Its Italian, but not Ducati... Guzzi content!

It seems Photobucket has decided to wipe all my photos as they've exceeded a limit, but they'll all return on the 19th June when
the monthly allowance resets apparently. Anyway heres a couple of pics I've loaded the old fashioned way..The bike is back on its wheels, with the brake caliper mount and rear spacers done, along with a special order hard anodised alloy sprocket from Renthal..

 

Not sure if I should continue with this build thread, as its no longer about the Guzzi (which I'm not happy with, so going to be take it in a different direction when the Norton/Harley is finished). Had a frustrating time trying to make a stainless exhaust system, not done that before, not sure I want to do another. This is my third attempt, very tricky to get a pair of megaphones, one either side, both at the same angle, height and position, while keeping a decent amount of ground clearance etc. The mounting plates for the rear sets (and exhaust hangers) are just templates, so I could play around with the peg position. The 'V' shaped LSL brackets and mounting plates will be replaced with new mounts, made from 15mm alloy plate, be much neater. Not sure if I'll linish and polish the downpipes yet, or leave them as they are, or maybe ceramic coat them and the chrome megaphones.

 

With the Norley pretty much done, time to think about the Guzzi, possibly fitting a supercharger (which I have), if it do-able without cutting up the frame, then I'll give it ago.

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Been nearly a year since I last posted on this thread, so here's an update. I finished the Norley last summer, had a few problems with it, annoying but not unexpected. The second hand master cylinders I'd bought all leaked and needed rebuilding with new seals, the electronic speedo never worked correctly. Not sure if that was down to my wiring or a fault with the speedo. The biggest problem was with my one-off hydraulic clutch, the master:slave cylinder ratio was wrong and made the clutch very heavy to use. It worked and I could ride the bike, but not really practical in traffic. I bought a bigger slave cylinder from a Honda Blackbird but haven't got round to making it fit yet, as soon after I managed to damage my arm which ended my riding for the rest of the year.

At this point I returned to the Guzzi, started by making new mounts for the coils, only to find one of the coils had been damaged somehow and was cracked. A bit of googling found that Lucas car coils would do the job so I bought a pair which were surprisingly cheap. I also spend awhile thinking about how to fit a supercharger, till eventually I came to my senses and decided it was too much work.. extensively modify the frame, the tank, outboard alternator, lower CR etc. I then started to question the direction I was taking the Guzzi, as all my other bikes are impractical single seaters, not exactly ideal for popping to the chippy on, and here I was building another impractical single seater. What to do? I wasn't sure, so went off an built a drag bike instead over the winter. That's pretty much completed now bar 20 hours running in on the dyno, so time to return to the Guzzi (again)..
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It will be four years next month since I bought the Guzzi Cali 3,and its still not done, about time I got on with it..
The first job was to do something about the seat unit, how to mount it to the frame and make a seat base to be upholstered.
When I cut off the old frame brackets and tabs I went a bit far and now I wish I'd left the seat mounts in place, as they would've made life much easier. In addition, with the seat unit resting on the frame rails the seat is too low, I now realise why all the Guzzi specials I see online have a slightly awkward looking seat which sits an inch or two above the frame rails.
The best option would be to strip the bike down again, get the frame welded as needed, which would then require it to be powder coated again, then finally put it all back together. All that's a lot of hassle and more importantly more expense, so I had to look at alternatives.
But first the lump moulded into the Rickman seat unit had to go, it didn't take long to cut it out, I'll fibreglass over the resulting hole later. To lift the seat a bit without welding brackets on the frame, I cut up an old foam floor tile and sandwiched and inch or so of the foam between the underside of the seat unit and the stainless plate I'd made ages ago to strengthen the seat. This lifted the seat unit just enough..

Then on to the seat itself, as usual I made a template in card and had it replicated in steel by Geoff the welder for £25, after which I decided to add an extra piece to run up the back of the box like tank, similar to an early Lemans.

 

want to use a lithium battery on the Guzzi, hiding inside the seat hump which would need to be mounted to the frame somehow. While the seat unit itself would need supporting too, all without welding any extra brackets to the frame??

So I had an idea ...make two threaded bungs, slightly tapered for a very tight interference fit into the back of the frame rails (which had been cut and shortened when I had hacked up the frame back when I first started this project many years ago..)

After an overnight stay in the freezer and warming the frame rails along with a big hammer, they fit securely into the frame rails..

 

The hole in the seat unit was fibreglassed over, it looks a bit rough and ready, but I tell myself no one but me will see it, as the seat will hide it from view. Then I rattle can sprayed and lacquered it, looks ok and the metallic black is a good match for the tank, turned out to be a Vauxhaul colour.

Next the replacement Lucas coils needed a home - one of the originals was cracked, so Lucas coils were bought as a much cheaper replacement. I mounted them on a simple alloy bracket bolted to the underside of the electrics box.

 

The seat went off to be upholstered over xmas, and I collected it today, still need to bolt everything down to the frame, but it looks ok and feels comfy enough at first sitting. Cost £60 which is good value I think. I could've opted for coloured stitching or fancy panelling, but decided to keep it simple.

 

The cheap frame powder coating I had done a couple of years ago, was a mistake, should've used Triple S. Despite the bike not seeing the road yet, corrosion is breaking through all over the frame...
There's nothing that can be done, except strip the bike down and have the frame powder coated correctly. Surprisingly I'm not to unhappy about this, as it gives me the excuse to start again, throw the budget out of the window, and build it the way I really want without too many compromises.

Made a start by tripping the bike down, it didn't take long, as all the nuts and bolts were new or had been taken apart not that long ago. The frame lifts away from the engine, so its a easy enough job to do on your own.

That done, I made a simple plate to protect the bevel box when its bead blasted to clean its surface, which I did at my local machine shop who let me use their blasting cabinet for the cost of a packet of Hobnobs. But first, I took the bevel box over to my mate Jeff's workshop, where we just managed to secure its underside to a small rotary table (very useful bit of kit) then we got artistic with the pillar drill...

Looks pretty good, but it'll need painting as that lovely finish wont stay lovely for long if left unpainted.

 

Moving on to the on the frame, the first job was to extend the side stand by a couple of inches, as it was way too short before. Guzzis have a few different side stand lengths, I suspect mine must have been the wrong one for the bike.

Next a stainless splash plate was made from 1.5mm plate, which is thicker than I'd normally use, but I may end up bolting stuff to it, so wanted the extra strength.

Then I welded on a few more brackets and tabs, mainly replacing the originals which I'd rashly cut off when I first started the project. these will make mounting a new seat and tank much easier.

Finally some of the flat spots I'd put into the frame tubes when grinding off the old brackets have been tidied up, they don't look quite so ugly now.

While the bevel box has been painted with 'alloy' look spray paint, not sure if it'll stay, looks too bright to me.

Also bought a 60mm electronic speedo, which will need mounting on the top yoke..

 

I stripped the bearings out of the swing arm, in readiness to get the frame powder coated. The big shaft drive support bearing was tricky to remove, as it was so far inside the swing arm. Eventually, I gave up and went to my local bike shop who got the circlip out for me in about 30 seconds using a neat pair of snap-on circlip pliers.