pete roper

In the absence of a super hi-tech fibreoptic set-up and the sort of facilities that Honda has this is the way poor plebs like us have to work things out. The reasons I made the plates is because I saw a real need for them as the oil starvation problem on the broad sump engines really IS an issue. Even major manufacturers and tuning shops will do stuff that would make the average buyer weep if they saw it. there have been some pics posted recently of the new *V engine beings tested on a brake and the whole thig looks absolutely horrid! But that's how stuff is worked out. It's not all serious looking men in white coats with slide-rules in their pockets. It's people destruction testing shit and getting covered in filth! Even in Japan! Don't kid yourselves! Incidentally several people have tried to contact me recently about plates and I haven't responed. I apologise. I've simply been too busy, not only with work but also with my Mum in Law who has dementia and my youngest son who is giving us shit at the moment. I do still have a couple of 'Broad Sump' plates lying about I think and if people wnat to hector and nag me I will try and get them out. I'll alsio do another run if the demand is there but the last lot the price of material had gone through the roof so the price will probably be a bit higher than it was. I'm currently in LA rebuilding some bikes for mates but I'll be back in Oz in a couple of weeks time. feel free to nag me then. Pete

It's clutch also bangs like a dunny door in a force 9 gale. I've NEVER heard anything like it! The bone has been pointed and I hope he pulls the bastard out and simply replaces it on spec 'cos if it lets go, with the way Rich rides, it wouldn't be a happy thing! And Ratch me old china. This isn't really the place is it? I too have my views and hold them strongly but I try not to stick them down anyone else's throat on a motorbike board. Although I'm still waiting for an estimated arival date for the goat our new prime minister promised us before the election. I could be wrong, I was a bit drunk while the policy launch was on TV but I'm sure he said that if they won he's give every 'Australian Working Family' a goat. Mind you I am a bit deaf. pete

Unfortunately, or fortunately if you prefer, the dressed up crankpin didn't work and the galled up pin F@cked the new shells on one rod so I decided to strip the motor. Some of the stuff I found canbe seen on the So-Cal board. It ain't pretty. Yup, it's a pain, but it'll be fixed. Just a matter of rounding up the bits. One thing I find really weird is that you don't have lots of bearing and seal shops here? In Canberra/Queanbeyan there are at least 9 places that immediately spring to mind in a 15Km radius which, if they don't have the seal or bearing you want, will have it in 24 hours, Nitrile, Flurocarbon, Viton? You name it!. Here in LA I ask at auto shops where the bearing factor is and they look at me like I'm some sort of living fossil! If I'd known this I would of been more persistent with my whining about seal sizes on the 'vert board . Jeez they're a funny lot! Pete

Actually i arrived in LA yesterday and went to Todds. Inspecting the crankpin it looks fine. We'll just dress up the pin with 1200 wet n' dry and slip in a new set of shells and see if that works OK. I'll bet it does. Pulled the clutch and tranny off as well in the morning. That looks OK too so we will probably just re-seal the TC and go from there. Seems that the engine ran out of oil 'cos the dipstick had fallen apart and then because the 'Vert donk in a 950 with cast bores it had pressurised itself and blurted it's oil out on a long run and hadn't been checked. pete

Anyone in the So-Cal area who's interested. I will be doing a big block strip and rebuild at Todd Eagan's place in the next couple of weeks. Strip and inspect on weekend of 24-25th Rebuild on weekend of 3rd-4th (?) I'll be doiung a Convert transmission too but that wouldn't interest you bunch of philistines All welcome but obviously Todd can't be expected to put you all up so book into a crap motel if interested. Todd's in Santa Monica. Pete

Re the trunnions aligned properly on your drive shaft? Pete

Antonio. I've already done a full photojournal of a big block engine strip and rebuild. it's available on guzzitech dk if anyone wants to look. I might get one done of the 'vert overhaul for people if they like but 'Verts are too weird for most Pete

