GuzziMoto

Whenever I have had crankcase vent issues I always check the system for blockage. There should be zero pressure in the system to force oil out of the system. A pinched line or a blockage somewhere might be causing pressure in a system that was not designed for pressure. Other than that, I have used that product, it is just silicone RTV in a pressurized can that makes it easy to apply. It does what it is supposed to do.

The main thing is that the clip on V11's and the versions with handlebars seem to use the same top triple clamp (at least my wifes did). That means the top triple clamp casting has lugs where you can drill out the holes to convert to handle bars. Once you have the holes in the clamp (or you can buy a clamp with holes in it from the factory if you want) you just need to decide which bar clamps you want to use. You can use the stock ones from, say, a BillyBob V11. Or you can by aftermarket ones from LSL or others. The key things to keep in mind are whether you use 7/8" bars or 1 1/8" bars, the clamps have to match the bars. The stock BillyBob clamps are 1 1/8" and with them you can use the stock BillyBob bars or a variety of other 1 1/8" bars. The BillyBob clamps are designed to be set up as rubber mounted, which would be a good idea as you are having vibration issues. If you buy the stock factory set up and drill the required holes in your top clamp you should be off to a good start. It is 100% do-able. The only question is how do you want to do it. There have been more than a few threads on this site discussing this.

I have not heard anyone question the fact that it will do what it does. The debate seems to be that some people, the originator of the idea included, don't seem to understand how and why it achieves the adjustment to the fueling that it seems to bring.

If you really think that that big chunk of aluminum called a Moto Guzzi engine can cool down faster than that tiny chunk of brass that is the sensor..... Even if you forget the rest of the engine and just focus on the cylinder head vs. the brass temp sensor. The brass temp sensor is much less mass and will cool down faster than the head. And if the tiny brass sensor is physically attached to the aluminum head it will only ever heat up as hot as the head. It is not possible for it to get hotter than the head. It has no heat source other than the head, how could it get hotter than its heat source. There were some serious assumptions being made in the original thread. The most obvious one is that if you improve the accuracy of the temp reading it would cause the motor to run better. I am not sure why that was being assumed, it seemed awfully naive. But, as there are more than a few widgets out there that can be used to generate a lower temp reading than what is in fact correct and that those widgets are then used to alter the way modern FI motorcycles run by tricking the ECU into adding a little more fuel with the intention of improving the fueling, it seems obvious that by insulating the engine temp sensor slightly from the cylinder head with a slight air gap it stands to reason that you would get a similar result. You would get a slightly lower engine temp reading, especially when the engine temp is at its hottest (the higher the engine temp the greater the effect the air gap would have, I believe), and the result of that is the ECU adds a little more fuel (or in some cases prevents the ECU from removing fuel as it may do if it senses the engine is too hot). Again, to anyone who wants to take that route for fueling adjustment with their V11, fine. Have at it. But please don't try to tell me or anyone else that your air gap engine temp sensor is "more accurate" than the original engine temp sensor. It is simply reading slightly lower, and possibly the hotter the engine gets the greater the offset to the reading.

I am sorry, but if you measure the temp of an engine (that is creating heat) with a direct contact sensor it will read the exact temp of whatever you are measuring. If you try to measure the temp of that engine but with a temp sensor that is measuring the temp of the air right next to the engine it will read a lower temp then the actual temp of the engine. It is not something that is optional. The air right next to the engine will be cooler than the engine when the engine is hotter than the ambient temp. The modified sensor might make the bike fuel better but it could not possibly measure the temp of the engine more accurately. The air gap between it and the engine acts as an insulator. Sorry. It is a case of getting the desired result but not for the reason you think.

As Lucky Phil said, if the cylinder was dead but was still getting fuel that fuel could have been washing down the cylinder and getting into the crankcase. That has two main outcomes, the cylinder is not properly lubricated and the oil is diluted with gas raising the oil level and possibly resulting in an over full oil situation. Even if the dead cylinder was not getting fuel, the dead cylinder pumping up and down could have lead to crankcase pressure issues and contributed to the oil leak. I would try to fix the dead cylinder first. The oil leak may resolve itself when you fix the dead cylinder.

That was HatchetWackers original idea. But using an air gap between the temp sensor and the engine (the source of the heat) will result in less heat being transferred to the temp sensor. So it will measure a lower temp. And the idea that the small mass of the original sensor was slower to change temp than the much higher mass of the engine is also a bit suspect. But then Docc knows my thoughts on all this already. I am not saying what they did can't make the engine run better, I am just saying it is not because it more accurately measure engine temp.

At the cost per gallon you quoted to remove the ethanol and then restore the octane you could have just bought race fuel. Actually, it sounds like the race fuel is way cheaper. The other option is there are a few fuel suppliers out there that sell fuel for "small engines" like lawn and garden equipment that has no ethanol. You can buy it in small quantities like quarts, but some also sell it in larger quantities like 5 and 30 gallon drums. Sunoco sells one, I seem to recall it is called Optima. But I have yet to find a supplier in my area. I have though about contacting Sunoco, but I don't seem to have the extensive issues others have with ethanol fuel. My biggest issues with ethanol have been in lawn equipment and a snow blower. I actually want Optima for that, not for my motorcycles.

