MartyNZ

The Lucas website does not say anything about their chemistry, which means to me that at best it is a group 3 oil. This is still a fine oil, but will suffer from additive degradation. Over extended time it will perform poorly compared to a group 4 oil. If you used it for long enough, you would observe a gradual hot engine oil pressure decrease as the viscosity index improver additives are destroyed. The normal oil change interval solves this problem. http://lucasoil.com/products/lucas-motor-oil I see that Guzziology version 8.3 page 3-14 has 5 pages of advice on oil, filters, and oil change intervals. My take on his advice is there are many options available, and your previous advice is good: "use good oil, and change it often".

I had a wee rant about oil earlier, but didn't answer your question. My 03 Owners Manual says use Agip 4t Super Racing SAE 20W50. But then the maintenance section says 20W-40, 20W-50, 15W-40, 10W-40, and 10W-30 can be used. Then experienced riders like Phil say that they use 0W-40. So does it matter what viscosity you use? The attached diagram shows that 5W-40 & 20W-50 have a big difference in viscosity when cold, when high viscosity is just a burden. But there is little difference between -40 and -50 oils when hot. We can see that the last two digits of 20W-50 are the target viscosity for the engine design clearances when it is hot. This is sometimes called the operating temperature viscosity. The first two digits are less important, except that lower is better. Hence Phil's 0W-40 is probably quite good. If you are uncertain about using thin oil, you could check the oil pressure when running with it (if you have access to a gauge). Your low pressure switch turns on below .35 kg/cm2 (5psi), and your pressure relief valve opens above 3.8 kg/cm2 (55psi). Pressure below .35 is dangerous, and pressure above 3.8 is ported back to the sump, so that pump power is wasted. As an aside, MG twins have a dry clutch & separate gearbox oil, so this means that you don't need to buy motorcycle oil without friction modifiers. You will not get clutch slip from slippery oil. Air cooled engines can get hot compared to water cooled, so I don't think you should use cheap high zoot snake oil fortified lemming squeezings in your engine. As Docc said: "...change your oil, be careful about the V11 oil filter..." His bike is passing 100,000 miles, so he shows us that using any good oil is ok.

Hi Phil, I agree that Mobil 1 is good oil, but is it a "group 4" these days? I see ExxonMobil make this claim on their website about Mobil 1: "A synthetic lubricant contains more highly refined base oils than conventional mineral oils". This is very different to their claims years ago, when they were very specific about their chemistry being man made, not made from crude oil. When Castrol reformulated (downgraded/cheapened) their group 4 Syntec to group 3 mineral oil in the mid 90s, and still called it synthetic, Mobil sued Castrol over misuse of the word synthetic, but lost. Now everyone sells synthetic oil which is actually Group 3 mineral oil, rather than Group 4 synthesised oil. The word synthetic now just means "premium" for lubricating oil. I'd be really interested to know what Mobil states on your drum of Mobil 1. Does it say Group 4? The only group 4 oil I can find in NZ is Penrite 10Tenths, a good Aussie product, which specifically says is made of 100% PAO (polyalphaolefin) & Ester chemicals. My next oil change for the upcoming summer here will be to Penrite, now that I know the temp of my oil, thanks to a dipstick thermometer Scud sent to me.

I bought one of these new from Harper's Moto Guzzi in Jan 2016 for US$119. Harper's item no 97326090004. They may have more in stock. http://www.harpermoto.com/It is nicely made of aluminum, and looks good on a V11. It came with an instruction sheet written in Italian, and mine has the MG Eagle decal on top. It is only rated at 3kg so can't carry much more than a pizza. This MG rack wouldn't fit until I removed the Ventura rear mount bracket I left on when I pulled the pack rack off the bike.

I got a set of NGK leads and caps from Moto International in Seattle. They look good after I wiped the pretentious "NGK Racing" white lettering off them using isopropyl alcohol. There is a nice anti abrasion sleeve over part of the lead so you can tie the lead to metal parts without a problem. And of course everyone knows that Moto Guzzis run best with red ignition leads.

This is new information to me. I thought that the only timing I had to get right involved the timing chain and sprockets. Have you found camshafts which have the dowel pin drilled in the wrong place, or are you modifying and optimising your engine?

