Scud

There is a flat spot on the rocker face and I can feel a little lip with my fingernail. It's kind of hard to see and I had to get the light *just right* to show it. This causes the .001" measurement difference - but what caused the wear in the first place? I thought the fuel pump was going to be last hurdle. Yes, take care of other stuff... go riding... clean the garage... ruminate...

There's the *answer* right there . . . It was. I feel better. And I draped my riding gear over the Champagne LeMans to shame her.

Sooo.... pushrods are straight, they make a nice popping sound when coming out of the lifters. There is a little worn spot on the rocker for the RH exhaust valve. This causes a .001" difference in measured clearance. Measured as shown, I get .008" but if I insert the gauge at 90 degrees from the picture it feels more like .007" This is interesting... but was not enough to change the noise I'm hearing. Now I'm feeling stuck. I'm concerned that there may be an internal problem. Maybe I should haul it over to the dealer and pay for a diagnosis? I may have to push her in the corner for a time-out while I focus attention elsewhere. My ridiculously reliable and un-fussy K75s needs an oil change... the Husky needs some attention before an upcoming mountain adventure... the truck needs some love... and then there is a Greenie with a different sort of puzzle waiting to be solved... and this is prime riding season... and there are rideable bikes on call... in fact, I feel a night-time canyon-raid coming on...

I've been commuting on my LeMans all week. There are few choice curves between my home and work, although they are not on the most direct route between those two points. The Dunlop Roadsmart III tires are great - very stable, sticky, and predictable.

I think the performance differences have been covered. So here's the basic mechanical difference. The two systems are totally different. There is no compatible part between the crankshaft and the transmission. RAM: steel flywheel with no friction surfaces or teeth - flywheel will theoretically last forever one friction disc mass is more centalized, so less inertia springs are part of the pressure plate requires a special transmission input hub Lightened aluminum flywheel this is the same shape and function as the stock flywheel all the clutch parts go into the flywheel (2 friction discs, intermediate plate, 10 coil springs)

+1 - and good job reducing the wire clutter that comes from Speedhut. The constant power for the speedo only keeps the last location in memory when the bike is off. It's not powering the GPS function. I forget the numbers but it's a tiny amount of power - far less than running a clock - so it would take a very long time to drain the battery. I regret not hooking that up on my installation because the bike "forgets" where it is even when I turn it off to get gas. Then I have to wait for it to acquire the signal before I can reset the trip meter.

Oil volume looks about the same on both sides. In the video, you can see oil accumulating on the cast part that holds the rocker arms. There was about the same amount of oil splatter on the floor on both sides of the bike. All the parts appear to be original and correct, including the bolts that secure the rocker arm shafts. This was a low (12,000 mile) motor from a crashed bike - so I assumed it was running well at the time of the crash. Other than carbon deposits on the combustion chamber, the heads looked new inside - no discoloration from heat, no sign of rounding on any nut or bolt. I guess I could take the RH rocker arms off and inspect the surfaces, verify the pushrods are straight, and I could try tighter valve clearances to see if that changes the noise. That might be tonight's project...

I thought it might flow more oil too, but I have no experience to compare against. It's still cold, but the oil was definitely flying. My phone case has oil splatter from taking the video and there was oil spray on the garage floor. Probably less than a minute of total run time like that. I believe the pressurized oil only goes up into the rocker arm pins, then it oozes out and sort of flows and flings its way around the rest of the head.

I found some RaceCo specs at those tolerances and Meinolf seems also to get good results with looser settings. As I understand it (and I'm open to being corrected) loose settings are also good for extreme heat and I do sometimes venture off into deserts and mountains in the summer. So here's the fun news... she moved under her own power today for the first time in several years. Shifted smoothly up and down through all 6 gears - but I only lugged it up and down the street at low RPMs. Idles and purrs along very nicely at low RPMs. So... it seems we almost have a motorcycle... and would you look at that red stiletto? Without any nasty silver clutter around it to distract from it's shapeliness... It's still clacky, especially on the right. I checked all the stuff that Tinus and Chuck suggested and did not see any problems. The valves were still at the clearances I had set. So I poured some oil in the pushrod area and squirted it around everything else in the heads that still looked dry. Started it - still noisy. Set the valves to .006 In and .008 Ex. Started again and here is the video. It shows the LH for a couple seconds then goes to the RH, which seems to be where the noise is coming from. http://vid1128.photobucket.com/albums/m492/timscudder/Champagne%20LeMans/IMG_6152.mp4 I think it's a little quieter than before, but I still don't like the noise. I must say it was fun seeing it run with the covers off. That alone was worth the effort.

That's a lightweight version of the twin-plate flywheel. RAM is totally different. Here's a thread on it: http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=19510

Thanks guys, I'll pop the covers off again in a few hours. For your consideration, here is how I adjust the valves: Covers off, plugs out. Rear wheel off ground - transmission in 6th. Turn rear wheel in direction of travel while watching rocker arms. After intake closes, get piston to top (verify by touching piston crown through plug hole and easily spinning both pushrods) Adjust valves till feeler gauge has light friction and next size up won't go in. (.08" In and .10" Ex) The valve action seemed normal to me while doing the above on two occasions. Since the engine sat for a while and I did not disassemble everything, some parts probably have no oil residue remaining. I am suspicious of the lifters. After removing the covers last night there was only a small amount of fresh oil in each head. I think the lifters rely on run-off down the tubes for lubrication. Is that right? And if so, should I pour a little oil down each pushrod? Of course, I will inspect all the other stuff as suggested while I'm in there. Interesting idea to run it with the covers off... probably won't be too messy. The covers were totally dry inside last night (after less than a minute of total run-time.)