Any of you who inabit some of the other boards I regularly visit will probably know by now that I'm going to LA on the 22nd of November for a fortnight to rebuild a bike and suck piss with a few mates. If anyone in the general area is interested they are more than welcome to come and watch, yell abuse, interfere and generally make arses of themselves. While the bike I'm going through is a 'Vert rather than a V11 the engines are so similar that it will make very little difference. If you're planning on a 'Long Term Relationship' with your V11 the time WILL come when it'll need rebuilding. If you'd like a first hand look at how a Guzzi pushrod big block comes apart and goes back together you're more than welcome to come and have a gurn. Pete

Exactly the same as your Sport 11. It's the same engine Pete

Being a retard I'd have to say tradition and the fact that it works well with shaft drive . Lets face it, if we mere mortals were to ride bikes based on their true abilities we'd all be riding VTR Hondas! Pete

So, assuming that the power figures are anything like correct we have a set of cycleparts that were probably designed to handle up to??? 105-110hp. We then stick in a motor that produces 140, feed power through a clutch and final drive designed to take 80-110 and expect it all to work like the dogs bollocks? I think not. It's still a loathsome, overweight munter It's also hideous. Just my opinion mind Pete

Re torquing the heads isn't really necessary unless the heads have been off. Although the factory recommends it at the 1st service they are always over-torqued at the factory and I've yet to see a 'Leaker' if they aren't done. Once they have been done re-checking them is a l-o-n-g term service item. I would check mine every 5 years or so on my old Tonti's! As for valve adjustments? You don't have to remove the rockers to adjust the valves????. Also if you have some sort of shop stand just get the rear wheel off the ground, take the plugs out and stick the bike in top gear and pull the engine round with the wheel to find TDC. Much simpler than all the farting about taking alternator covers off. If you don't have a stand you can simply wheel the bike forward or back in 6th with the rocker covers off until you find TDC but it's much easier with a stand. You'll find that when you do take the rocker pins out lining up all the washers and springs etc. for reinstallation is one of those things that practice makes perfect. It's really not a big deal and doen't merit any special alignment tool. If you are re-torquing the heads though loosen the adjusters before you take the rockers off as if the gaskets do compress a bit if they aren't loosened the pins won't want to go back in. Pete

If your G5 has wire wheels when you swap the fork legs you'll also have to turn the wheel round and mount the tyre the other way. The bearing on the side away from the one that the spindle goes in from is retained by a circlip and the bearings aren't exactly symetrical with the centreline of the bike. If you simply swap the legs, (Or just the sliders.) you'll find the wheel will pull up against one of the legs. pete

From memory, (Last time I saw a 1200 was a few months ago.) it is a decal rather than a badge. It will be similar or identical to any number of decals from previous models. If you can't get it the exact size an colour you want you can always get one made by a signwriting company. I just got a run of those stickers that they have on the modern bikes with the oval with the Italian colours at the bottom, the Falcon in the middle and 'Una Storia Italiana' around the bottom. About fifty twice the size of the original and a couple of hundredof the original size. With atwork they cost me about $300 or so I think??? Can't remember exactly. The original decal from Guzzi cost something silly like $30! Pete

Mate! What can we say? You 'de MAN!!!! Very impressive. Especially the figures. Lots of people think that racing involves dressing up like a c*nt and circulating with a few other c*nts until someone wins! Alas, this is not the case. If you *really* race you have a heap of DNF's until you get it right. Then the ratio goes down but never stops! Even Moto GP teams have days they'd rather forget. I Have to ask though? What was the opposition? Blind men on tricycles? (No, that IS a joke!!!) Pete

