pete roper

Depends on the carbon content and how quickly it's cooled I believe?? Pete

So what are you saying Hubert? That DAve should just ride it, even though it is seriously damaged and could fail again at any time and then sell it just before the warranty runs out so when it does let go its some other poor sucker's problem? Nice! Pete

Frequently. Where do you think I get the ideas for my midget porn extravaganzas?? Pete

Sorry, I lied. Here is footage of a Piaggioboard meeting on hearing ofthe problems of the 8V engine's top end.... Pete

And just because I can I also offer you, on this board, the best pic I've deragged off the net in weeks. This is, by all accounts, a Piaggio board meeting! Pete

I did take pics but they came out as sh!t. FWIW the tappets are dimensionally slightly different and the bases of them appear to either be a separate part, (Unlikely.) or they have been parkerized and polished. Nearly a mirror finish on'em. Like Greg I dont think the material was the problem so much as the hardening process and the radius. HArd to judge old against new but to my weedy, failing eye the new ones appear to have a n ever so slightly greater radius. Pete

The Mana is a hoot! I've got nearly 10,000Km on mine now and it'snly just blotted it's copy book for the first time. Pete

If the rear suspesion is feeling weird make sure the driveshaft trunnions are properly aligned. If they are out of alignment you'll get all sorts of weird reactions at the rear and will do serious damage to splines and pinions. Pete

So the little thief managed to unload it. Thats a shame. Nothing to do with you, I hope you enjoy the machine. Pete

Dave, despite my web presence nobody of importance could give even the mist microscopic od shits what my opinion is. Yes, I'm an 'Authorised Service Agent' but I reckon I give more good publicity for the marque I know and love than they could ever repay me for. If they decide to 'Cut me off' because I have 'TRANSGRESSED THE UNWRITTEN LAW!' So be it. It's no skin off my nose one way or another. I'm not always right but when I'm proven wrong I'm always happy to say so and won't bloviate and try to dodge the balme but I AM a competent tradesman and I can see a f@cked motor from half a world away if the pictures are good. From MY point of view unsourced material would hold no water. If you want to use me as a 'Source' feel free, just don't expect anybody who matters to pay the slightest bit of attention!!! Pete

Spleen vented on this one over on Nutterboard Dave. Pete

DAve, I know little. I probably am one of the more useful repositories of Guzzi lore and knowledge on the net but I'm not omnicient . (Otherwise I would of won $6 million on the lotto yesterday rather than $23.40 ). If I hear shit believe me I'll let you know but I'm afraid you're the 'Cutting Edge' on this one. The fact is a lot of people with both knowledge and experience have taken a look and found the whole situation wanting. As Mike Haven would say, "It's All Nuts and Bolts". There IS no magic or miracles, it is simply a series of parts made of stuff and fed oil by a pump or two while it works. Those parts are made of other 'Stuff' and is some of it fails it will have an effect on all the other bits. It's an internal combustion engine, not some sort of new motive engine that only works with superconductors at 3 degees above absolute zero. Somebody f@cked up. It's not your fault, the f@cker-uppers should be held accountable. This isn't the same situation as that whining 'Tard over on WG who is saying his bike is a bit of shit because he's buggerd about with some aspects and is unwilling to address others. This is a major problem that needs to be sorted properly. Your motor is toast. I'd challenge ANY engineer of principle to take one look at those cam journals and say otherwise. Piaggio HAS to do the right thing. Pete

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

Mike was asking if the pushrods are directional in some way? To be honest I examined them pretty carefully when I had mine apart and they looked symetrical but since my new bits have been despatched by pack-pony from Sydney I"ll be doing the recall on mine in a couple of days and I'll double check. Having said that I think what the issue probably was is that when the cambox is replaced on the head the rockers will tend to flop about. It is possible, if you're a complete retard, to have a pushrod off the rocker. If you then torque the stud-nuts that retain the cambox and head/barrel to the case down and ignore the odd feeling and tortured shrieks of living metal as the whole thing bends,snaps and breaks you'll end up with a whole load more scrap and another unhappy customer. While you might like to think that this sort of thing is so obvious only a cretin could miss it if you'd seen some of the recent, inadvertant, modifications and 'Tuning Enhancements' on the bikes I've been working on recently you'd realize that tragically the reality is a bit more sobering....... Pete Looking at the bulletin again it does look as though there is some sort of machined groove arond 'em. I put mine back in as they came out but I might pop a rocker cover andhave another squizz this PM.

The V sump was originally designed for racing with the Tonti framed bikes. If you trawl through my explanation post on the merits or otherwise of the V sump versus a plate in the V11's I think I've explained the whys and wherefores there. Unless you want to drop the forks radically to increase steering speed the standard sump is fine as long as it has a spacer, (Or you're using a deep sump off a later model Cali or Belagio.) If you are intending to ride a heavily tuned bike hard either on the road or in racing conditions then a plate is advisable as it helps prevent oil pick-up by the cyclonicforces created by the crank and also helps inhibit oil surge, (In the same way that the V11 plate does.) but rather than it being a preventative measure to stop pick-up exposure it is more to help prevent the crank webs from plunging into the oil during hard acceleration and braking. Look, my heavily modded SP wears a Harpers outsider sump extension and a plate. My Convert has a sump extension but is plate-less, it simply doesn't need one. With the SP it is, IMHO, overkill but since I had one knocking about? In it went. Either way a plate is unlikely to be vital on your machine but if you want one I have them and they do work and have an 'Invisible Bling' factor if you're into that sort of thing. You could always build it and run it and then see if you need one, simple as that. Pete

