Weegie

I watch "Driving 4 answers" content too Phil and although I knew some of the story, I found that video quite shocking. As for "Stuart Fillingham" the YouTuber on the first post, he's forever posting grossly over exaggerated vids on nefarious beaurocrats coming after yer bikes. Of his videos I've watched they're exagerated and misinformed. I cannot stand his accent nor narration and think he does it to up his views, which I class as duplicitous. One quote from Pete that always made me smile and I'm paraphrasing, ........."If anybody complains, just tell them the bike runs on very old sunshine"

That's a real pity, I'll bet it was beautifully made. Perhaps me getting older, but I just find machines nowadays not nearly so well made

After a few cheaper machines, eventually ended up with a lever unit, which was obscenely expensive and stupidly simple in construction. Its just a boiler, or pressure vessel if you prefer the technical jargon, with tubing to the group head, the group head has a large lever and a take off to the steam wand. You raise the lever to charge the group head with water then a slow steady downward pull forces the water through the basket (and coffee) and into the cup. The boiler runs between 1-1.5 bar and it can only really make one cup at a time and using it takes a bit of practice. The most important point, in my experience, is getting the grinder settings right. I also weigh the beans, for a weaker cup use 12 grams and 15 for a stronger one. When steaming the boiler pressure will drop to around 0.5 bar but for even a larger cup it will happily steam sufficient milk straight out the fridge (4C or so) to 60-65C very quickly and when finished be back up to full pressure in 15-30 seconds. From what I've seen water temp has to be around 85C or thereabouts and extraction pressure of 9bar, although it varies from roast to roast. The reason it can be a bit hit and miss, is you only know the boiler pressure and not the group head, although the machine can be modified to install one. I like a strong cup and dilute it with milk something between a machiato and a cappuchino, makes a cup as good or better than many commercial cafes around here Coffee I currently enjoy is Ueshima, a Japanese brand, my wife likes the lighter roasts from Africa both of which we get from our local supermarket. I spent around 2 years frequently travelling to Italy, both in north and south and can't remember ever having a bad cup of coffee, even though many of them were made on small home sized machines. In every other country I went to, including the UK it was usually the opposite.

I didn't mean the comment to be particularly relevant to your problem, I merely raised it for anybody, perhaps searching for solutions with a similar problem. Anectodally I find copper leads deteriorate over a long period of time, same goes for battery to starter motor cable, of course a lot depends on the quality of the leads/cable. Anyways glad you got sorted and the bikes going well again I wonder how many people these days have analogue meters, I still have an AVO and love it, a beautiful piece of kit

Agree with everything you said In the past though I've had carbon and copper core HT leads return low resistance values, leading me to believe they were good, when hunting misfires and poor running. Eventually after checking everything else and in desperation replacing the HT leads to find that they were the culprit all along. The carbon cores are fragile and I reckon copper ages (oxidation or perhaps the high voltage degrades them in some way?............no idea) reducing the ability of the leads to transmit the high voltage. Just saying if everything else checks out and the leads are old replacing them is worth a shot

Good idea, another mod I've seen is to dimple the stick metal or plastic. Can't help think a flat metal stick would be better, like you used to get on older cars. I purchased the flashlight after losing 3 pints of oil when an oil cooler hose started to leak (you see now why I prefer to overfill). The subsequent Motorcycle Accident Invetigation Team report cited "user ineptitude" as the root cause of the failure. In accordance with the mandatory recommendations both lines were replaced. My main worry was too little oil, as if you're obeying the stick marks waaaaay overfilling isn't an issue with a "Roper Plate" installed One more thing the Australia with its solid belly pan, collects all the oil at the front which then blows rearwards and exits in the vicinity of the rear tyre. Coating the rear tyre with engine lube provides early fault warning, preventing premature engine failure by potentially trashing the whole bike insted.

Not sure if I'm just inept (highly probable) but I've never been able to asses with any confidence the oil level in my 1100 or HiCam engine (both broadsump engines) I've tried the plastic standard dipstick and a metal one, the metal one being slightly better, but I still find it hit and miss. Not that it is really so critical, as now with Pete's sloppage plates in I way overfill the sump past the "high" mark, until the oil is just below the level of the plate (thank you @Lucky Phil for the advice) and never had any problems. Even seeing that though is a little tricky, I usually asses it with the help of a small torch and barbecue stick to see when it touches the oil. Anyway I suppose this is stupidly obvious but I purchased an LED flexi torch and it's great I can put it into the dipstick hole and get a good view of the plate and the oil sitting below it. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00008BFS6?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

Really? You are familiar with the "In the vicinity of Neutral" warning light on the dash? Perhaps I've been doing it wrong all these years but my hand is always on the clutch prior to starting and I slowly release once the engine is running. Her other hand appears to be close to the starter. I see your point though and I never start a bike on the stand, center or side.

