Lucky Phil

I bought a 30 liter one for around $450us off ebay. Not that it was from the states but there's an idea of the cost. It can take a Daytona cylinder head ( maybe 2) so anything up to an average small car:) You can buy them anywhere from a liter to 30 liters. Mine I must admit is a little big for most stuff and because you need to run it around 80% full its a little bit of a pain but you can do some decent sized stuff. I think on balance a 10-15 liter would be good. Ciao

Yep I think I prefer black as well. This one is carbon believe it or not. Ciao

Lets do this the right way, remove the carbon. Then you can set the squish as well if you like. After years of scraping the carbon I bought an ultrasonic cleaner. Much easier and faster but less therapeutic. Ciao

Yep they do Chuck, just start them 120 deg apart and away from the thrust face is the accepted methodology but at the end of the day they are free to and do rotate around the piston. Ciao

Ha, I get a bit wordy for sure. Mechanical returnless systems still have an in tank regulator but the most common returnless system ( ones with a MAF sensor) and method of varying fuel pressure is via the ecu varying the fuel pump speed. Ciao

The manifold vacuum facility isnt necessary. Ducati used it for a while but found it wasnt needed. Modern in tank regs dont use it either. DI....direct injection like my wifes new 2.3l turbo Kuga has. Ciao

The std narrow band O2 sensor only operates in steady state operation, in other words at a constant throttle. It's is a crude device and contributes little in terms of performance, either torque or how well the engine reacts to the throttle. Many actually cause mild surging on steady state throttle. It's all about emissions. It reads the sensor and TRIMS the fuel accordingly for emissions and best ecconomy. The ECU has absolutley no idea what the fuel pressure is and the O2 sensor isnt there to give the ECU an idea what the reg is doing it's there for the reasons outlined and also to give the ECU information it can act on in STEADY STATE operation to cover the many other variables the engine encounters during operation. It closes the loop between what the fuel map and trim tables are ordering and what the exhaust is indicating. The important thing to re enforce though is its for steady state operation only and is basically rubbish. For usefull practical closed loop you need a fast response wide band sensor and the software to support it. Its a long bow to draw to say the O2 sensor is there to compensate for any variation in reg pressures. Moden systems these days the ecu actually varies the fuel pump speed to get the fuel presssure it wants and the engine needs to support the fueling requirements. These are the systems without a fuel return line. Ciao

Not sure where you get your info from Roy but regulation has to be pretty accurate. A friend of mine was making up new adjustable caps for the regs with a heavier spring and an adjusting screw which cranked up the pressure. I worked one day with him doing assembly and setting the pressures on the rig. He sold a lot of these to Harley guys to richen up the overall mixture so they would run properly. A cheap and effective fix as it turned out instead of remapping. The same unit fitted Ducatis as well. So you can increase the pressure to an extent ( I think from memory we were getting about 4.2 bar max out of a 3bar reg) and get the std injectors to flow more fuel and of course if the std reg is regulating low the bike will run badly as it will with a blocked fuel filter. So the std injectors are quite capable of flowing more fuel with greater fuel pressure because generally engines arn't produced which are injector flow limited. So the injectors will usually support greater fuel flow than the maximum the engine requires in std form and usually will also be good for a modest power increase as well. When you really want a lot of extra power then you'll need bigger flow injectors or additional injectors. The reg has a very important role and it's critical it delivers a consistent output, this is obvious as if it didnt then production bikes would all be running differently and would require different fuel maps depending on what the regs output was. It's totally possible to swap regs between bikes or repalce a reg and the bike will fuel perfectly and thats not because fueling tollerances dont matter. Ciao

The flywheel guy at the factory had input into the torque arm. He gets imput into everything including Carrillo rods which normally have 10mm bolts but for Guzzi have 3/8". Every design crosses his desk and gets the added weight factor. Ciao

Ha, did you notice in the video the close up of him pulling up after the run to check the view the drop of oil fron the engine bay hit the ground. Jags, some things never change:) Ciao

This is one of those things that just lacks style and elegance for me, especially elegance. It's a logical place to fit a silencer but they have just made a styless box out of it. Add to that the pillion peg hangers now just hang out there like they are lost and looking for a home, no not for me. John Britten used the same design on the final version of his race bike and it was elegant, but then again most of his stuff was. Ciao

