rich46

Hello to all , We are looking for wheels for our Le Mans Race motorbike. We are allowed to use 17" wheels because of the difficulty of finding race rubber. So to that end does anyone out there know of a wheel manufacturer building carbon fiber or mag wheels to fit our motorbikes. I can find 18" ones but finding 17's is starting to be a bitch and Guzzi OEM wheels weigh a ton ! Thanks in advance Rich

I'll do what I can with getting pic's. This; I will admit is not my forte but I'll see what I can do/ Thank you all for the support. Racing IS FUN; but having folks rooting for you make it that much better. CHEERS !

I have returned ! Bikes have all been loaded into their respective crate (Just a FYI we get our shipping crated from a PDI shop in Williams ,Ca Triumph crates seem to be the best) we dropped them off at the Brokers end of the week and they'll soon be on their way to Australia. Gina and the team will meet again on January the 22 at Phillips Island. There was quite a lot of discussion on the fueling problem we were having. As is often the case it proved to far simpler than one might imagine. The fuel cap did not match up correctly with the tank flange thus closing off the vent hole between the two. The early Le Mans tanks are quite large ( 27 L the largest allowed for the IOM) so when we were racing in rather short races (5/6 laps on 2.5 mi. track) we only fueled them with about 2.5 ga. At Miller's we were racing in two back to back event so we fill the tank to the top. There had been starting problems so the races were not getting off without extra laps and time sitting around, I figured heck what could go wrong filling the tank to the tippy top.........Silly me; Guzzi's get good mileage and we never got to a place where the venting was really not working. It didn't matter when there was all that air space "BUT" when there wasn't ! "cue the Bronx cheer" she ran outa gas. I thank my lucky stars that we found; and fixed this before we tried racing 6 laps at the Island . Long ago I was taught that stampedes were most often horses rather than zebras. Again thank you all for your input. We did change several things within the fueling system. All these changes will, without doubt help the performance. We are being more aware of fuel temps entering the carbs by using heat resistant materials ( coolmat) on the uderside of the tank and protecting the lines and filters with heat wrap. Next stop is Phillips Islands !! No Worries Mates see ya Down under. Last time I was there was 1968 can't wait. This time I bring a Shelia (Gina) with me. Richard

Hi Phil, Good to hear from you. Here in the states we're known as the Purple Gang. Being that the bike is purple and all. Name of my race company is Sportcraft. Do come and find us and say hello And Ciao back at ya,

Time to bring you all up to date on the Moto Guzzi Racer. We last raced the bike at Millers then pulled the plug on our racing so we could get things ready for 2019. As some of you may recall the motorbike was build by Ed at Guzzi Power specifically to race in the Manx GP on the IOM. Because of the distance of those races and the very high speeds we had been using the tallest gearing Guzzi makes. On shorter courses this was costing us quite a bit in the top end department. At Millers we raced on a very short course; far shorter than I have ever seen at this track. It did show us how much we were giving up. Wade had gotten the jump on the field at the start but as soon as the riders settled in the lack of corner exit speed began to move him toward the rear of the field. We finished the event and most important we had gone considerably quicker loping of almost 10 sec. over the weekend. Since this event we have spent our time reading the bike "Gina" for her next outing. Middle of next week she goes into the shipping crate and heads to OZ for the Phillip Island Classic in January so wish us good luck. I'll will try and keep you updated on the trip and racing. By the way I think we solved the fuel problems we ran into at Miller. We had entered two races that were back to back. As time was going to be a wee bit of an issue we had filled the tank top the brim. What we have found is that our venting was minimal. This had never presented any problems in the past because we never filled the tank over half way. This left an air gap that allowed good fuel flow as there was enough venting within the tank to let fuel flow during high use periods. When the rider backed off the throttle the tank would equalize and off we'd go again. With the tank filled to brim no air space thus to venting. We were just starving the engine. We have now fixed the problem by allowing the tank to vent better. Someone on the list had asked where we were dynoing our engines I think he was asking about the altitude of our dyno shop. This engine was done at Wheelsmith's Factory Racing shop in Marin county which is at sea level. I have done dyno work at my old place in Colorado it's just something one needs to adjust for. I hope this answers the question and sorry it took so long to do so. Pass ya on the inside ! Rich

