Rebuild exhibition.

[pete roper]

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

[Guest ratchethack]

Hmmmmm. A Roper "big block strip tease" at Todd's -- mighty tempting. I'd almost ride 300 miles (round-trip) of some of the worst roads in So CA for this. But then again, I could be riding the back country to get there, where we have some of the very best roads in So CA... Angeles Crest may have snow by then...?? But that'd be more like 500 miles round trip... Must weigh the trade-offs...

 

Hey Todd -- got a beer cooler in the garage?

 

If not, wot better excuse for getting one than a Roper "strip tease"?!

 

This is FAR more important than getting that walloping big new flat-screen TV for something as mundane as football!

[mike wilson]

Motorcycle servicing as a spectator sport? You colonials.......

 

8-)

 

I'm only jealous.

[Ryland3210]

Motorcycle servicing as a spectator sport? You colonials.......

 

8-)

 

I'm only jealous.

 

It takes a mighty confident service tech to permit spectators.

You may have seen a sign in repair shops something like the following:

RATES

$25/hour

$40/hour if you watch

$60/hour if you help

[grossohc]

It takes a mighty confident service tech to permit spectators.

You may have seen a sign in repair shops something like the following:

RATES

$25/hour

$40/hour if you watch

$60/hour if you help

 

 

Thats about right for me

[pete roper]

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

[Guest ratchethack]

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

YYYEEEEFFFFTTTTT??????!!!!

 

So y'er all done, Pete?!

 

Wot about all the Guzzisti from most of North America, now Moto Guzzi-ing their way to Todd's just for the chance for a seat in the nosebleed section of the operating theater -- I was sure you'd have a full house with all who could squeeze in, including all who could find a seat on every rafter of Todd's garage????!!!!

 

Ah, well . . . Typical strip tease -- all tease and no delivery. . .

 

I'm still tryin' to clear my calendar on the off-chance that despite the er, lack of ability to leer over your shoulder and create multiple nuisances whilst the Maestro's at work -- there'll be no shortage of armchair mechanics & other miscellaneous n'er-do-well frivolity & folderol at some local dive -- so which Santa Monica den of iniquity will it be?

[Guest ratchethack]

UPDATE:

 

From the So CA board, it appears that Convert mayhem has proceeded directly following Pete's flight, despite 40 hours without sleep! Now that sort o' dedication to the old slush-box Guzzi seems, err... a mite perverse, don't it?? The lads seem to be scouring the entire LA basin at present for any other old decrepit Convert that needs surgery... But thankfully, at least such perversion seems to've been interrupted by Thanksgiving dinner, followed by proper liver embalming!

 

YIKES! Seems there's been a bit of a classic propaganda war over the Oz elections in the midst of resolution, and Pete's been glued to the news until the wee hours, pending final results. Egad. . . best not touch this one with a 10-foot torque wrench. . .

 

I presume Colin the Chook has become, um, 'embroiled' in the controversy, and has thus been rendered unable to travel. . .

 

On a more civilized note, far from the madding media frenzy in Oz, His Eminence, the Guzzi Archbishop of Bungendore, calmly peforms the rites of Holy Mandello Demon Exorcism on the Convert:

[pete roper]

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

[Skeeve]

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 .

 

I think that's due to the increasing complexity of the vehicles combined w/ the ever-rising shop rates, so that it has become cheaper to just replace a whole assembly w/ new from factory kit than it is to repair the still usable original. I've only heard of two bearing or seal factors in the greater L.A. area: I'm certain they're huge & spend a lot of time shipping stuff all across the U.S., but it makes it hard to run over, hand them a shagged bearing & say "Can you find a match to this?" And of course motorcycles, being such a tiny little fraction of the overall automotive market, really suffers from this change in supply...

[mike wilson]

I think that's due to the increasing complexity of the vehicles combined w/ the ever-rising shop rates, so that it has become cheaper to just replace a whole assembly w/ new from factory kit than it is to repair the still usable original. I've only heard of two bearing or seal factors in the greater L.A. area: I'm certain they're huge & spend a lot of time shipping stuff all across the U.S., but it makes it hard to run over, hand them a shagged bearing & say "Can you find a match to this?" And of course motorcycles, being such a tiny little fraction of the overall automotive market, really suffers from this change in supply...

 

Not only. There is also the litigation angle. If, as a manufacturer, you do not supply an easily bolt-onable part for repair, you are increasingly leaving yourself open to litigation from the sort of mouthbreathing dunderhead who will bollox up a job and then blame _you_ for not making it cretinously easy. A friend tried to drive from Alaska to Chile some decades ago. Apart from the Jeep falling apart on the way (it finished somewhere in Central America with all doors welded shut and other bodges to prevent it expiring completely - unsuccessfully) one of the most difficult things was finding ways of repairing it. In the dealer: Duff wheel bearing? No, you can't get a bearing but we will sell you a hub to exchange. Want to do it in our workshop? It's over four years old? Take a hike. In the auto spares shop: You want a puller? Are you professional motor engineers? No? Sorry.

 

All (allegedly) due to fear of litigation.

[guzzi jon]

Pete's got most of the bits lined up for the vert, he and Todd are doing a shimming project on Todd's Jack-all, and Pete's diving into my Eldo Friday. If any of you in the So Cal area are interested, we're having a bit of a Pete-fest Friday evening either at my place or a local pub. Info is on the So Cal board if interested. It's been a blast watching and listening to Pete as he works on these suckers, he even brought his Axone with him, set up my Griso, found some issues with Rich's Scura (temp sensor) etc.

[pete roper]

found some issues with Rich's Scura (temp sensor) etc.

 

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

[Admin Jaap]

Deleted the off topic posts... <_>

[Skeeve]

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

 

Is a goat a slang term for something? Or are we talking one of the ornery, less hairy, eats anything cousins to all the sheep you lot have cluttering up the landscape down under? If the latter, why would the average Oz working family want one, unless you have a society-wide need for home-made cheese?

 

Sorry I'm going to miss your shop demos; I've gotta work tomorrow. Those darn slackers down at the Lotto board keeps messing up my winning numbers...