belfastguzzi

Ah, yeah. I think that I knew that but forgot. So, how are you getting on with that Griso anyway?

Admirable vision and determination, Artist Formerly Known As .... Just what the forum needs in this long period of staleness when the V.11 fixes have been hammered to death. Don't you think that a serious improvement would be to have the silencer/muffler on both sides? Also it should be fin shaped with a pointy front end and a flare added towards the back end. Added benefit: with such a mod, it would then be difficult to argue against it being the fastest thang in all areas west.

well, yes: like many parts it's intended to be a one-time fitting, but as we know, it's not actually good enough, robust enough, to last for the life time of the bike. So as with most other issues, we have to find a way to work around the manufacturer's intention, which is that you throw away the complete pump and buy a complete new one just because one part has failed – at a cost that is 1,000 times greater than the cost of the failed part. The first postings on finding a fix said that the plastic piece (intended as a one-time fitting) needs to be broken out – which is what I was expecting to do. However it can be gotten out in one piece, as Hayden advised me. I used a combination of pushing and levering to get past the difficult point, which is to get the direction of the tangs reversed. There is a lot of resistance until that is done. It's a bit problematic because a drift does dig into the plastic and could punch through it without care. Eventually I dropped a piece of lead into the elbow to cushion and spread the stress. I found it best to lever it from the outside as well, once there was enough of a gap to do that. I don't think that you need to worry about the tang scratches in the alloy damaging the o-rings. But... I'll see how it goes. Definitely, threading in a metal elbow will give the best long-term confidence. I do think that it would be good to be able to buy the plastic part – even to carry as an emergency spare. If your outlet snaps while away on a trip (not inconceivable) what are you going to do? You could easily and quickly carry out a roadside repair if you had the cheap replacement part (you don't even need to completely drain the fuel) but you might find it a bit troublesome to locate a new fuel pump or to pay for it and it would be a right palaver having to locate someone able to fit a threaded elbow.

Update on the plastic fuel elbow as used by Guzzi, Aprilia, maybe Ducati? Triumph? And has been broken on various Grisos (possibly other models too?). I think it gets broken because the quick disconnect is awkward to get at and difficult to use and itself gets broken. The fuel line on the Griso is short, so it is too easy to raise the tank (without the fuel line disconnected) and suddenly there is a snap as the plastic nozzle comes under tension and snaps off. I've seen some pics of an early fix (USA) where some sort of pipe was brazed in. There has been discussion of threading in a metal elbow... and as I couldn't find an elbow at the time, my solution a year and a half ago was a glued-in steel tube. It worked, until the glue eventually gave way to the petrol. Now I think that rather than an aftermarket elbow, a banjo union will be best, as it can be positioned to point in the best direction. I got one without knowing what size the baseplate hole would be: it's actually too small, but looks to be the right idea. On the Friday before I wanted to do a Sunday track day (after other crash repairs to the Griso) I glued the steel tube back into the plastic part to see me through the track day and I'm confident that it would have lasted another year. However Hayden in England contacted me to say that he has a V11 pump and he posted me the plastic elbow from it. It arrived next day, on Saturday morning. I fitted it and all was sorted for the Sunday. Great! Ultimately a metal outlet will be better as the plastic is fragile. However the main need to still explore alternative solutions is that the manufacturers of the plastic part won't supply it to you or I. If anyone else goes down the route of a threaded elbow type of repair, please post details. When the plastic piece was out, I could see that there is plenty of metal in the baseplate to tap threads into. I'll do the job some day. There is no rush as the bike is going alright. Thanks Hayden! Another fabulous example of forum help coming to the rescue (when the dealer and importer system does nothing for us).

Don, are you still around here? Interested to hear how you're getting on and if you fitted the PCV? I'm not about to do it, but it would be useful to have some experience written up on this wee sub-forum. DB

I must have missed this post. Did you do the relocation, Andy?

Thanks, that's what I thought. It doesn't match with what the handbook says or shows.

Premature senility would explain it.

Dave, there is a new gear lever as a buy it now on E.Bay. £39.55. Andy. Thanks Andy It's my brake lever that Is damaged, but maybe they also have that. I will look.

Make me an offer. It has a good fuel outlet elbow: might come in handy sometime. Very observant: good comment. It held together. It didn't leak. It stayed upright.

Sorted, or at least back together. Proof of the pudding in another 9 or 10 hours at Kirkistown track. Hope it stays together.

Excellent developments! Thanks so much, Hayden. Another question (sorry) Can rubber fuel pipe be constantly immersed in petrol or should it only be plastic? I'm wondering if I can replace the small piece of plastic pipe that runs internally from the pump to the outlet, with a short bit of rubber hi-pressure fuel hose? The plastic stuff seems to be 'use once' It retains the shape that it gets fitted to and so doesn't come off very well. This piece has been off a couple of times and isn't in best shape. I'm thinking that the rubber pipe if totally and constantly immersed would get soft?

I asked this question when I first got the Griso. Now there are more out there, I'll try again. What do Guzzi mean by 'notches'? It's a puzzle because what they say in the manual doesn't matches the drawings or photos in the manual, nor photos of new bikes. The manual says that the standard setting is to have 4 notches showing and the sports setting is 5 notches. Yet the MG pictures and actual bikes from the factory all seem to have only 2 notches showing! This is a photo from MG Service Manual. The stem is set at only one or two notches, depending upon what is meant by notches. This corresponds with the diagram showing how the stem should be set, but not with the text. Here are all the notches/rings on the stem I have had mine set at what I think is at 4 notches, but is it? Biesel, what does yours look like, as set from the factory?

