You sir are a very Talented chap, i take my hat off to you.....not that im wearing a hat that is :thumbsup:
I was given a few panel washers recently, they're cheap now on ebay, these were anodised an awful pinky red colour.. yuk. I wanted them bare and polished, but rather than faffing about with fine wet and dry, I went the chemical route. 60p got me a 1kg bag of caustic soda, mix a tablespoon in some warm water, pop the washers in, and wait a few minutes. The result being the anodising has been magically removed, just need a quick polish with Autosol and they're ready to go on the bike..
Then your wearing well, as my mum would say.. Been thinking about various options on how to mount the new seat. The mounts need to be adjustable (up and down and backwards and forwards) so I can get the height just right. The seat needs to sit above the frame rails, not touching, but as close as possible to look ok. The problem is that I cant drill the seat base and use nuts and bolts where I want as the seat cover sits above it, so what to do? I did consider using Eboxy resin to glue some kind of mount to the underside of the seat base, but in the end I decided to forego the eboxy option, and stick with old fashioned nuts and bolts. First I had to sort out the front mount (of three.. front, middle and back), these needed to consist of two rods which would slot into the two tubes already fixed to the base of the seat. Its made from two stainless rods and a thick stainless base plate, so no need to worry about paint or corrosion. Its bolted in turn to the top bracket of the stainless electrics tray, so if needed it can be raised easily enough..
While the middle mount, is just a support, it doesn't need to be fixed to the seat, which makes life much easier. I haven't finished it yet, it consists of two simple alloy spacers and an alloy plate on top which will be bolted down to the middle frame bracket with a couple of countersunk bolts. I just need to add a washer or two to raise the support plate as needed.. well that's the plan, oh and I'll stick some neoprene to the alloy plate to cushion the fibreglass base too.
Finally to the rear mount, which is the main support for the seat, the only mounting point for which is two bolts which are just off vertical and currently hold the top of the splash guard to the frame, while I need to make sure I don't put too much stress in one point of the seat, don't want it cracking or failing... This is the solution I came up with, along with help from Geoff The Welder... who did all the hard work.. Cut and shape a piece of stainless plate... Then bend it to follow the contours of the seat base... Before welding in two M8 threaded bars... Then drilled four holes through both the plate and the seat base, below the seat hump, which I can access via the zipped seat back, and so get a spanner in there to bolt everything up nicely. This leaves me to make one more piece, which will connect the two threaded bars to the frame mount. That had to wait until everything else is made and I can measure what's needed accurately.
The seat is finally fitted, it could've been a mm or two lower to the frame rails, but its already too low for comfort with the rearsets, so for now its as low as I dare make it. It'll be easy enough to raise it if needed when I finally get to test ride it. The parts I took for chroming should be ready next week, if the 4 week lead time they gave me is accurate, while there are a couple of parts I designed that are waiting to be machined, they probably wont be done for another few weeks. I was promised my stainless spindles would be finished next week too, (I laced up a Harley wheel in exchange), for now just got to wait. The next big expenses will be the new alloy rims and spokes, along with Lemans replica 'silencers, and finally the paintwork, which I need to decide on the details.
Looking at options for a battery, I couldn't understand why old Guzzis like mine needed such a huge battery? The answer was simple really, the first V7s had their electrical parts (starter, alternator, ignition) spec'ed or taken from the Fiat 500/600 models. And the battery out of the V7 was the same as in the Fiat 500, which was widely available all over Italy. The early V7 wasn't primarily intended for public use, but for the national motor-pool. Especially for police and military usage and as such as many parts that could be used on multiple kinds of vehicles were a good thing. That said, if you want to buy cheap points or condensers for your Guzzi in Italy (even nowadays), you go to a Fiat dealer and tell them about your old Fiat Panda 45 base-model. Even the distributor cap is the same. Looking at Lithium battery options for the bike, the cold cranking amps figure was the important factor for me, since I wanted the bike to turn over easily and I wasn't planning on adding extra lights or other bells and whistles. To calculate CCA (approx) for a modern lead acid battery you multiply the Amp/hour capacity by 15.... ie 20AH x 15 = 300CCA But Lithium batteries are more efficient, so to calculate their CCA you multiply Amp/hour by 50......... ie 20AH x 50 = 1000CCA So (in theory) you can fit a Lithium battery a third of the A/H capacity of the original Lead acid battery fitted to a bike, though in practice Lithium batteries aren't quite that efficient. With that in mind, I had a look at the Ballistic website (already got one of these on my Norley, it works well).. they recommend two options 1) Evo2 16 cell with a CCA = 480 $229 (over £200 here) 2) Evo3 with a CCA = 720 ($400 !) My local bike shop can do me a good deal on Lithium batteries made by Shido (no never heard of them either), one of their selling points is that they are a direct replacement for an OE battery, ie the same size, not so good for me. The Shido catalogue recommends a model with over 600 CCA (cold cranking amps) this is a huge number for any bike, while costing £300. Ok, well that's too much, what about a good old fashioned lead acid battery, there must be some that are a bit smaller than the originals.. Motobatt make a nice 32AH, 390CCA battery which is only £80, so that's a possibility, but for standard batteries I tend to go with Yuasa, with their 12 month warranty. The Yuasa site lists two options for the Guzzi, a high tech 31AH, 400CCA model listed at £206, and a basic 30AH, CCA 180 model for £106. Hang on, if Yuasa recommend a battery with 'only' a CCA of 180, why on earth do I need one twice or three times the power? I reckon I don't, so working from the CCA, a smaller Lithium battery with say, 10AH capacity should do the job, as long as its CCA was over 180. Normally it wouldn't matter that much if I got it wrong, but there's so little room on the bike to fit a battery without it looking crap, that it may have to be squeezed under the gearbox. wherever it goes, will mean making a stainless battery box, mounts and making the wiring loom to suite. If after all that the Lithium battery wont start the bike, I'll be a tad annoyed. Anyway, I collected a 12A/H Shido battery today, with CCA of 290 which should be more than enough to turn the engine over easily. It could be fitted to the stainless splash plate, or less conveniently below the gearbox. When its on its wheels and the exhaust fitted, I'll be able to see how much room there is for the latter option.
