pete roper

All the major bearings in the engine require a constant supply of oil under comparatively high pressure to cool them down and prevent the bearing from rubbing on the journal on which it spins. If the supply is interupted, even momentarily, then the film of oil between bearing and journal breaks down and damage begins to occur. The oil supply system itself is really very simple but it hs to be sealed to work properly. If for some reason the oil can escape before it gets to where it's supposed to go then it will and the bearings will not recieve lubrication. Most likely causes for this are either the filter loosening off or the oil presure relief valve falling out. The other posibility is that you have suffered from oil pick-up exposure during hard acceleration but either the light hasn't come on or you haven't noticed it. In this situation damage will begin to occur immediately but the effect will be cumulative. Eventually the bearing will become so damaged that it cannot work effectively and that's when you get the 'Dogga-Dogga' noise. Given your description I'd have to say "It doesn't sound good Floyd!" but there again we could all be being paranoid and it might be something really simple. I wouldn't hold your breath though....... Pete

Cam chain failures are incredibly rare and unless the chain was faulty only occur at very, very high mileages. I would strongly advise against alloy timing gears and unless someone has started producing a set specifically for the FI bikes they won't fit anyway without modification as there is no provision for the 'Phonic Wheel'. Pete

Uh, sorry, I didn't mean for it to drift so far. I'll answer dennis's question im a PM. Oil return to the cylinder heads. OK, the reason why I actually preffer the idea is from my experiences with earlier bikes. You may or may not be aware of the serious problems the early cast iron bored 950 roundfins without a sump extension suffered from but these were notorious for flooding their air-boxes after short periods at even moderate revs. I first experience this within a week of buying my first big-block, an SP, on a motorway in Southern England. If I took it over 80mph within a minute it would fill the airbox up to the level of the intake trumpets, the oil would flood down the intake manifolds and the bike would lose power instantly while blurting out a collosal cloud of blue smoke like a destroyer putting down a smoke screen while on convoy duty! Very disconcerting! I thought "d blown the motor of course but I pulled up at the side of the raod and waited a couple of minutes, re-started, the smoke cleared and everything was fine.........Until I took it over 80mph again when it recurred almost instantly. Now I've previously discussed the problem with the earlier bikes' breather boxes being overwhelmed by the expulsion of too much oil laden gas from the crankcase but on the earlier bikes there was a secondary problem. On these the condensate return to the sump is via a second, smaller, pipe next to the 'Big Breather' that pokes out of the top of the bell housing. This pipe disappears into the bell housing where it loops around the inside before returning the oil to the sump via a banjo fitting with a pipe bolt through it. The pipe of the pipe bolt returns the oil BELOW the level of the oil in the sump. The problem with this sytem is that it is my belief that at higher RPM on the larger capacity/smaller crankcas volume models, especially those with the inferior sealing cast iron bores, at elevated revs the crankcase pressure rapidly becomes so high that oil from the sump is pushed back UP this pipe and floods the condensor box and thence dumps the oil into the carb manifolds. Some people scoff at the idea, the thing is though that the flooding of the box occurs so rapidly that I don't believe that it can occur purely as a result of exessive vapor expulsion. By having the returns routed to the head the return pipe to the sump direct can be deleted so that there is no chance for oil to be expelled up it into the airbox.There *may* still be issued duing prolonged high speed running of gradual expulsion of oil into the frame and due to crankcase pressure it may not be able to drain back to the rockerboxes particularly effectively but I've never heard of a bike with this sytem expelling enough oil into the frame to either a.) overwhelm it and flood it or b.) leave so little in the sump that engine damage occurs. On later models this no longer seems to be a problem, even though the return has been relocated back to the sump, but on principle I preffer the return to rockerbox idea. Incidentally the annoying pipes that Jason talks of on the front of the rockerboxes of later roundfins aren't oil returns. they are simply vent pipes to help combat condensation forming mayonaise in the rockerboxes. The oil return pipes on models like Mk IV/V LeMans, T5's and 1000S's are in the back of the head adjacent to the oil feed pipe for the rockers but towards the rear of the head. I put the fact that the problem no longer occurs down to two things. 1.) Nicasil bores which seal so much better and 2.) The greater crankcase volume which lowers the 'Pumping' action as the motor spins. I hope that makes sense. Pete

