callison

I've already converted the illumination for the tach and speedometer to LED's. I haven't looked at the indicator light sockets yet, but I suspect they're of the same or similar poor quality as the ones used for illumination. Here's a copy of the submission I made to Greg Fields for inclusion in the Tips section in the MGNOC newsletter. I haven't made any photos. I guess I should... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Radioactive blue. Neat color. It's the ghostly blue you see in the pictures of heavy gamma emitters deep in a water pool. It's also the color of the instrument lights in my V11 Sport TT. The incandescent bulbs are gone, victims of the poorly constructed lamp holder found on the V11 Sports. That lamp holder has a tendency to to disassemble itself, then short out to the housing and fry the fuses. Not a positive thing to be sure. I took my instrument panel apart, and couldn't successfully repair the socket (I'm cheap), so I grabbed a white LED from my parts bin (rainy day purchase, just for an experiment like this). A bit of soldering, some duct tape (I have no style, besides, who's going to see this?), and Voila! An instrument illumination scheme worthy of a 1000 RAD Cobalt 60 source. Only not deadly. So what does it take? Well, first, you need to take the cruddy original lamp holder pieces and keep the part that inserts into the instrument. Take the spring, contact and back portion of the lamp holder and chuck them in the garbage. I've used Radio Shack part numbers because that's what available to me. Some of you are fortunate enough to live in a metropolis with a real electronics store. In that case, these part numbers will not apply. You will need some soldering skills and tools, white LED's such as Radio Shack #276-320 ($5 each - whew, but blue LED's were nearly $20 when they first came onto the market, it's all relative), and a 1/4 watt 660 ohm resistor. Since Radio Shack doesn't carry a resistor in the 600 ohm range and the nearest real electronics store is 65 miles from me, I bought a bunch of 330 ohm resistors (# 271-1315) and soldered two in series to make a resistor chain of the necessary resistance for the LED. I kept the resistor leads fairly short and soldered one end of the resistor chain close to the base of the LED on the longest lead (this is the positive lead on the LED) and then clipped off the excess LED lead of the long one. DO NOT clip off the shorter lead on the LED, we'll need it intact at the end of this procedure. The rest of the positive lead and resistors was covered with a piece of heat shrink. The other end of the resistor received a male terminal (#64-4040). The LED was wrapped in duct tape to increase it's diameter to fit snugly in the portion of the original lamp holder that inserts into the tach or speedometer. The part we kept. You didn't? Go fish it out of the trash. Just put tape on the bottom half of the LED, leave the emitter region clear to broadcast light in a hemispherical pattern. The smart money is on the guy that checks out his work BEFORE he puts the bike back together. Use some clip leads to a 12V power supply or even a simple 9V battery and make sure that your bulb lights up. If it doesn't, reverse the leads to see if you have them backwards. If you do, then just make sure that the positive lead is the one with the terminal lug. If it doesn't work at all, check out your solder connections. The other lead of the LED (the one you weren't supposed to cut) gets folded up and across the outside of the duct tape where it will make contact with the lamp holder piece when you insert the duct taped LED into the lamp holder. Which is the next step... insert the duct taped LED into the lamp holder far enough for the LED to protrude into about the same region the incandescent bulb would occupy. Now stick the modified lamp holder into the instrument, hook the lamp wire to the terminal lug and put everything back together. Check it out in a darkened garage or at night. I think you'll be pleased by the results. The LED should outlast your bike by several decades. If you have a Sigma bicycle speedometer on your bike, you can use this same approach for an illuminator. Instead of duct tape, just use a piece of heat shrink all of the way to the end of the LED so that it doesn't broadcast light peripherally. I opted to put a piece of coat hanger wire under the heat shrink at the same time that functions as a support. It's about 4" long and the bottom end of the coat hanger wire is hose clamped to the handle bar. I told you - I have no style. How you derive the 12V supply to power the Sigma illuminator is your problem, but I used a couple of very tiny wires stripped from an ethernet cable and soldered those to the speedometer bulb socket while I had everything apart. Those two wire are hooked to the Sigma illuminator with standard bullet connectors (#64-3085).