Checking back in. And again thanks for the ideas. The bike had spend quite a lot of time on the dyno and had never had a fueling problem so under these conditions I ask myself what things are different from the dyno run and running on the race track ? 1. Ambient temperature is different (high 80's verses 100's) BUT when we raced at Willow Springs it was in the 90's ?? 2. We were at 5000 feet in altitude Willow Springs is around 2000' 3. We were getting our fuel from a MotionPro fuel bottle rather than the Moto Guzzi tank 4. The Miller course was lots of short straights and tight corners. Because the motorbike spent so much time on the dyno I can't think how the carburetors could be at the bottom of the problem. Not once did we see the engine act as if it was fuel starving. The last few pulls were all right on the money as far as the sniffer readings indicated and the engine kept pulling as many RMP as we dared to ask of it. One thing we found as we pulled the motorbike apart was that the petcocks that came with the fuel tank (they looked to be fairly new) were very small 1/8" and the ones for the big motors are twice as large. When I asked the local MG guys I was told they came off a fairly small engine bike maybe no bigger than a 650cc. At this point all we can do is attack all the things we thing might be at the bottom of the problem and test again at the last AFM race at T-hill in North Ca, Thanks again for the input. Rich

JRD, Glad you like the write ups. We are not running OEM carburetors. As the rule allow for the change we have switched to Mukuni's. The reasons for the change is multi faceted; we already had a large supply of jets, gaskets, needles not to mention the Muki's flow better. We also are considering more heat protection for the fuel components. I am even considering making small (4" X 4") shields to go between the carbs and the cylinder fins. I totally agree that just looking at where the heat is generated and where the fuel is moving makes me wonder if vapor lock could be part of the problem. What is most strange is the fact that we raced the bike at Willow Springs (high in the California (2500') desert ) with no fueling problems. The one thing we did different was filling the tank to the very top because of the back to back races. Thanks for the feed back. Every idea helps as we work towards getting Gina up to speed. Cheers Rich

68C, Not really how these carburetors function. Fuel tank is the large fuel reservoir and the float bowl is more or less the small fuel holding tank. Fuel flow between the two is controled by a needle valve and float. Fuel flow is from gravity. The carb needs float bowls because fuel use is always fluctuating. Electric fuel pump easily over power the needle valves and when used are controlled by pressure regulators set at very low PSI. After examining the fuel system our conclusion is that the problem (this is often the case) is from several inherent weaknesses. Remove any one and we most likely we would have been OK. They things we found are as follows: Fuel tank has very poor venting. We were racing in two events back to back so we filled the tank to the top. At 4500' this may have caused the tank to not vent properly. Fuel lines need more protection aginst heat: The fuel lines cross the frame above the engine and are exposed and heat coming off the oil cooler. This can cause the fuel to become a vapor either in the lines or filters. The two fuel petcocks that are on the tank may have come from a Guzzi with smaller displacement.: The petcocks have very small exits the ones we have ordered are better than twice the size. The fuel petcocks have three positions on, off, and reserve it would be very easy to inadvertently push the lever to reserve. The reserve orfice is half the size of the main orifice. We are in the process of fixing all these issues and here in is the reason we have been racing the bike anywhere we can before shipping it off 12,000 miles from home. For me this is always the fun part of racing so I don't mind the work here, Wade the rider may feel a tad different. Cheers Rich

Chuck, Keeping in mind that nothing on the engine is OEM it can't be electrical as the ignition is all electronic. The engine does not really run totally out of fuel but rather goes into a fuel starve mode. What Wade told me was that it starts to fall off and as soon as he backed off and hit it again it would pick up. When I checked all the fuel related things, from the tank venting to the float height what seem most out of what I call spec is the size of the petcocks. Everything else was looking correct. The only other cause we consider would be vapor locking (weather was quite hot and 4400 feet altitude) we are doing what we can to make sure the fuel is not subjected to boiling. Still as soon as Wade came into the paddock the engine ran fine and started fine. Vapor locking usually requires time for the vapors within the system to dissipate there by allowing liquid gas to enter the system. Thanks for the thoughts and do keep them coming. I learned about how vapor locking works from a guy how restores vintage cars. These have the problem and he PM'd me the information. Cheers Rich

Back at Ya, Will see what I can do about pics. Tons of folks came by and were taking pics but I was kinda focused on the motorbike. I think that Eric on our team (Because of Gina's PURPLE tones we have become known as the PURPLE GANG) may have taken some. I'll chat him up and see what I can do. Thanks for your interest. Oh, almost forgot. As I went back over our notes from Miller I noticed that we seem to be loosing speed at the end of the straights. Talked to Wade the rider and he said that he would chop the throttle when she stopped pulling and then hit it again and she'd start pulling again. I went back through the fuel system plumbing and I think that we may be running out of fuel at full power on long straights. There are a multitude of fuel petcocks for the Guzzi, Aprilia and Docks so my question is: does anyone know the OEM size (16mm (1.0 TP female nipple ) with the largest exit barb ? The ones that came with the tank look to be about 1/8" and even as we are using one for each carb I think there in is the problem. Anyhow any ideas would be great. Cheers Rich