If you are new to Guzzi and genuinely want to learn about the marque the FIRST thing you need to do is to wtite to Moto International in Seattle and buy a copy of the owners superb tome 'Guzziology'. Not only is it ridiculously cheap for all the information it contains but it is continuously upgraded. As a new dealer you will probably not be interested that much in the older models but as long as you have knowledgeable mechanics who are interested in Guzzis you will find that there is good money to be made servicing and repairing older models as well. In real terms there are very few differences between the V7 of 1967 and the Breva/Griso and Norge of today, really, I kid you not! I've said it before, I'll believe that Guzzi have a truly *New* engine when the part number for the rear main bearing changes, it's been the same since '67 They are delightfully simple and very, very strong. No they are not fast and yes they are heavy but they are superb 'Road' as opposed to 'Track' motorbikes. The secret to success with Guzzi lies in making the customer's happy. This it seems is a big ask, especially in the USA, if you depend on the importer. I suggest you become friendly with Peter Bradley and Alis Agostini at Agostini's in Italy, they are just over the lake from the factory and usually have most of the stuff that others seem to think is 'Unobtainium'. There are a number of other sources in Europe as well, some of whom speak English, some don't, Ago's is a good starting point as both Peter, (Who's and Aussie.) and Alis, (The boss's daughter.) speak fluent English and are nice people to boot. The respond well to e-mail too. The forums can be helpful too, I pick up useful tips on them the whole time and I've been working on Guzzis for 25 years! It all depends whether one's pride allows one to ask and take advice or simply go at it like a bull in a china shop . I find the former more useful and always less costly which leaves more money for important stuff like ! Certainly If I can offer any help or advice please don't hesitate to email me, (I'm a bit far away for a phone call ) motomoda_at_optusnet.com.au Pete

(Deleted a whole load of silly sailing boat munt most of you aren't in the least bit interested in ) Dorry Docc. I simply assumed that that to all readers here any sailing vessel would be seen as the same as any other sailing vessel and therefore, since the two were roughly the same period they could be classified as 'Sister Ships'. The Boston Clippers were and remain the fastest commercial sailing vessels ever built. One of them I belive holds the hour record with a speed of something like 24 Knots which equates to well nigh 30MPH. (This is from memory, it could of been faster but it certainly wasn't slower.). Very much like a racing motorbike they were sleek, low, light, (Generally constructed of pine or spruce which meant they didn't have a long life but by golly they went like f@ck!) and had the sole design requirement that they got from A to B pretty damn quick! (Pre Panama canal the quickest way from NY to SF as via the Horn.) You Yanks built a mean sailing ship! Once sail had to compete with steam it was really an endgame, Sail was doomed. The last great concourse of sailing ships operating commercially was araigned in the Spencer Gulf off South Australia in 1938. Long after they were unprofitable anywhere else the remoteness and primitive conditions in SA were conducive to sail still being profitable in certain circumstances. Between the wars Gustaff Erikson bought up every large, square rigged Ship or Barque, (You know the difference? ) manned them with small crews, sailed them to Oz from Europe in ballast and then shipped back grain. The second world war finally closed that chapter of maritime life, the only big square rigged vessels remaining are training ships, all fitted with auxilliary motors and are pale imitations of the great commercial vessels of 120 years ago. My fascination with sail sprang from a print of a painting that used to hang in the hallway of my grandfather's house just outside Southampton. (Grandad was RN through and through. He did his training under sail and was sunk at Jutland when he was but a cabin boy. In WW II he was sunk at least twice, once on Escort duty during the Battle of the Atlantic and once (I think.) in the Pacific theatre, he was commander both times and they still kept giving him ships!!!! ) It is the one item I have inherited and treasured although it is still in England. It is a depiction of Flying Cloud running before something like a force 8 gale and the picture is actually absurd. There is no way in the world any ship would be carrying anything more than topgallants in the square in that sort of breeze but the picture depicts her with flying royals and stunsails! It's obviously an impossible dream but as an epitome of the romance of sail it is an exemplar! Reality was of course a lot different, life at sea in those years was cold, uncivilized and often brutish and short. I still sometimes wistfully think of what might have been if I'd been born a hundred years earlier...... It's all bollocks of course! OK, normal service can now be resumed! Pete

