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

Time for chemistry experiment, a solution of Caustic soda, vinegar as a neutraliser, and a few mismatched alloy parts that I want to remove the anodising from...
what could go wrong?



Lots of fizzing and bubbles..erm, somat is happening..


Half an hour later and a wash down... not too bad..


I'll polish them now.. oh, and todays lesson, next time I use caustic soda, I'll follow the instructions and wear gloves... .

After a hour or two of polishing out the machine marks in the levers, they dont look too bad.. I dont know what these rearsets were originally made for, be usefull to find out, as then I could buy the correct master cylinder, I've tried a few so far, but nothing fits the mounts. If needed I'llmake a new mount, though it will be a shame to lose the LSL one.

 

I read somewhere that Oven Cleaner would clean up the gold anodising on old Brembos.. it did by taking the anodising off within 30 seconds.. it didnt go well. The caustic soda is a bit more controllable.

 

Been busy making mounts for the clocks, as the stainless brackets that came with the clocks didnt look right. I made a cock up when drilling the mounting holes in the underside of the top yoke, I was so intent on making sure I didnt drill all the way through the yoke, that I mistakenly used an 8mm drill bit for the M8 sized holes.. thats too big to allow a thread to be ct using a M8 tap. So as usual when I mess up I went over to see my mate Jeff with my sorry tale and while I drank tea he kindly drilled the holes out a bit more and used helicoil thread inserts to get back to an M8. Well, since I was there, we made a couple of stainless pieces for the steering lock and drilled the lower yoke where I guessed they should go. Cant say for sure, as the frame doesnt have a tab on the headstock, its one of those things I'll have to sort out later. We made them a bit longer than they probably will need to be, that way they can be machined down a bit if needed, once everything is together on the bike.


I made the new brackets from an offcut of alloy plate, using the original to trace out the shape and drill the three holes in each. Then it was a case of hacksawing out the shape and spending a long time with a file and wet and dry to get a reasonable finish.Still need to pretty it up, but its doesnt look too bad so far. I've still to make the idiot light bracket, which is a bit more complex, so far I've drilled all the holes and cut out the shape I need roughly with the hacksaw. Wish I had use of Jeffs miller, it would be much quicker and neater, but its in use all week, making a blower manifold for the drag bike..

 

I've made a new head steady this week, as I wasnt happy with the original, though I'm sure it would've done the job ok, I decided to make one in alloy which would be lighter and stronger, and shinier ..
I marked out the shape on a scrap piece of aircraft spec alloy, having first painted the surface with 'engineers ink',then chain drilled out. I wouldve taken me ages to file the sides to a respectable finish, but luckily Jeff took pity on me and did the job in five minutes on the miller. Which left me to just finish the corners with a file and drill those all important lightening holes.. surprising it fit ok on the bike. I also changed the clock mounts to tuck them in closer to the yokes, it leaves no room for the idiot lights, but I'll find a home for those somewhere else.






The chromed alloy wheel hubs arrived this week too, a xmas pressie from me to me.. They are set up with 3/4 inch bearings, while the Honda forks have a 20mm spindle. I was intending to machine the Honda spindle down and make a top hat for one end so it still fits the forks. But the spindle is hollow, and it wouldn't be a good idea to machine it down anymore. So instead, we'll use an old Harley spindle and make it fit the forklegs, its solid and probably made out of pig iron lol. One problem I may have is that the front calipers may hit the spokes once the wheel is laced. Not sure yet, but it'll close either way. The big news for today is that the bike is having a Ducati part... A rear master cylinder from a Monster it doesnt fit of course, but I'll make it fit..

 

The guzzi has been ignored a bit recently, as I've been busy with the Ironhead, but its not been forgotten. All I've done recently is to have the exhaust mounts welded, thats it really. Its sitting in the garage now covered in FS365 to protect it from the damp. When I get the Ironhead on its wheels, it'll make it easier for me to get back onto the Guzzi.

 

The Ironhead now has a genuine Ducati part .. a Brembo rear master cylinder from a Monster. It was free and cleaned up ok, so I made a simple bracket to fit it to the LSL rearsets. I marked out where the holes should go, drilled them with my trusty hand drill, then hacksawed out the basic shape before cleaning it up with a file. Still want to do a bit more work on it, but it was minus 2 in the garage with no heating, so that can wait for a warmer day..



I've also made a stainless link rod for the gearchange, I think it'll work ok, but with the pegs being so far back the link rod has to be long too, dont really like it, but not sure what else to do. It may not be so noticable when the bike is on its wheels..

 

The Mark one gear linkage is done now, not sure about the link rod still, seems miles too long, though it may not annoy me quite so much when the bike is on its wheels. The good news is that it seems to work ok, which is what counts, oh and it cost nothing but time to make..


On the brake side, my master cylinder mount didnt impress my mate Jeff.. he said I shouldve used thicker 10mm plate instead of the 6mm I used. That way I could've tapped a thread in the plate and saved having to use nuts on the back to hold everything together, which looked 'untidy'. So I borrowed a bit of 10mm plate from his scrap pile, and made a Mark two version. Surprising how long it takes, it was an afternoon with plenty of tea breaks before it was done.


The next task was to make a push rod for the Brembo master cylinder. I was a bit worried about this, as it must be a complex shape, with some clever way to keep the rod in the master cylinder. But no, there is nothing to keep the push rod in place, it just sits in a hollow inside the master cylinder. So we used a stainless M8 bolt as a starting point, as thats the diameter of the push rod. We machined a ball end and a groove half way along for the rubber boot to sit in, then reduced the other end to 6mm and threaded it, to take a 6mm rose joint. Job done? Nope.. the brake lever had a 8mm hole where the rose joint would be bolted up. I didnt use a 8mm rosejoint as it looked far too big. So we had to make a tiny reducer spacer to so a 6mm bolt would fit snuggly through the gear lever.

 

I dont have much of either, but luckily I know solmeone who does :smile:

 

Well, I could talk about it all day long, but thats not going to get it finished. So whats the problem? In a word money. The guzzi still needs mudguards, a one off wiring loom, instruments, battery mount, coil mounts, a Lithium battery, a seat base, seat, paint and no doubt lots of small jobs that I havent thought of yet. There's not much more I can do without spending money on it. Whereas with the Ironhead,there are still plenty of small parts that I can make myself. I dont work anymore, so I have plenty of time but not so much spare cash as I used to have. Its the same with any project, if you throw enough money at it, then things can happen quickly, but if not you have to be patient. It can be frustrating at times, but hey ho, its my choice and it beats being stuck in an office anyday.

 

They are quite similar, both pushrod v twins making about 60 bhp on a good day,both too heavy but pretty tough and simple. Though its a bit unkind to compare the Harley to a tractor, Tractors are much more sophisticated.. I should know I worked for Massey Ferguson for a few years in the 80s.. Besides when they came out the Harley XLs were the Panigale of their day. Oh and the V twn Guzzis roots go back to this.. !