GuzziMoto

You may have ethenol added to your fuel year round(or whatever emisions additive is the flavor of the month), but I would be suprised if you actually have winter gas at all. Don't confuse emissions additives with winter/summer gas formulas. For cold weather use the blend gas differently so that it will work in cold weather better. Basically it has elements that evaporate at lower temps(lower vapor pressure) to help the engine start and idle. Summer gas has the opposite.

I had a 1200cc Buell that easily got 50 mpg. H-D may be a backwards company in many respects but they have a very efficient engine design that gets great fuel mileage and low emmisions. Guzzi could learn a few things from H-D, as long as they don't pick up on H-Ds bad habits as well(like oil leaks).

I would agree that the poor mileage is not due just to evaporation. Iwould think that is only a small part of it. But the things that help the fuel evaporate at lower temps so your engine can run in cold weather also do not contain the energy that fuel components that do not evaporate as easily contain. So gas formulated for winter driving will not return the fuel mileage that gas formulated for summer driving will. Plus the engine tends to run cooler which contributes to another loss of efficency and thus mileage. Most of the tanks that build pressure in the sun, in my experience, are non carbon can equipped.

Not positive about the V11 evaporative system because it's been off the bike so long but most systems are not sealed. There is a in to the carbon canister(s) and an out. The carbon is supposed to trap fuel vapors. If the tank was sealed, on a hot day it could rupture. That would not be enviromentally friendly. I know for sure my Griso had an in and an out to the carbon canister.

Your friend was not entirely wrong but he was wrong. Use of an engine will greatly influence service life. But F1 stuff is so far out on the edge that I don't think it would have worked. But as an example, the old Hart V10 F1 engine was retired to become an endurance motor mainly be restricting revs. So it could be done. As far as Ti rods, the early ones had short service intervals. They have gotten better now.The Ti rods in our Ducati 996 could last a whole season. The MGS01s service intervals are no doubt in large part influenced by the bikes intended use. And using one on the street should see more longevity out of it. The same thing applies to Aprilias 450 and 550 v-twins. The service intervals are way high but that is because the bikes are built for race use and people who ride them on the street get much more life out of them. Still, it is not going to be as reliable as a V11. But I want one anyway.

Pete seems to have a decent grasp on the power thing. If you want more out of your Guzzi, focus on improving the things the factory did poorly in the first place. Squish and port shape/blending are easy things to improve that do not effect reliability and can make a significant improvement in the output of a Guzzi motor since they were not done well from the factory. If you are happy with the output of your Guzzi motor as it is stock, then save yourself the time and money of those mods. But for crying out loud, someone please make those two quit going at it.

Oil in the collector sounds bad. I would either run a compression test or pull the head. But you may want to swap the injectors to see if the cylinder not firing moves with the injectors. If it does you know you have a fuel system issue. But I still don't like the sound of oil in the collector.

Any place in the U.S. and probably in Europe as well where you get a cold winter season and a warm summer season will have different gas formulations for the seasons. You may have had 10% ethonal added during the winter and now it's all year long, but that is not the only difference between summer and winter. Winter gas has a different blend so it evaporates at a lower temp, allowing easier starrting in the cold. There are other differences as well. So I have found that my mileage is lower during winter as a result. Petes question about the cylinder head temp sensor is a good one as well.

My wifes V11 did something like that a while back. Turned out to be the bearings in the rear wheel.

Don't go to a Hardly dealer, go here. http://www.americansportbike.com/shoponlin...dshow/5352.html

When you were installingthe plate, did you make not of where on the oil dipstick you oil level should really be. I could be wrong but I seem to recall the dipstick not being to accurate to begin with and then the plate changes it a little more.

What you gain with the Ohlins is smoother action with less stiction and less unsprung weight. Valving can always be adjusted to suit the rider. The biggest problem with the Mazochi fork for me was that the compression leg stock has no valving. It has several holes in the cartridge tube that work like a damper rod in an old fashioned fork. The oil does not have to go thru the valving in the piston until the forks are compressed 3/4 of the way. Changing the valving will not help unless you force at least some of the oil to go thru the valving. How you do that is up to you. You could just keep increasing the weight of the oil until you get some resistence to the oil going thru the holes in the cartridge, but by the time that worked, the oil would be pretty thick. Thick oil is more prone to foaming and fade. It is better to run the thin oil and inrease the resistence thru valving. Ohlins are sweet. But you can get a Marzochi fork to work almost as well for alot less then the cost of the Ohlins. If you have the money the Ohlins is better. But if you don't, it's okay. The Marzochis have potential. You just need to refine the details. Just like anything else on a Guzzi.