If I trimmed it closer to the filter/thermo housing and OPR valve I was worried about having enough space for oil return to the sump. Hence the wide clearances. I have NEVER suggested I invented their use in Guzzis but to the best of my knowledge I'm the only person who has designed and manufactured a 'Sloppage Sheet' for the 'Broad Sump' models and the windage benefits ARE secondary to the original intention. As for right wingers? If you're implying my views lean towards the right of the spectrum?? (ROFL!) Mate you are just SO wrong!!!!! Pete Pete

When ever I write something like that I invariably end up getting called a know-it-all and/or a blowhard. If I do try and explain relatively complex systems in simple, laymans language in an easily understood way I tend to get sneered at for being simplistic and not having a full grasp of the facts. If I try to take a holistic overview rather than treating each problem as an individual 'Stand Alone' issue I get accused of obfuscating and trying to muddy the waters. Not really a lot of encouragement to go to the bother of writing a book is there? For technical stuff that I've written I suggest nipping over to the Guzzitech Dk site. Jens and Rolf have kindly vollunteered to host my more sensible ramblings there. There are also lots of other interesting articles by people probably more knowledgeable than me, it's all free and it's all downloadable at the touch of a button. I also have Guzzi stuff published on the US Guzzitech site and a variety of other websites and forums on the net. The only reward I've ever got for this sometimes not inconsiderable effort is the occasional email or board message thanking me for going to the trouble. When that happens it's very nice but it's not why I do it. As with the plates I have time, motive and opportunity . I truly believe that by my own, admittedly perverse, standards Guzzi design and build the BEST motorbikes in the world. The problem is that their continuous impecuniousness means that corners have sometimes been cut leading to problems that have over the years destroyed their reputation. The broad sump was one such cheapskate sollution, I'm sure that if Toddero had been given a bigger budget he could of designed something far better, he was a very clever man, albeit an old one, by the time he designed the Hi-Cam. The fact that Guzzi actually use the newly designed sump of the Breva/Griso engines as a major selling point shows that they recognised, (Maybe belatedly.) that there was a problem. As it is over the years there have been many many sollutions to factory created problems. Both the deep 'V' sump and the sloppage sheet are fine examples of these. Not the first and probably not the last, but certainly up until now it has been the knowledge and passion of enthusiasts as often as the factory that have supplied sollutions to problems when they have occured. If you can't stand the idea of maybe having to change or modify things to get the bike to suit you or, if you do want to, expect to be able to buy what you need from a glossy catalog from a vast and efficient dealer network then I think perhaps you've bought the wrong machine. Owning a Guzzi will always be harder work than owning a Honda or a Harley. For some that effort isn't worth it. For those who DO have the passion and commitment though the rewards will more than outweigh the frustrations. At least that's the way it's been for me for the last 27 years! Pete