Well, lots of foodies here. But the question on my mind is: "pretty mama, what you gonna do in those shoes?"

PJ - you can just post that same photo into the other brochure thread yourself. I bought a Scura brochure a while back. Here's one for sale on ebay that you might like to own: http://www.ebay.com/itm/MOTO-GUZZI-V11-SPORT-SCURA-MOTORCYCLE-BROCHURE-MOTO-GUZZI-V11-SPORT-SCURA-/382068792512?hash=item58f5131cc0:g:D34AAOSwdGFY4R26&vxp=mtr

Thanks. I hope that topic doesn't help. That turned into a total engine rebuild. But the noise in his video and subsequent descriptions are similar to what I hear. The sound definitely keeps pace with the RPMs. I started this engine before I removed it from the wrecked bike. But one of the headers was both badly bent and punctured so it sounded horrible. I might not have picked up on a more subtle noise at that time. There was no metal in the oil when I originally drained it - so I assumed I had a good, complete engine. And did I mention it idles really well... and I really want to ride it... What to do next? I could put an external oil pressure gauge on so I have more info than just light on/light off. If pressure is too low, I can shut it down. If pressure is good, I could let it warm up to operating temperature and see what happens. Any risk in that?

Was that RAM kit for 6-speed, including the input hub, or did you have to use a modified 5-speed kit? I'm asking because the 6-speed kits are no longer available from RAM (unless something changed recently that I am not aware of). My Scura has a new RAM clutch and I agree with your assessment, although you describe a greater degree of difference than I notice between it an my LeMans with the standard clutch. But I agree that the clutch pull effort is way lighter. The RAM uses sort of a flat spring, but the standard uses 10 coil springs.

Chamberlin started a thread a while ago with lots of ads. It's in the Fileshare section. http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=18360

I checked the valves and they were tighter than I wanted them but within acceptable ranges. I loosened them slightly to .008" Intake and .010" Exhaust. Still have a knocking sound - much louder and more metallic than other engines. There was some clean oil in each head, but it was only a little - the inside of the valve covers were still clean and dry. I only ran it for a few seconds in the garage - and I did not ride it. I started wondering if I put the pistons in backwards, but I am certain that the side of the piston with the indent is aligned to the intake valve. It idles very smoothly, just a bad metallic knocking.

Like that ad says: "...the Scura's matte black and carbon fiber are, simply put, works of art." Some people will never understand art. Knew that about the production, but had never noticed it in advertising before.

That's an unusual ad, because the Scura is a 2002 model and the Rosso Corsa is a 2003.

Very pretty, but what are we gonna eat?

You mean the porkchops? Stilettos sounds more "attractive." I looked at those too. At first I thought they were from a Sport (like a 1996 or so), because of the big hole. But on closer look I think they are the original cast part with the hole cut out and the balance of the casting also smoothed. Probably shaved another 6 ounces there... I like the red on your sliver sport Docc. I wouldn't change it. I wouldn't even put black ones on my Scura.

Ouch. Glad to hear you had on the appropriate gear to minimize injury. Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

I see fly and ride largely as entertainment. A long trip on slab will wear a flat spot down the middle of the tires, which is no fun. Over the years, most of my bikes have come home in the back of my truck. But as counterpoint, my one motorcycle fly and ride ending up being super cost-effective. I found my K75s for $1,600 near Oakland, CA. Flew up at customer's expense, bought the bike, worked in San Jose next day. Rode to Sacramento for overnight and meeting next morning, then rode to Lodi for afternoon meeting and another overnight (a bit further South and closer to home). Then a lovely pass over the southern Sierra Nevadas as a "reward" for all that slab riding. All my expenses were covered by clients and I netted about $400 in mileage reimbursement, which was less expensive than comparable flights and rental cars for my customers - and brought the net cost of the bike down for me - and brought the fun-factor of the trip way up - and burned off the rest of the aging tires so I could put on some fresh rubber. The timing on all that was fortuitous, and I'm not sure I could "engineer" something like that again. ...and round-trip bike shipping to an over-crowded event? Don't get me started...

I'm "sure" I set the valves correctly too, but I've been "sure" about lots of stuff that turned out to be wrong. I'll check the valve adjustments again. The motor had sat for about 2 years. Maybe a lifter was a little sticky when I did the adjustment and running it a bit has loosened it up... stay tuned. And to keep life interesting, the smoke alarms went off in my house at about 5:30 this morning. Of course, I imagined a burning garage... but it looks like maybe I just need to replace all the 9V batteries in the smoke detectors.

Shipping a bike for $400 really is a bargain. I did a fly and ride once for a bike (San Francisco) and once for a truck (Idaho). In both cases I was able to combine it with business travel so it saved time and money - and added some adventure to the trip.