belfastguzzi

I have to correct myself. This afternoon I checked again with daylight Correct translation: (with daylight) = "when I was sober"

The point of gathering some basic info was to see if the problems fell within a particular production age range (maybe there was a bad manufacturing period) and hopefully also build up info on the spring boss sizes, so people should keep posting – even if it is just to say, "my spring broke at X miles and my bike is a 200Y model". Further good info would be: • size of boss • condition of shift plate where the spring bend locates on it • where exactly the spring wire broke • size of spring coil… is it free to bend round the boss without binding • any signs of other problems in the mechanism • If multiple breaks, at what mileages – with oe springs? • any breaks with aftermarket springs, if so what were the differences from oe spring and what about all the above in relation to the new spring?... * I don't think that riding style/changing style has anything to do with it.

Or keep it simple. I sealed the stock paper filter onto the bottom half of the box with instant gasket and gaffa tape. If I keep it like this for a while, I think I would put the top of the box back on for the winter, when the paper filter would be vulnerable to wet weather.

? :!: This isn't a good picture of my oil cooler etc. it's just one I happened to have, but still you might be able to see that your front end arrangements seem to be quite different. Did yours come like that from new? Your horns are higher and the cooler is probably lower. The tranny case is curved – at the top the smallest gap is around 8mm. That is quite a lot, compared to 0mm.

I just checked, but on my LM (with pods) there runs an alu bar from one throttle body to the other. The middle of the bar supports on the tranny. Furthermore there is a black metal bar that connects the top of both TB's So I don't think shaking will be an issue. This maybe proves the point. It sounds like your combined throttle unit has dropped. I don't think that the bar should be sitting on your tranny. It sits up above it with stock set-up. It is not attached to the tranny. I'm with the 'support at both ends is quite good in the long run' camp.

Yikes! Am I in danger of being sucked in? Better keep it under 2,000 rpm

My, you do have big pods, Al! Having taken the lid off and just left the stock paper filter, I'm not overjoyed with the noise that it makes. It sounds too much like an air hammer. I might leave it off for another week, just to annoy the people in England when I go over.

NO. I think Jaap should buy a giant electron microscope, for the good of the cause. As a contribution, I'll donate a bit of broken spring to look (and wonder) at. Someone should be able to draw up a list of other things that we could examine. PS Feel free to blow up my spring. Given the steel quality, coating it in bicarbonate of soda and dripping some fizzy drink on it should do the trick.

Come to mention it, it does look like one those dodgy pictures of the Moon landing. So that's how they did it: Veglia made the set!

It looks like the way the pic has been treated during image editing to me. ?

Re offending studs –––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Re Speedo Cable Lube After taking my cable and the end gear housings apart, lubing everything and putting it all back, the lube (grease) has been steadily coming out the end plate on the bottom gearhousing. this plate Has anybody else noticed this? I wonder is there meant to be a hole so that moisture can drip out, or is it just a bad fit? I think it would be better if the lube stayed in the cable, in which case I should seal it in. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Re Fogging Tach. As the plastic casing is identical on both sides, the only big difference that I could see between the tacho and the speedo cases was the big hole in the side of the speedo clock where the trip meter reset shaft goes through. Unfortunately, drilling a hole in the metal tach case has not stopped the tacho from misting up. Like the spring mystery, some things just aren't meant to be understood.

Well, Mr infamous Sweep, people have been looking for you (because they want to speak to you about..........). Your big question is: what size is the coil boss on your ratchet arm? If it is 16.5ish mm then we will be delighted. If it is 15mm then we will be very gloomy indeed. Have you measured it? PS maybe this poll thread should be pinned so that people can respond to it over the next month or so or until a useful amount of info is gathered?

There are V.11 pictures on their website, I think. I have certainly seen some somewhere. If you can't find any I can do a check – I think I have a reference somewhere.