OK, so moving right along to the V11 series and the later 1100 Sports. Using my reasoning these machines didn't really need the oil cooler as they were still using the sh!tty old pushrod donk, right? Right! Why don't the Cali's use it? 'Cos they don't need it. There are plenty of Racing Guzzis around that produce more HP, (and therefore more waste heat.) than a Cali that don't run coolers either but a cooler has bling factor, the new sump and assorted shyte isn't *much* more expensive and it provides a tie to the earlier *sporting* range and, yes, in certain circumstances the buggers will run hot and the sooner you cool 'em down the better. AND you keep the eternally accessible filter that Guzzi owners have pissed and moaned about for years! BUT! The broad sump design has this one, glaring flaw. The problem of oil pick-up exposure under hard acceleration in some situations. Early V11's had a shorter wheelbase than the Tonti's and early Spines. This along with more modern steering geometry made the bike a lot more flickable and meant that the engine could be lowered in relation to the road a bit and still have the same lean angles before you started rubbing the sump away. A shorter bike also meant you could have a better chance of pulling a mono if you wished which really didn't help the oiling issue. It also meant that the same ournos who'd been moaning for years about how Guzzis handled like supertankers went spastic and complained that the V11 didn't *feel* like a Guzzi. Unfortunately this was taken on board and the spine was extended. One of the worst moves ever in my book, but I digress. The lowered engine, (Which remained with the later-'Long Frame' bikes.) meant that broad sump was here to stay unless the whole sorry business was re-thought, which it now has been with the Griso/Breva etc. Yes, you can fit a deep sump to your V11 but it will bring the bottom of the sump closer to the pavement. Fine on a racetrack but on the road it has risks, especially if you have to gutter-jump regularly. The deep sump also has it's filter out the front exposed to any wayward crap that may be spat off the road or vulnerable to jagging on *things*. No, I've never heard of this happening on a Guzzi but I have seen it on Japanese bikes with forward facing filters. The main issues though are the loss of the thermostat in the oiling system adn the fact that regardless of pick-up exposure the oil is still free to slosh around in the sump willy-nilly which will encourage aeration of the oil and saturation of the gas within the case with particulate oil. The really keen could also make a point of the increased frictional losses and hence power losses caused by the effects of windage but to be honest in any ordinary motor? You'd never notice. To finally get on to my product. 1.) It's simple. 2.) It's elegant. 3.) It's cheap. 4.) It works! 1.) The plate is designed to address one problem and one only. That is to inhibit, not prevent, the rearward movement of oil under hard acceleration. All it has to do is prevent pick-up exposure, nothing more nothing less. It has added benefits in that because the static level of the oil is below the plate it helps prevent windage by the cyclonic forces associated with the rapidly spinning crank, will encourage rapid oil return by having another face on which the oil will stick via surface tension rather than working the oil in the sump into a froth, and will de-aerate the oil at the same time meaning the oil in the sump will have less air and will dump heat more effectively through the sump walls, (Air being a good insulator will inhibit the dumping of heat.) Less aerated oil in the sump will ensure a better and more consistent supply of oil, rather than an oil/air amalgam to the oil pump which in turn can work more effectively delivering a liquid rather than a fluid froth. Oil is a good lubricant and coolant, an oil/air amalgam is not. 2.) It is incredibly simple. It is also non-invasive in terms of appearance, (You'd hardly know it was there, (Sorry, no bling factor and nowhere for me to put my name prominently so flocks of nieve drones can shower me with riches trying to purchase their own!). It also allows you to keep the entire oil cooler/thermostat, internal filter business for oil temperature control, whetgher you think that is heat shedding or containing. 3.) It's cheaper by far than a deep V sump. As stated above my plate has a bling factor of 0. A dirty great big alloy casting speaks volumes. Volumes of what I'm not sure? 4.) Not everybody has problems with pick-up exposure. There are a myriad of reasons why many people may never see the 'Oil light flicker of death'. Certainly over-filling the sump by using the dipstick just resting on the threads rather than screwed in and always keeping the oil at the 'Full' mark may be perfectly adequate for most people at most times. The thing is if you DO get your oil light coming on under hard acceleration the damage starts immediately. Not after a few times or a few minutes, it starts within tenths of seconds. Have you priced a V11 crank recently? My plate, if correctly installed and if the oil level is filled correctly, prevents that situation occuring. I don't own a 'Broad Sump' model, (If I did it would either be a Daytona RS or a 'Short Frame' V11.) I'd fit one of my plates. As I stated in a previous thread, I didn't do this because I expected to make outrageous sums of money out of it. I did it because I had the time, the motive and the opportunity. In the minds of some that seems to be a crime in itself. The 'V' sump is a fine idea, sorry, but in this application my idea is better. If you can't get your head around the thought that it's possible for a fat, middle aged bloke in a tin shed in a small outback town in Australia to come up with a better idea than a teutonic solution to a completely separate set problems on a *similar* motor 25 years ago being used for completely different purposes in a different motorcycle then obviously I'll never convince you. If though you read this and think about it you may find it makes sense. I may be objectionable to some, I think this is mainly down to cultural differences, good grief there are plenty of threads on this, (And other.) boards that really give me the screaming shits. The fact remains that although I may not be the shiniest spanner in the box I'm actually bloody good at what I do. Cheap, simple sollutions to problems are almost always the best. I pride myself on being able to explain what I mean. I hope that this little excursion will of done that here. OK, into the foxhole. Pete (Still got six years on Gary )

