pete roper

Does the Nero Corsa use the single plate clutch? Sounds like it if its quiet when you pull the lever in. If that is the case I would strongly advise inspecting it before you ride the bike again. The single plate clutch flywheels are shatter prone and can do a host of nasty things if they come to bits at speed. Pete

While I'd like it to be geared a bit lower at the top the problem with lowering the FD ratio is that you'd lower the bottom two gears amking 1st pretty much redundant apart from giving you the ability to flip it onto its back with ease . Ideally I'd like to see different ratios in the gearbox but in all honesty for road use the standard cogs are fine, at least for where I ride they are. On a l-o-n-g flat road I can, even with my collosal girth, get mine to the rev limiter in top if I lie flat on the tank. That's 247kph indicated which is far faster than I ever need to go on a motorbike! Sitting bolt upright and doing my best impression of a wind-sock I can easily see 221kph although it is hideously uncomfortable. As well as Keith's suggestions of getting more weight over the front it is worth, if you want to up your tip-in and corner speeds, dropping the forks a fair bit. I have (I think?) three rings showing above the top yoke. Many people who ride much harder than me have five or more and say it makes an appreciable difference. I have to admit I haven't taken mine to a track day. Apart from the fact I'm not really a 'Track Day' rider I simply don't see the big G as a track bike. If I was going to play there regularly I'd get meself an RS250 'Prilla simply because I love stinkwheels and they remind me of my yoof!!!!

All I can say is don't let it put you off. While Dave was unfortunate enough to be caught up in the early tappet failure fiasco the VAST majority of his problems were inflicted by the cro-magnon who was the Guzzi agent/dealer in Belfast at the time. As long as the 8V motor is serviced as 'Per-book' and, if eligible, it had the cam recall done correctly before the tappets failed the engine is pretty much bulletproof. Far more so than previous machines oil choice is VITAL for the longevity of the motor due to the ehaust valve seats being oil cooled. Use a cheap oil and it cooks and can no longer cool or lubricate and damage will occur but if dealerships are so strapped for cash they can't or won't buy the correct lubricants for the machines they sell then you've made the wrong choice about where to buy, it's not the designer/engineers fault if people refuse to follow instructions. I have 50,000Kms on mine now and it never misses a beat. I have several customers who are well over halfway there. Same story. Reliable as a rock! Pete

Dave, I got your message, I just haven't had chance to respond yet. Firstly, if I can get you a new lock set for cheaper than UK prices? let me know and I'll wing it to you. Secondly, Look at the positives. The morons who stole the bike couldn't start it so they abandoned it. Isn't that the primary aim of an anti-theft system? And the Piaggio syetem, in this case, worked splendidly. Thirdly, May the Great God of Infertility fart on the ovaries of these bastards wives and girlfriends, or better yet their own testicles, (A sore point for me at the moment! ) Finally, Dave is 'Good shit' if you do a bit of digging. he, more than most of us, doesn't deserve this shit. Keep yer pecker up Mate. Pete

Jesus Dave????? If you didn't have bad luck you'd have no luck at all. Hows about taking the Griso to somewhere nearby and leaving it there with the keys in? I am making the presumption that the Doso is insured? Pete