Pods usually cost you a small amount of power in most parts of the rev range and sometimes offer a small improvement in power at certain rpms. Typically, unless your air box is a really crappy design, pods will produce less total power when you compare the total area under the curve. They can also make tuning a bit trickier. Whenever you make changes to either the air going in to or the air coming out of an internal combustion motor you can expect to need to make changes to the fueling of the motor, especially if you want to see gains from the "into" or "outa" improvements. There is always a chance that the changes in flow will improve things without making fueling changes, but that requires that your fueling was not optimum before the changes and the changes you made happen to compensate for the mis-adjusted fueling and now the fueling is closer to being correct. BUT THAT IS EXTREMELY UNLIKELY AND YOU SHOULD NOT COUNT ON THAT. There are more than a few people on here that run pods. Yes it does look cool and it can be made to work pretty well. It is unlikely that the small decrease in performance that would result from running pods would be particularly missed by you but it can complicate the tuning of the bike, How much is hard to predict as Guzzi's seems to have a wide range of tuning requirements compared to other brands. Your particular Guzzi may be very easy to get the run on pods or it could be quite hard. The only way to know for sure is to try. Or you could not. While I also like the looks of pods I am more concerned about making it run as well as possible, and that requires an airbox. As it sounds like you swapped crossovers without any dyno time or tuning adjustments I am concerned that you need to understand the statement in this about airflow before you try. And a Power Commander (PCIII or PCV) is an aftermarket fueling adjustment widget. It is one of at least three ways you can adjust the fueling of your Guzzi.

It is not so much that the stock crossover is a restriction as it simply does not do much to make additional power. It does not do a good job using the energy of one side to help get the exhaust out of the other side. It is more about reducing noise. It has a baffle in it for noise reduction. Have you done any actual tuning or dyno work on it? Seems odd that it does not fit as intended.

Your mounting system sounds like the same one as on the wife's red frame V11sport. It has two brackets that connect to the top triple clamp at the pinch bolts, the connect to the fairing at two of the windscreen bolts. Then there are two bolts that connect the fairing to the headlight bucket mounts.

Todd recently re-did the GuzziTech site. It is possible that he can still sell the V11 head pipes if you contact him directly. He is also a good source if you choose to go with a Power Commander, DynoJet does not really support Guzzi applications so getting it from someone who does support Guzzi applications would be a smart choice if you do go with a PC3. Todd has a wealth of knowledge and experience with putting Power Commanders on Guzzi's, likely more than DynoJet has. But there are other options, MyECU and GuzziDiag, and there are at least a few people out there with just a well set up stock ECU. Best to get it working as well as it can before you start throwing additional variables at it. One step at a time.....

The wife has her V11 and an V65 Lario. I have a Griso 1100, a '93 Daytona that has been converted to a naked bike, an Aprilia RXV that is being converted to a roadracer, and a '95 KTM 440 EXC.

I believe that in the US the cap is not vented, it uses two vent/drain lines to the tank. One is a drain from the area around the filler neck and the other is a vent from inside the fuel tank. As supplied from the factory these vents went to the charcoal canister and at least the tank vent had a one way valve on it. Removing that one way valve was a good idea in my opinion. The rest of the world apparently made do with the tank venting through the key hole. In the US all Guzzi's are California models and have the emissions crap on them. Guzzi does not sell enough bikes to justify two version like the mainstream brands have done, and the Cali market is too large of a market to not be able to sell Guzzi's in.

I think it is mostly for noise reduction. But it may also help power in some regions at the expense of power in other regions. People get ride of them because it makes for fewer problems and sometimes better overall power. Look at it this way, how many other 90 degree V twins have them?

Putting the air box back on would be a start, if you want to get it back to near stock. Other wise you can take it down one of at least three different roads that allow you to adjust the fueling. But to create a custom map can be more work, the stock baseline works pretty well and going back to that would be the easiest way. Other options are MyECU, PC3, and GuzziDiag. You have a bastardbike that someone has butchered. You can either undo the butchering or take the project the rest of the way down the road it is on. If you take the second option there is no guarantee that it will have a completely successful outcome but it should be doable to at least get it to a decent state.

I will definitely explore replacing the header pipes ad mid-crossover. In the meantime, has anyone removed the from crossover and 'plugged' the holes in the header pipes? Will definitely not be shy about revving at higher RPMs. Although the problem is most pronounced at lower speeds and in lower gears when the bike is hot... Yes, people have removed the balance pipe and welded the holes shut. Or you can buy a replacement header pipe without the holes, that may end up looking better and being more durable. Todd at GuzziTech sells replacement head pipes without the balance pipe, or I would think stock pipes from an earlier model would fit. What Bjorn did with the two into one was pretty cool, but the results were less than stellar. There is a company that makes an off the shelf two into one for the V11 if you are not as ambitious as Bjorn. You may also be able to adapt something based on the newer CARC style Guzzi's. The best results in my opinion would be from a two into one with a real merge collector. Be for-warned, a two into one changes the exhaust sound. I prefer it but some do not. As I said, rpms are a touchy subject. You can certainly rev a V11 and it wil like it. But I laugh when people call it a high reving motor. I have ridden more than a few high reving motors, the V11 is not one. Maybe compared to a Harley, but a motor that revs to 8 grand is not high reving. And the wife's V11 pulls clean from around 2500 rpm, starts pulling harder around 3500 rpm, really kicks in at around 5000, and is starting to taper off (you might as well shift) around 7-7500 rpm. It will pull to redline, but you would go faster if you shifted before. My FZR400 was dead below 8 grand, and didn't start pulling hard until 10 grand. The V11 does not even make it to 10 grand. Even my Daytona is more of a rev'r than the V11, but it is also very much a mid range motor.

