pete roper

I'm betting on the timing chest gasket, although they usually blow out further up.

You have to be super-alert. The squeak occurs just before the 'Dogga-Dogga' noise. The 'Dogga-Dogga' noise tends to cost a minimum of $1,000 per 'Dogga'.😂

While ZDDP is known to be *good* my bet is there are now other additives that will offer equal or even superior protection. Oil is good. I use it otherwise my engines squeak.

I'm working off my pad of eyes Docc. I just poke around on the screen, no mouse. I've got a heap more pics of stripped and buggered gears as well. Some of them are pretty gruesome. The only ones I'd use are Joes.

http://<a href="https://flic.kr/p/e3gPFS" title="More crappy gears by -convertpervert-"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/8505/8558358076_3572d56784_o.jpg" width="450" height="600" alt="More crappy gears"></a> buggered if I can work out how to post pics here.

If the gears Yu have installed are alloy or a combination of alloy and steel I'd take 'em out quick smart.

Oh I'm not too fussed, I'm triple vaxxed and even with the bad lungs and dickie heart I'm not at deaths door quite yet. Im more concerned about the possibility of passing it on to Michael due to his disability. My mate Mark had it and he only has one kidney and several other shitty body issues and it really knocked the stuffing out of him. I'm not going to be taking any risks, believe me! I even put my cage fighting championship bout on hold!

When I was running steel gears in my old roundfin engine I blocked the drain holes to the sump in the bottom of the chest and drilled a couple in the back wall of the chest so the pump gear ran in a bath and fed oil up the train. Was it needed? I have no idea but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Not being as familiar as many here I didn't know that the V11 and early Hi-Cam motors used revised drainage from the timing chest. Earlier Tonti squarefin engines still used the drains at the bottom of the chest though. With the Nuovo 8V's I also can't remember what the drainage set up is but I have a block on the bench so I can check when I next go in to the old workshop. That may be a few days off though as we went down to Melbourne to visit #2 son on Monday and spent Tuesday evening with him. This morning he was feeling shithouse so he tested himself and sure enough he's stuffed full of Covid! Now we were outside for most of the time we were with him but we'll isolate for a few days to avoid the risk of infecting anyone else if we are carrying so block inspection may take a a bit longer than it normally would....

And every month that ticks by brings the end of IC production closer... Tick-Tock Piaggio..................

Nip over to the Stelvio thread on ADV rider and give a shout out to @Doc. over there. He has 17" wheels on his Small Tank Stelvio and can almost certainly give you the 'Good Oil' as he is very competent and far from stupid.

I have both wire and alloy wheels. The wire wheels are heavier and prone to leakage. Also despite all the cooing over the Griso being so 'Retro' and therefore benefiting stylistically from wire wheels I personally think it is bollocks. It's the closest thing they've produced to a 'Modern' motorbike and doesn't need to be hampered by wire wheels! That said my opinion has changed. At first I thought wire wheels would look great. It was only with time I changed my mind.

The green was twelve years old and beginning to show it. Anyway I felt like a change and since the second one, commonly known as the 'Written off shitter' has mainly Tenni green bodywork, (I had a set, minus the front mudguard, on the shelf from another wreck.) I didn't want two green Grisos. That would of been weird.....

Mine's not going anywhere either.

The change over point from flat to roller tappets was early to mid 2012 but any plated 13 bike should be a safe bet WRT the tappet issue. The other big bugbear that CARC bikes suffer from is lack of grease in the swingarm and shock linkage bearings and this is exacerbated by the rather odd and poor swingarm bearing design. ANY CARC bike, unless it has previously been documented as done, should have its swingarm pulled and it's linkage bearings and swingarm bearings inspected as a matter of course and there is a very good chance on any bike,(Seeing that they are all at least five years old now.) that both the bearings and the linkages will need replacing. Once done and the bearings thoroughly packed with marine grade grease they can be forgotten about for several years before needing further attention. If the linkage bearings are shot it is generally cheaper to simply buy a new linkage than buy the parts needed to refurbish the buggered one. As for the flat tappet issue I have written a 'Definitive guide to rollerisation' which is published on Griso ghetto. We've performed well over 200 rollerisations now and make no mistake, all the flat tappet top ends will fail. Once rollerised further failures of other componentry is rare but not unknown so if seeking an 8V a post 2012 model is the best bet. It wouldn't put me off an earlier model, providing it wasn't high mileage, but fixing 'em up doesn't worry me as I could rollerise an 8V blindfold and with one hand tied behind my back! For the record my first 8V trashed its first motor after rollerisation but it was by then high mileage, (80+ K km.) and had its powerplant replaced with one from a 2012 'Roller' wreck. My second one is a low mileage 2010 flattie rollerised by someone else who didn't really know what they were doing but it seems to work OK. Yeah, I'm the saddo mentioned above who has two 8V's, one is my 'Spare' in case something happens to my 2008. Oh, and rollerisation kits are still readily available.

Alas no. It was ages ago. It came up at a good price although I can't remember what I paid. I had it shipped to MPH and had them piss off the single plate clutch and install a twin plater off, from memory, a Centauro and re-fit an original airbox rather than the shitty pods it had on it. Apart from replacing some relays that failed and a rear brake lever I broke when I tossed it away in, I think, New Mexico I never laid a tool on it and know next to nothing of its origins.

