Leaderboard

Acerbis got back to me and said to contact Guzzi as it was made to their specs. Should have realised that would;d be the case. Anyway its sorted now with a strong and decent result by lets call it airless plastic brazing. Polyethylene rods used as a hot glue. Not welded but closer to brazed. Ciao

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Moto-Guzzi-V11-Seat-Cowl-With-Cushion/174118602385?hash=item288a470691:g:HfYAAOSw8hpd65Ow&frcectupt=true Ciao

Ok Chuck interesting. No fibres here though. The airbox material is quite strange in that it doesnt actually melt so you cant melt the base material and combine it with a filler rod like welding you need to abandon trying to melt the base material and use the filler rod like bronze welding or brazing or soldering. If you put a hot iron against it it will eventually produce a black liquid which at first I thought was melted material but when it dried it was rock hard brittle. I think it was just oils being excreted under high heat. If you hit it with a heat gun on full temp it just goes all rubbery but wont actually melt, but it does float in water. I'm still thinking its a cross linked Polyethylene but for anyone wanting to join it the method I have used seems really sound. BTW docc I think the inlet trumpets will be the same material, I have an old butchered one I'll material test when I get a chance. I've done hours of reading on plastic in the last week and its a very complex and involved topic. Pretty soon most of an internal combustion engine will be made from it with lots of serious research being done on using it for crankshafts,engine blocks,rods and even exhaust systems. Weight reduction being the primary aim. presently intake manifolds,rocker covers,cooling system fittings and oil pans are the major components usually made from a nylon base material but within 10 years it seems most of the engine will be plastic. My wife now understands why I'm lying awake at 3am most nights Ciao

Flash as a rat with a gold tooth

Nice work - proving that perseverance pays off. We apparently love these bikes inasmuch as nothing is simple. Maybe a plug change and air in the tires. Outside of that, we repeat or invent Italian curses and/or become impromptu Guzzi engineers (and darned good ones at that!).

Can you back that up with any statistics? One or two sales for $6-8,000 does not mean the value is on the rise.. I believe the 02ish Plain Jane Lemans still around $3500 in value.. ( in the US) and it will be a long time if ever that they go up in value.

You'll look good on it..

I recall how hard I found the lid's intake material was to "bellmouth" back in 2015. I went looking through that thread for any reference to the material, but found more fun than science. I know that surprises you guys about me.

I'm with you docc,I thought the tight clearances were .004/.006 and the loose were .006/.008. Oh well, I do know that it makes a difference to the starting and idle running though, which surprised me.Such sensitivity to valve clearances. Dont know about running them wider than that though,you would get to the point where the opening/closing ramps became ineffective and valve seat wear became an issue. It would be interesting to see what effect valve clearance had on actual dyno numbers though so we could see the differences between starting,idling,valve noise and outright running performance then choose the compromise we wanted to make. I'd chip in for the extra hour of dyno time after someone does a dyno tune to find that out. Ciao

It sounds as though all that "research" to find the appropriate mandrels has really payed off. Maybe you should pour yourself another.

Au contraire my friend ... once things become horizontal ... all bets are on! As proof of this ask anyone who has woken up with less than one eyebrow. Cheers - and may the air flow faster (or at least with less flatulence) in your snorkels!

Docc - my understanding is that Bernoulli's theorem is based on experiments with horizontal piping ...alas, may I suggest ingestion of the contents of your form-makers in vertical mode, at least initially ...

This has to be the best forum thread I have read in an eon. This is really the way forum's should operate. Everyone admits to drinking and impaired judgment (not that this is the case here... just in forums in general. But at least here we are honest about the booze!) and then sitting down to work on a motorcycle. Awesome, simply awesome. Good taste in beer too! I'm going to have another martini and then go finish framing in a bathroom addition. Cheers!

The Macbook is an accoutrement - in silver to go with Docc's color-matched Sport. @Docc - eager to hear whether the ear-dyno or butt-dyno confirm prior findings. More seriously - I assume the computer is there so you can check/improve the Tank-Off Maintenance Checklist. Thanks again for being the custodian of that.

Ok good, there is a hammer in the background.... Scared me for a second.