You could make your own protractor and pointer, since if you are building your engine you have the skills. The crank sprocket is about 25 teeth, so your protractor only needs to be more accurate than 360/25 degrees for the crank, and 360/50 degrees for the cam. Your old high school protractor is more accurate than 7 degrees. You need to be sure that your camshaft is not a tooth out relative to the crank, or your engine will be VERY sad, especially if a piston touches a valve. As for the dial gauge, you might consider a drinking straw poked down plug hole, and feel when the piston reaches the top. There is 2-3 degrees of crank rotation where the "lost motion" at TDC & BDC mean that the piston barely moves. This uncertainty is much less than one tooth of the sprocket, so you could try it. Marty

Maybe you can cash settle with the insurance company, and repair this yourself. Is it possible that the scratched side could be turned so it faces inwards? See WASPP's repair of a Ti Can here: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13524&hl=titanium&do=findComment&comment=190119

That broken thing you see is the tab used to secure the the yellow wires with a zip tie so they can't catch in the rotor. My bike has this tab attached to the alternator stator under one coil, very close to the rotor. If the tab breaks off, it could get between the rotor & stator, and damage both. I think you could throw the broken piece away and secure the leads with a small p-clip or clamp under one of the screws which hold the stator down. This might be the cause of Dimo's problem http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=19415&hl= Marty And guess what? I touched that tab on my bike, and found it broken off too! I had to add a p-clip. See picture of a P-Clip securing the wiring loom away from the rotor. V11 IAW 15M ECU Titanium 2.bin

V11Sport Alternator.pdf As KiwiRoy said, it is held in with screws. See picture attached, which should answer your question "But how is such a stator fixed to the housing? Glue? How to you get it to come out? And more importantly even: how do you get a new one back in?". My alternator problems were cured by repairing bad connections in the yellow wires from the stator to the regulator, fitting a better 30A fuseholder than the one under the seat, and properly grounding the regulator. Marty

I had a "leaky rear main oil seal" when I bought my bike, and fixed it by replacing the Breather Hose part no GU30157400. When you look for the breather hose, it is hard to see, let alone see why a leak from a breather hose finds it's way into the clutch housing. You usually can't see any cracks in the hose when it is installed either, and tightening the hose clamps can make the leak worse. The rubber gets brittle with age, and gets tiny cracks just like the throttle body rubbers do. I think that these parts should be replaced every ten years, or less, regardless of appearance.

Carl Allison said "The 2002 models had the black paint on the sealing surfaces and bolt holes, shaft seal surfaces etc. This led to a lot of sealing problems." A cracked engine casing can leak, and be difficult to spot. Belfast Guzzi mentions a leak caused by a cracked timing cover. http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=11429&hl=%20casing%20%20crack A comment about kick stand attachments http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13357&hl=%20casing%20%20crack

Nice bike! If you want to try a naked bike, we could swap bikes for a day (or for a lot longer). I have a Givi bikini fairing that is not on it at the moment, but bolts on in about 10 minutes. I suspect that you would prefer that full fairing you have for going any distance or for going fast.

You are right, roller bearings do not like axial loads. However the swing arm bearings are not rollers. Part number 92218418 bearings listed in the parts catalog are described as "bearing with two ball crown wheels" and in Guzziology as "double row sealed round-ball bearing". I guess that roller bearings would be fine if thrust washers were fitted to take the swing arm side loads. Regardless, we agree that all the slack needs to be removed. Marty

The shop manual is a bit average on this subject. It says "assemble in the reverse order to disassembly". Guzziology doesn't specify a torque that I can find. So, if it was my bike, I would tighten the pivots up evenly until the swing arm binds, then just fractionally back off until the swing arm moves freely without binding through the full range, and without any sideways movement. Then align the front and rear wheels with string or straight edges, whichever is your preferred method, but keeping in the same clearance. Marty.

Guzziology 4-17 says: 1 retorque after letting the gaskets settle overnight. 2 set the valve clearances .002" more than normal. 3 run bike through half a dozen heat/cool cycles (up to temp, then back to cold). 4 retorque heads. 5 reset valves to normal. 6 ride like the wind. Actually item 6 wasn't from Guzziology, but it could have been.

I think you should fit the gaskets. It looks like there wasn't any fitted before, but as Footgoose said, two gaskets don't cause a problem. Can you show us a picture of a gasket in place in the head, and against the header? Does it protrude into the gas path? I'm now thinking that I should take my headers off to check what's in there.

Good question. The parts catalog shows gaskets should be fitted, but you are not the first to find that gaskets were not there. There have been comments on this forum about exhaust leaks causing tuning problems (like Kiwi Roy's sneeze). Since you have the gaskets, I think you should fit them and tell us if it runs any differently. There is a step in the exhaust port which is an important part of exhaust tuning, don't be tempted to grind it out, unless your name is Dr John.

If it was my bike, I'd clear that tight hole with a reamer or drill or a round file, so that it slid on with finger pressure. Then I'd very lightly countersink the top of the hole with a 90 deg or 100 deg countersink tool. No deeper than approx half a mm at 45 deg is necessary. Or scrape a chamfer with a Stanley knife. All that you are trying to do is transfer the tension loads on the studs (that you create by torquing the nuts) into compression loads on the fitting, head, gasket, barrel, & base gasket. A little rework of the hole in the fitting doesn't matter much.I'd clean the gasket mating faces on the head and barrel with a hardwood or plastic scraper, while being super careful not to get anything down the oil passages in the barrel. The oil passages in the head you can blow out with air or degreaser before installing.