Here's a link that some one else posted on a different thread. http://www.mgnoc.com/article_ask_the_wrench.html

It doesn't help you see where you are going. It helps OTHERS see where you ARE. In the UK it might be "stupid", but in the US drivers do not see motorcyclists very well. They are usually to busy talking on their cell phone or putting on make-up. Anything you can do to increase visability and make yourself seen is a good thing. And during the day the hi-beam is much more visable then the low beam.

I'm suprised no one has mentioned the standard practice of running your hi beam during the day to help others see you.

Can the Marzochi fork be made to work as smoothly as the Ohlins? Not likely. Can it be made to work a lot better then it does? Yes. It is much like the rest of the Guzzi, basically a good design but the details were not done right. The hardest part is finding someone who can and will work on them since they are not a popular fork. I did mine myself. I found that the adjuster had zero effect because the cartridge body had three good sized holes in it. So I blocked one of the holes off and now I can adjust the forks dampning with the adjusters. I can also change the weight of the oil and now it will make a difference. This was on a 2001 V11. I don't know if your forks are the same as mine but if you take them apart, pull the springs out, and put them back together you can feel what the dampning is or isn't doing. You can also feel for any stiction that might indicate an issue that neeeds addressing with the bushings or the fork tubes. Having said that, if I could afford the Ohlins I would have them.

Optimum squish is having the pistons come right up to the top of the cylinder(with the cylinder torqued down), 0 clearance. This is because the head gasket gives you the clearance for your squish. This may make some nervous but it works. Milling the heads is an option but then you have to make sure you maintain valve to piston clearance. And the shape of Mike Rich's pistons is based, from what I've seen, on the original shape of the combustion chamber. Milling the heads will alter their relationship.

The Z6's and the stradas are related but I am getting much better wear out of the Z6's then the Stradas. I've got almost 7k on the Z6's and they still have a good bit left. No uneven wear or anything.The Z6's are on a Griso and the Stradas are on a V11 if that makes a difference. The Griso is a bigger heavier bike then the V11 but it gets ridden a little harder.

I follow you now. I would agree, with the Hr Pistons you should not have to skim the heads but you might have to mill the cylinders down to set piston height.

Mike Rich pistons are a good idea but why would you not set the squish when using them? Particularly since you've got the cylinders off to replace the pistons anyway. And setting the squish properly would maximize the benefit of the pistons.

It never hurts to re-set your TPS. But it is not likely that the TPS has anything to do with your lack of power at high revs. It sounded to me like you had set your TPS two months ago, but doing it again can't hurt. Sounds like you just need to get the fueling sorted. A blend of the two maps should have your bike running well enough.

NO, dlang was assuming you had a custom map made and then reset the TPS to the correct value, I believe. The TPS should be set to the correct value(sounds like you have done that) and then the fuel map tuned to make the bike run correctly. Sounds like your map is close but needs to be adjusted in the upper revs. You can adjust it yourself with the software that comes with the PC or you(or someone you know) might blend both maps together into one. As said, a custom map is prefered but may not be possible at the moment.

You should not use the TPS to tune the bike. The first map was not done with the TPS out of wack, it was a pre made map if I understand correctly. As has been mentioned before, a pre made map is only goiong to be close. You may want to try a different map or combine the two you have to make one map. Having a map custom made is the best option, but I realize that may not be possible right now. It sounds like you need more fuel at WOT above 6k. You can modify the map in there now(save a copy of the map before you start changing) using the higher rpm WOT fuel numbers from the other map or just start adding(or removing) fuel at the same points until you have a better running machine.

It would be very cool. I just don't want to do it to MY Guzzi.

Well put. As much as some people here may not want to admit it, Moto Guzzis(and motorcycles in general) are toys, luxury items, things we posses not to make life possible but to make life more enjoyable. If you wanted to supercharge your Guzzi that's not for me to judge. I wouldn't do it but that does not make it wrong. There are many things in life that I will not do but that does not mean they are all wrong(only some of them