Hylomar has been around for years and yes it was approved for use on RR gas turbines but I wont hold that agains it. It's quite good but there are many better options around these days, three bond in different forms etc. Ciao

Life a bit boring lately? Ciao

I wonder if powder coating would work, you'll get the coverage but dont know about the heat tollerance around the exhaust port. Cylinders should be fine. Ciao

Except that I can't get it out of the house now. I've got a track day coming up soon and I thought, I'll take the 1198 out. Then I realised with the temporary bathroom I've set up in the laundry while I do my bathroom rebuild I cant get it out of the house....Doh. Half considered taking out the V11 but I'm a little short on "condition" these days and It would win a wrestling match with me around Phillip Island hand down. Looks like the 1000ss then. Ciao

Hmmm, 4000 miles isnt much. I'll be keeping a close eye on mine for sure. Ciao

Install the piston into the cylinder leaving the piston pin accessable and install the cylinder on the studs and slide it down until you can slip the pin through the piston and rod and fit the clip. Job done. Ciao

Theres a reason they're called fantasys czakky.........better there than the reality:) Ciao

Ha not at all Docc, I have a Ducati there. Ciao

You know I grew up with these things as in I had friends that owned them so I knew what they were like. Believe me you're not missing anything. Heavy, tall, an engine that was full of roller bearings so was really mechanically noisy in a rumbly sort of way and high frequency vibrations. Multi bearing pressed up crank like a Z900 but not as reliable. Back in the 80's parts were hard to get, god knows what they are like now. One for the lounge room I think. Ciao

Oooh, thats nasty. Glad you got away with that, Relatively. Yes I'd go with the non lubed sealed units. I'll check my Rossopuro unit rod ends.How many miles on the torque arm? Ciao Edit....my Rossopuro arm has sealed rod ends, ie... no lube points. and yes I've seen rod ends fail like this before through the lube point.

Well.. seeing as how you are there.. that statement has gotten a lot of people in trouble.. it only takes a few minutes to lap the valves in if necessary. Edit: I see we were typing at the same time, Phil, so let me say that if the valves aren't leaking, I wouldn't bother. You can turn them upside down, pour a little kerosene in the chamber and see if they leak. It's interesting, things come back full circle. The original post about the valve work is probably from years ago when you used to "pull the heads" periodically to de coke the valves and pistons so when the re ring time came you would freshen up the heads as well. Those long gone days are now back again! I see a significant issue with the latest direct injection petrol engines is inlet valve carbon build up that requires mechanical cleaning methods. The reason? no more port injection spraying fuel and its detergents onto the back of the inlet valves to keep them clean. PCV recirc air with a little oil vapour in it and no fuel wash builds up on the valves and causes poor performance and ecconomy and when it gets really bad hesitation and misfires. To complicate matters you can't just use water injection or sea foam or the like to break it free because a lot of these engines are turbo and any broken free carbon going down the exhaust will take out the turbo turbine vanes. Ciao

Well.. seeing as how you are there.. that statement has gotten a lot of people in trouble.. it only takes a few minutes to lap the valves in if necessary. Edit: I see we were typing at the same time, Phil, so let me say that if the valves aren't leaking, I wouldn't bother. You can turn them upside down, pour a little kerosene in the chamber and see if they leak. Ha yes Chuck I stray off the subject some times and need to look at the post a few times and edit:) Ciao

Thanks, will be interested to see how durable it is. I need some grey for the Daytona cases. Ciao It's holding up really well on my BMW transmission and driveline - and so far so good on the Scura. Note that the Engine Case paint is different than the Engine Enamel - I'm not sure how it's different, but the case paint says it's specifically for motorcycle engines. I got a can of VHT's Engine Enamel in a color they call Nu-Cast Aluminum. I'm hoping that will be a good match for the cylinder heads. Ah, very good thanks for the feedback. Ciao

Well it's not a bad idea while you're there with the heads off to pull the valves and clean the carbon off the back and look at the sealing faces but thats just a "nice to do seeing I'm in here" thing. If the valves and seats are in decent shape then re lapping them wont be necessary. All you're doing is taking life out the seats and valve faces. So unless there is some sort of significant valve issue then no, the re ring wont affect the valves. Chuck? Ciao