Sport C gearboxes are remarkably fragile if they are treated 'Gently'. Most likely the bike's PO, (Or one of them.) was a posing softcock. I recently responded to another query about a newly 'Found' Sport C on another board so to save me repeating myself I hope you won't mind if I C&P even if it seems a bit odd? Right. A few pointers on the Carb Sports. First thing. Drain the gearbox oil. if there is anything but the very lightest 'fuzz' on the magnetic plug your first task is to pull the box and take it to bits. Sorry, but if you do it now it will save pain later on. The Carb Sports use a straight cut gearbox with only three dog engagement. they also don't have a cush drive in the rear wheel and their face cam shock absorber on the input shaft has a 'stacked belville washer' spring that is VERY unforgiving. If the bike has spent ANY time being ridden by a softcock there is a good chance that the pinions will be beginning to hammer the case hardening off some of the teeth. 5th goes first, which is lucky because it's the only gear you can replace individually. Then 3rd because this works twice as hard on the clustershaft as its where the power comes in as well as driving out to the output shaft in 3rd. IMHO It's worth going into the box anyway as the 3205ATN9 beaings on the front of the input shaft and rear of the output shaft are shite. Replace with 3205 AC3's which instead of 9 balls per race and a plastic, polyanamide, cage have 14 balls per race and a sepentine metal cage! Both are rated to over 10,000 RPM. If you're spinning your crank at over 10,000 RPM your oil pump will be cavitating and your big ends will last seconds, before that happens it'll probably chuck out a rod! You'll NEVER overtax the 3205AC3's While you're in there you can shim up the selector drum for a better change too. I'd recommend puting in a helically cut 5th with 5 dog engagement from a later Cali instead of the straight cut 3 dog 5th. You won't notice the difference and if you're riding hard in the twisties you'll never use 5th anyway! Gearbox strip and shim instructions, with pics, are available at Greg Bender's wonderfull 'This Old Tractor' site in the archived Guzzitech dk section. http://www.thisoldtractor.com/guzzitech.dk/ Make ABSOLUTELY SURE that the drive shaft trunnions are aligned correctly. The crosses have to work in the same plane. If they are misalligned you will bust splines and destroy gears. Carburetion. Your bike is stock. Stock they run a pressurised airbox. While this is completely pointless from a power point of view until you are going well in excess of 100mph it IS important to remember if you choose to fit pod filters and dump the airbox. To work correctly the carb float bowls are vented to the AIRBOX, fuel is PUSHED into the venturi by pressure acting on the surface of the fuel in the float bowl. To work correctly the pressure has to be equal to that in the airbox, not atmospheric. If you simply remove the airbox you HAVE to re-jet/needle/atomiser and slide or it'll run like a three legged hippo with a spear up its chuff. Keeping the airbox will allow you to get the jetting right without too much faffing about. You won't gain a lot with pods anyway so I wouldn't bother. Also the brown, anodized DellOrto carb bodies have a peculiar habit of suddenly, and for no discernable reason, *Swelling*! This isn't visible obviously but what happens is that the pillars that the float pin goes through seem to 'Grow' and this leads to the float being 'Grabbed' so it can't pivot. As a result the needle and seat leak and the float bowls over-fill causing the bike to slowly become too rich at idle and eventually die! The fix is stupidly easy. Remove the float pivot, float and needle and make a couple of qick swipes across the inside of the 'Pillars' with a smooth file to remove a thou or two of material. End of problem. Floats will now move freely so the needle closes the seat and it won't over-fuel at idle. Make sure that there is at least 2mm of free play in the 'Choke' cables. Clutch cable also must have at least 2mm of play at the arm at the back of the gearbox. Otherwise you ride the thrust bearing and it'll fail. Most important of all. Ride it like you stole it! NOTHING damages a Carb Sport more than treating it like spun glass. The NEED to be flogged hard and put away wet! That's just the nature of the beast!!!! pete PS. My guess is that the gearbox work was done to correct failed case hardening or bearings. Chances are it now has a helically cut box in. this can be seen by taking out the filler plug and having a squizz at the gears.

I had bugger all to do with it. all I did was shim up the box and supply a couple of clutch bits I think. As for this 'Foremost Guzzi Expert' shit I just find it embarassing. I'm nothing special, never have been, never will be. Very happy being 'ordinary'. pete

Looks like your tensioner is fine Dave. I can't see why anyone would try and move the guide on the other side, it's *fixed* but just because I can't imagine a reason doesn't mean our flagelatory friend didn't have a go. So where's the plastic coming from? I have abso-f@cking-lootley NO IDEA! Apart from the tensioner blade and the oil pick-ups, (And the dipstick of course!) I can't think of anything offhand that is made of plastic and inside the engine? Perhaps 'The Hammer' dropped something down the oil galleries in the side of the barrel to see if he could hear a splash? Who knows? The metalic crap? All I can think of since its ferrous is muck left over from the tappet failure. There is very little inside the engine apart from the tappets that is amde of steel that will wear. The primary timing and oil pump gears? I doubt it. If they started to screw up I'd expect the noise to be loud and hideous, and yes I know the early 8V's are noisy but they wouldn't be able to cover up the racket of s set of disintegrating spur gears. At least I don't think they would. What else is there. Crank and rods are obviously intact. Gudgeon pins are still there as the sump isn't full of bits of piston. Can't be bits or ring. Chains and sprockets all appear fine. Can't imagine the idler shaft suddenly deciding to shed bits of itself? It's gotta be rubble from the cam and tappet failure. Pete

