Lucky Phil

Interesting, we had a very nice old guy working for us on the tarmac as a cleaner back in the 80's and he used to make those lovely sleek display models of all sorts of aircraft. Qantas and TAA used to commission him to make models of our jets for display in the terminals and executive offices etc. All hand made wood, really nice. Ciao

Ha yes docc had that one for a long time. I often reflect on the tools I've owned for extended periods, a lot for more than 45 years. Then there are tools inherited from my grandfather who was an aircraft engineer also and died in the early 60's when I was around 6 years old. I have images of helping him working on his Triumph Herald ( horrid little car) by handing him some of those very same tools I now own. I got quite upset a year ago or so when I was convinced I had lost my 1/4 drive Snap-on ratchet which I bought as a 2nd year apprentice 43 years ago and cost me half a weeks wage. Wandered around for an hour kicking myself and acting like a death in the family had occurred. Then I found it...........in my side pocket, doh (I so rarely put tools in my pocket). But then I got the chance to rejoice and the stupid feeling subsided. Old tools are like old friends that you have shared times with. Ciao

Looking at some old images I keep thinking how worth the effort it was painting those side plates. I've also been spending time addressing a lot of cosmetic stuff thats accessible with everything apart. Here's what the side plates used to look like. Ciao

As long as thats the only thing that gets blown when I hit the start button for the first time Ciao

Here's an image from MG cycles. My Mistrals were these ones and my bike was then and still is running the Stucchi cross over. As I said I liked everything about them except the over run sound. Might be ok with the std cross over, didn't think of that, but I'd rather change mufflers than sacrifice the Stucchi cross over. Ciao

I had Mistral reverse cone megaphones on my bike for a while. Loved the look but hated the whistling sound on the over run. On the throttle they sounded fine but on the over run they sounded like some old Norton fitted with pee shooters. And I definitely dont want my Italian V twin sounding like an old pommie 360 deg parallel twin. Ciao

If you want to return them to the original brushed finish after a long time then its a lot of work with a Scotchbrite wheel of fine sanding flap wheel with the headers off. I started it once and although the finish I was getting was nice the time factor made me give up. Personally If if it was really important to me i'd pull them and take them to a metal finisher and they'd clean them up in ten minutes. They'll just end up the same way in a short time though. Be interested to know any easy solutions as well. Ciao

Plenty of other life tasks to do docc. I've been chipping away at stuff working out orientation of the injectors so they clear the airbox and the other stuff crammed into the under tank area. For some reason I thought i could orientate them any direction to suit the wiring for the connector plug......wrong. So after much trial and error taking into consideration wiring length, connector plug clearance, airbox clearance, ability to remove the airbox without interference from the injectors and their plugs I settled on positioning that requires extending the cabling for the l/h injector. What a PITA, I hate doing this as it ends up with wiring with ridged points and its tricky with the loom on the bike space wise. I've had the airbox on and off about a Gagillion times checking clearances for the above plus the lay of the wiring loom which has been disturbed and the fuel line from the tank to the pump. I hate this stupid line with its lack of flexibility, It makes tank removal a pain and messy but I cant think of a cure. I bought an inline check valve for it but its too short to use as the CV takes up about 50mm in the line. Pulling the tank on the V11 is such a PITA Id love the later tank but its no go for mine. As I've mentioned before its a whole nother ball game putting together a "special" as compared to a stocker, nothing seems to go together easy:) Fitted up the rear end so progress is happening. Ciao

Hi Mike I got my injectors cleaned by Aznew 3/56 Smith rd Springvale and used VHT primer and cast iron engine paint. I cant yet comment on its durability. Ciao

Do they normally operate smoothly in both directions Pete or is this a case of doing something thats not normally done and highlighted a normal condition that isn't normally noticed? Wouldnt surprise me if Guzzi concentrated the grinding and lapping precision on the drive side of the gears only and the overrun faces are just what they are. Ciao

Ok so spinning the back wheel in a forward direction isn't the same for the bevel gears as under throttle in the forward direction. Its not loading the gears in the direction that is normal for transmitting engine power, its operating the gears on the back faces in the overrun condition. I dont know if this whirring is normal in that overrun condition and my bike is in pieces and I cant check it but it seems to me that its more important to have the smooth operation under power than on the overrun as you have. Ciao

If you are spinning the crown wheel in a backwards or what would be a reverse direction (not via the pinion shaft but by driving the crown wheel or back wheel itself) you are in fact loading the driving faces of the gears. If you spin the crown wheel in a forward direction you are loading up the back face or overrun side of the gears. So in fact the driving direction of the gear set when driven by the engine/transmission in your case will be silent. Is this how you are driving the gear set or do you mean fwd and reverse via the input shaft. Hopefully Pete Roper will chime in and I haven't confused the issue. Ciao

Ha, yes docc I lost track of the thread we were on,doh. I'd love to sit down with someone from the design team from the V11 era just to talk to them about the changes they made and the rationale behind them. I've experienced the different changes Ducati 2 valve and 4 valve belt driven twins go through over a long period and although they took one or two wrong turns those turns were always in search of improvements often based on what worked for racing. The overwhelming majority of Ducati evolution I saw was rational and easily understood and addressed known issues.Mostly it was about engineering and some was directed at broadening their customer base by making ownership and servicing easier and cheaper. With Guzzi they seemed to be stuck in a narrow furrow where they had their specific demographic and were to afraid to step outside it for fear of alienating them. Bit like BMW up till the K series bikes. A lot may well have been down to revolving door parent ownership of the company and lack of resources requiring them to stick to their little furrow. Being owned by an investment company for 5 or 6 years was the best thing that ever happened to Ducati. Ciao

Ok cool scudd thanks. We need to make a special thread with images for this topic. Ciao

So scudd did your black framed bike with the old style tank have the later type front triangulated engine support and the forward projecting gearbox supports? I always just referred to the tank sizes by frame colour as I thought all the black framed bikes with the different front support and the gearbox support extensions had the internal pump arrangement for the tank. It seems your black frame had the extra supports but missed out on the newer tank. A changeover period for tanks it seems. Ciao

Yes docc they are a bastard to fit for sure even with the bike half disassembled. Ciao

I suspect the later lower gearbox brace was needed as a result of changing the front engine support frame. I dont think the later front support frame offers the same degree of longitudinal control of the engine and therefore they added the rear longitudinal additions under the gearbox. With Guzzi I personally think you need to understand that there is some other sort of engineering rationality going on at this time. The additional cross brace added at the new gearbox mount that you can see only in the parts diagram is another example of added structure that doesn't seem to have any function. This is an engineering and design department that seemed to think that all their bikes needed to be engineered to drag sidecars and or trailers around. Some things they did at this time made no engineering sense at all. Ciao