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Back in 2016 at the Ohio Rally I met Chuck & his Scura. One of the things I liked about his bike was how quiet it was at idle: a whir of gears & the burble from the exhaust. Very different from the rattle & hesitant idle of my V11. Ever since then I've been meaning to change the cam chain tensioner, but stuff got in the way. this holiday however;

For reference to anyone thats interested when I installed the RAM single plater on the Daytona engine and fitted up the gearbox I measured the distance between the gearbox actuating piston and the face of the flange that the slave cylinder bolts to and compared it to the 2 valve motor and gearbox with the twin plate clutch. The difference was around a little less than 1 mm from memory. I just wanted a reference to make sure we were in the ball park. If someone needs to know the exact dimension difference between the two I can measure it again. The clutch releases fine on the new engine/gearbox assy static but engages closer to the bar than the old clutch. Ciao

That would be the aim. I'd think if one was to do it on a regular basis it would be worth cutting a rod the correct length. That would probably need a bit of experimentation. It is one of the few disadvantages of hydraulic clutch activation, the lack of a cable which is easily adjustable means that tolerances of parts like a clutch pushrod are far more critical.

Sold today to a guy who drove over 5 hours from Las Vegas - and is currently making the return trip. Long may you run... with your chrome heart shining in the sun...

While you're in there you may as well do an accurate measurement of the pick-up gap and look at the cam retainer flange for wear. Ciao How is this best accomplished? Pull back and forth on the cam sprocket and feel for end float. The earlier retainers didnt have any oil relief grooves cut into the face and tended to wear while the later ones had 3 oil relief grooves. If you have the older type and its new or not heavily worn you can file the grooves in yourself with a round file or use a 6mm parallel rotary cutter in a hand drill and do it. Here's a brand new latest type with the oil reliefs in the thrust face. Hears the old type with no oil relief and heavy wear on the thrust face. Notice how the cam sprocket flange has worn down into the retainer thrust face in this case probably close to 1 mm. It"s so perfect looking people think recess into the thrust face is normal and they reinstall it during rebuilds. Its not it's actually heavy wear as you can see by the comparison with the new one. Without the oil reliefs as the sprocket flange wears into the retainer thrust face it exacerbates the lack of oil issue as it creates the small ring which inhibits oil supply even more and it gets worse as it wears. The more wear the more shielding and less oil. A spiralling situation Ciao Curious about the mileage ? Cheers tom. Phil, thanks for the tip; I'll check that. Bike has about 18K miles. It's a 2004 naked. The tensioner has as much strength as wet cardboard The gasket was leaking low on the LHS which pushed me into getting on with the job. Currently fighting the stuck woodruff key that drives the alternator. Tapping on the crankshaft is not something I'd think is a good idea. You can usually pry them out with a small screw driver. Tapping them back into the slot wont do any harm. Use one of the later metal gaskets with the pressure sensitive sealant coating. I wouldn't use a standard old style gasket when you can get these. http://www.mgcycle.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=170&products_id=5044 Ciao +1 on the metal gasket. And anyone who still has the paper gasket should have one on hand so you are ready when the paper one does start leaking... and it will. Anyone have thoughts on the "improved" tensioner, MG Cycle #13058200 ? http://www.mgcycle.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=347 Work good.. last long time. I dont really know what the better style is and being a "gear" man myself I cant offer any practical experience. It is however interesting to note the comments here that refer to the "banana" style tensioner. Not commenting on the quality of this just the style which is the same as the standard type by and large. https://hmb-guzzi.de/Timing-Chain-tensioner-CNC-made-HMB-design Ciao Yah, I keep looking for my timing marks to jump around under the strobe. I figure that would tell me the tensioner/ chain is due. No leaks as yet (but don't let her hear this! ) . . . Seems V11 timing chest leaks are more likely on the wrinkle black finishes of '02 & '03-carry-overs I also note the Banana style tensioner gets a mention in Guzziology for the increased noise factor. Maybe just a new spring and rubbing block is the safest bet. Why the black models would be more prone to leaking I dont know docc. Ciao I seem to recall the weak wrinkle black paint might have been applied to the mating surfaces and led to poor sealing? Ok, not heard that but I can say after stripping it off a gearbox that its the work of the devil. Worst paint I've ever removed and I've been involved in stripping paint off heavy jets. Actually the original stripper for jets back in the seventies was great stuff, paint came off in big sheets for the most part. Then they went to the environmentally friendly stuff and not so great. Scudd didnt have any issues stripping wrinkle paint off a gearbox though I recall. Ciao New tensioners too? I just had the timing chest serviced. I am about ready surrender this bike to guy that wants a Greenie "That got a blower on it, man??" "You wanna find out?" Go ahead, make my day?:) Ciao ^ there may be some connection between those statements. And deeper we go.... Pick up measured 0.7mm 0.7 Perfect. Hows the wear on the cam retaining bush? any ridge on the thrust face OD? Ciao After a strong cup of tea, I'm going back to the shed to pull the cam thingy you warned us of. We'll find out soon.. You dont need to pull it to see the wear. Its on the font thrust face. I can see it has wear just not to what extent.It doesnt look really bad as there's no marking on the front main bearing flange at 12 oclock from the phonic wheel which happens with a really worn bush as the cam floats for and aft. Here's a new one with the oil relief cutouts Heres a worn one without the oil reliefs.Note the sharp lip on the edge of the thrust face. Ciao Sorry I was orientated backwards; I thought the wear was on the back side. Anyway, pulled the part & added the oil relief grooves as instructed. Looking at the surface you can just see the beginning of the wear you indicated. Docc, can you attach Lucky Phil's recommended improvement to the cam chain tensioner thread ?