If it weren't actually charging, you would already be pushing the bike. However, looking at the schematic (http://home.pacbell.net/guzzi007/schematics/V11_Wiring.gif) the charge light works by the regulator sinking current to ground. The other side of the charge light is the same 12V that is used for other indicators, brake lights etc. So if those work, there are only four choices for the suspected problem, the bulb, the bulb socket, the wiring and the regulator. Since it works after "initialization" the wiring and the bulb would be considered good. You've also done your part for the wiring as well. The bulb socket could be fritzing and the vibration of the bike running put's it back into operation, but that would also mean the the bulb could work and the vibration would be equally likely to take it OUT of operation. So... I would say have the regulator checked. If it is operating as it is supposed to, then ignore the errant charging light as the circuit that shows charge operation is not the circuit doing the charging (at least I hope so). Otherwise, consider replacing the regulator. I would suggest checking into the Electrex RR51 as it is a better design than the Ducati Electronica one that comes with the bike. http://www.electrexusa.com/SHOPPING_RRs/Pr...Prod_RR_51.html

Gotta read those posts. Dirty Bill doesn't think we're snobby. Well, yeah, I did notice that at the one BMW rally I went to. Beemer folks in my area are pretty nice though. I sure hate the word clique. It does have the ring of a group of snobs. We're not snobs and we don't have a clique. We have ENTHUSIASTS! Guzzi's Forever!!!

Why does that surprise you? There aren't any large high performance motorcycle manufacturers in the USA.

Thanks. And you're right that editting doesn't count as a post. My apologies for that one. E Pluribus Postus...

Okay Smart Guy! Mine's not green anyway, nor is it a "Goldmember"!!!

I don't know, but Mike Stewart has one. I'm going to wait for his more informed answer.

V11 LeMans Forum sub-species: Postus Prolificus

Woman? What woman? There was this beautiful green bike see... Why does my wife not believe me?

I'm cross posting this from the MGNOC list - with spelling corrections since my text editor insisted upon it... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Posted on 6/3/2003 at 06:37:32 AM by Mike Harper I usually try not to add my 2 cents worth on tech stuff but there is a potential problem that in my opinion needs to be addressed by Guzzi and they are not really willing to share a lot of information on it. We recently had an experience with a 2000 V11 Sport that was a previous "Demo" model bought from Moto Guzzi on one of the great purges of inventory. This bike had been the personal demonstrator of one of the employees at MGNA and had quite a few miles on it and we used it some on rides here so I am confident that it was not a problem with this particular bike. The owner brought the bike to us with a loud knocking sound and told us that he had passed a long line of traffic and had run it through the gears fairly hard accelerating past the traffic and when he let off and slowed back down the knock was there. Upon investigation we discovered that the connecting rod bearings were galled and destroyed. Luckily there was no other damage that we could find. A call to MGNA for repair authorization and some insight brought the comment that this has happened before and mostly with completely destroyed engines as the outcome. It was obvious that they knew there was a problem and really did not want to discuss it. Looking at the damage and the scenario in which this rod seizure happened and listening to their comments about this happening under hard acceleration it was obvious to me that the sport type sump with the removable (through the pan)filter is the problem. The oil pickup has been modified from the original design of the other engines that has the filter inside the pan causing you to have to remove the pan to change it. There does not seem to be a problem with the earlier design because the oil pickup is in the pan and oil is siphoned off through a hole in the bottom of the pan. The Sport design has a siphon tube that is hanging down into the oil from above and does not reach the very bottom of the pan. There is some distance between the bottom of the pan and the tube that I would estimate at roughly 1/2 inch. Also this tube is located at the very front of the engine. It is obvious to me that a combination of high RPM with the centrifugal force off of the spinning crankshaft. (this causes the oil to be forced away from the spinning crank creating a valley in the oil at the bottom of the sump and up the sides of the engine case) along with the hard acceleration causing the oil to also be pushed to the rear of the motor causing a possibility of the siphon tube to starve for oil and the tube to pick up a shot of air. This will cause the oil pump to cavitate and oil pressure to the rods and mains is lost. Instant disaster. MGNA indicated that they thought that this hard acceleration and the possibility that the oil might not have been "up to the mark" could have been the problem but this bike was full of oil and the fact that there was no other damage indicates that there was only momentary loss of pressure and once the oil was under pressure again normal lubrication was resumed. This situation could be very serious and in certain instances could prove to be extremely dangerous. In my opinion if you own a Guzzi Sport, Daytona, Centauro, new type LeMans or any other model that has this type oil pan, I would be very wary of this scenario or set of circumstances. I also would contact MGNA and request an official statement from them concerning this. I believe that a recall is in order and that they should refit all existing models with this pan with a redesigned and safer part. Mike Harper

