**dy pin would not budge.........I found a nice brass drift and not a particularly heavy hammer.........one tap and off came the pivot pin lug from the gearbox end casting...... .........that was yet another fast drive down to Bernies of Watford!! I found the engine ran best with Mallossi ram pipes on the carbs (the type with just a gauze screen) but I was also on points iginition (Lucas Rita was actually sh*te on several of the others' bikes insamuch they all reverted to points). You should find there are plenty of alternative parts available, better and cheaper than OEM. AL
First job is to put some miles on it and see what needs doing. First impressions suggest the suspension can be left well alone - it handles really rather well - but the brakes need some love. Mechanically it's in pretty good health (mystery oil leak notwithstanding), it's the paint and electrics that need the bulk of the work. Turns out Halfords toolbox red paint is a very good match...
Roughly where is the mystery oil leak showing, Fig? On the right hand side of the crankcase? Electrics should be relatively simple..........but if it has OEM coils, I would change them.
In the airbox... I think it's as simple as the former owner over-filling the sump; it lobbed about half a pint of oil up my left trouser leg on the 130-mile journey home, and when I checked the oil level it was still above the max fill line. It's had a sump extension fitted too, so definitely overfilled. I've drained and refilled it, just need to take it out for another run to be sure. The one thing bugging me about the bike is the ridiculous one-and-a-half-turn throttle that needs the strength of a gorilla to keep open. If you know of any mod to cure that I'd be very happy.
Hi Fig The most common throtttle mod is the Daytona 2C, lighter carb return springs and flat tops on the carbs Electronic or points is down to your belief system, BUT I'd avoid RITA (although you'd be hard placed to find one). I'd also avoid any advice about changing to a single coil (for the same reason, it's to do with the firing sequence & wasted spark systems). Sasche, Cliff Jefferies, Dyna Systems, Ignitech are all used with Dyna being the most popular but I like the Sasche and have it on mine I sort of agree with Arquebus on the timing gear, but not fully. If you are going to install gears I would avoid Alloy types, they have wrecked an awful lot of Guzzis. If going gears it would have to be steel and they are EXPENSIVE (think £500 or so) Timing chain replacement is straightforward, and most owners if tinkering install a Stuuchi tensioner instead of the insipid factory part, this is a self adjusting jobby, I don't know of any that you can manually adjust externally. PM me if you want to know any more. If the bike is dumping oil onto your leg, its not that uncommon and a lot fit Agostini oil boxes (it is just a box that allows the engine oil mist to condense). I'd also check the non return valve on the breather on top of the crankcase has not stuck as that can cause it too. As Arquebus said check clutch linkage and that there is a gap between plunger and mechanism in the gearbox cover, otherwise you can end up with a welded clutch pushrod that if left to its own devices can wreak costly havoc. I'll get ma coat
The bike's got electronic ignition, no markings on it but it looks like a Newtronic box to me. The timing chain's been replaced recently and a self-adjusting tensioner fitted; I won't be fitting timing gears on what is essentially a sunday bike. I'm gonna get the airbox off this afternoon and see what's what, and hopefully get to the bottom of the oil leak. I still think it was just overfilled.
I used to have a sump extension fitted while I was in a bright spark mode, but removed it in the end.......wasn't worth having it on there....an oil cooler would do a better job and be less weight. The cure for the throttle (and the clutch) is get down the gym..........or become a sidecar passenger........That will soon improve your grip..... Some of my old Guzzi acquaintances used to put a weaker spring in the carbs.........but I didn't........I loved the way they operated.........Squirt, squirt.........press button..........Vroom, in any weather. I made an external timing chain adjuster, based upon the Kawasaki GPZ ones. Personally, I would junk the airbox, run a breather pipe right along to the back and fit ram pipes..