Guzzi claimed 135 MPH or 216 KPH.

My 2000 v11 sport is currently using a racing ecu from a 02 titanium. Works great.

That is the question ! What do you accept & what do you feel you can change without altering the bike too much. So I'm trying to find out if some version of the GSXR Showa forks are a straight swap, upgrading to a cartridge fork, the triple trees staying the same. For me the engine is powerful enough, it's the suspension I want to work with. Just asking questions & learning. Phil, you have the GSXR 1000. What year is it ? What's the length of the forks? Would the forks fit the V11 triple trees ? Happy New Year All

Its always a hard one, at what point do you just accept what you've got and enhance it as much as possible and at what point do you actually dilute the essence of the bike. All its shortcomings also add up to the whole. If you go the GSXR fork route you'll probably end up with better front end but then you'll have different tripples,different forks,different brakes, probably different instruments or find a way to adapt the originals to the new triples, different front guard different front wheel. I mean when does it stop being a V11 and end up a Guzzuki. Personally I'd retain the original forks and fit cartridges. I have the same issue with my bike and fitting the Daytona engine, it still needs to be at heart a V11 so major components like forks I'll live with and update internally. My aim is also to be able to return it to a std V11 if necessary so no major structural changes. Ciao

Interesting! So, the added ball bearing effectively lengthens the clutch push rod?

And now you want it :-)

No docc, no pods, I hate pods. I may need to lose the airbox snorkels as there is so little real estate even with the tank lifted. I need to move the regulator under the tank which is not my preference but with the oil cooler and hoses finding a spot for the reg on the front will mean long clumsy brackets that will be prone to cracking. So I've removed the fuel filter and am currently looking for a much smaller option there and with the tank raised there is more room and air circulation under the tank so the reg should be fine. I've seen Ducati regs mounted in much worse standard locations over the years. I'm looking for an efi fuel filter 50mm dia with 8mm/5/16 barbs that turn 90 degrees on each end. Maximum overall width 130mm. Its out there somewhere just need to find it. The other issue is the holes in the airbox for the Centauro inlet trumpets dont line up so I might either raise the hole by 10mm and plastic weld the bottom of the hole again or modify the inlet trumpets to the correct angle. Dont know if a Centauro airbox would work better and some stuff like intake trumpets are very hard to find so cutting them up is not my favourite option. Things to muse on. BTW the clutch seems to work:) Ciao