Lucky Phil

There is but don't go anywhere near it with gasket sealer as it will inhibit the pressure sensitive sealant on the gasket doing it's job. https://www.mgcycle.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=170_174&products_id=5044 OR Mick you could by a USED front cover gasket from a local ebay retailer in Germany. Remarkable value, can't go wrong there mate. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/176430408521?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20211130125621%26meid%3D6565c1fed2f64fce8f2954b20c0e8b4f%26pid%3D101465%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D386889832760%26itm%3D176430408521%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D3650466&_trksid=p3650466.c101465.m3507 Phil

There are various thickness shims Mick not gaskets. The oil seal is an oring and is almost useless on it's own and a gasket sealer is required as well on install. The actual sealing design is flawed in my opinion. How to measure? With a depth gauge and a pair of vernier callipers and a bit of math. You can of course just put a blob of plasticene on the end of the pickup with some grease on it and no shims and stick it in and remove then measure the plasticene thickness and calculate the shims you need. Thats works as well. Someone years ago made quite a neat bespoke tool to measure the depth but it's so rarely required I just use the old school methodology. I've pulled apart engines where the sensor was contacting the wheel and it still ran ok. Okish maybe. Phil

My bikes that use the exact same disks, the Ducati 1000SS the Guzzi V11 Sport and the Ducati ST2 have had the following 320mm disks fitted to them over the years. Braking Wave, Galfer wave, Std Brembo original dished with round holes and later style spoke Brembo. All have stopped exactly the same road and track, no difference with the same pads and callipers. Phil

Before you start overthinking it which it sounds like you are make sure the fuel filter isn't blocked/dirty and the TB's are not popped off and the manifold rubbers aren't leaking. Move onto the TPS and tuning after that unless it's needed for some reason you haven't mentioned.

Simon Crafar is far too much of a suck for this job. His post race interviews with riders sound almost like a cringy public marriage proposal at times as he tries to suck up to them. There's not wishing to offend anyone and then theirs what Simon engages in come interview time. The concept of a professional straight forward question is not in his nature. In addition I've never and I mean never heard him criticise a riders action or manoeuvre on the track with regards to an altercation with another rider or an incident. He always plays the suckie sit on the fence guy desperate not to appear critical in case it gets back to the rider/s in question. The head steward needs to be firm but fair and nobodies fool, not interested in being "liked" by riders because unpalatable decisions for some riders need to be made. He's the last guy for the job. Spencer was rubbish at it as well, no consistency at all. MotoGP is turning into F1 anyway so it's going down the road of what happens off the track is going to swamp the on track performances. We now have the totally ludicrous situation where riders need to not only manage tyre wear but also drop positions and ride single file for a few laps to manage their front tyre pressure and the winner and place getters are now decided hours after the event when the powers that be review the tyre pressure data. This sort of thing is what makes F1 so tedious and it's now arrived in MotoGP. Popularity just ruins some things entirely. Phil

Gearboxes don't really suffer the condensation issue like an engine. An engine produces a LOT of water vapour starting from cold and that's what contaminates the oil and needs to evaporate off. Short runs just kills engines as does short start stop stuff like shuffling cars around in driveways and workshops. Doesn't matter what oil you use either it just kills them. Gearboxes not so much, foaming is an issue with gearboxes esp if they are overfilled a bit. Phil

When Kenny Roberts was in a battle for the world title back in 80 or 81, can't remember which with Randy Mamola he said that when he saw Randy showing up at the track with his girlfriend at the time he knew he had the title won, lol. Good old "take no prisoners" Kenny R. Riders these days are racing from 3 years old esp in Italy and Spain. I don't think it makes that much difference anymore. Plenty of GP and WSB winners these days have a wife and kids during their racing careers (Johnny Rea, Alvaro Bautista, Maverick Vinales, Troy Bayliss to name a few) Getting married didn't slow down Casey Stoner either. The racing world has changed. A lot perform better with a partner/wife as the sport is now a pressure cooker and they need the emotional support. back in the 80, 90s and before that after the racing it was party time in the paddock and everyone get smashed together. Now it's whisked away with your family and PA. Phil

Bristol spent the whole war getting this engine half way reliable and producing power and at the end of the day the advantage it offered was completely negated from about 1941 onwards due to the development of high octane fuels. Pre war when fuel was pretty rubbish it offered a full point of additional compression according the Harry Ricardo's experiments. A classic case of flogging a dead horse or continuing with a design that you should simply have shelved years earlier. Bristol bet the future of the company on the sleeve valve engine and failed. Rolls Royce and others but esp RR took a proven design and just kept refining it until it was powerful and reliable. A lesson there in that. Dogged development of a fundamentally sound design produces success. Very much like the evolution of the motorcycle front fork. Phil

joe.caruso@ntlworld.com Phil

You might need to try calling to the geriatric brain dead inhabitants at wildguzzi. You know the ones who's brains are dulled and befuddled by all that smoke they keep breathing in around the "camp fire" Phil

https://www.motiveproducts.com/collections/brake-bleeder-kits You can buy decent ones now for about half the price of these. I've had mine for 8 years or so. Phil

It's best to avoid the old pump the pedal and/or lever bleeding process if you can on older vehicles most especially. It's not uncommon for corrosion and contaminants in the system to be at the end of the master cylinder where the piston and seal never get to in normal operation. Then you flush the fluid or bleed the brakes using the old pump the lever/pedal style and the seal is now pushed all the way down to the bottom of the master cylinder bore where it never normally reaches and bingo the seal is damaged. Similar reason for changing the slave cylinders on old drum brakes when you fit new brake shoes. If you don't when the slave piston is pushed all the way back into the cylinder fitting the new shoes it wrecks the seals 90% of the time. Pressure bleeding is better and safer these days and the bleeders are cheap to buy. You also don't get air sucking past the bleed screw threads giving a false reading of bubbles which often happens using a hand pump vacuum bleeder. Clutches don't have the same issue as the master cylinder and slave pistons always move full travel in use. Phil

The cover is a bit of a pain to start the threads but there's no way in hell I'm removing the whole sump to change the filter. I'd rather use care starting the thread correctly than do that. You can always mark the location of where the proper thread start is on the cap and sump to assist the process of re installing the cap. Phil

No but removing a pressure switch on the delivery side of the oiling circuit and therefore creating an open delivery circuit won't help the fact the pump has an air lock on the suction side of the circuit. Using a syringe to pump oil from the delivery side into the pump, primes the pump and also the suction side if you are lucky so it will no longer be devoid of oil and the pump will be primed and be able to suck oil. Your experience with your friends car was almost certainly a bit of good fortune and the pump just needed more running to prime. Phil

Een scherpe slag met een hamer van 1/2 kg met een fuseestang of lange ringsleutel op het gereedschap, wees voorzichtig. Je kunt ook de carterplaat helemaal verwijderen om het filter te vervangen. Phil