Hello Again, After we returned from Miller the team all got together and took time to discuss the weekend and the results. The bottom line is we improved all through out the weekend but we are still getting beat. In the last race Wade our rider took on the entire field and got the bike into and through turn one in the lead. And that's the good news. After that we kept getting passed until we ended the day in third as I posted before. We finally have come to the conclusion that our problem is in the gearing. Gina (our pet name for the motorbike) was built for the Isle of Man, Wade has nearly 20 years racing there and after many an hour going through the strengths and weaknesses of the Moto Guzzi we made it our main focus to make time in the fast and very fast sections of the Island. One of the things that we did was find the tallest gearing available. There in may have been a fine idea for Manx GP but not the best for short courses. Wade had said that at Miller (we were racing what is know as the East Course; which is very tight indeed) that he could rarely click top gear. So now our focus has changed. We first know that our rider is quick off the line and as he get more intimate with Gina and her Italian proclivities he is going faster every event. So we shall begin to work on improving his corner exit speeds. Top end at Daytona (by their Radar gun) was 150 so she's not slow but she ain't very quick to get her skirts gathered up and down the road Ed from Guzzi Power has been a great help to us and tomorrow I'm heading down to his shop for a lower final drive. Based on the ratios it should be about 14% lower that what we have been running. We plan on one last test prior to loading everything in the crate for shipment to OZ and I'll let you all know how that test worked out. Cheers Rich

Again sorry for taking so long to reply to the forum. I was going over the oiling problems and the comments about same plus those regarding positive/negative issue etc. I began my racing working on a type of race car called a Formula Junior. These engines tended to pump oil out at a alarming rate. When I began seeing this problem starting to begin in the Guzzi I tackled it in the same way we did the F Juniors. "KISS' we first tried to release the crankcase pressure with venting. As oil will escape through said venting we created small inline catch tanks in the form of small in line fuel filters (the kind that have replaceable internal filters) filling them with oil trapping foam. These "catch tanks" return the oil to the sump through a drain back system. Our problem was pumping oil out on to the track and our tires. At miller (UMC) we ran the Guzzi harder than we have ever done and with no visible oil loss, no oil misting or volume loss. Total cost of the new system was under $100. The system was by no means elegant but it was simple, cheap and functional. At the risk of over simplifying things 50 years of racing have imprinted one fact in my mind first fix the problem then make the fix sexy. I thank you all for the input as it has given me a plethora of ideas for the future. As the one thing that is as nearly as hard to find as money is time my simple fix will need to do until we return from down under. Thanks again for the information . Cheers Richard

Still at IT ! Sorry I have been AWOL for a while but life just gets in the way. Was first off doing a MERA (Motorcycle Endurance Riders Assoc.) event out of Salt Lake City. Don't ask how I did there; 36 hours with the temp. in triple digests and I bailed out and headed to a hotel with AC. We did race at Willow Springs and did OK for it being a new motorbike found and fixed some teething problems. Last weekend (Labor Day) we raced Utah Motorsport and got a third (not really a big deal and there were only 4 bikes) but did shave over 14 seconds off our times. Bike is running good but now we seem to be running out of gas. We think it might be the size of the Guzzi fuel valve outlet. As we are using a standard petcock X 2 but the fuel bowls seem to be going dry. We are still sorting the scooter out and are planning to head to Barber next month. Barber will be our last chance before the bikes get loaded for OZ in January. Anyhow hope you all had a great summer. Cheers Rich

Thanks for the feed back ! All the minds really do help. Each idea is more information and as with the oil problem allows us to come up with workable answers. KB: Thank you for the people and companies. We will contact them to make sure we end up with the best bits. Three years ago Wade popped an engine on the Island (one of the faster spots) a rod bolt broke and the internals vacated between the barrels and head. Oiled the whole bike as the leak was above the catch pan. When the corner marshals got to him all he could say was "glad to be here and alive" . We in fact headed over to Leads picked up and engine and made the race. Thanks again. Chuck: True that NO OIL ! the only oil was on the front of the motorbike from guys other than us. swooshdave : Actually Wade's a great starter may be his strongest attribute. Our thinking now is that it's a mechanical issue of some sort. Like linkage binding when you first disengage the clutch. LP : We do agree is most likely not Wade or the clutch itself. We ; as I said to Dave are thinking it is most likely mechanical as in linkage or improper parts (engagement rod) or maybe something is out of spec. Anyway thank you all ! As with the other teething problems we will get it solved. We are working toward Phillips Island Classic next January as it's a place that the rider has done quite well on side cars and knows which way the corners go. Cheers

