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

No progress on the Guzzi yet, but I am about to do some work on my 888, so more on that later. In the meantime I finally got the 18 inch Morad rims and stainless spokes, and had a go at lacing them myself. Its not as easy as it looks. The rear wheel wasnt too bad, but the front caused me lots of trouble. In the end I went around to see a neighbour Bill, who restores flat tanker old Brit bikes, and he soon sorted out the problem and helped me true the wheels on his wheel stand. Got a set of EBC discs too, but as usual I had to make spacers to line them up with the Nissin calipers..









Should be on its Avon tyres soon, then I can work out where the oil tank sits, make an exhaust system, a hydraulic clutch conversion (may not work but will try), electrics, tweak the motor a bit and away we go.... well, thats the plan anyway..

 

I make lots and lots of mistakes, you just dont get to see most of them.. for example here is the front wheel after my third attempt at lacing the spokes .. I gave up for the night at this point.

 

The front disc spacers are finally done, I took them off the original mag wheels, and luckily they were about the correct thickness for the new forks and calipers. I had to reduce the diameter by 10mm and widen the hole a bit for the stainless wheel spacers, still thats a lot less work than making them from scratch. It was asking a bit too much to expect the spacers to be spot on in the new front end, and sure enough I had to use a washer to space the calipers out to get them centred on the disc, they were about 2mm out. I wont leave it like that as using washers is a big no no, I'll machine some little spacers later.



One of the favourite parts I've bought so far is this toggle for the tank strap, lovely bit of kit. The tank strap has to be sized and a hook pop rivetted onto the strap, but need to make the buckle at the other end yet.



Its almost on its wheels now, the tyres turned up today (Avon AM26s) but I'm still waiting on the inner tubes and rim tape. The rear is a 120x18, when I started out on bikes that seemed a huge tyre, now it looks like it belongs on a moped

My plan for a hydraulic clutch conversion are starting to come together, as I'm swapping an old roll of roofing felt for a mint Brembo clutch slave cylinder from a Monster

 

Well its finally sat on its own wheels, still need to sort out the wheel spacers and a brake caliper for the rear wheel, but bodged a couple of spare spacers I had for now. Then I had one of those strange incidents that leave me baffled.. I knelt down to fit the front wheel, trying to line up the spindle with the first spacer, and the spacer fell to the floor.. need three hands for this job.. I fished around for the spacer, couldnt find it. I stood up, had a look around my feet, no spacer. I had a good hunt around, no spacer, I moved everything in the blooming room, no spacer.. god knows where its gone, it only fell a foot, so it could hardly have bounced off somewhere.. must have a black hole in there, its the only explanation. I'll have make another, in the meantime another spare spacer (a bit too narrow) was bodged on.


At least I didnt lose this cool replacement choke 'enrichener'.. since I wont be using a std teardrop S&S air filter with its choke lever, this little gizmo takes its place..



While to keep the Troll happy, today I'm taking my 888 to have a PC3 fitted along with a custom map and more Dyno time. Last month I won some Motul oil .. same as used in GP bikes apparently, I was amazed to be told it retails at £65 for 5 litres!! so my 888 will be getting a fluids change too.. Not that bothered about getting anymore top end, though its supposed to take the rear wheel HP to over a hundred (its making 94 now), I'm hoping it smooths out the low speed roughness, which makes riding in traffic such a chore.

 

One easy job was to make an undertray to sit beneath the seat hump, as thats where most of the electrics will be going. So in best Blue Peter style, I cut up a cereal box to make a simple template..



I made it longer than expected, so I can use it to mount the seat a little further forward if needed, I can always cut it back a little to look neater. Then to save myself a lot of hassle, I went over to a local fabrication workshop (best welder in town) who is happy to make stuff for me for a few quid cash in hand. When he isnt on site working at places like Kellogs and Heinz, he works out of a small place in an old converted barn..



Where he soon made me the tray in 1.5mm stainless plate, all I had to do was bend it slightly to follow the lines of the seat loop when I got home. Just need to drill a few mounting holes and sort out some kind of P clips to support it at the back. I dont want to weld any taps onto this frame, its too nice to mess up.

 

My cunning plan to replace the ball and ramp cable operated clutch with a hydraulic clutch conversion are starting to come together, I swapped an old roll of roofing felt for a mint Brembo clutch slave cylinder from a 916..
.. just got to work out a neat way of bolting to the case in place of the inspection cover and extending the clutch pushrod..



