Lucky Phil

I could never get over the stupid valve cover extensions/oversized covers thing, then cut bloody great chunks out of the fuel tank so they fit. Looks like something the Guzzi social club came up with after a long lunch when the styling department were made redundant. Ciao

Good idea to buy a spare second hand transmission. Ciao

Personally I'd be inclined to start with a guided 3mm pilot hole. So what you could do if you have or know someone that has a pedestal drill is get anything that has 2 flat parallel faces and is around 10mm thick and approx 10mm or square or rectangular doesn't matter as long as it sits flat on the top of the clamp The bigger the better for holding by hand and put it in the pedestal drill and drill a 3mm hole through it. Then get someone or yourself to hold it flat against the surface as a drill guide. It doesn't need to be held in a really hard or complex way its just a guide, and drilling carefully means it's pretty easy to hold. After you've got the first pilot hole through you can open the hole in the guide to the finished size and do it again. The other thing to do is make up a small right angle triangle cardboard square to check you tap the hole straight as you go unless you have a tiny mini square already. Having a straight parallel hole is no guarantee the hole will tap straight, you still need to start it for the first 2 threads perpendicular to the top surface. When I make these home made drill guides I usually just hold them by hand and drill slowly with the battery drill, it's pretty easy to do. I drilled these holes for my steering stop extensions insitu and tapped them using this technique with a drill bit in my air die grinder I generally only use for porting as thats the only thing that would get in there. Perfectly straight and square. Would never have been possible by hand insitu without the guides. Ciao

Personally if you can get the kit I'd buy the kit. Your current cover has been modified to the point where the std eccentric wont work with it I shouldn't think and although it's saveable with a workaround or re machining I doubt you have access to that? Ciao

Holding by hand is not the perfect solution but it's a lot better then freehand if that's all you've got. You can use some lockjaw pliers to hold the guide and reduce the issue, that's why the larger dia the better for the guide. Downward pressure on a large surface area to keep it perpendicular. If the pilot holes not straight neither will be the tapping hole. Ciao

Your cover has been "messed with" at some point. It appears to be the later style, maybe from an upgrade kit with the banana link missing and the small eccentric removed. That needs to be replaced with a pin or preferably an eccentric. It also appears that the shifter input/stop assembly has had the weld ground for some reason. The cover wasn't tapped where this one has a brass plug fitted, it is a plain hole and the eccentric fits the hole with a nut on the outside you loosen for the adjustment. So your cover has been modified and is now a chore to return back to a state where you can fit a pin. Either that or make a bespoke pin/eccentric. Why do people do this sort of thing. The upgrade kit was pretty cheap at the time I bought mine, maybe 80USD or something I recall. Ciao

Here's a tip if you are using a hand operated drill for the holes. Obtain a bush with the pilot hole size in it with the thickest wall you can get. I usually just make one on the lathe from a piece of aluminium. So I would drill a 3mm pilot with a 25mm long bush with a say 15mm OD with a 3mm hole through the middle. Hold the bush flat against the triple clamp surface as you drill the pilot hole and this will act as a guide. That way you will get the hole square to the face. Ciao

You operate the shift mechanism and find the point in the travel where the edge of the pawl arm is closest to the eccentric pin and set the clearance at that point. I can't remember the precise point on the arm but the object is to limit the movement of the arm during the shift operation in case it tries to disengage. The range of adjustment to get the required clearance is not achievable over the full length of the arm from memory so adjust at the point where the arm comes closest to the pin. It's been a few years since I did this so I'm not precisely sure which point of the arm it is. You dont want it adjusted so there's no clearance at any point in the travel. I "think" it was on the raised lug. Scudds roller bearing detent is also worth doing I think while you're in there although I haven't done it personally. Ciao

I would say it's been backed into/over by a truck or something large while parked. Nothing is scraped or grazed. Ciao

Thank docc. The engine is painted in "cast iron" colour and I like it better than the original lighter grey. I wasn't sure if it would work with the green but I think it does. With cylinder heads this big I think your eye is draw to the engine no matter what the colour. I left the fairing and front guard in the natural carbon finish because I thought there would be to much green with the belly pan as well , but I dont know. If someone here is an ace on playing with graphics programmes maybe they could make an image with the fairing and front guard in green and i could see how it looks. Ciao