My guess would be that there is a little burr, sharp edge, or swaged edge of the hole hooking onto a thread of the stud. If I'm right, you have two choices. 1. Lever the rocker support fitting up with pry bars, trying not to damage the rocker cover gasket surfaces, which means you are dragging the burr all the way through the hole. The aluminum casting is much softer than the steel stud, so any damage will be limited to the inside of the hole in the fitting. 2. Tap the fitting back down, retighten the nuts on all but the stud which is binding, and hook out the burr with a small screwdriver. I think 2 is better. Before refitting, deburr all the holes where they get mashed by the nuts during torquing, and clear the stud threads of any debris. And fit a washer if it was missing, as torquing a nut against the aluminum casting will smear the aluminum into the threads.

It looks very interesting. The claims made by the manufacturer ( http://www.stabilant.com/appnt20.php ) are so good that I wondered if it was another flavour of snake oil, but so far I can't find anything bad written about the stuff. One retailer claims that Hyundai and Volkswagen list it in service advice. It's claimed uses seem to be most effective on non sparking contacts so it may not offer any benefit on a V11 ignition switch. There is a similar product called DeoxIT. I have not tried either product, and always assemble electrical connectors using lots of dielectic grease. So much that it oozes out of the connector as it is coupled so oxygen and water are excluded. Dow Corning Compound 4 electrical insulating grease is good. Vaseline is probably just as good, but I think Italian electrics need all the help you can give. I believe that good electrical connections are made when plugs/pins/spades/bullets and mating sockets do not have any tarnish or corrosion on the contact surfaces. Bad connections can be fixed by unplugging and replugging, which scrapes off some tarnish. It seems to me that chemically removing an insulating layer of oxide is like introducing corrosion. Can you share more about your experience? Is it good for long term exposure to road grime and vibration?

You're right, to do things properly on an engine without a Lambda sensor (like yours and mine), you should know the CO level in the exhaust. You might guess on the CO using you nose, looking at plugs, or noticing uneven running, but regardless, GuzziDiag allows you to set the CO trim. See the last few pages of http://www.thisoldtractor.com/moto_guzzi_quota_guzzidiag_howto_-_a_tutorial_for_beginners.html Your question is answered here: http://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=65527.0 Other good stuff is here: http://www.von-der-salierburg.de/download/GuzziDiag/ and here: http://www.tunerpro.net/downloadApp.htm

I used a blob of blu-tac stuck to the sensor tip, then screwed it up tight. So long as the sensor is degreased and the wheel is oily, the blu-tac will squeeze to the actual gap, and still pull back out with the sensor. Then I cut away half the blob to measure the thinnest remaining blu-tac. I had to check using calipers as well, because I didn't believe the 1.5 mm gap I found. BTW, how is your new accommodation working out for you?

Shimming V11 RPM Sensor.pdf The RPM sensor gap is supposed to be 0.7 to 0.9 mm. See attachment. GuzziDiag reported the RPM sensor as failed on my bike, but I fitted a correct thickness shim, which made GuzziDiag happy again. Be sure to fit a new o-ring as you refit the sensor or you get an annoying little oil weep. The snort you describe was the same on my bike, and was fixed by either of two things: 1/ Setting the TPS to 150mV when the RH throttle butterfly is fully closed (lower than idle). My bike was set to a higher voltage, and the snort could almost pop the throttle bodies off. Do this as part of the full tuneup Docc mentioned. 2/ Renewing the rubber hoses from the throttle bodies to the intake manifold stubs. Good luck, Marty

Hello Colorobo, I can't help with a source of aftermarket exhaust, however there is lots of advice on this forum, and wildguzzi, to help you change the firmware on your bike's ECU (if you need to). The firmware BIN file holds ignition and fuel schedules, and it is possible to extract, edit, and reflash the BIN file. As Pete suggested, you need to have a reason to add fuel. There has to be an increase in airflow before an increase in fuel is worthwhile. The stock airbox and those awesome big velocity stacks hidden in there do a good job. Changing to Titanium kit exhausts would be a reason to add fuel, so you could then load the Titanium Kit BIN file to your ECU, or fit a Titanium ECU. Use caution though, as reflashing firmware is not for "clueless shitgibbons" as Pete has already said. I haven't used Tunerpro, but GuzziDiag and associated programs developed by Paul Minnaert give you options. GuzziDiag information here: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17865&hl=guzzidiag&page=1 http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=18052&hl=guzzidiag&do=findComment&comment=202816 http://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=69168.0 I hope that helps. Marty. Note that I have only used GuzziDiag for detecting faulty sensors, and adjusting fuel trim. I have not felt the need for changing the ECU map. This bike was fitted with Titanium exhaust and ECU by a previous owner, and I'm really pleased with how it runs. Smooth, lusty, and willing.