raz

Yes, I'll get a timing strobe and check scatter before and after. I'm totally convinced my reading will be at least as bad as yours. Carl's description of the sympthoms is actually the best, it stops as it is trying to change direction completely! I'm sure he meant his Sporti and not the Norge... I'm going through this in my head at the moment. Looking at pictures from last winter, I can confirm the crank sprocket nut is an ordinary one, not the peg nut described in Pete's excellent Engine Strip PDF. I'm looking for torque spec's right now. The "Nut, gear to camshaft" must be the cam sprocket nut, right? It's listed as 15 kgm so just below 150 Nm. The other two I can't find, neither in WHB or that Roper PDF. I have some good listings of standard torques for various threads and grades of steel, and bigger sizes than listed in the Guzzi manual so I hope I can choose something sensible unless someone here has them in his head? The alternator nut is 8 kgm so just below 80 Nm. This article is a bit help too (it describes installing timing gears , but the first half is right). No torque spec's there either. I'll just have to revert to feel and Loctite Apparently the crank nut is 32 mm and it needs a deep socket to swallow the shaft.

I now got the answer from a fellow Swedish Guzzisti. The bad news: there is no way you can remove the chain without removing all three sprockets (at the same time, see). And to clarify, there is no way you can replace the tensioner without taking off the chain. The good news: it should be doable (not saying it's easy) without any special tools. A rattle gun is a good help for the cam sprocket, I'm not counting that as a special tool. I'll probably try it out this weekend, and keep you posted. Thanks all of you!

You are all very welcome to make this a timing gear thread (just not as hostile as the one recently on Guzzi Exchange) but please please answer my question first so I don't spend half a day dismounting half the engine only to find I need some special tool. I have been inside the timing chest so up to that point is no problem. Can I hope to get away with just removing one of the sprockets?

I can't see why a missing spark would suggest a fuel injector fault. Did you check both spark plugs? The following is by no means any rocket science but anyway: Check relays, fuses, grounds. Check the connections between the ECU and the phase sensor. And last but not least, check that you don't have water inside your ECU... I've seen it once and recently some guy (here?) reported permanent damage due to lots of water inside the ECU. As you know, the fuel pump is a very good sign, the missing LED is a bad one.

Spot on, Ratch. It drives me nuts. Clearly the sound originates from the area of the chain and not the clutch. Traffic jam, engage clutch, listen to what could be a ducati clutch on acid. It really sounds like the chain will wear through the timing chest anytime, though I can't see where that could happen, there's plenty of margin. Actually I'm not that sure it's the chain at all, but at €15 (US$ 20) it's the cheapest way to find out. Also, you're right about the mis-timing. This will be interesting. But my original question remains: can I swap the tensioner without tearing the engine to molecules and without buying a set of tools from Rolf?

Bike has 46000 kms on the clock. As I bought it last year and wanted to know and trust it, I had a good look under most covers during winter. The mileage and the fact chain and sprockets look good made me figure they should only be half way to death, tops. But there is this horrible ringing sound on low rpms. I have dicussed it here and here. It really doesn't sound healthy. The original tensioner is so weak I could probably take it away with no big difference. Maybe it's faulty, I don't know. The punch line is the Stucchi cost way less (€ 15) than a new OEM tensioner (€ 75) or a chain (€ 65), so I figured I'll try it.

Tomorrow my Stucchi tensioner will arrive and my intention is to mount it along with the properplate and some general maintenance. So, doh, I just realised I may need some special tools. What is the easiest way to replace the tensioner? I will not change the chain but I suppose I must take it off in the process anyway. Any tricks? Could I just go for the cam sprocket, or the oil pump one? Or will I have to pull all three sprockets?

Shite, I'm in the innermost ring ok, so this is where I try to relax? Seriously this was a good thread. I often try to prepare my brains for when to do what and at what point it's more important to change direction than to brake. I'm sure being mentaly prepared is often the difference between crashing and not. Also, I try to listen to my intuition. It has saved me a couple of times, knowing beforehand that a particular car will just drive out in front of me, but I can't tell how I knew.

I'll rephrase it again just to make it hard for you If you diconnect linkage, back out throttle stop and relax the fast idle lever, it's 150 mV. If you have linkage connected and throttle stops at a healthy idle, that same TPS position should give about 500 mV since the throttle has moved, not the TPS housing. So either you know your throttle stops are good and just adjust the TPS to ~500 mV and then your done. Or you tear the linkage and back out the stops and adjust TPS to ~150 mV. Then you'll have to find out the throttle stop. One way to do that is using (not adjusting) the TPS. See the difference?