I think it's a very interesting project. Regardless of the why's and wherefores of the fuel in question chances are that we WILL be getting more and more fuel with some bio-alchohol in it in various proporions so it makes sense to start experimenting NOW if we want to keep our older vehicles on the road. One of the good things about petrol is that it stores a comparatively large amount of energy in a very small space. The problem with booze is that it stores less energy per unit of volume which means as Raz sez didtance between fill ups will be limited on machines designed to run on petrol with 'petrol' sized tanks. To my mind the biggest tragedy is that so much oil is wasted by being turned into plastic bags and other such worthless crap. It makes a very good fuel and if used sensibly could last a very long time, especially if we could vastly improve the thermal efficiency of our engines, (I'm not sure of *absolute* figures but my guess is that even something like an F1 car engine, the supposed acme of engine development, is only about 35% thermally efficient!) What is MAD in vehicle terms is miles and miles of 5 litre SUV's stuck nose to tail on freeways with one idiot in each vehicle! What *is* that all about??? We only get one life. Who'd want to spend a goodly part of it sitting in a traffic jam surrounded by pollutants and carcinogens! Bonkers! Pete

There are lots of places to have a good rant on the net. Even places that have *some* sort of guzzi interest and connection like Nick's site. Thats fine. It means I can go there and phoam at the mouth happily and not upset anyone, or if I do it's permitted! I have no problem with any of the other more tightly controlled forums. Both WG and here are quite censoriously moderated. If I don't like it I don't have to visit do I? It's scarecely rocket science! What I find really funny is that on some boards people think I'm some kind of right wing nut-bag and on others they think I'm part of the 'Communist Menace' Perception is everything and it's always nice to be able to stick people in boxes! Now? How can I change my blinker fluid without taking the wheels off my Scura? Pete

I think that the person in question *may* of recently read the Guzzi tech site update on the Griso/Norge/Breva with the stepper motor control et-al. It has recently been announced that Guzzi will not warranty any work, especially replacement of TB's and linkages, if the paint has been disturbed, especially on the 'No Touchy' stop screw. This is of course bullshit as there is a very GOOD description of how you can, (admittedly crudely!) fix the detonation problems some Brevas and Norges experience by [playing with the settings on Guzzitech. It's not a *sollution* but it IS probably a way of dealing with the stupidness imposed by mass production! The problem, the REAL problem as I see it is that the people who are working on bikes in your 'average' dealerships, while qualified, actually have no real idea about an awful lot. They get taught theory in college but in the shop they simply change oils, filters, tyres, brake pads etc. When it comes to diagnostics or, worse still, addressing inherent faults, they simply 'Read the Book' and any sort of annalysis is in the realms of 'Black Magic' and 'White Mans' Ju-Ju'. Factories pander to this by treating Mechanics as cretins so its a self fullfilling prophesy! If you own something like a Guzzi you have to learn to do the leg-work yourself or put up with second best. Probably true of other marques as well, it's just that they so far out-perform their average owner that they can run like a hairy goat and their owners still think they're Stoner!!!!! Pete

And with a 60 thou setting clearance! God's teeth! Pete

And yes, the teardrops are 'Beard Shaped!' Pete

Well, I'm too dim you bastard so how about giving me a hand up? Pete

I can't really contribute anything to this as I have minimal experience but I can assure people that if Phil talks you are very well advised to listen. Mad as a balloon he may well be but he's done a lot more succesfull tuning, especially flow work, on more motors than most of us have had hot dinners. Chances are if Phil reckons it will make an improvement it will. He doesn't make claims he can't substantiate and he's far to modest to mention the speed records he's achieved over the years or at least I've never seen him do so. He's currently building a Hi-Cam for the salt and hoping to bruise a few egos next year out in the desert in SA. A very sage man, although I do worry about that beard getting sucked into motors sometimes Pete

Looks pretty terminal to me from here Greg. My Mate Andrew's Cali was nowhere near as bad as that and the assesor took one look at it and killed it on the spot. That was fine as it was what we were hoping but it was nowhere near as smacked up as Slug's bike. Pete

Another thought. Is the driveshaft correctly alignsd? Pete

Really sorry to hear this. It sounds like EXACTLY the sort of bad luck and crap circumstances that led to me doing big damage to my SP when avoiding a 'Roo a few years ago. Good things? You are OK. The bike is probably a write off. Griso 8V will be available late next year. You are insured? Pete