Hello Again, We just got back from racing at Willow Springs (Southern California Desert for those on the right coast) racing with AHMRA. Good fun nice folks and more learning. It was rather difficult to get any real good lap time as the wind was rather errrrr, strong would be an understatement. If I heard correctly we were dealing with winds in the 40 to 45 MPH range and the bike has a full fairing so that even added to the trouble. Willow Springs is a great place to work on over all set up so we focused on that. Wade got down to a few 43's and for our class that puts us about 5 sec. off a competitive time. There were no bikes that would really run in our class so we didn't have anyone to compare with other than by lap times for our class with no real idea how the wind was effecting us time wise. We did find that we were a tad stiff on the rear springs so two new pair are on order from RaceTech. Mat Wiley at R/T has helped with building forks and springs for the Island and the bike has always worked quite well it just seems to be a bit on the hard side for tracks as rough as Willow Springs. This will also be a help for any racing on the IOM type road courses where they're more like a paved MotoX track. By the way the feed back about our oil blow-by at Daytona was a great help. We took all the input from this tech section and that which came via PM and with all your help; not a spec of oil at Willow Springs. I do need to ask some more advise. Maybe Wades strongest (he's an avid flat tracker) part of racing is his starts. Problem is he's getting clutch slip coming off the starts. The clutch does not slip after the first 150 yards , just the start. Any ideas, suggestions or maybe a clutch that is better than what OEM bits we are using now. I was told that OE would be fine but that seems to not be true with this engine. Ed at GuzziPower has given us an engine with plenty of HP so now we look to controlling same . So any advise would be a help. Cheers for now riding season is almost here so enjoy, Rich

Luhbo, Not sure of what you speak but will refer to Gina as a Motorbike in the future. I have a friend here in the states that is always busting me on my Italian gender errors so I'll be a tad more careful. Cheers

Hello All, As any of you who are following the IOM Le Mans Moto Guzzi project we have begun the post race look see. Our focus was on the oiling problems. I might add that it was by no means terminal but was enough to get the tech boys hands reaching for the meatball flag. So for the most part we found that our outflow lines from the engine may have been larger then the vent from the catch tank and there for causing a slight over-pressure in the catch tank itself. Here in lies the reason for this post. Can one of you Guzzi brains explain what the rear hose fitting that comes from the pan does ? We plumbed the oiling system by copying the plumbing on a 2003 V11. Now we are wondering if that hose is in fact a drain back line and/or that there might be a one-way valve in that system that we are missing and should be included on the race bike. Our oil pressure is fine 80 psi sitting 60 psi on track. We don't mind being wrong once but sure need to get this taken care of prior to Willow Springs in a month. Please, any advice or information would be a great help. Cheers Rich Any help would

Mark, You are quite right Red Bull is the new blessing for long distance motor racing transport. We also discovered that once south of the Mason-Dixon line the appropriate beverage choice was RC cola and boiled peanuts could be included as a dietary supplement. Cheers

I continue to post to the Technical Topics because for me it has become more of an engineering adventure. It seems to just belong here rather than what my Moto Guzzi did today. So we are just back from Daytona. We raced our Yamaha R-6 in the 200 as a means of getting track time. That did not turn out as we'd had hoped as we were plagued with electrical gremlins throughout the weekend. The cause of the problems remain to be found but that will be on the back burner as we get ready for Willow Springs in a mointh. I'll hit the Forum with the R-6 fault as a FYI when we find the problem. Now as to how the Moto Guzzi (Gina) fared. We had decided to run her at Dayton (vintage classes) because of the high speed that are necessary at this track. The Mountain Course is really about very high speeds and having a motorbike that can both run fast and is stil stable so we felt this was a great place to give Gina her first try. We had planned to do a test day at north California's Thunderhill but getting on the Dyno with a new engine seemed to be the most imperative and we were running out of time. Ed from Guzzi Power and Mark Salisburge from Wheelsmith spent the entire Sunday before we were heading out tunning the Guzzi Power built engine. We left California with a list of tunning ideas and jetting changes about 11:00 PM Sunday night. The trip took about 60 hours and was with out a hitch. We have began calling these cross country drives "Snaking Across America" as we tend to live on Cokes, chips and Moon Pies. With a Red Bull pr 5 hour energy drink thrown in. We got Gina on course on Friday and quickly learned that we had done our homework (most of it anyway) pretty well. Ed's engine pulled like a "tractor" and the bike handled well. Between successions I made a few changes to the chassis and we tried a jetting change. We also contacted some local friends and set up a meeting to pick up more jet options the following day. After our poor finish in the 200 (with the R-6) Gina gave us all a shot of good cheer as the timing tower clocked her at 148 MPH. But, along with the happy speed news we found a slight oil leak (misting mostly) on the frame and rear inner fender. For fun we raced her next in Superbike Lite (allowed because we are a twin p/r carburetor bike) totally out classed by modern bikes and young tigers but fun all the same. We finished a modest 12th. The bike still showed a slight oiling problem. Before the race where the Guzzi was to run with bikes that were more her peers we spent all our time trying to improve the engine venting and recovery to alleviate the oiling troubles. In the final event of the weekend we would be racing against bikes that were more evenly matched with us (these bike were actually 2 classes above us at AHRMA races) such as Duc's and Honda's. Gina did us proud as she ran a strong second and even managed a few shots at first place. On the last circuit Wade began to notice oil on his boot and he slowed. Giving us a fourth place when the dust settled. Not counting the poor showing with the R-6 we were all quite pleased with the Guzzi's performance; being that for this motorbike Daytona was more test than a race. We think that we broke the 150 MPH mark and she was very stable at that speed. Wade told us that he was quite comfortable passing slower bikes on the banking. Doing this passing with the throttle wound open and tucked behind the bubble. I'll send some photos when I get the trailer unloaded and can get to them. This way you can see Gina all dressed and ready for the dance rather than putting on her makeup as was all the last pictures showed. Cheers to all Rich

