Greg Field

I predict the Dow will bottom out at 4,000 about the time that this topic'll reach 40 pages. Coincidental? Only the philistines know for sure . . .

Quite right. I should've specified the Philistine brand of rheostatic thrunge gromenators. Thank-you for correcting me.

Tony: While you're in there, strongly consider lubing the speedo. They last longer if you do. Here's a primer on how: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?...5&hl=speedo Since writing that, I've change the procedure somewhat. I use a Dremel cutoff wheel chucked in my drill press to cut open the case. Takes about 30 seconds.

The plastic holder works fine, unless it cracks. Usually, it doesn't crack until you try to remove it. If everything's OK, leave it alone. If your bike shows symptoms of wonkiness related to temp sensing (usually manifested as poor fuel mileage), you might want to play with it. What often helps is to put the sensor tip in thermal contact with the copper bit put there to transfer temp to the tip. You can do this by draw-filing down the plastic housing until the tip contacts the copper or by adding some sort of goop to transfer the heat. Or you can kludge up a monstrous device made up of sixteen microprocessors and a half dozen field-loop thrunge gromenators to accomplish the same thing.

Also used on many of the California series.

Well, I consider grease and assembly lube liquids. They work fine.

Yes, but only at temps of 185 C or higher, the melting point of sugar.

I use duct tape. It's been on there 18 months and hasn't gone anywhere.

Some crazies are coming down the Cassiar to meld in Hyder, AK on May 30. Some other lameasses're thinking of heading north at the same time to meet them in Hyder AK/Stewart B C. If any of you roving Canadians might be up for the meet-up, let me know so I can print up enough T-shirts . . .

I think they should make them all run apehanger bars and forward controls. That'd make sport of that wretched mess.

Whatever works, works. Placebos work as often as not.

I have never heard of a Guzzi valve seat needing to be replaced from wear. I have seen a few that were ruined by porting jobs and bad machining, but never one from wear. Certainly not four in one engine. I would strongly suspect their work.

If you would only learn to truly think "outside the box," you'd see that square tires are the obvious answer. Scratch that. Once square becomes "the box," though, some clown will have to go outside of it and declare that only triangular tires are good enough. And so it goes . . .

I never cease to be amazed here.

Note the use of the word "all." It is not singular. This was not aimed directly at you. I never said you needed an education. I implied that perhaps many of you are over-thinking this whole thing. Why not plug the sensor directly into the head? Are you serious? See how long that probe is? If you sunk that into the head, the piston'd launch it into the next county. Yes, the plastic would be for insulation. By acknowledging that, you are assuming rational thought on the part of its designer. Continue that, and you have to assume rational thought on the choice of copper as the medium designed in to transfer heat to the probe tip, too, right? If this rational designer wanted to damp or attenuate the temp reading, why would he not spec a material that transfers heat slowly, such as cast iron, eh? A gap between the tip and the copper could easily be a production error, rather than a lapse of rational thought. Look, I'll ask Dr. John. It's just that there's a very narrow time window in which it's OK to call him and everyday I find myself too busy during that window.

I'd echo what the Savage one has said.

45s won't be too large. Do a little porting work. Do not open up the ports at all. Rather, experiment on a bench, filling in with clay to eliminate all the dead space, to increase port velocities.

You'd be wise to turn down the boss to 15mm, or get the one that has a 15mm boss.

EFI. You will almost certainly need a PCIII and custom map.

I'm gonna give those square tires a try . . .

So it's someone else's fault when you are misunderstood? I'd suggest to you that if you stop lecturing and stay on-topic, you will enjoy two benefits: 1) Fewer folks will tune out. 2) Those who do tune in will understand exactly what you are trying to say.

Consider the possibility that you are not communicating as clearly as you think you are.

I knew I was not hallucinating. You still think it impossible for someone to think there was a problem and that you were experimenting in effort to correct it?

I'll admit that I do not read every word of your posts. As I've mentioned before, the longer ones set my eyes to spinning. These were, in general, longer posts. I swear I remember you complaining in one of these posts of a running problem, though, that you attributed to not having an air gap, and naturally assumed that all this experimentation had a purpose, such as to fix that running problem. "Square wheels" is but a metaphor for trying the opposite of what is likely to bring success. Based on the forgoing, I believed that was the course you were on.

Ratch: Consider the possibility that you are chasing a solution to a problem caused by something other than the temp sensor. And why in the first place did you add paste to your sensor or change to a brass one? The whole point of adding the brass sensor or adding a thermally conductive medium to the plastic sensor is to correct a pre-existing condition, the most common one being poor fuel mileage. That's why I did mine. If you don't have a pre-existing condition, why would you bother to make the change? As for the heat sink idea, I believe your analysis is 180-out. I could be wrong, but here's what I see happening in the system: The cylinder head supplies all the heat. The sensor holder is directly connected to the head by the threads of a highly conductive copper insert (the plastic holder) or of a nearly-as-highly-conductive brass holder screwed into the head. Its main purpose is to transfer an accurate reading of the temperature of the head casting to the tip of the sensor. Its secondary purpose is to adapt the sensor to fit the available space. The sensor is an entirely passive device as far as transfer of heat. It can only pick up what the sensor transfers to it. If it is in direct contact, it can get an accurate reading. If it is not in direct contact, it won't necessarily get and accurate reading. The plastic holder has little mass. It has just enough of a copper tip to have adequate strength of threading into the head and to transfer heat to the sensor tip. This makes it close to being the optimal design for serving the sensor's needs. Unfortunately, it isn't very strong and usually crumbles when being removed. The brass holder has considerable mass. It also has fins on its o.d. It IS a heat sink, a pretty optimal one, actually. It was used starting with the first Daytona and then only on the 4-valvers. The Sport 1100s and Calis of the day had a different sensor on the valve cover. Then, starting with the Quota ES and then the Jackal, Calis and V11 Sport, Guzzi switched to the plastic holder. This could have been for reasons of cost, but the retail price of the plastic holder is almost exactly the same as for the brass holder, so there is some evidence that cost is not the reason. What else might be the reason, then? I believe it was because the brass holder is too much of a heat sink. That's why I recommend insulating them, so the temp reading might read more true.