Ah yes, I was gonna ask what movie you were talking about earlier... what Hump? Good luck, just don't go near the TPS screws with the torque wrench and you'll be fine

I guess the 5 mm socket confused your memory Ratch, the rocker cover bolts are actually M6 and should be torqued to 10 Nm or 7 lbs/ft. Anyway, as you say, by hand may be even better. Measuring torque for loosening will always give a higher number, don't pay too much attention to it. A similar thing is if you first torque them to 29 and then try to torque them to 30, the wrench will think it's 30 already. This is also why you loosen them before retorquing them! I asked and learned about that half a year ago in this thread.

I never said that. I did say Antonio was right I also said one can learn to ignore that parts of Ratchets Rambling. Is that defending? Maybe it's diplomacy.

Do not ask me how I know this, but setting the valves at the WRONG TDC will produce a very load tapping sound BUT it will work! The engine will run quite happily below 5,000 rpm. I happen to know you can ride the bike, say, 300 kms and then set it right and no harm will be done. What I can't understand is how the engine can 1) run at all, and 2) not break completely with the pushrods missing the rocker arms completely. The only sympthom except for the sound was some hesitation to go past 6,000 rpm I never thought I would admit this...

The idea is to set the TPS per the WHB and then use this as a reference to get the throttle stop screws at a sane position for good idle. So in step 9 you set the TPS, in step 10 you don't alter the TPS but you use it to set the throttle stop. I guess this method is as good or bad as the other ones. Just get the TPS in the ballpark, some care about a couple of mV but it will not make any difference. The spec is +/-10% so the range is 135-165 mV. The reading will vary more than that with the battery voltage (at least on the Sporti) and it will be really high if you measure with engine running. Some even say you should do just that. I say don't. You'll just end up with angry neighbours and a lean mixture. The sync, on the other hand, made all difference in the world to my engine. Take your time, it's well worth it. Syncing at idle is easy, syncing at 3000 rpm is easy. Syncing both is a bit harder. I began to get a hold of it in my third try or something.

You are right Antonio but on the other hand that's just Ratch's odd communication protocol and is not worth any irritation. I'm starting to get so used to it that I don't even see it. The links he posted, on the other hand, is interesting reading. As usual I might add, thanks Ratch.

What was unsuccessful? Are the bolts too tight, or did you get them off but can't get the plate off? Or did you actually just not manage to grease them? Most cheaper tools will just destory these soft bolts (and even worse for the brake disk bolts) long before loosening them. With the bolts out of the way I had no problems separating the plate from the hub.

right on spot. And don't forget about the 9 posters urging everybody else to secure the light bulb with a hose clamp, and the 9 others that will claim that will actually make it less secure.

No clutch switch. The Centauro seem to have the same lever but that won't help much I guess.

It has about 44,000 kms. Is it sane to change chain without changing gears? If I change chain and gears the original tensioner will probably suffice, but it will cost me heaps of money I guess.

Shovelhead of the Galloping Goats MC

It seems the p&p exceeds the price for the tensioner, plus there is a low-order fee of € 10 for orders below € 25 so I "had" to order an italian flag too just to get something for the money . It ended up as $ 58 including p&p, taxes and the flag whatever that is in Euros. Something like € 45. It's still a lot cheaper than just the cost of the OEM alone.

LOL, I know exactly how you felt I'll order the tensioner. If that doesn't mute the ringing noise, I'll order a Norge too but I will keep the Sport

My engine makes much less noise now that I've tuned it, which maybe lessens the rattle a bit. It's still a horrible sound at times though so I started to look for this Stucchi tensioner I read about here. Is this the right one for an 1100? It doesn't look that hard to me... Of course I could ask the seller but I don't trust sales persons http://www.sd-tec.de/catalog/advanced_sear...erkettenspanner http://www.sd-tec.de/catalog/product_info....roducts_id/1128 Price is just € 15 compared to € 75 for the OEM. Is this the harder one some of you talk about? Also, anyone feeling compelled to stop me still have the chance. I understand some think Stucchis are too hard, but I don't think my current far too weak one is that much better.

I can imagine the need to widen the smaller one of the bolt holes a little bit, as that bolt offsets down one or two millimeters compared to the main bolt in the timing chest cover. EDIT: see paragraph 12 in This excellent how-to