Greg Field

Look, no one who is sane puts teeth into hardened, spring steel and intends it for use against soft aluminum. But be my guest, and use these things on the sump of a V11 all you want. Don't even joke about using them on mine, though, or we will be scrapping . . .

+1000. I propose that Dlang and Ratch formally wed one another . . .

Schnorr is a brand. They are also called tapered, toothed belleville washers.

Shnorr washers should never be used against soft aluminum, in my opinion. I've seen 'em used to replace the wavey washers on Guzzi cilinder heads, and they swaged the aluminum into the hole and tightly onto the stud, such that I nearly had to break the head casting to get the head off. If you do use them, limit the torque and most of all make sure to put the coned side against the fastener.

It's your bike. Do what you want with it.

Yes, Wittner certainly saw Foale's design. I do not know why he did not acknowledge such when I interviewed him. He's such a humble guy, who seems eager to acknowledge those from whom he took inspiration that this seems a huge oversight. I need to call him and intend to ask him about it. At the time, he claimed inspiration from some earlier Aermacchi racers.

Yes, we've found some joints that's work if we grind on them. I'm still searching for ones we don't have to grind on. The ones Guzzi uses require shims.

Diablo Strada rear. Pilot Power front, because my personal ass often rides entirely on the front . . .

Just a FWIW: I've been working with a driveline shop in attempts to rebuild V11 driveshafts so that customers don't get nicked $600 and more when a u-joint cross gets sticky. The folks at the driveline shop strongly recommended removal of the entire shaft for greasing. They said the right way to do things cannot be done as its installed on the bike. First, purge each joint of old grease by pumping them full of grease until it fresh grease is squeezing out of each of the four caps on each joint. Then, exercise each joint through its full range of articulation and rotation several times, and purge it with grease again. Repeat at least once more, and then reinstall the shaft.

Good point.

Bill Ross had his heads done by a SoCal guy

I know nothing of these oils, but if one rates SG and the other does not, I would get the SG-rated oil.

It's always folly to try to guess what Guzzi means. Nevertheless, here's what I THINK they mean: Use oil that meets at least the standards of the SG rating. Here's my imperfect understanding of that. The ratings higher alphabetically than SG (i.e. SH, SI, SJ, etc.) are not better for engines with flat-tappet cams such as all the Guzzis. In this respect (quantity of additives necessary for long life of flat-tappet cams), SG was the point at which each subsequent rating stopped getting better. From SH on after, each subsequent rating was worse. Cam regrinders're doing a bumper business of late.

At our shop, Moto Intl., we saw 3-4 V11 cams go tits up in the last three years. It's always the exhaust lobe for the right cylinder. They seem to wear out, or not, in 5,000 miles or less. Oddly, we've had one more in each of the last two weeks go out. We haven't yet pulled the cams so we aren't sure which lobe on these. When the stock cam was available, we replaced the worn cam with it. When the stock cam went on what Todd Haven (MPH Cycles) calls "intergalactic backorder," we replaced it with a Megacycle 620x9 cam, which drops right in, or a 620x10 cam, which requires checking clearances. IThe stock cam is no longer available and if ordered will be filled with a Breva 1100 cam. I'm not sure how the Breva cam compares in performance to the V11 cam. The X9 cam is nearly identical to the V11 cam but gives a little more from 2500 rpm on up. This proves nothing, but I find it interesting to note by what I see at the shop that the predictions of doom regarding cam wear because of reformulated oils seems to be proving out. Use good oil . . . A note: Castrol just reformulated their R4 oil, which used to be one of the few oils to carry a true SG rating. It is now SL. This means I have to find a new oil for the shop, since Guzzi is utterly adamant that the SG rating is necessary for all the hydraulic-lifter engines.

You can do without them, or substitute any M6 washers that will fit.

Yes. It's easy to switch them from high to low and back again.

You can powdercoat the valve covers. You should cut or grind off the powdercaot where the fasteners touch it. The reason for this is that everytime you tighten the fasteners, you risk tearing loose the powdercoat. Powdercoat has great surface strength, so when it tears loose, it often tears loose a huge chunk of powdercoat.

Leave your clutch splines dry. Clutch dust is horribly abrasive. If you lube the slines, the grease catches all that dust and turns it to grinding paste. Lube on the input hub slines lasts about 3 months or 3,000 miles, anyway, so it isn't worth doing. Lube on the flywheel splines lasts a long time and soaks up a lot of abrasive clutch dust.