Tonight I got the crash damaged bike back together and running (apart from headlight but that's nearly sorted) on target for Sunday trackday. Then another problem became apparent. On running, I could see a small petrol leak from the tank outlet. This is an old problem going back to the time of the cam recall and the terrible work done by the service agent. He damaged various parts of the bike, including the fuel lines and the quick release from the tank. This resulted in a broken plastic elbow. The elbow outlet is part of the pump and can't be bought / replaced on its own – and the pump unit is well over £300 to replace. That was too much to pay just because a tuppenny plastic part was broken – and it wasn't my fault. I got an engineering shop to ream out the surviving part of the plastic outlet nozzle and to make a steel tube outlet. I had hoped they would thread it in, but they glued it, saying the glue would last forever. I was sceptical but gave way to their experience. However the glue has not held. It's probably been leaking for a long time. I reckon that I should do what I hoped to do first time round. That is: find a metal screw-in elbow and get threads cut in the fuel pump base so that the new elbow can be attached. The red plastic part won't come out unless it's broken out, so I don't want to remove it until I can get a new elbow. So I've got a few questions to find solutions to, pronto. Where can I get a suitable outlet elbow? Where can I get someone to fit it / cut threads in the baseplate? I'm really disappointed that this has happened so close to the Sunday trackday that I've had booked for ages. Maybe I'll superglue the tube in to the plastic part again, just to see me through the trackday. Friday isn't the best day to get an urgent job done, even if I can find a suitable elbow. Fuel outlet elbow with replacement hose that I fitted, instead of damaged plastic line and quick release. Steel tube glued in where the plastic nozzle broke off. Top part of outlet in baseplate casting.

Yes changed the cams and I thought maybe the airbox, but Pete R says the airbox is still the same. The graphs look interesting. They show the improvement with: new cams plus PC V and air filter ???

The plastic 'chrome' unit has a poor finish, so I'm not bothered about painting it: the chrome is all dimpled/blistered. (It was supposed to be replaced under warranty – but it is just one of the warranty parts ordered that I never received.) Is the headlight bowl still chrome finish? I think it is, in your photo, but not sure. Edit: looked again and yes it looks like the silver chrome. I'm interested to know how the new version drives compared to the first 8V motor. Have you ridden an '08 or '09 Griso?

Interesting. I have thought the cowl would be better in black and will paint mine sometime. I haven't seen anything like the Edgeguard for the Griso. I used rubber (inner tube) to make a barrier for the V11 and may do the same on the Griso.

What do you want old chap: a featherbed frame? Maybe you're right and they are too high: mine seems to fall over rather a lot. Biesel, what age is yours? Is it brand new? Edit: second hand? Someone has put a black dash cowl on it. Or, maybe you?

Thanks all. Yes, only doing it because it's the rear brake. I put it on the bike last night – and it will do ok as it is. Not perfect (I'll have to buy a new lever for that) but it works fine.

meet and a track, could be good

I hope to get the crashed Griso back together and running in the next day or two. I know it's not a procedure in the MG Service Manual, but I decided to bend the damaged footbrake lever back towards its original shape using heat. I didn't have a pattern for what shape exactly it should be, when I started on it after midnight last night. Fitting it to the bike this morning, it is not quite right. I've found a pic on the web and I see that I have made it too straight. The question is, should I leave well alone now, rather than heat the alloy a second time and risk making it too brittle? And don't bother telling me off for doing it in the first place! Oh ok... fire away... This is what it should be like: I suspect that it should come out at the rear of that lower bracket lozenge shape, rather than underneath it. I would appreciate if anyone else with a Griso can check this for me. Even better if you can take a photo. I'm going to bolt it up properly now: maybe it is ok as it is.

Going back to the time of the cam & tappet replacement issue, a note followed about the importance of replacing these little pushrods the right way up i.e. grooved end towards the rocker. There was no explanation as to why: and there wasn't any observation of any difference in the two ends. I haven't seen any more comment on this and don't know if it's been on other forums. As I have the parts out, here are pics to show that both ends have flats. The rocker end has a smaller flat. The bottom end appears to have a concave dimple in the centre. I can't see these flats just being wear on my particular rods. Looks to me like they are machined like this. To hold a small pool of oil?

I did the full bananna on my bike today and yes, there are machined grooves in the top of the rods. I have to say I have no idea why No, I didn't put a micrometer on them to see of there was some sort of infinitesimal difference in the 'Bells' of the 'Dumb' but they looked identical. Another thought was that maybe at full lift the groove had been machined to allow clearance of the rocker edge. Nope! I can see no reason why they should have to be put in in any certain way but one has to presume the instruction means something so, simply, do as you're told!!!! (Shrug?) Pete Took mine out tonight and there is actually a difference in the two 'ball ends'. At least there is in mine. I'll explain and post a pic tomorrow or soon. Has there been any more talk about these elsewhere, since they were last commented on here a couple of years ago?

No third party, it would be my insurance. I was following someone who went off at a bad corner. In the moment of distraction while I looked to see what was happening, my front went and I followed the other bike: except I hit the road and smashed the kerb – the other bike rode up the kerb and then went down, onto grass. So it's my problem.

I can't see it being an insurance write-off, Gene, Pete. I'll inquire about the overall cost of parts and labour and see if the shop has an idea how an insurance company would regard it, but it's hard to win with insurance. No matter what, I'd not get anything near the cost of a new bike. So yes, put it back together and live with the scratches. The tank and bodywork would need replaced under insurance: that would push the price up a good bit. However the wheels, forks and frame *look* ok (to my eye). They'd be a decisive factor in a write-off calculation, I imagine? To check for a possible crack, is there a reliable diy version of dye penetration that could be used on that rocker/cam casting? One positive is that this incident has given opportunity to put a helicoil insert into the rocker clamp (head cover bolts to it) where Mr Hammer had stripped the thread.