Uhhhhh.... Mis-treatment by the previous owner? As bastardized as that bike is I am not surprised by anything you find. Every time you find something that does NOT need fixing you should be surprised. Can't really blame Guzzi for much wrong with that bike. Two things come to mind for burnt valves, bad fueling and tight valve clearances. The fueling is likely not as stock since the intake system has been hacked. The tight valves, that is down to the owner/mechanic. The poor bike......

If there are differences between the subframes they are minor. The basic layout of every V11 subframe I have seen has been the same. The one you have looks to have had parts of it removed (cut off) and then painted to look good. It looks like the parts that are still there match the other subframe, it is just that parts of it are not there. But again, that is based on looking at pictures. One esay test that my help nail this down is to put a magnet to the modified subframe. If it is non-magnetic then it is not stock. If it is then it is likely it is stock based. Who would go through the trouble of making a custom subframe and not make it out of a lighter material like aluminum? Not completely conclusive, but perhaps it will shed light on it.

It looks like the one subframe has been butchered pretty good. From the pic I can't say for sure but it looks like part of the original subframe has been cut away. All V11's seem to have the same subframe. I do not know of any significant differences between older and newer. I do know that my wifes V11 is an early red frame version and its subframe looks just like the pic of your Corsa with the battery in it. I assume someone thought it would be cool to lighten up their Guzzi, so they hacked away at the subframe removing everything they thought was not needed and moved the battery to under the tank. I hope it is still structurally sound. It does appear that they also removed the safety catches that hold the seat on. That Guzzi looks to have been seriously hacked up, but it does not look like it is a different subframe so much as it looks like large parts of the original one were cut away. But you, being there in person, would be better able to assess the subframe then I looking at pictues.

There is a drain that is supposed to drain the area around the fuel filler cap. If it clogs (and it likes to) it can result in water making it into the gas tank, which can cause symptoms like the ones you describe. It could be a variety of things, both fueling and electrical. But water in the gas tank is easy to check for and fix. Make sure that drain is not clogged or it will happen again.

RPMs is a touchy topic. The wifes V11 works fine down to around 2500 rpm in the lower gears. But many around here will say that below 3500 rpms is too low. I think their bikes are just not set up quite right if they surge and buck below 3500 rpm. Especially if you are talking on the decel (as in throttling down). There is an unusual way to sync the TB's on a Guzzi. There is detailed info posted here on how to do it around here. In a nut shell, you set the balance at around 3K with the linkage and set the idle with a air bleed screw. If the linkage is not balanced correctly you may have surging. Do not take my quick summation of the process to be a guide on how to do it. It is just to illustrate the extra complexity of the process compared to normal motors where the TBs/carbs are parallel to each other. The Guzzi TBs are both angled inward/outward towards each other. That changes the way the linkage acts. Always set the valve lash before sync'ing TBs. And I would not assume that the bike is properly serviced, I would go over it 100%. Nobody puts the effort in to servicing a bike they are selling. That is for the next owner to do.

Yes the original on the wife's V11 was labeled Sparker 500 or some such. It was a dead ringer for an Odyssey PC545 (non-FMJ). It is a direct, no hassle, swap. A few years back the wifes V11 had her battery go tits up right when we were leaving on a 1500 mile trip to Indy (for the MotoGP race). I had to find a battery that would fit that I could get right then and there. I found one at an auto parts chain that was slightly too big. I managed to make it fit with some creative modifications. No I can use an Odyssey or an auto parts store battery. That is a nice feature when you are out in the middle of no where and you have battery issues. It is nice knowing a common size battery will fit. One trick I used to help the seat pan clear was to use heat to soften the seat pan and a piece of wood to reshape it while it was hot. Can't see worrying about the battery hold down strap too much as it really can't move with the seat on. But vibration is bad for a battery and if it could move you would definitely want that strap.

I have a few questions for more detail. What rev range are you experiencing the issue? What speeds/gears? Did the tech adjust the valves and balance the TB's? Any signs of hacks or non-standard widgets the PO may have done to "adjust" it? What about all the other basic stuff you do to a used bike you just bought? Filters (both oil and air), oils, valves clearances, etc....

That is the only way to go, having a shock built for you based on your needs. Ohlins can do that, so does Penske and most other shock brands I can think of. Having an OEM Ohlins shock is nice, but until it is sprung and valved to match your needs it is not that special. Part of what is so nice about Ohlins and Penske is that they are fully rebuildable and can be valved to your needs.