Yes, I do produce a plate for the earlier engines but it is most usefull on racers and the earlier machines that rely on the inadequate breather boxes fitted prior to the adoption of the frame as the condensor. The oil pick-up on the earlier engines is in the middle of the sump itself and exposure is not a problem, especially on a sedate beast like a Cali. If your engine is expelling large quantities of oil through the breather it is more likely to be indicative of either a blocked oil return system or a sealing problem within the engine itself, (Rings, guides etc.). I can certainly provide one but I would ask you to consider long and hard whether you need one. Is your bike displaying any symptoms of needing a plate? Pete

It all depends what you want. I certainly didn't find my 1100 Griso wanting and my Scura goes like a cut cat but I really like the 8V motor even though its potential has a way to go before it is realized. I'm not saying the 8V is neccessarily 'Better', just different and I also like the novelty of the design. Pete

No 'Almost' about it Greg. The whole motor is scrap bar the heads, and they'd need rebuilding. Pete

Mate, as per the PM. Anything I can do to help I will, chances arewhat I'm going to be saying will make me 'Persona Non Grata' with Piaggio, I'm execting to be given the arse as a troublemaker soon anyway, the importer here has stopped replying to my calls so the end is probably nigh. A shame. I love the marque, I even like the new engine design, I just hate seeing everyone from MAndello to the end purchaser getting given the digit by a corporate entity that puts short term profit over long term gain. You should get a new engine, the rest of the bike is fine but the engine is scrap. Yes, they could salvage the rods, the timing gears and the dummy shaft and the heads themseves are probably fine. The rest is most likely scrap, but what would I know? I'm just a mechanic from Oz. The Gurus from the factory have spoken. who am I to question their wisdom? Pete

The virtually undamaged cam I tested came in at 60Rw. The tappet? 39Rw. Is that the only problem? who knows, but having no offset on the cam/tappet face and insufficient, (if any!) radiusing doesn't help. Pete

No reason at all. A micrometer and bore guages are your friends though. Pete

While the cam and tappet wear are obvious and extreme what worries me more is the state of the cam bearings surfaces. These are good, High Res pics and to me it looks as though there is a fair amount of damage to the bearing surface of the camshaft. I don't suppose you were allowed to look at the bearing surfaces in the 'Scaffold'? To me it looks as if the cam bearings have been quite severely damaged, in all probability by shit that has gone right through the lubrication system and has now embedded itself in the alloy bearing surface of the 'Scaffold'. this will, effectively, turn the scaffold into a bench grinder which will then destroy the new cam bearings as well. Also, if the oil is from the same pump that delivers oil to the bottom end then the mains and big-ends will be similarly stuffed. The idea that a simple 'Flush', (Without even taking the sump off!) is going to be adequate in this situation is insulting to the inteligence of anybody with even the most rudimentary understanding of lubrication theory. It sucks. If it were mine I'd be screaming from the rooftops. No doubt by saying that publicly I'll put myself even further on the outer with the powers that be with Guzzi and the 'Sky is falling' retards who can't separate cause and effect but really I can't be arsed any more. I really like the new motor, I just think it's been #@$&@#@ over by beancounters and its reputation is being rubbished due to poor QC and cheap buy-ins from the lowest bidder on parts and now they are hoping that they'll be able to hide behind an inadequate repair that will hopefully get the bikes out of warranty. I'm sickened, it stinks. Pete

Dave, unless I specifically say otherwise, (And I haven't yet!) anything I 'Publish' on the net is fair game for anybody who is interested, they can modify it, re-post it, anything they like as long as they don't try and on-sell it for profit. I'll get thoroughly 'Old Testament' on the arse of anybody who does that. Same sort of shysters who try and sell Carl's wiring schematics on fleabay. Pity they never turn up to rallies, they'd be prime candidates for the 'Whale Joke'. Pete (Believe me, if you don't know the 'Whale Joke' just let it be said that it isn't very pleasant and can need a visit to a medical practitioner if you have pissed someone off enough )

Dave, if your dealer is a dunce? just get the bits and get him to sign the book. It's no big deal, but read CAREFULLY about separating the 'Scaffold'. http://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=24953.0 Sorry, I would of posted the whole thing here but my 'pooter says something about 'Dynamic Lynx' and I don't want one of those roaming about the house! three cats are bad enough!!!! Pete

You can usually tell if it is the 'Big' seal one the wheel side of the box or the smaller, harder to get at internal seal on the swingarm side of the box by looking at a.) where the oil is coming from and, b.) examining the box once the wheel is removed. If there is oil coming out around the spindle nut on the swingarm side of the box it is most likely the internal seal. Also if when the wheel is off you can see fresh oil running down the internal, splined for the wheel, part of the crownwheel this too indicates an internal seal failure and that requires taking the box to bits. If however it is simply coming out between the bevelbox and the wheel it is most likely just the large seal that you have replaced. simple answer, if it's cured you'fe replaced the right seal! It might be worth your while removing and cleaning the box breather, (The little mushroom shaped thing at the top.) seals usually blow due to over-pressurisation. If the breather is clogged it'll do it again. When you put the box back on the bike did you; a.) Make sure the driveshaft was properly aligned? (This is VERY important!) b.) Check, clean and grease the wretched needle roller that lives in the swingarm side housing of the bevelbox. Pete