What is so frustrating is that the 8V motor since the early tappet issue has proven itself to be pretty much bomb-proof just like most previous Big Blocks. The only ones I know of that have ahd issues are those that have had cheap oil used in them or they have been sold and 'Maintained' by retards who haven't maintained 'em or have done so wrongly. As I said just yesterday in a thread on Guzzitech I have several customers with G8's, a couple with Stelvios and a couple with 1200 Sport 8V's. I've set 'em up as per book at the first service and since then....... Nothing! On a couple of 'em I had to adjust one or two valves at the 10,000km service but other than that the FI remains obstinately and perfectly in tune, the valve lash doesn't seem to change after 10,000Km, they don't leak, break, misbehave, anything??? Their owners get up in the morning and stick the key in ride all day, take the key out, and repeat! Mine is up to 50,000km near enough and NOTHING has ever gone wrong with it, well, nothing serious enough for me to have it immediately spring to mind! I live in a quite extreme environment, at altitude and travel all sorts of roads from freeways to graded dirt on it and it just works! Pete

I only wish I was nearer Dave. If I could get my hands on the engine I'd take it on as a project just to find out exactly how seriously it had been damaged by The Hammer. It really is pretty inexcusable. I wonder how much it would cost to ship a motor out here? Pete

Just wanting to clarify. If it was leaking from the temp sensor it would indicate a cracked head!!!! Pete

OK, so if you break the LH camchain tensioner you have to do this. Which make you feel like a bit of a prat. Not as much of a prat as you must feel if you bust someone's tensioner and decide that you don't need to replace it and hope they won't notice though! Once you get it on the bench you can have a look at what's going on. You don't in fact need to remove the barell and head to do this but as I hadn't done one before I thought it would be safer to do so. As you can see I had to take the clutch apart to access the pin/plugthat the tensioner swings on. You can, luckily, leave the flywheel itself in place. I'm pointing to where it goes with the allen key. Pin itself lives under plug. The part you break if you're a f@cking idiot. And just for your entertainment some other pics of bits and bobs of the 8V. Hydraulic tensioner plunger with ball valve in the bottom. These are installed with the ball valve end 'down' so they sit in a puddle of oil. The plunger has a light spring that pushes out the piston allowing the ingress of oil past the ball but when the chain tries to push the blade of the tensioner back against the piston the valve closes and seals hydraulically 'locking' the tensioner in position. One of the camboxes. Note how with the cam positioned as it would be at TDC the tops of the cam followers are just proud of the top of the cambox, (These are the things the little pushrods are sitting in and the parts that wear if the cam/tappets fail.). On a couple of 8V's I've had the camboxes out of I've found the oil feed dowels on the studs damaged/squashed. Might be worth ordering a couple before you start rippin' in. they're only pennies. Pete

Temperature sensor is in the back of the right hand cylinder head and doesn't go into an oil gallery??? Are you sureit wasn't the pressure sensor? front left hand side of the valley, just behind the timing chest?? Pete

JAson, while the theory of a magnet in the sump to catch ferous shit is a good one the fact is that the sump is a large space and bits of steel have to be pretty close to the magnet to be attracted to it. There is already a magnet in the drain plug, it's tiny and more there because the part is shared with the gearbox and CARC drain plugs rather than any real benefit I think. The gearbox too is pretty useless but at least it is at one of the lowest places in the box, likewise the CARC plug. In that case there is at least some hope of *solid* bits falling to the lowest point and being caught by the magnet. In the motor's sump you just effectively have a flat 'Tray'. anything that falls into the bottom of the engine will only be caught by the magnet by pure arse if it washes up close to it. And of course a magnet is useless for anything other than ferous metals. Bits of barrel spigot or platic cam chain tensioner blades won't care a damn. pete

Why the left? Because on the right hand cylinder you just take the big nut off the inside of the camchain tunnel and you can pop out the tensioner plunger. On the left hand cylinder they obviously didn't want to have a 'Hole' wth a plug in it in the fins on the outside of the barrel so the tensioner plunger is still inserted from the 'Inside' of the V but has to be in the 'outside' of the casting to place pressure on the 'Slack' side of the chain. As with all Guzzi motors the crank spins clockwise when viewed from the front. The idler shaft is gear driven and spins counter clockwise so it is the left hand runs of the cam chains, (Viewed from the front.) that will be under tension when the engine is running so the wear in the chain pins that causes elongation has to be compensated for by a tensioned blade acting on the right hand run of the chain viewed from the front but on the left hand side of the bike as you sit on it. Where the bolt that holds the bottom of the tensioner sits on the LH cylinder is a collosal frontbottom! They could of put it in from the 'Front' which would of only required removal of the barrel to replace the bolt and tensioner. That though would of required a more complicated machining process and added expense! So it comes in from the back, behind the flywheel, and you need to take the the bloody engine out to get to it!!!! If I have time I'll dig out the pics of Mark's bike while it was apart and post 'em up here but they're already up on Guzzitech if you want to sift through over there to find 'em. Pete Oh, and the part that busts is #26, the one with a hole in the bottom. The other one is simply a guide. #26 pivots on the eye at the bottom under pressure from the hydraulic tensioner plunger.