Non-organic usually denotes metallic, typically sintered metallic.

I'm sorry, but I can't really tell from the photos if the one we have is similar to the one shown. The one we have was made for the Sport 1100. It might fit the V11 LeMans, maybe requiring some fitting. I just can't be sure, though, because I've never tried it.

It's pretty easy to sway dyno results to suit whatever outcome you desire. I'm not saying Feracci did this, but it is among the possible explanations . . .

I haven't been inside a V11 Veglia. Sorry. Next time I have one in hand, I'll cut it open for a look.

We (Moto Intl.) got returned to us a speedo the case of which had cracked after less than 2 months in service. This is not the kind of thing Piaggio will warranty without a long, drawn-out fight, so my choices were to tell the guy he's screwed and offer to sell him another $140 speedo, eat the cost myself and give him a new speedo, fix it myself, or spend the next three months trying to get Piaggio to replace it. Fixing it seemed the best course of action, so I told the guy I'd swap the guts to a salvaged case. That gave me a good opportunity to show how such things are done and how to lube these speedos to make them last. They tend to die early when unlubed but to last long when well-lubed. Rarely are they well-lubed from the factory. The hardest part of the job is getting off the glass without cracking it. Here're three approaches to that. First, remove the two screws at the back that fasten the guts to the case. Then push the guts forward, against the glass. This sometimes will pop the glass and bezel free. It's worth a try anyway. That's method one. When that doesn't work, try method two. Set the instrument glass down on the bench and us a thin punch to slowly push free the little pegs that fasten the bezel to the case. Work slowly, from one peg to the next, and it will come off. Then try prying loose the glass using a thin blade, such as that from an Xaxto knife. This usually gets the glass off on the earlier ITI instruments. The above is what you'll see when it pops free. Unfortunately, the glass almost never pops free on the later ITI speedos or on the replacement instruments we can get now. The glass on these is glued on so well that you will break it before it pops free. I've tried everything including a heat gun without success. If it doesn't quickly pop free, move on to method three, as I had to do on the instrument for this customer. On these late ITIs, you have to cut the case, service the instrument, and then glue the case back together. Make some marks before you cut because it will go back together better and look neater if you realign the index marks. Use a thin blade. I use a hacksaw blade on which I have ground off the kerf, so that it makes a smoother, thinner cut. The shiny edge of the blade shows where the kerf was ground off. Sorry for the blurriness of the photo. Remove the guts, and before doing anything else, mark some indect marks on the parts that turn with the speedo needle so that you can reindex everything should the needle fall off while you're servicing the speedo. Then, lube all the stuff that turns, including the holes in the steel case on which the cog axles turn. I use Redline grease but any grease should be good. A very useful tool is a broken end of a speedo cable. CHuck it in your drill to turn the works and spread grease all the way around the cogs. Set the drill to turn counter clockwise. Under all that red grease at left is the main gear for the speedo. Pack it well with grease but avoid getting grease on the magnet and drum to the right of the gear (that could affect the accuracy of the instrument If you remove the yellowish cover shown here, it's easier to get grease on the main gears but be sure to put the cover back or your speeod will read dramatically lower (20-30 mph lower) than with the cover in place. I don't know why it matters, but it does. You're in there, so you might as well make the thing read more accurately. Usually, these read 60 mph when you're doing 52. Use a finger to hild the needle at 60 and make more index marks on the drum with a marker. Then, hold the 60-mph index marks in alignment while you spin the needle (but not the drum and shaft) back to 52. Clean any grease off the spinning odometer numbers, face of the speedo, and glass. Put the guts back in the case, refasten the guts with the two screws on the back case, insert the black trim ring, and set the glass in place. Carefully spread dome clear silicone around the perimeter of the glass, and then push the bezel ring back on, making sure the pegs in the bezel are aligned with the holes in the flange of the case. Then, use stretch wrap or something else to hold it all together until the silicone cures. If you had to cut the case, use silicone to glue the case back together. Once the silicone is cured, wrap it with duct tape to reinforce the joint. .

SO, the rear m/c? I have never done it, so I'm not sure what's involved with that. Is your stock master cylinder in that bad of shape that it can't be rebuilt?

I'll be doing one tomorrow morning and will take some pix.