I believe my gasket is torn as well. It also blew out in a few hundred miles and leaked a large amount of oil. I could see a piece of gasket sticking out of the join, so I assume that it is torn as Al and others have reported. The front cover is a bit difficult to get at as other things are in the way (Francesco has discovered this too), so I checked the tightness where I could and sealed the problem area. A new gasket is the proper fix of course. So, it depends how enthusiastic you are feeling, Francesco. I cleaned the area generally with white spirits (whatever cheap solent you have handy) and probably a paint brush and tooth brush and then did the final clean with brake cleaner or similar, to get a dry, clean surface for the sealer. As I said, it worked perfectly, with no more appearance of oil from the joint at all. As far as your second leak is concerned, people have had difficulty tracking down where exactly a bit of wetness at the back of the motor comes from. I have taken the advice that if it is only very small, don't worry about it. The leak at the front, in contrast, was not very small – it was very big.

There have been posts more recent than 2002 about this. If it is from the front gasket, as your second post infers, then oil leak can be easily stopped by applying sealant from the outside, over the joint. I used blue instant gasket type sealer and then covered it with black silicone to match my black cases. No point in pulling the front case off until you really need to.

In the fire?

This is a great inconvenience, having to post twice. I shall accept your apology – this time. 2002 bike (Scura) at 1,200 miles

This is the thing it would be great to get more info on. Is it only 10's? Surely it's more? Are they concentrated within particular manufacturing dates? When you have a check, let us know how the spring bend is seated on the plate. Does it move freely; is it stuck in a rough gouge that it has dug; is the contact spread or concentrated on one point of the bend: even if the boss is 15 mm, is the coil still definitely free to move when the spring is under tension?

Forget the coffee can. You really need to try this with something more classy – cans by, let's say, Mistral, La Franconi or similar. By odd coincidence, you have posted this on a forum where there happens to be an abundance of such items. Now, who's first?

Well, well. Thanks for posting that bit of info. This is a bit of a worry again. It's probably a forlorn hope that your spring coil was undersized! That last time I had the bits out, I didn't have a welder at home otherwise I would have welded something onto the shift plate, as back-up. I like Baldin's idea of putting on a pin, or a bead or something to capture the spring, rather than relying on the bend at the end. But if the spring is a problem (as well as the oversized boss) how come bikes prior to 2002 have not been breaking springs? Have people just been keeping quiet or have I missed the info. I have asked a few times if the earlier bikes have given the same problem and I don't think there was a response to say that they have. Hopefully more information will gather up here.

I'm relieved to see that this latest avenue of discussion, despite initial worrying impressions, is actually on-topic.

Order quick – looks like there might be a run on them! When I ordered one from England it was the supplier's last one. Re which spring to get: going by the current theory, a thicker wire won't really help, it would just put off the evil day. If your pawl arm/ratchet arm whatever boss is oversize then the best change to the spring would be to get one with a bigger coil diameter, not a heavier wire. For that reason, Mike, why don't you take the cover off first and check the parts, because if it turns out you have the problem, you might be best getting the replacement pawl arm, not just changing spring. If you need to do that, you should claim the arm and spring under warranty. Pawl arm no, 04235101 Spring 04238300

Personally, it's no new gasket and copper anti-seize on the bolts, not loctite. The original gasket should still be good, just smear it with oil and bolt it back up. Although the oil and filter can be changed without dropping the pan, I think it's worth taking it off most times as you can clean out all the emulsion that gathers in it.

You really are a bad, bad motogoozer! Not least for posting such GIGANTIC pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was almost going to ask in the original post, does anyone still use Golden Hermitite? For old time's sake I used it this time, as you can see from the lovely golden glow. It was an old tube, but unlike the modern rubbery, silicone alternatives, it hadn't turned solid in the tube – and it is doing a fine job on the bike. The previoius time, I used the ubiquitous blue stuff. I don't think it matters much. It's a small cover with lots of fasteners and seems to match pretty tight. If you were doing a temporary repair out on the road, I think it would hold the gear lube ok without sealant, until you got home. You also don't want to 'glue' it on too solidly or it could be hard to get off again. You can't really lever it off from behind the cover. It can be levered sideways, from the left side. Look forward to seeing how your bits measure up and what sort of gouging there is in the 'shift plate'. Any sign of fatigue in the spring bend? Also interested to hear how much metallic paste there is in the bottom of the box. What is the mileage and how often has oil been changed? I was surprised by how much metal was in the new oil after less than 200 miles since the (first) change– but it's just in the running-in process.