Oh Boy! Do I really want to do this? Yes I do. Lets get people really riled up and try and slay a few sacred cows. To do this we have to go back a LONG way. The Moto Spezial deep sump is not a new design. It is at least 20 years old, maybe older, I don't know, but I have pics of a Tony Foale spineframe from about '84-'85 built for the proprietor of Motomecca in London that sports one of these sumps. So if you're willing to accept the design is that old lets look at why it might of been thought of in the first place. Back then pushrod Guzzis were still being raced fairly seriously in some events, most noticeably by die-hard privateers in Endurance and BOTT, (Battle of the twins.). As early as the early '70's Guzzis were always retiring from races with what were euphemistically described as 'Oiling Problems'. What these consisted of was the oil that was supposed to be in the crankcase being pumped out of the breather system to the outside world. The reason for this is because the crankcase simply wasn't big enough to cope with the pressurisation caused by blow by at high RPM so a lot of oil in droplet form was being expelled with the gas into the breather and condensor system and it wasn't adequate to cope with it so the breather system was overwhelmed and the oil ended up being expelled into the overflow/catch bottle until that either overflowed over the outside of the bike or the engine became so bereft of lubricant that it seized a bearing. The only ways to prevent this were to either a.) increase the volume of the crankcase so the pumping action was less extreme or b.) move the level of the oil away from the spinning crank so that windage would be less likely to pick oil up and hold it in suspension so the proportion of oil to gas expelled from the case was less and the breather/condensor system wasn't overwhelmed. Adding a sump extension, (as Guzzi did from the Mk III on.) while NOT increasing the volume of oil in the engine achieved both these ends. As long as an engine, even one with larger displacement to a point, was run with a sump extension in everyday 'Sportsmans-like' riding the problem is cured. At the same time Guzzi swapped from the original inadequate breather/condensor box to using the larger volume of the frame spine as a condensor. This also helped. Later models also had the oil condensate return routed to the rocker covers rather than the head and then, on the spineframes the decision was made that the condensor volume of the frame was adequate to cope with a return to direct oil return to the sump. I personally think was unwise but we won't go there now. OK, so that dealt with the problems of the *Exterior Lubrication* and for road use this sytem was, and remains, fine on Tonti frame models. Racing was a different matter....... The Tonti frame is a wonderful piece of architechture, but it is a rotten frame for *racing*. it's steering geometry is such that it is slow to turn, it's rake angle is high making it very stable but it's a bear to push into a corner. Short of serious frame modification, (Nobody had thought of adjustable stering head bearings back then.) the only real way to quicken up the steering was to drop the forks through the yokes about a mile and fit a sodding great steering damper for the straights ( e've been here on our race bike!). The problem is that if you drop the forks too far the bloody sump rubs on the road when you toss it into a bend! To cut a long story short if you build a 'V' shaped sump this problem