I don't find it snobbish at all. Try asking about something technical or related to modifications and you'll probably get an answer. Make some generalized negative statement about the posters on the forum and you won't get many replies at all. I like this forum because it is SO specific rather than generalized. I'm actually embarrassed that I don't own a LeMans, merely a V11 Sport TT and the predecessor Sport 1100i. Lot's of commonality there though, so I feel I can contribute as well as derive information from here. I'm also very active on 3 other forums. This one is one of the best. There are a certain number of very active posters, so the forum takes on some coloration merely because of their pervasiveness throughout the threads. Don't take that as being snobby, take that as an example to start posting questions, answers, modifications and customizations or ride reports. And, just to brighten your day...

Ohlins is owned by Yamaha. Where do we go from here?

Is this the one?

The Breva and California manuals appear to be corrupt. The V11 stuff is okay though.

Do what Pierre in San Diego did for his much modified Sport 1100i. Contact Todd and set up an appointment at the load cell dyno up in the Riverside area. It probably will only take one pass and it'll be dead on.

Don'tcha just love those color schematics? It's not a labor of love so much as a symptom of insanity (not really). Glad it helped.

I can't give a comparison between the Ohlins and the stock V11 suspensions as I haven't ridden the Ohlins version of the bike. I do have a Sport 1100i with the WP components, and the WP stuff seems to be much more compliant than the stock Sachs or whatever is on the V11 Sport. The WP rear shock seems to have a less stiff spring and soaks up road bumps pretty well. I'm not at all good at suspension stuff, don't ride that hard, and haven't ridden the Sport 1100i hardly at all in the last year (it has problems), so it would be hard for me to do a reasonable analysis of the differences. All I can say is that the V11 Sport seems to be too stiff. The Sport 1100i has that extra degree of rake and the slower steering tends to color comparisons because you simply don't ride the bikes in an identical fashion on the same piece of road. The Sport 1100i is more comfortable when riding because it doesn't feel like it's bouncing around on pavement irregularities as much. This is kind of important in California, because we have miserably bad pavement in this state compared to most of the others.

