Reviving My '98 EV

[Bill Hagan]

Howdy from the Moto Grappa at the top of Virginia.

This is about my first Guzzi, my HDM ’98 EV, which was, oddly, been BOM here some years ago! 

Sadly, however, It has been hors de combat with unspecified “don’t run right” issues for almost a year. The right cylinder ran when it felt like and it didn’t feel like it much. The left ran, but was hardly perfect. This, despite a recent VA, TB balance, R&R of spark plugs, fresh fuel, and fiddling with plug cables to the coil.

As it’s a favorite of Kathi’s for two-up riding, we haven’t done much of that while the EV’s been on the lift and after I sold my Norge last summer.

As SSR alums know, Kathi’s a talented pillion who enjoys spirited riding — too bad I’m so old and unskilled  — and I enjoy her company on rides.

So, I finally Tom Sawyered two great Guzzi wrenches into coming down and setting things right this past week.

The Capo Meccanico was Scott Mastrocinque, who lives, farms, and wrenches Guzzis in Lima Ohio.  His able assistant was Bob Wegman, a longtime Guzzista, who drove down from Rochester, N.Y.  Bob was an early Guzzi dealer under the Berliners, so, as the saying goes, this wasn't his first Italian rodeo. 

I had (most) everything ready for the two surgeons, as my job was primarily to have tools and beer ready when the skilled labor grunted meaningfully.  

Ahead of the adventure, Scott had me have new injectors, along with new plugs, and air and fuel filters waiting.

The injectors were pricier at $360 than I had expected, but after 107K miles, fuel erosion of the OEM innards — that’s a tech term; RTFM! — had done its erosive thing, so new ones were needed.

Aside from learning lots by watching and listening, I had a great time, and think the pros did, too.

Some pix are in the link, below, but for those who are impatient for the bottom line, the EV now runs GREAT. 

In fact, as some of the last pix in that slideshow convey, Kathi and I took advantage of the 60ºF temps on Saturday after our guests left, to do a 200-mile loop that included the top third of Skyline Drive. Then, although I detest the slab, I dislike riding in the dark more, so we jumped on I-81 to race sunset. Two-up, we ran at 80 mph — GPS, not Veglia  — for about 45 miles. The EV was rock solid and had more to give when I occasionally put spurs to it to get around a tractor-trailer convoy.

The cause of the problem that led to the fix? 

Well, even tho we R&R’d injectors, air and fuel filters, and plugs, Scott speculated correctly that there was “old hose” debris in a fuel line south of the filter and north of the injectors. Bob also found that the right-side plug cable needed "more wire, less cable." When we cleaned out that fuel line and exposed more wire ... VAROOM!

So, here are the culled pix (but, yes, still lots) in a slideshow with captions. In my defense, I started with about 150 and cut out more than 100! 

As with my other slideshows, the link opens in “landscape collage” format, so you can see all at a glance without slogging through one by one unless you want to do that.

Hover your curser over any pic to see the caption.

[And, again, as with my other slideshows, for maddening reasons I do not completely understand, the captions “disappear” if one enlarges the pix and goes through them. On “pure” slideshow, i.e., automatic switching to next slide, the captions continue to appear, but the pace is quick. Keeping the cursor in the “caption area” seems to help if going through manually. As I said, maddening. If anyone knows the code to make it more seamless, please tell me.]

The pix? Go here:

https://bill-and-kathi.smugmug.com/Scott-Bob-Revive-the-EV-Nov-23/n-ngSPNK/

Bill

[gstallons]

NO ONE thinks of the fact : after the fuel filter . I was working on a Jeep Wagoneer , 360 V8 w/a factory Motorcraft 4BBL carb. It was constantly flooding from rust getting under the needle/seat. I replaced the fuel filter so often I could do it "goin' down the road". After about 3 mos. of this nonsense , I found the metal fuel line from the filter to carb was rusted inside causing ALL the trouble.

  Some things are never forgotten !