Keith! We didn't even know whether you were alive or dead! Lovely to hear from you again. As to what has been done to the 'Mighty Scura'? Nobody knows for sure but Chuck found out it has Mike Rich heads, probably special pistons, Ti or ChroMo pushrods and who knows what other 'Whoop-te-do' stuff. When I bought it the first thing I did was send it to MPH and got Mike and the boys to swap out the single plate clutch for a twin plate and stick a factory airbox back in, (It had pods when I bought it.). It had a Power Commander on it and when bikes were running the 15M this system, although crude, could be made to work. Whoever programmed it obviously knew what they were doing. Nowadays I'd suggest just building a map but this bike runs so stupidly well, why bother. I also got the suspension upgraded because the original springs were woefully inadequate. Going to Rosso Corsa specs solved all the Scura 'Death Wish' issues. Apart from that I can tell you nothing. Chuck probably knows more.......

The 'Fabled' power wheelie is fucking effortless on that thing. In first or second. If I play my cards right I can do the same in first on my Griso with at least +15 hp and more torque everywhere. I can clutch the G up in second and even third with serious abuse but I don't do that shit much any more. The Mighty Scura would pop up with no clutch in either of the lower two and not much more than a stroke in third if approached in anger. It is a stupidly, stupidly fun motorbike. If I ever get back to the US I'd be willing to beg the current owner for a short ride just to get that shit-eating grin again! Blasting across the west Texas deserts with Sean on his Coppa with the tacho showing 7,000 for hours was a blast. Even though it was hotter than hades and when we stopped for fuel we'd fill our riding gear with ice to cool down. By the time we stopped again two hours later we'd be bone dry again. Fabulous times.... Fabulous bike!

MG Cycle carry them I think. They will fit any squarefin head/rocker cover combination.

This is what I'm thinking too. It would hardly seem worth Piaggio dropping big coin developing an obsolete technology. I too won't be buying another IC bike, at least not new. In fact I've just put my Yamaha outfit up for sale as I want to buy an 8V Norge and I can't justify yet another toy! The rego and insurance is killing me! I like the CARC series, especially the 8V's. Norges over here are rare though and I don't know if we ever got any roller tappet Norges. If I can get a nice, clean, A kit bike though that'll see me out nicely. A true 'Luxo-Barge'!😂

I'll just C&P my response when this was posted on the Ghetto. Uncomfortable, impractical, noisy, missing a whole load of stuff required for legality in most markets to name just a few of its most immediate turn-offs for me. Another thing shared by so many of these CARC bike based 'Specials' that I think is an utter 'Fail' is the foreshortening of the rear of the bike. There is no denying that the 'Nuovo Six Speed' and CARC transmission is very long. This is one of the big contributors to the CARC series bikes enormous wheelbase and there is really pretty much nothing that can be done about it. On the GRiSO particularly the styling does a very good job of prettying the back end up and hiding that unfortunate visual impact. On this bike and most of the other 'Cafe Racer' or whatever you want to call them apparatuses a cut down frame and (Usually hideously uncomfortable looking!) solo seat simply exacerbate this visual discontinuity rendering the bike as ugly as a sack full of bashed crabs! Others may of course choose to differ but for me it just doesn't work.

Do remember that because of its limitations the 2V motor in the early Norges is handicapped a bit because of its 76HP power output. Don't get me wrong, it's plenty, but when you're trying to overtake and misjudge, even dropping two gears won't work miracles because the engine runs out of puff and pushing that huge fairing through the air takes a lot of energy. The bodywork on the 2V models is also fragile and stupidly complex and you really need to cut a hole in the LH lower to enable you to check the oil! Due to the factory stuffing up the top end on the early 8V's they are cursed by Internet paranoia. Certainly it was a huge screw up but from mid 2012 all motors had roller tappets and are as bulletproof as the 2V's but offer 22+ more HP in stock trim, easily increased to 100 with a decent map and more torque everywhere. The bodywork is much improved and more robust and they kindly put a 'Door' in the fairing to check the oil! As with all CARC bikes the swingarm bearings and shock linkages will need greasing and due to its big frontal area and fairing the steering head bearings will have probably taken a beating as well. Expect to have to change them out. Generally the CARC series bikes are very reliable once a few things have been taken care of. If you want more info? Feel free to PM me. I am the '8V Evangelist' but I don't sneer at the earlier 2V versions. Pete

Sorry, my mistake.

Evans over on the Ghetto is making some CARC protectors.

The V85 motor was launched with a lot of song and dance. It's a dry sump motor, (One presumes to combat the crankcase pressurisation issues as much as anything else.) has roller tappets and (Gasp!) Ti inlet valves. This is supposed to turn it from an obsolete, uninspiring, underpowered drossbucket into some sort of priapistic 85 HP monster! It isn't. It's a low 60's HP, overweight slug with poverty pack suspension and all the character of microwaved scrambled eggs. By all accounts they are selling like hot cakes! Obviously a lot of people desire a sort of unthreatening two wheeled blancmange as long as it has 'The full selection' of electronic gismodry to keep them *Entertained* as they ride. Thats fine. I'm glad people like them, I really am. I'd rather pour burning wasps up my arse than have anything to do with one! If they are going to build a version using the even more miserable V7-850 motor it will just be more disappointing and yawn-worthy than the current V85.