I'm not sure how you wound up with a schematic only in Italian, but I do have a large, color, re-drafted schematic on the web. Since the starter motor is one of three wires that are sourced at the positive battery terminal and the only one WITHOUT a fuse, I'm going to mention several possibilities. 1. The battery is really dead. This seems most likely since you have NO other indications of power. It could be dead in the sense that the internal connections in the battery failed. They seldom do that without a good reason, but it has happened before. A large current draw such as that of the starter motor would be sufficient. 2. The starter motor is bad and starting enabled it to draw so much current that either a battery cable fried or the battery fried. 3. The battery is just completely discharged. First, check all of the fuses. Second, pull all of the relays one at a time, and re-insert them into the sockets. See if anything works, and if not, then disconnect the battery and put it on a charger. When it's charged, take it down to an automotive parts store and have them load test the battery. A simple voltage reading at home may not be enough to determine whether the battery is screwed up or not. http://home.pacbell.net/guzzi007/schematic.../V11_Wiring.gif http://home.pacbell.net/guzzi007/schematic.../V11_Legend.txt WIRING DIAGRAM Key to wiring diagram 1) Highbeam 60 W 1+3 H4 halogen) 2) Dipped light 4W 3) Low beam 56 W (1 -3 H4 halogen) 4) Front direction indicator RH 10W 5) Front direction indicator LH 10W 6) Instrument panel 7) 1-way Amp connector (tachometer) 8) 12-way Amp Connector (instrument panel) 9) Left direction indicator connector (instrument panel) 10) 4-way Amp Connector for front lamp 11) Right direction indicator connector (instrument panel 12) Oil pressure switch 13) Neutral switch 14) Fuel Level switch 15) Sidestand safety relay (SIEMENS MINIRELAY) 16) Horn 17) Safety ignition switch (clutch) 18) 10-way Pakard Connector (LH device) 19) Left handlebar switch cluster (lights, direction indicators, horn 20) 12V 350 W Alternator 21) Turn signal flasher 22) Voltage regulator 23) Starter relay (SIEMENS MINIRELAY) 24) Starter motor 25) 12V 13Ah battery 26) Rear Stop light switch 27) Rear direction indicator LH 10W 28) Brake light 21W 29) Tail light 5W 30) License plate light 5W 31) Rear direction indicator RH 10W 32) Electric fuel solenoid valve 33) Fuse box F1 - 5A F2 - 10A F3 - 30A F4 - 10A F5 - 15A F6 - 5A F7 - 5A F8 - 5A 34) Lights relay (SIEMENS MINIRELAY) 35) 5-way Amp connector (RH device) 36) Right handlebar switch cluster (Ign.-Run) 37) Front brake switch 38) 4-way Amp connector (ignition) 39) Ignition switch 40) Sidestand safety switch 41) IAW 15M ECU 42) Air temperature sensor 43) 3-way AMP diagnosis connector 44) Warning light connector 45) Cylinder ignition coil AT. LH (BAE850AK) 46) Injection relay SIEMENS MINI RELAY) 47) Cylinder ignition Coil AT. RH (BAE850AK) 48) Safety diode 49) ECU relay (SIEMENS MINIRELAY) 50) Fuel pump 51) Fuel Injector, LH (IW031) 52) Fuel Injector, RH (IW031) 53) Timing sensor (SEN813) 54) Motor oil termperature sensor (NIC WTS05) 55) Throttle potentiometer (PF3C) 56) Max. pressure sensor (inside the ECU) 57) 1-way AMP connector connector (key closed supply) 58) 1-way AMP connector (tachometer)

Twin Max's are an electronic differential pressure gauge. About $85 including shipping charges.

A hotter cam adds more power. But you have to do all of the things in concert with it. Ignition timing and so on. That's one of the reasons I bought into Cliff's ECU. The flexibility is there, now I'm just trying to get the other pieces together.

I had a long talk with Mike Rich two weeks ago. His observation on the MG cams is that they have mild ramps intended to reduce valve train stresses. As I recall, the Megacycle cams only have a bit more lift, but a lot more duration due to the steeper ramps. I've yet to price one, but I am giving serious consideration to doing the cam as well when my heads get back.

The first time you drop a carb stix and get mercury spilled all over your garage and the hazardous waste team from your local fire department gets called in, you'll wish you had a Twin Max. Don't ask how I know.. The Twin Max is portable too as well as working well. Is it expensive? Yes. But it works and has no environmental downsides other than the discarded battery when that has died.

In a word. Wow!!!

I get my fuel line down at my friendly local BMW motorcycle dealer. I'm fairly certain that it is 8mm. The labeling on the chunk I have left in the garage is too faint to read, but the I.D. is 7.2mm, which goes well with the 8mm fitting size. I get the fuel line hose clamps from the same source. They have a smooth inner surface without the threads of the screw contacting the hose. Important on a pressurized fuel line.

Yeah, I can go with you there. The best performance increase I ever got was when my friendly endocrinologist told me to lose weight and change my diet or suffer the ravages of type II diabetes. So I lost 30 lbs and have another 20 or so to go. Oddly enough, the bike now performs better. I could probably chart acceleration vs body weight curves in an attempt to put the Sport into the same category as a piece of nippon hardware, but I suspect the point where that ratio crosses would have me weighing zero. I could carry fewer tools on the bike I suppose, but that's inviting Murphy's Law into action.