[docc]

Super, Bill! Thanks for sharing the experience!

As usual, I always have a few select, favorite images . . .

[audiomick]

Only slightly jealous about that workshop.

[KINDOY2]

Hmmmmm...Thats a fairly dubious  looking trio....I'd keep an eye on them Kathy...

[80CX100]

Bill, Tks for taking the time to post & share the fine details,on the little garage gremlins,that need solving & fixing sometimes to get our rides running in top form. 

As gstallons says,some things are never forgotten. 

With 3 in diapers,no garage,skills,tools or cash; I had an 80's Subaru GL station wagon,that threw a few mechanical hissy fits my way. 

During the coldest winter ever known to mankind;there was so much rust from the gas tank & lines,the only way to keep it running,was every 5-6 weeks,slide underneath the right passenger side floorboards,flat on my back,with rust,dirt,salty snow dripping down on me,as I attempted to swap in a new fuel filter BEFORE my hands froze 

 

But I digress,,,sorry for the thread drift 

Back to the op's EV; Tonti's of that vintage & style are finally being recognized for what good solid do it all bikes they are. 

The first time I saw the Hot Dog Mustard color combo, I almost gagged,,,, but it's grown on me over the years,,, it's now one of my favorite paint schemes. 

 

 

[Lucky Phil]

5 hours ago, audiomick said:

Only slightly jealous about that workshop.

When you own a Guzzi you need a good workshop. You'll be spending a lot of time there.

 

Phil

[LowRyter]

Getting the throttle bodies cleaned up did wonders for my '98 bike.  At 72k miles it runs better now than when I bought 15 years ago with 20k miles on it.

OTOH, riding it wears me out anymore and I'd like to sell it.  I purchased it have a two up bike, and now my wife doesn't ride anymore. It was the gateway bike that got me into Italian motorcycles.  

[LaGrasta]

Congrats are getting your girl back, both of them, lol!

 

I know people are skeptical, but at $360 dollars, my AliExpress injectors are still performing fantastic, thousands of miles later. 

[Bill Hagan]

33 minutes ago, LaGrasta said:

Congrats are getting your girl back, both of them, lol!

 

I know people are skeptical, but at $360 dollars, my AliExpress injectors are still performing fantastic, thousands of miles later. 

That is pretty interesting ... and annoying.  

[Lucky Phil]

6 hours ago, LaGrasta said:

Congrats are getting your girl back, both of them, lol!

 

I know people are skeptical, but at $360 dollars, my AliExpress injectors are still performing fantastic, thousands of miles later. 

I've seen flow rate comparisons between Chinese injectors of the same type and design to check consistency. It wasn't impressive. I'd spend the money getting originals cleaned if possible or if using Chinese injectors I'd buy twice as many as you need and get them flow tested and best matched. 

There's a reason they are dirt cheap.

 

Phil

[audiomick]

1 hour ago, Lucky Phil said:

...buy twice as many as you need and get them flow tested and best matched.

Right off topic, but I had to grin at that. The reason is advice that someone gave about these measurement mics:

https://www.thomann.de/de/behringer_ecm_8000.htm

The advice was "you can use them. The best thing to do is buy ten, test them all to find the best one, and flog the rest off on e-bay".

To put the price into perspective:

I have one of these, a very solid and affordable mic that has been on the market for a long time, i.e. the developement costs have been recovered several times over

https://www.thomann.de/de/beyerdynamic_mm_1_2023.htm

and here one from the class of mic I can't afford...

https://www.thomann.de/de/earthworks_audio_m50.htm

 

Heading back towards "on topic", Phil hit the nail on the head: there is a reason the Behringer is so cheap. The design is, as with a lot of Behringer products, quite ok. The production tolerances are lousy.

[gstallons]

Ha !

[Kevin_T]

I Happen to like Bill's 5 in 1 tool can be used to adjust spokes or that pesky TPS. Can even be rotated 180 degrees for a hammer.