I quite like the aestechics of the engine, the radiator and the collector on the exhaust are a bit ugly but what new model motorcycle isn't and it's a better effort than most. I do agree though it's a bit odd, old school top and newer tech bottom and all that polished alloy is way too blingy for me. The Honda styled seat unit....not offensive, but not to my personal taste either Magni has been doing similar, his designs are not so offensive (at least to my eyes) but I still find the new engines in older style clothes a bit odd

Seen a lot worse!! I'm left wondering if what I've done to my bikes over the years would invoke the wrath of Pete?

That's what is expected if you use an LED, as it's a diode the warning light will only illuminate in one direction only, in the other the LED blocks the current. It's a bit of a faff to put the other diodes in place to get an LED to work. @Kiwi_Roy did publish a diagram somewhere on here to show the mod, but you need to get into the dash and if you're not fussed then by far the easiest solution is just to go back to a bulb

Is this a single indicator light on the dash that doesn't differentiate on LH or RH flasher? If it is and it's wired the same way as most of the other Guzzis of late 90s and early 2000s that I'm aware of (perhaps more models), then I'd check all the earths/grounds on the opposing flasher and all the connections on both indicator circuits and the wiring to the bulb itself. It won't work with an LED unless modified and I'd imagine strange things might occur if the bulb wattage isn't standard either It's a rather fiendish circuit where voltage is applied to the side selected and because the current is low it earths/grounds through the indicator circuits on the other side. Example you select LH flasher voltage is applied to the bulb via the LH circuit and it earths/grounds through the RH circuit. The upshot is that everything in both circuits and the warning lamp too,has to be good, connections, earths/grounds etc for it to work as intended I apologise that it doesn't answer your question precisely, but it's the best I can do for now Oh and if it has a seperate lamp for left and right ignore this post John

Ok now I understand, the reduced current which flows through the circuit when the tank is full and wouldn't light a bulb is still sufficient to illuminate the LED. A resistor in parallel wouldn't work, the easiest solution I can think of then is to use Roy's solution of a resistor in series to limit the current to the point that the LED won't iilluminate. Resistors are cheap, it doesn't cost much to try it and Roy even suggested a value which gives you a starting point. If it kept the LED lit on a full tank, step up the value. A relay in theory would also work, but matching the voltage to get the coil to pickup in the relay sounds like a bit of a nightmare, you'd also have to ensure it dropped out at an appropiate voltage too. I haven't read through the whole thread, but when I looked at that petcock you referenced on the SD page, my first thought was it looks awfully like a float switch, but I don't know Apologies for the misleading information, I'd not understood the problem fully.

The TWA 800 remark was made with my tongue firmly in my cheek and I agree. The idea of mixing components with current passing through them and a potentially explosive atmosphere might sound utterly mad, but could still be safe, it's dependent on a few different variables. I've never heard of any scenario of a tank exploding due to either a fuel pump or low fuel warning sensor failure either @Tinus89 am I missing something here? AFAIK its the properties of the thermistor itself that alters resistance, resulting in a higher current flow for the fixed Voltage across the circuit it has nothing to do with the bulb resistance. The bulb rating is chosen to allow it to be bright enough to be observed, but also to balance/limit the total circuit resistance. If the bulb resistance is too high (i.e. lower wattage) it won't allow enough current to flow and would never light. Too low, would result in too much current and burn out the thermistor. The Thermistor's resistance lowers as it gets hotter, when it's dunked in fuel it's cold and the resistance is high. When it gets uncovered, fuel below the sensor, the thermistor starts to get hot. When it gets hot the resistance lowers, that will also result in self heating (by how much I don't know). I don't understand the difference between using a bulb and an LED plus equivalent resistance, in a purely resistive circuit If I'm talking complete bollocks or missed something feel free to educate me (because I've never been accused of being "the brightest bulb in the building")

If you know the original bulb wattage, I cannot be arsed looking it up, you can easily work out the filament resistance then just wire in a resistor in parallel of the same value and it should work as @Tinus89 has already stated. No rocket science in the circuit, Ducati did the same thing back in the day, probably other Eye-Tal-yin producers. Still freaks me out a near empty tank, full of fumes and an electric current passing through a thermistor in the space. What could possibly go wrong, I mean TWA 800 was a fluke right?