goes away. Make the sump extra deep in the middle to compensate, (look at the bottom of the fairing on a Moto GP bike, you can go pretty deep on a race track!) and you can keep the extra volume for the case and keep the oil further away from the crank. Brilliant! The extra surface area alo helped with cooling, something that may well be neccessary on an air cooled bike being thrashed mercilessly to within an inch of it's life in hot conditions. Then there were two MAJOR changes in the Guzzi range. Firstly there was the adoption of Tony Foale's spineframe design. This in itself was not a *major* issue as the rake and trail figures remained remarkably similar. It was still, even by the standards of the day, antedeluvian. The second, far more critical for this story, arrival was the coming of Toddero's Hi-Cam engine. These engines have two major *faults*. 1.) they carry their weight a fair bit higher and 2.) they run HOT! So bloody hot that their launch was posponed for years while they sorted out an alloy that was affordable enough and had the correct co-efficient of expansion that it didn't crack or seize cams through warpage. Even when finally launched Hi-Cam engines had/have a distessing tendency to crack heads if poorly tuned in hot weather. A situation not helped by the need for ever leaner fueling to meet pollution regs leading to higher head temperatures. So Guzzi had to do something, not for the *track*, for high speed work the heads get more than adequate cooling. it's the low speed stuff that caused the problems. Answer? Rather than simply buying in the rights for the deep sump, (Just as they didn't simply buy in *standard* RAM clutches for Scuras ) they went and designed the 'Broad Sump' (which also gave them the opportunity to make the (UFI ) oil filter *Accessible* via that f@cking manhole we all love to hate) with the neccessary munt in the *spacer* to fit the thermostat, filter and all the plumbing for the cooler. It DID have one other great advantage though. It was shallower, which meant that you could lean the old nail over a good bit further as long as you were on the gas! It still isn't brilliant on a Daytona though as the scraped away sump on the RS in my workshop attests. it's owner rides it hard enough but he hasn't got sticky rubber in it and it still gets scraped. BUT, it had the oil cooler, thermostatically controlled, and at anything much over walking pace it really does help. The thermostat is very important. Not so much to help keep the bike cool in most situations but to keep it hot! Certainly when the oil gets hot in slow moving city traffic type situations the thermostat opening will allow the oil to return to acceptable temperaures much earlier once the traffic clears and in reall high speed/hot day situations it will help too but to me it's main benefit is to take the cooler OUT of the equation when it isn't needed, most specifically in wet conditions. One of my Guzzis has an oil temperture guage that sits on the handlebars, it's sensor is in the drain plug for the sump. When it rains the oil temperature will drop from 120*C to 30*C in less than three minutes in 30*C ambient. In those conditions you DON'T need a cooler in the equation. OK. That's the history lesson. I don't know if I'm limited on charachter numbers for posts on this board but I'll send this now and then continue with the eveolution of the V11 series and why I actually think a sloppage sheet is better than a deep sump for V11's in the next post. Pete