The only thing that immediately springs to mind for the plastic bits is the cam chain tensioner blade. Yes, I'm afraid that it is quite possible to snap this on the LH cylinder. I found this out the hard way on a customer's bike, (While he was looking over my shoulder!). To replace the cam you have to force the tensioner back with a flat bladed screwdriver and then secure it back with a key through the small hole in the back of the cam chain tunnel to allow you to de-mount the top sprocket from the cam. The tensioner is VERY frangible and if you don't get it right the tensioner can shatter. Unfortunately to replace it you have to remove the engine from the frame, remove the gearbox and most of the clutch to get to its lower mount. My guess is that the 'Hammer' may of bust the tensioner and what you are seeing is the result of the cam chain slowly eroding the tensioner. Before you freak out though look down the chain run on the 'outside' of the cylinder as it were and see if you can see the top of the tensioner. It should be visible and if it is broken it will be obvious. I'm currently 'Mentoring' the young mechanic at the Canberra dealer and he's currently got in an '09 Grisowhich has eaten its tappets. The reason for that is obvious though. A really cheap and nasty mineral oil was used by the idiot who did the first service, (An EX-dealer in Canberra. he couldn't even be bothered to use a UFI filter for the bloke so his warranty is toast!). The 8V motor simply won't tollerate cheap oil, the galleries around the exhaust valve seats and the underneaths of the piston crowns will just cook it then the cams eat the tappets. It's all so un-neccessary. All they need is to be treated *RIGHT* and they are bulletproof. Mine's up to 50,000Km now and NOTHING ever goes wrong with it, the valve gaps never change, the FI never meeds looking at. The TB's remain in ballance. It's stupendously, boringly reliable! None of the 8V's I look after is any different. I have several 'Regular' Customers with Grisos, a couple of stelvios and a couple of 1200 Sport 8V's and they are all the same. They just need the most basic servicing. Nothing else! As for how to get the UK importer or factory to help or even acknowledge your problems??? I have no idea. I'm sorry. Pete

The orinal boots are as useless as tits on a bull. Just junk 'em and get a pair of NGK SB05E caps and be done with it. Snip the very end off the HT lead so you can screw the caps on and just fold 'em over under the covers. No more arcing and easy to remove. Pete

This must be a problem that is prevalent in cooler or damper climates. While I've heard about it I have never actually had first hand experience of it. The problem with Guzzi's long standing and byzantine starting circuit is though well documented! Certainly adding a direct feed to pin #3 is a good idea. As is removing the starter motor cover and giving the earth strap mounting point a jolly good clean and smear with contact/terminal protectant. In the orignial case mentione here though the fact that the bike is a very early Breva 1100 raises a couple of questions. Some of the very early gearboxes used on Grisos and Brevas had a couple of problems. One was the rattling of the face cam shouck absorber on the input shaft due to insufficient pre-loading and the second one was that on a few boxes the retaining screws for one of the bearings, (I think the front input shaft bearing from memory?) were ommited and this allowed the bearing and shaft to 'Walk' back into the box. "So what the @#!#$# has this got to do with a starting problem?" you may ask? well the thing is to rectify either of these faults requires the gearbox to be disassembled. One of the things that has to be done to achieve this is that the neutral switch has to be removed and it seems that the switch is VERY sensitive. Guzzi actually posted out a service bulletin on the Servicemotoguzzi page stating that if the switch had been removed that on re-installation it is VITAL that a new crush washer be used and that the switch should be torqued EXACTLY to the prescibed torque! Failure to do this could lead to? Give you one guess........ So? Do you know if your gearbox needed either of the above mentioned repairs? If so it may well be that the crush washer wasn't replaced or the switch was incorrectly torqued. Not suggesting this IS the problem but it does make sense doesn't it? As for Dave's bike? god alone knows what happened to that poor thing after it was butchered by Retardus Maximus in NI! Pete

Looks like one of mine. Perhaps the bloke has sold his V11 or something? Crashed it, simply no longr feels its neccessary. The only thing that is a bit disingenous is the suggestion that they are a 'Small Run' item and aren't often available. While there may be times I'm out of stock they are usually available within a week or two. It's fine, if he was selling blatant copies I'd be pissed off but otherwise? I'm thinking of building a sheet for the new motors too, not to solve an oil starvation problem, that is no longer an issue, but I'd like to see if viscous drag is still an issue, might not tell me a lot on a dyno though.... Pete

