Just Goosing Around... First steps into Guzzi land...

Peace brother...
It's a hard step...

History shows we mainly conquered the countries without any snow

I suppose Canada was just an accident then Rob, they must have gone in the summer my year really starts next weekend, Kempton on saturday, and the Talmag pre 65 trial on Sunday

I avoided mentioning Canada...You know how sensitive the colonials are


Glad you're getting out and about. see you soon hopefully.

I just came across a picture I took at Horseshoe pass....

Dang! Sure do love an Eldorado in black!

Well now that winter is starting to fade away, I had a play with the Guzzi Sunday morning in my ongoing battle with the L/H oil leak? so I pulled the rocker gear and re-torqued all the head bolts, they all seemed to be where they should, and I never noticed any loose ones. So I bolted it all back together, adjusted the tappets, etc. the plugs were a fantastic grey colour, so the mixture seems to be on the money

I then gave it a little choke, turned on the fuel, and hit the starter, and she just fired right up, fantastic considering it has been sitting for a month in this cold (for us) weather. I never got a chance to give it a ride, but let it warm up in the garage.

I have now ordered a gasket set, so will pull the heads in a week or two, to see if I can find where the oil is coming from, this will also give me a chance to check the bores too.

Hello Kev,

Nice choice of bike. I'm pretty sure that yours is a European spec V7 Special and not a US spec Ambassador. If you scratch under that black paint you will probably find the original white paint. The frame number can confirm it.

Be assured that these bikes are bullet proof and I can see nothing alarming in what you have experienced so far. Mine displayed many of the same symptoms as yours when I first bought it completely original with 80000 Kms on the clock. Spent the first winter fettling it then rode it to the Isle of Man from Denmark with my eldest son and all of our camping gear on the back! I'm still running the original chrome bores after examining them from up under the crankcase with the sump pan dropped. I will eventually fit the Gilardonis but with regular oil changes (including sump pan off for cleaning) and close inspection the engine could probably run to 160000 Kms before needing a full rebuild. Acknowledging, of course, that if the chrome bores do start to deteriorate unchecked the chrome particles will potentially destroy your engine. See Bloodweisers excellent thread-

Notwithstanding, these bikes are beautifully engineered and easy to keep on the road. Most of the parts are still available in Europe. So, what I'm suggesting is to keep fettling the way you have been to eliminate all the little things before digging too deep. Here is what I did:

Brake shoes, wheel bearings, careful brake adjustment.
Cleaned the crankcase breather and fitted new rubber hoses.
Fitted new washers to the banjo bolt connections for the solid oil lines feeding the cylinder heads.
Removed all of the clutch and gear change linkages, All were worn oval so I tapped in new bushes and fitted new pins. Reinforced the clutch cable bracket under the battery tray to prevent flexing.
Replaced all original cables.
Replaced a few broken spokes and fitted Avon Road Riders - don't be tempted to go wider than stock. They handle much better on standard sizes and the modern compounds are so good now.
Fitted new fork seals and sealed the chrome seal covers with JB Weld. Used 30W fork oil.
Changed all oils a few times within my first 1000 Kms of ownership to flush it all clean.
Set valve clearances, ignition timing, and rebuilt carbs (mine were running lean at higher revs). Fitted a Dyna Ignition Booster into the original ignition system to take the load off the points - very reliable and durable upgrade and only one wire to reconnect to revert back to original.
Re-wired the loom as necessary. Especially around the fuse box and wired a relay into the starter circuit to take the load off the original starter switch. Also wired in mini relays for the lighting circuits.
Re-plumbed the cross-over fuel lines to incorporate a filter.
Reconditioned the generator and the starter motor - only needed a good clean, lubrication and brushes.
New air filter and rubber boot.
Odyssey battery.

For all that, mine probably runs better than when it came out of the factory in 1970. No leaks, intentional but clean gear shifts, smooth clutch, comfortable suspension, and very reliable. The brakes remain the only limitation at speed, Starts first time every time no matter what the weather and I wouldn't think twice about riding it RTW with a sensible tool kit. It really is a legendary old bike.

To remedy your oil leak double check the crankase breather hoses including where the solid hoses enter the bell housing. Check the waste hose and it's location. Also, double check the valve cover gaskets and their seating. My left one leaked at revs on long hauls and managed to run oil down over the lower LHS of the motor and onto my left boot. I had to add a smear of silicon gasket goo to the gaskets to cure it. The other culprit may be the centre banjo bolt for the solid cylinderhead oil feed lines. It is awkwardly located under the generator.

Best of luck with it.

Stuart

A little something I spotted for you restorers.....

http://www.ebay.it/itm/Moto-Guzzi-V...=Ricambi_e_Accessori_Moto&hash=item3a7e12974d




:eek1

This is a general question to the long term owners of the V7 series engines, on the airhead boxer BMW engines, BMW changed the specified clearences of the tappets (valves) from the original spec to a smaller spec. Now I find the tappets noisy on the V7, this maybe because the valve boxes are out in the open and up near the rider, but I wondered if any of you had run the exhaust valves at a smaller than specified clearence?
The book says inlet at 0.15mm and exhaust at 0.25mm, but I wondered how it would run at .15mm and .20mm ?

Ebay score...

I managed to win a nice pair of Dell Orto VHB29's on the US Ebay a couple of weeks back, nicely unmolested and cruddy, just how I like them, they also came with the inlet stubbs, and all for less than $100 delivered to my door.

Now where did I leave that sonic bath:huh

Got one here Kev if you want to use it. I've also got a box of various needles and a large selection of jets for those carbs that you're welcome to...I'll put them in the panniers ready for when you come over.

Thanks Rob, looks like next weekend now all the family stuff has settled down....


Right guys, have a look at the picture below, now can any of you tell me the part number of the HT lead brackets below the carbs?

Part # 14115401 - Piastrina sulle pipe = "plate on the pipe" Tavola # 1

Don't forget the grommet. Part # 91551081... same tavola.

What's wrong with the ones on there?
Did I miss something again?



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Nothing is wrong with the original set that I can tell, but it does no harm to have a spare set on the shelf, when the spares for these are now getting harder to find.

Run your inlet at 0.15mm and exhaust at 0.25mm as specified . The V7 700 runs tighter clearances but don't be tempted to tighten the exhaust clearance on the 750 as you'll start burning valves on long fast runs. The top end is noisy on these bikes and this is normal.

Cheers, S

I am curious, I bought a seal set for my Ambo, to keep in my spares box, and I see there are two oil seals, one large, and a smaller one, and a large o-ring, so can you tell me what goes where

The large one fits the rear crank and seals the rear main bearing. The smaller fits the crank nose and seals the timing chest cover. The oring fits the front crank behind the timing sprocket. I bought one of those kits. It was described as "universal".

I guess it has all the seals for the 700 ,750 & 850. I assume I'll end up with a lot of funny looking gaskets that don't fit anything on my bike...hopefully it's got all the ones i DO need.