Good-oh. I knew I'd sent it and your message seemed to imply that you were having some hassle with C&E. If anyone else is still waiting who I haven't heard from please let me know. I'll get another one off from the next batch. If anyone gets two by mistake just send the extra one to Todd at MPH as he's waiting for a few more and I'm sure they can be on sold through MPH or one of the other mobs who have asked for a few more. Pete

Yup, she's going to be called 'Flying Cloud' after the 1870's tea clipper of the same name, sister ship to the Cutty Sark which is on display in Greenwich in London. Like a Daytona RS probably the acme of the design of a product of it's class, it's just it's class was wind driven commercial sailing vessels . Pete.

Nah, the poofters all ride Harleys and wear arseless chaps and beanie helmets covered in cow fur While their oil lines may break I haven't heard of a filter coming off Pete

Am I allowed to respond to this or will I just be accused of a shameless spamming excersise based on the desire for power boat purchase? Pete

Two things here. First to answer Graham's question. While I believe that lightening the earlier flywheels is a great idea if you want a small amount of extra zip but a huge improvement in gearchanging by the time you get to one as light as the Sport1100/V11 unit it is my impression that it becomes a law of diminishing returns or at least that's the way it seems to us on our race bike. We had a really super-lightweight single plater in it until it wore the plate out and we have since gone back to the radically lightened unit pictured on the Guzzitech pages and to be honest Rob notices no difference. If I was going to do anything I would slot the ring gear but probably leave the FW exactly as it is. YOMV. On the second issue this is imply a heads-up to Luhbo on the heavier flywheel on a V11. I have NO experience of this mod, in a lot of ways I reckon it could be great fun BUT, here's always a but! The V11 six speeder uses the same 'Stacked Washer' type of shock absorber spring as the later model Tonti's and earlier spineframes. When Guzzi went to this design the use of the stacked washers meant that the length of the splines on the face-cam section of the shaft was greatly reduced. If the six speeder is essentially the same as the later five speeds in this regard we in Oz have had several cases of these shorter splines getting beaten to bits in the high 70's low 80,000Km mark. I personally have not seen it but the problem was reported to me by Barry Jones of Italian Motorcycle Engineering in Melbourns and Barry is about as close to an unimpeachable source as you can get. Taking into account the similarity of the designs and the spline depth and the fact that the only real difference is the size and effect of the flywheel I think that it is something worth taking into consideration before making the swap. I am NOT, (before anyone jumps down my throat ) suggesting that it shouldn't be done, that it's a bad idea, that it will cause your bike to break or your underpants to burst into flame. All I'm doing is notifying people that on the newer, short spline boxes there have been some problems reported. OK. Pete

Not really an issue, just an annoyance, they'll find 'em in a day or so or they'll make me another batch. As it is the only people waiting for 'em are Andrew Goldburg and the orders for Todd at MPH and Greg at MI plus a couple of other locals in Oz. Ryan (BMG) Has yours turned up yet? Pete

There are cat people and dog people and never the twain shall meet! I personally detest dogs with their slobbering, obsequious, slavisness punctuated by bursts of skin shredding, opportunistic, violence. I wage a constant vendetta with dog owners who walk their scabby pooches past my corner where the loathsome curs always cut the corner through my property and stop for a sh!t on the way through. When I was working from home I sometimes kept a crucible filled with ball bearings heated by a butane torch handy as one of my ex-neighbors had a continually roaming cur. A nearly red-hot ball bearing fired from a shanghai with a steel yoke and a band made out of bicycle inner-tube and a leather sling right up its chuff a couple of times eventually got it to get the message. It's memory was so short though that within weeks it was back for a second helping. Just as well I don't have a gun, eh? We have two cats both of whom are monumentally dim. They're called Stupid and Useless which says it all really Pete

Lets re-vist Greg's first post. I can't see anywhere that he's saying it's compulsory to fit a hose clamp. All he says is that he's heard of three that it's happened to in the last month, there have been a couple more since then I believe. The suggestion of the hose clamp is simply added as an idea after the suggestion of making doubly sure that the filter is done up tight. Since this thread started there seems to have been an amazing amount of negative invective floating around? Sorry, I just can't understand it. No doubt this will be written off off as another example of me and Greg along with Mike Harper and a variety of other long term Guzzisti being 'Blowhards' with some sort of vested interest in promulgating falsehoods to befuddle and bemuse unsuspecting owners for our own capricious greed. Sorry, that simply isn't the case. Whether people choose to believe me or not is of course completely up to them and I can't and wouldn't want to speak for anybody else as, as far as I'm concerned, we are all supposed to be grown ups here. All I can see in Gregs original post was a heads-up that there seemed to have been a rash of looening filters and there was no known explanation as to why it was happening so it would be a good idea for everyone who uses the later *tall* filter to take especially good care when installing it. The idea of the hose clamp was just a suggestion. Anyone is free to do any damn thing they like with their bikes. I thought the whole point of boards like this was to share information, not point-score and try to run other people down? Perhaps I'm wrong??? Pete

Nah, just make a cap up to cover the filter seat and weld it in place, you'll never need worry about it again. Actually, even better you could buy a screen filter and oil delivery pipe from an old Eldo or 850T and fit them to the engine, (It would require drilling a couple of small holes but so what?) Then you could dump that excessively weighty oil cooler and thermostat, fit an early sump, (Real cheap on e-bay!) save weight so the bike would go faster, never have to worry about the filter falling off or being gouged by unscrupulous parts vendors, sell your stock in hose clamp futures and retire to the sunny Carribean to sit on your verandah and flick nuts at the poor people. Pete