Yes I recall he mentioned the use of a black engine to centralise the mass and draw the eye to the centre, or something along those lines. Ciao

Dont worry, I've noted your photography "tricks" here. Nice mottled light, parked in the middle of a slight dome in the footpath so it reduces the ground clearance in the centre and gives a lower more squatted look and the wooden block under the side stand to hold it more upright so it doesn't extend the suspension for the same reason. I'm no photographer but I know most of the tricks. It's a nice image and the bike looks real good. I've always been interested in how colour influences the impression of a motorcycles shape and form . Motorcycle freelance designer Glen Kerr used to do a regular column in Australian Motorcycle news about 12 or 15 years ago, always interesting. Ciao

Looks very nice. I wonder which paint scheme looks best from multiple perspectives. They all look good depending but which paint scheme looks good from every angle? Ciao

From now on every thread should have a lock washer reference so you can always find it:) Not everything is done with regards to common sense and correct application, even sometimes by the designer. The hours I've whiled away trying to figure out why the designer/engineer has approached it "that way" when it was bound to fail and given up and just applied good engineering principles and fixed it. Ciao

Ha, forgot I started this thread:) Ciao

Yes docc I think the naming gets cross applied over the years. I think some of these serrated/spring locking devices have a use in locations where you cant apply any real torque to the fastener such as holding plastic components together with a bolt/screw where you cant get stretch on the fastener to keep it tight. They'd be good on nylon bolts and screw I suppose holding plastic pieces together. Ciao

Well I understand your suspicions living is the USA but the Europeans can't get away with Bullshitting the facts as they have extremely strict independent accreditation criteria's such as the TUV, and have had for decades. Nord lock are TUV certified. As I've mentioned before I've never seen a spring washer used in aviation in 40 something years and have considered them to be "lawnmower technology" for pretty much all of that time. I'm just posting to make people aware/re aware of technology and engineering that's available out there they might not otherwise know about or have forgotten. Ciao

Note the spring washer performance. Ciao

There is no need to use a Helicoil if you drill and tap the Triple Tee (as you call it) or Triple Clamp as I call it if I'm understanding you correctly. I think from memory the thinnest section of the top clamp is around 4 mm so a 6 X 1 cap screw/bolt will be fine into that section with 4 threads when it's only holding a small clock if you are realistic about the torque you put on the bolt and use a little blue Loctite. There are thicker sections in the top clamp if you choose and once again no need for a Helicoil. Forget about the spring washer, there're horrible things and dont work anyway. Ciao

Yep, a Griso 1100 gasket fits a V11. I've had or still have valpolini gaskets on my V11 thats fitted with Griso 1100 valve covers. Same as the later MLS Breva head gaskets fit our bikes and mean you don't need to re torque the heads and reduce the squish clearance to something that actually squishes. Ciao

https://www.mgcycle.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=170_174&products_id=4634 Ciao

Silly isn't it. In a case like this there's probably more chance that the background music will make the record companies money than lose them money. People might go "hey I remember that song and I like it so I'll go and pay to download it" than they are to sit through a Guzzi instructional video just to listen to a particular song. Ciao

Yep plugs out and crank and look for oil from the switch hole. Prefill the filter and after the pan has been off for days it may take a little while for flow to establish as the oil system "may have" drained out. Ciao

If you use a Valpolini gasket you won't need to carry a spare. Ciao

I totally agree with all your points and the same for the other posters as well. All great arguments and valid positions. I just don't think it's an "all or nothing" equation and as typically happens the pendulum will hopefully swing back to the null position at some point. So I'm hoping for a future mix of vehicles where electric is used where it's most efficient and the ICE still remains for certain roles and for those that enjoy them. That would be a win all round for the ICE fans and the environmentalists and reduce the consumption of oil so it lasts longer . It won't be a "perfect" solution but maybe good enough until a new and better energy source is found. The down side is that petrol will become bespoke and expensive if the balance goes too much towards electric. Ciao