Finally worked out how to download video from my camera, so I've been messing about making a short film of the Guzzi, and its progress so far...., there's even a Ducati in it towards the end..
I collected my chrome parts from Niphos in Crewe yesterday, which finally allowed me to fit the downpipes and headlight. I wasn't 100% sure about having the black headlight shell chromed, but now its done and on the bike, I think it was the right decision. In the meantime work started on a couple of billet parts for the Guzzi. There's a couple of short videos of progress on youtube too.
This week has been a good one for the Guzzi, its new billet fork brace has been machined and fits fine, though it still needs more work to make it look better. That all happened yesterday, and I filmed the steps of the fork brace being made, which is now on youtube. Meanwhile my new billet alternator cover has been started too. The new stainless spindles (for which I've been waiting months) have been machined on a CNC lathe, and now the machine shop have written the program, they could churn out hundreds a week... pity mine are not standard, I designed in a couple of extra features. By chance I happen to be passing by on the afternoon they were being made, so I got to see the first one being made, though I wont be able to collect them until next week. Our other projects are making good progress too... may as well make the most of it while it lasts lol. Its been a busy week for me, as yesterday I spent the morning in my local dyno. Sam, the operator is a racer, just back from the TT, he crashed during practice, fractured his pelvis but still raced the following week, they're all mental!
Its mainly my mate who does the machining, while I hold the camera and drink tea... Though today I've actually done some work, polishing the one off billet parts on the polishing mop, there's even rare footage to prove it.. penmouth: BTW anyone who does that for a living has my respect and sympathy, its a god awful, filthy job..
This week I finally decided where the new lithium battery was going to live on the bike. I made a tray in cardboard, then took it to Geoff the welders workshop, where he made it in stainless for me. I made video of the process, and had a look around his workshop... converted from a 18th century farm building, a lot of his equipment is pre war too... https://youtu.be/JfUj5Zn41iA
I'll need to look more at your videos, but although the Cali and LM were Tonti frames I think the Cali had a slightly longer swinging arm. That said I have a mate with an LM I and when he got it a previous owner had installed a Cali arm (no idea why). If I have got it right there were 3 different swinging arm lengths on Tonti frames, but the difference between them is very very small. @Arquebus knows a good deal about Guzzis too maybe he will have something to add. Really Really nice work you are doing, wish I had half yer skill John
Indeed the Cali had a longer swing arm..........it was apparently to give more suspension travel for a softer ride. The Le Mans 1 & 2 as far as I am aware had the same length swing arm.............the shorter wheelbase would have made the steering faster. The Le Mans 1 & 2 had a Bosch starter motor as was the solenoid and the regulator. The alternator on the Le Mans 1 was possibly a Magnetti Marelli, but the Le Mans 2 had a Bosch one. The big battery (IMO) was because of the 10.2:1 compression ratio........If you have ever tried to bump start one, you will know what I mean. It's nice to see the machined aluminium fork brace.........absolutely essential on the 1 & 2...........I fitted a carbon fibre (or something like that) Tarozzi one. Mine below:........(notice the paint job........remind you of anything?..........like a certain Ducati SS?)
The new spokes and Borrani rims arrived this week, it didn't take long to get them laced up and trued. Though I did hit a problem with the rear wheel, as the drive side of the hub didn't have a bearing (its part of the bevel box on the bike), which meant it wouldn't fit on my trusty wheel stand. Had to make an adaptor bush which worked surprisingly well. I ordered Morad alloy flanged rims, but they were out of stock, and would be for a long time, so got the equivalent Borranis instead. They are ok, but not quite as nice as the Morads. Next week I'll get the tyres fitted and balanced, then fingers crossed the bike will be on its wheels at last. I took a couple of vids of the process, which took longer to make than building the wheels.. think I need a faster laptop... anyway here they are..