Hey Guys, I am no where as conversant in the uniqueness of Moto Guzzi and their different models. My affair really started with the fact that I just loved the sound they made. This and the family way the factory goes about their business. This said I have no idea what the tank came off of. Ed at Guzzi Power (he has been sponsoring the effort with quite a lot of help and bits) turned me loose on a stack of used tanks. I picked one that looked period correct circa Guzzi's best racing years. I had been thinking that it must be some kind of fuel level sensor. Because of the era that the tank came from (I did look for the unit in all kinds of pictures and most likely half a dozen microfiche drawings) and the low spot it's in I think you are quite correct. I was still not sure because the tank came from a time when the factories were really fighting to become EPA compliant thus doing all kinds of weird stuff to get past the EPA motorbike requirements. It would be great if someone could send me a dead unit that I could use to plug the hole. As I said before finding the proper plug ihas been a task and not a successful one. I am in the process of doing the painting and getting the art work on the bodywork as soon as that is finished I'll hit you all with the pic's of the finished Motorbike. Can even include the other two that are going to Florida tho they are not Guzzi's Rich

Hello again, Sorry to only hit the forum when I need help but I do have another question. We are putting the last touches on our race bike and the paint is drying on the bodywork and tank (weather here in northern California is just right for this kind of work) The bike should be ready to head to Daytona with even some time for testing before we leave the left coast., So my question is this. We are using a tank that looks like it may be from the late '70's early '80's it does not have a built in pad and the fill pipe is centered. It is fitted for two fuel petcocks at the rear of the tank and the emblem was affixed by small screws. Our problem is that there is a large threaded opening at the forward underside lip of the tank. The hole is rather large say 26 to 28 mm. I've measured it with a micrometer and it feels as if it may be tapered. Does anyone know what went in there and what size it might be. I have tried all sorts of plugs AN, NPT, BSP and so on with no luck. All we want to do is fill the hole so again your help is needed. Regards Rich & Wade

Hello all, Sorry it took so long to get back but with the holidays and trying to get bikes ready.........Well time fly's. The real tricky part of wiring in the S-H coils is that the +/- marking is very small and very light. Took a magnifying glass that would have served Mr Holmes well to find the blood thing. The two posts form a "T" the up-right of the "T" is the positive the cross bar the negative. The + mark is on the out side of the coil on the rounded portion. Bikes are close to ready for testing and then off to Florida. Rich

Hello to you all, Thought I'd give you folks an up date on the Manx Moto Guzzi project. Bike is just about ready to fit the full fairing (Airtech has helped with choosing one that fits) and then we'll paint everything. Once the fitting is finished we'll pull the bodywork back off for paint and take the machine to Mark Saliberg (Factory Pro. Tunning Northern California) to have the dyno work done. We are planning on racing our Yamaha R-6 in the 200 and if we can find a class we'll try and race the Guzzi on Sundays races. Last time at Daytona we had driven straight through from California and Wade Boyd had been part of that. By the end of the race on Saturday he was pretty much shot. This year Wade will fly in and meet us there Thursday; hopefully bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to go 200 miles. Anyway thanks again for your help last time I called out. I'll try and keep the updates coming. Cheers