Given your terrible experiences with 'The Hammer' Dave I'm not surprised you are more than a bit cynical. The thing is though that the new bikes ARE, generally, very reliable and a joy to own and ride. No, they aren't the most powerfull machines on the road but they ARE a superb 'Road' bike and a consumate fast tourer. I've covered major distances in both the USA and here in Oz on my G11 and G12 and have had precicely ZERO problems with the G12 and one 'Major' one with the G11 when its dashboard ent tits. It had always been noisy. I reckon it was stuffed from the get-go, I just didn't recognize it as such. Some points to remember. The 8V motor IS already liquid cooled, its just that the liquid is oil rather than Glycol. Yes, if you want to believe what the press say then its 'Competition' is the Monster and V-rod, plus a few other 'Muscle Cruisers' (Whatever they are??? Stupid name.) The thing is it is different enough to stand on its own two feet. The Stelvio is aimed at the GS 'Polar Bear Smuggling' crowd. It's a very capable 'Soft Roader' but it'll never be a dirt bike any more than a GS or a, (Shudder.) V-Strom is a dirt bike. The Cali is well past its use by date and you can see that the 'New' one will be a disaster because the corn cob pipists and suspender-twangers have already stated they'd never buy one because it doesn't have pushrods, points and carbs even though they can't seem to grasp the fact that such anachronisms are DEAD AND GONE. They all want an Eldorado that will produce 130 rear wheel HP and be over 1500CC. Good luck with that . While I wouldn't want one I'd love to see a 'Nuovo Daytona' but for some reason the gnomes of Noale refuse to see that such a machine WOULDN'T cut into Aprilia sales because it would be for an entirely different 'Market Segment' You might as well try to plough the sea as get Noale to see that though. Despite the hair-tearing by the doomsmiths I have to say that the current line up, with the exceptions of the poor old Cali and any of the poxy smallblocks, is better than it has been for years and the build quality and reliability is certainly no worse than any other marque. Yes, it's frustrating having to deal with dealers who are venal and ignorant of the meaning of the words 'Customer Service' and 'Mechanics' who aren't and at the moment the national 'Management' in the UK seems to beggar belief with their decision making processes and the outcomes they 'Decide' but overall I think that things, at least here, are better than they have been for years, decades even! Went down to Sydney last week for a training session on the New Doso 1200 and the RSV-4 APRCS. That was interesting. I have to say though that the 1200 Doso looks a bit like a very expensive V-Strom to me though . It'd have to be more exciting than a shitbox 'strom though!!!!!! Pete

The Cali isn't trying to appeal to people who want a sportsbike. It's squarely aimed at the 'Money Market' of corn-cob-pipists, pinheads and motorcycling caelocanths that make up the 'Cruiser' crowd. Is it my 'Cup of tea'? God no! but it may well be very popular. Just because I don't like something doesn't mean it is awful. The 8V engine if which this is bound to be some sort of itteration is now a tried and tested product, yes Dave, I know your experience was a disaster, but the package IS, really, good now the tappets aren't made of cheese. That means it can be expanded and used in a further range of products and hopefully that will mean a continuation of the Guzzi name. Eventually someone may wake up to the idea that they could build an HP2 equivalent and please all you 'Sportsbike' guys. By the time that happens I'll be too old, so I'm probably buying an RSV4 for shit and giggles in the USA. No. It doesn't have a Guzzi badge. Such is life. the world changes and life moves on. Pete

Almost certainly the o-rings that are used to seal the spokes. It's a really perverse system and the main one I've stuck with the Brembo alloy wheels on my Griso. Take wheels off, dunk in a bath full of water and watch the spokes. The one/s with bubbles coming out are the ones with f@cked o-rings. Pete

Not a parts book but if you want an exploded pic of the bevelbox?

When the tyre was changed did the driveshaft get separated? Quite often it will, especially if the people performing the tyre change are unfamiliar with the Guzzi set up. If it has become separated and then has just been stuck back together any-which-way there is a very good chance the driveshaft trunnions are misaligned and tghis will cuse problems. Look on the drive shaft where it jins and you will see that on both front and back parts there are paint lines that should line up If they don't? there is the most likely source of your problem. Not having the trunnions aligned is also murder on both the splines and gears in both gearbox and bevelbox. Pete

It's a 16M computer isn't it? I haven't played with a 16M for ages. I believe that it is adjusted with the trimpot screw under the big rubber bung but far better to look in the manual which I'm sure will be available on Greg Bender's site. Pete