Having conducted various science experiments with my HiCam engine, I was going to post but been beaten to it by some great info from previous posters, @Lucky Phil has already said more than I could add (and like him I run a 10/60 in my HiCam) Anectodally, I run 15/50s in my Sporti and I've never had any issues with the 2v/v engines. Now I always check the spec sheets, I was surprised by the viscosity differences from supppliers selling, what appears to be a similar product. All full synth group 4s at a given grades can vary quite a lot in their viscosities and viscosity index. That's all I have to add

Great stuff Phil I'm guessing this is for a another HiCam build, which I'll be following avidly (stalking???) It will be interesting to see what differences result from all the modifications on the "HiCam II" over the engine that's now in your Greenie Thanks for informing us of the latest and greatest from Joe, I do need to drop him a line at some point. One more thing, where did you source the MGS jackshaft from as it would an intersting upgrade to my HiCam? John

HUGE!!!!

Agree I tried to measure crankcase pressure on the Sporti when I was having blow-by problems (which were due to the bores being outwith spec from when they left the factory, but that's another story). It fluctuates, obviously with piston movement so cycles every revolution, but I wouldn't think it was any greater than a couple of inches of water gauge overall. Might see more if you placed a high speed transducer to read the pressure peaks. That said rubber hose will (at least partially) absorb these peaks and as @audiomick pointed out the system is open to atmosphere on the frame Here's some idea of the amount of air that's being moved

I'm with Phil IMHO far too much navel gazing regarding oil level in the sump I ASS-ume it's a Broadsump, although I don't own a V11 I have 2 Broadsump bikes, a Sporti and HiCam (Daytona engine). I've got Roper plates in both and fill to just below the plate and never had any issues, that's well above the high mark on the stick. I find the dipstick a PIA I can never read it reliably, but that could be me. Volumes quoted for sump levels are as @GuzziMoto stated are based on a dry engine, which will never be the case on an oil change, so sump levels/dipstick markers are a better indicator I'm not saying "do what I do" or that it's correct, just it's perhaps not quite as critical as some folks make out

Not in my extensive archive of images of bodged attempts at spannering/wrenching and unsuitable for children and those of a nervous disposition I'll see if I can get some pictures later but kind of difficult what with all the other paraphernalia Guzzi managed to insert in there

With the Sporti I used 2 silicone elbows and an alloy tube for the main breather from the engine to the frame. Silicone isn't recommended for oil, but when I asked the supplier he stated that for a breather it would probably be Ok and so far no problems. Just saying that if obtaining the part is too difficult or expensive, it's not beyond the wit of man to fabricate something. Pretty sure compatible material elbows are available

Just to add to Pete, from my travails with the HiCam @Lucky Phil should get most if not all of the credit in helping me to at least have an understanding of the issues. The 'C' kit cams are the reason that my bike runs hot, this isn't a problem above 40mph where sump temps are stable around 100C and oil pressure doesn't drop below 60psi. However at slow speed, in traffic or extended idling will lead to high oil temps and decaying pressures as the oil thins, once above 110C it goes downhill fast (that's running a 10/60 oil). Did @Paul Minnaert not also have cooling issues? I think he went to a Vee sump and then also added a cooler, but I don't know if he had 'C' kit cams nor what other mods were completed to that engine Very few bikes have the 'C' cams, only the Daytona RS engines and due to US emission regs the RS models supplied to America didn't get the 'C' cams either. All the Centis have the standard cams. As far as deleting the cooler, I'd agree that it certainly wouldn't be something I'd consider even on a Centi or 'B' kitted Daytona (that said the Dr John's were 'B' kitted and didn't have a cooler). The Guzzi design for the oil cooler on the Daytona broadsumps, Centis and Sportis isn't particularly good IMHO. The hoses to and from the cooler use banjos both at the engine and cooler and on both inlet and return, this incurs a pressure drop penalty and lower flow through the cooler. I installed a considerably smaller cooler onto the Australia (it was all I could find that would fit) than the OEM, but used full flow fittings and when I tested it and the OEM back to back the smaller cooler performed better by 3-4 degC. I've got a slightly larger one to install this year, space is the biggest problem with installing a different cooler to the Australia. Apologies for drfting off topic, might help Centi or Daytona owners I know nothing of the V11 4v/v engines John

Couldn't see it in the manuals I referenced. The procedure laid out for the Daytona etc: in the manual starts with checking the TPS before moving to vacuum balance on the TBs. The Sporti as I recall has a different TPS but the procedure in the manual is the same

I looked in the workshop manuals for the early Daytona and a later one covering the Daytona RS/Centauro/Sporti In the injection chapter both of them quote the 150mV +/- 15mV docc. Perhaps the US manuals are different but the statement is present in the copies I have, the +/- 15mV equating to a tolerance.