[/QUOTE]

Well, that was the MK1 plan, which wouldnt have worked, so the MK2 version is now in progress.. not sure if it will work, but got to try.

Another decision to make, is how the exhaust should look, got the options down to two.. first the classic Brit Triton style, with reverse cone megaphones either side of the bike low down.. OR HD XR750 style with two high level silencers on the same side. Which ever one I go for will be made in stainless steel. Its difficult to picture how it may look sometimes, so I cut out a profile in card of the megas I want to use (16 inches long) to help me see how it may look. Its a lot easier than Photoshop for me at least..

HIGH

Or LOW

 

The frame is from a company called Norley, though I think I'll call it something like a Norton XL, as I like the old black and gold Norton Logo

I'm leaning towards having two high level on the same side, as as nod to the HD XR750 race bikes and the famous BOTT bike Lucifers Hammer. Just not sure how practical that will be in terms of toasting my leg.. BTW it doesnt have to cost a fortune to build something like this, the doner bike cost me £1500 with a rebuilt motor and the frame kit (incl oil tank and fuel tank) was £2300. I could've used all the HD parts such as the wheels, front end and brakes and saved a lot of money. But then it wouldnt have turned out how I wanted it. By buying parts slowly over the months, it does spread the cost and makes the build feel more affordable. I keep account how much its all costing. To date the wheels and tyres have been the most expensive parts, I'm up to just over £6000 in total, with about another £1500 to go for electrics, exhaust, handlebar controls, brake lines and all the little bits and bobs that I havent thought about yet. Paint wont cost much, as its not getting any, just a clear powdercoat for the frame. After its on the road, no doubt they'll be things I want to change, performance cams, alloy barrels, adjustable suspension, it never ends, but that keeps it interesting..

 

I sat down the other evening and listed all the jobs and parts I still needed to finish the bike.. it came to 3 pages of A4 .. oh well, best keep going then.
I ordered a few more parts this week, headlamp, ignition barrel, tail light etc. The tail light arrived today, a bit of a cliche perhaps, but I like it. need to make a mount for it now and for the number plate too.. Ill add it to the list.



I've also taken the starter apart, painted the case and polished the alloy end cap. Putting it back together wasnt so easy, keeping all the spings and bushes in place is very fiddly. The ridged end cap normally has a chrome cover, which wont look right on the bike, so I intend to make a billet one instead.. I'll add it to the list

When I refitted the starter motor, it needed a new gasket, not a problem as I'd bought a full gasket set ages ago. One of the best things about older Harleys is the availablity and cost of spares, the full gasket kit cost me about £50, and its a quality product, not a cheap Chinese knockoff, and it arrive within two days of the order going in.

 

A couple more tasks ticked off the endless 'to-do' list.. First fitted a Tomaselli throttle and grips, it will need a one off cable to work with the S&S carb, that can wait for now..



Next the hydraulic clutch conversion is going ok, had to use a Banjo bolt with a built in bleed nibble for the slave cylinder. It sticks out a fair bit from the case and looks as if it'll need some kind of protection in case its gets knocked or the bike falls over (fingers crossed it never will). I need to work out how long a new clutch rod needs to be to work with the slave cylinder.. another item on the to do list..

Old Bembo slave cyinder on the left, we used its piston and seal in the new one..


The one off slave replaces the clutch inspection cap in the Primary cover

Finally, I tried a few calipers I had, all Brembos, a couple from a 916 and one from a CB500. None really worked how I wanted, so I ended up buying a new rear caliper at a very good price. I'll take the swingarm and wheel to my mates workshop later this week and make the wheel spacers and a caliper mount. It means the bike will have two black front calipers and a gold rear, which bothered me a little, till I noticed that a BMW 1000RR has gold front Brembos and sa black rear, so if its good enough for BMW its ok for me..



Shiny new caliper.. need to make a mount, torque arm and wheel spacers next..

 

A couple more tasks ticked off the to-do list, first I replaced the generator end cover with an aftermarket one which is also a rectifier. This cleans up the wiring and looks a bit better I think..


I didn't like the chrome covers that normally get fitted to the end of the generator and starter motor, so with the generator sorted, we made a billet cover for the starter which mimics to style of the new generator cover. Not sure if I'll paint it black with the fins highlighted, or just leave it as is..

Just need to make a new mount to sit it a little further over the starter..

 

PS.. as for the Guzzi, been offered a mint supercharger which is just the right size..erm? could be interesting...