Sorry mate, yes I got the message. I've just been so insanely busy this week I've not replied. I'll do so this weekend! Pete

Consider yourselves lucky! We have three year terms federally and a government rarely goes to term so we get the whole 9 yards every 2 and 1/2 years. Then we also have the state elections, also 3 years in most states, and local government elections to contend with and yes, they are ALL dropkicks! Pete

I'd love to think that this was just an outbreak of rabid 'gloidism but if that was the case then surely the idiocy would be manifesting itself in a broad variety of ways rather than a sudden rash of filters loosening? The "Done up finger tight" theory has appeal but I just can't see it given the suddeness of the appearance of the problem. I went and had a really good squizz at the sealing gasket on a new filter yesterday and I have to say that I can see absolutely no difference in design or construction of the filter or the gasket. Could the use of a new or different material for the gasket perhaps be the problem?? . Anyway, taking the sump off a V11 is so easy I really can't justify to myself the risk of not doing it on customers' bikes. It won't change the cost of the service and it will give me peace of mind so I'll do it that way from now on and use a clamp, at least until we can nut out some definitive explanation as to what has been happening. Better safe than sorry and all that. If you drop the sump you can drain out all the water too and even here in desert-like Bungendore they always seem to have condensation aplenty in their sumps! Pete

This is a very good point, but Greg said that it's been happening to long time Guzzi owners who know the score and, it seems, it's only started happening recently. That's what I find the weirdest thing. Oh, and Bill, knowing your luck even if you did it up super tight and then used a clamp on the filter it would probably get a nail in it Pete

The weird thing is that in 25 years of farting about with Guzzis I've NEVER had a filter come loose that I can recollect. Having said that my recollection is never the best. It's got me stumped as to why, suddenly, filters should start loosening, but it seems to be hapening so Greg's Idea of the hose clamp that has been used for quite a few years by the paranoid with earlier models with the filter in the sump sounds to be a sensible idea. All the clamp does is butt up against *something*, in the case of V11's I'd guess the thermostat housing for the oil cooler and since it's tightened on the filter body the screwy bit prevents the filter from un-tightening. If I had a V11 I'd definitely be doing it, but once again it shows that the whole externally accessible filter thing was a half-arsed wank and they should never of put the manhole in the sump plate in the first place. Weld the bugger up and be done with it. I'll certainly be dropping the sump plate and installing a clamp on any of the V11's I work on, all, of course, as part of my cunning scheme to fleece my customers and buy that boat Pete

Not only is it grotesquely antisocial but it will upset the fueling something 'orrible. Oh, it'll probably run, after a fashion, but it won't fuel up properly and may well risk burnt exhaust valves and the like. If you want a less restricted but still sensible sound there are a variety of aftermarket mufflers that will give you this with little or no need to fiddle with the mapping, they will sound better than running with open pipes and won't risk damage to the engine or a bout of lead poisoning from everyone within a five mile radius. If you want to know the options and opinions of those who have various types fitted I suggest nipping over to the Wildguzzi board and asking there, it might take everyones minds off the election results in the US of A. Pete

There are six studs that hold the heads and barrels on. if you stand beside the bike with the rocker cover off and look down on the top of the head/rocker gear there are the four long studs that come up through the rocker carrier that are held on with 17mm nuts there is one just underneath the spark plug on the first shorter stud and then there is a sleeve nut underneath a plug on the opposite, inboard side of the head. The plug itself has a 10mm hexhole in it for an allen key and you have to remove this to get at the sleeve nut. The plug itself is sealed by an o-ring and these can leak. If oil is gushing out though it sounds more likely that the problem may be the crimped end of the oil feed hose to the rockers has come loose and is leaking. try undoing it and seeing if the fitting on the hose will spin. If so it's almost certainly where the leak is coming from. If so replace the hose. It may just be that the hose has come loose though so check that first. Pete