Greg Field

My latest info is that it's a three-shaft box and is actually longer than the "old" six-speed.

Yes, I'd like to use that. Please send me your name, so I can credit the information, and any other information you have, such as cost.

I will use chain lube. A little on the plates will likely hurt nothing. If it does, what have I lost? I can clean the plates. If you wait, you risk notching the tranny input hub. That costs as much as the clutch plates.

Be sure to educate her on the differences in look and smell between oil smoke and gasoline smoke. . . assuming she does not already know.

I never said that dry splines were causing your squeak. The squeak could be due to another cause. All I said is that the splines last longest when lubed. Someone on the Guzzitech list tried an interesting approach to lubing splines. He drilled a hole through the bellhousing, behind the starter, and squirted the splines from there. It appears to have worked. I'm thinking of trying it myself.

Yes. Splines on both the single- and dual-plate clutches last much longer if lubed. On dual-plate clutches, you also have to lube the splines on the i.d. of the flywheel.

As for the pressure drop through the filter, I think it's insignificant, else your filter is clogged. What Dr. John meant is that if you alter the relative sizes of any of the lines or get a restriction in any of them, from a twist or partial collapse in the line, or buildup of gumpucky, the whole system starts misbehaving. For example, if the darin line is restricted, or the crankcase is pumping more oil than it can handle, oil can back up in that backbone, in which case the pickup is more likely to be exposed, and if it backs up enough, oil will flow out the line to atmosphere (to the airbox in this case). I've seen this latter scenario on my big-bore LM 1000. It was circulating far more oil through the backbone than the wee, dual drain lines back to the sump could accomodate that the backbone would fill up and then gush oil out the atmosperic line. It did this only at 90-plus-mph speeds. The flickering-light problem could well be oil starvation. It could be something else, though, and your never gonna solve it until you know which it is. You guys have the tools in hand to figure this out. I don't have one of these bikes, so someone else is gonna have to do it. As for oil consumption, that's solvable too, though the problem may not be the same in every case.

OK, oil starvation, not cavitation. That said, has anyone toasted their rod bearings yet? If these engines were truly starving for oil, they'd be roasting rod bearings. Seems the 1997 Sports, which are nearly 10 years old now and have the same oiling system, would be known for roasting rod bearings if it's happening. Me, I may be out of the loop, but I've never heard of it. There's a Seattle guy I'm sure you've heard of with a V11 Sport, and he's ALWAYS accelerating at max capability and popping wheelies like a hooligan. Constantly. When I was inside his motor to put in a modified Roper windage tray and high-compression pistons, everything looked in top shape. Mebbe I'll add an oil gauge to that and see for myself whether they starve for oil, if no one else is gonna.

I don't mean to be argumentative, but I've seen 20 different failure modes on those switches, including flickery operation, and you're still assuming cavitation. A gauge plumbed in where the sender is will read quickly enough for these purposes. Someone just needs to do it. Pop a few wheelies and see what happens. Even if you see pressure drop from 50 psi to 45 psi on quick acceleration, you'll know there is a problem. You will get that kind of response capability out of a mechanical gauge. As for the breather issue, Dr. John told me that that Sport breather system is finely balanced. Change one thing and all bets are off on it working. Look at the size of the return line on a Sporti for a real clue how much oil circulates in and out of that frame backbone. It's sized maybe five or six times the return on the older Guzzis. We are talking many gallons per hour. Here's how to test your breather theory: Detach the line to the airbox from the airbox, and stick its aft end in a big catch bottle. Ride the shit out of the bike. If significant amounts of oil accumulate, you've found your problem. Else, the oil's going somewhere else. All of you with oil-eaters: have an observant buddy follow you as you put it through full-throttle to overrun situations to see and sniff what comes out. If you're burning any significant amount, they'll likely see or smell the evidence.

You likely need to lube the splines on the input hub to the tranny. Or wait and replace the whole thing.

OK, chicken littles, you are all hereby charged with "assumption". One of you needs to source some initiative and take 5 minutes to temporarily plumb in an oil-pressure gauge and see if the pressure really is dropping, or if you're all just being fooled by the notoriously inaccurate and error-prone oil-pressure switches Guzzi uses. Oil use is another matter. Guzzis that are operating properly burn essentially no oil. If you are burning a quart in 1,000 miles, something is amiss. A good man with a leakdown tester and a half hour could likely pinpoint the source. I could do it if you were in the Seattle area or were willing to ride here. Then, you can all try to keep up with my Eldorado . . . hehehehehehe

I was at Moto International today, and they had some lucky bastard's MGS-01 sitting there. Beautiful!