Monday, December 5, 2011

Tear-down completed

I left you a week ago in my last blog entry with the bike in the garage and the pipes and carbs off the motor.
Ready for more fun
Well, I was still champing at the bit to get more done, so spent my nights during the week getting the bike to the stage where I could pull the motor out on Saturday.

Lots of sleep was lost and lots of fun was had during this process. Surely the most fun was getting the wiring harness disconnected and off the frame. Oh boy, talk about a lot of connections. With a view to the reconnection process somewhere down the track, I dutifully labelled all connections with a roll of marking tape and my trusty Sharpie. It came off looking like this. Yikes!

How do you like your spaghetti ?

Most of the wiring looks exactly as you would expect it to, after 31 years of being pinned to a motorcycle that has travelled many kilometers and stood in the weather for many years. I have some thinking to do, as to whether I will rewire completely or re-do any of the bad looking connectors etc.

Whatever the decision, some changes will be required, or at least a connecting sub-harness will have to be made to accomodate the instrument lights etc., as the LMII has a small circuit board for these and as part of my project the original light and instrument setup is being changed. All good fun!

Another thing that amazed me was just how many small parts are clamped to the frame. Keeping track of these is also a challenge, so far met by the liberal use of snap-lock bags. All parts are fairly grubby, so my next task will be to attack the contents of each bag and clean up the contents of all grime.



Late one evening I attempted to remove the swithgear from both clip-ons. Do you think I could work out how to release the switches? Where the hell were the screws that clamped them to the bars? For the life of me I could not make it out. The next morning I put out a mayday call to the ever-helpful AIGOR mailing list and was rather embarrassed to learn that there are two normal screws and one grub screw in each switch, just where you would expect them to be. My problem was that I was expecting large screws, when in fact they are quite small and buried underneath. It is amazing how the brain can trick you into not seeing something that it refused to accept could be there. Anyhoo, that's my excuse and I am sticking to it! When I opened the switches, a further surprise awaited as I discovered that the wires had been severely pinched at some time in the past. I would not put it past being the fault of Luigi on the original assembly line. There is a lot to be said for multi-strand wire, that's for sure.


Make sure you screw that
bastard down tight, Luigi

Yes boss!


The re-build will also allow me to build and install a better mounting bracket for my GT40 coils that I installed after the failure of the original coils. My hurried effort, while effective, was not what you would call a work of art, hehehe.


Not much room



The next big task was to get the brake system off. The contents of the reservoir for the rear brake pedal left a lot to be desired. The fluid was filthy. Not a good look. Everything came off ok although I can't say that I am looking forward to the re-installation of the brakes. Another mystery element for me, so it will be a learning experience.

As it came to Saturday morning,  it was down to brass tacks and the bare bike stood ready before me, awaiting the coup de grĂ¢ce. The execution was not to be all that swift as I met one or two sticking points along the way.


Ready for the final blows


I am a firm believer in discretion being the better part of valour in situations such as this and fired another query off to AIGOR, hoping that they were not already getting sick of me. I was happy to receive a lot of advice on how to proceed, most of it confirming my own thoughts, so that was also good for my confidence.

I won't bore you with too many details, but suffice to say, I managed to remove rear wheel, suspension and swingarm. I then disconnected the subframe and walked the main frame and front end off with no problems at all.




Getting close now

That was a nice feeling, but there was no time to waste. I decided to do away with the front end before attacking the engine/rails/centre-stand section, and this is where I hit a snag. The fork tubes seemed to be locked solid into the yokes. No amount of WD40 or manly twisting attemps would release them from the vice-like grip of those wicked yokes. Arrrggghhhhh!!!! I re-examined my copy of the parts manual and deduced that I had missed nothing and that they were simply frozen to the yokes through being clamped there for eons. Oh well, out came the mallett...

Whack, whack, whack. There was movement at the station. Yay! I managed to get the tops of both tubes down to yoke level, then needed to use a wooden drift to bang then down out of the top yoke. Once free from there, it was more manly twisting to get them all the way down and out. With lock nut and adjusting nut removed, the top yoke then came off no problems at all, as did the clip-ons and the never-to-be-used-again-light-fitting, leaving the bottom yoke somehow firmly embedded in the steering head. It seemed to have taken a leaf out of the fork tube's book and would not budge. Hmmm.... it should fall straight out, right? Yeah, riiiight... Being a huge chicken, and even though I believed that a good belting is what it deserved, I decided to consult AIGOR again later to get a confirmation. So leave that as-is and lets get to the engine.
This ain't no yoke!

Suffice to say, AIGOR came to the rescue once again and several whacks of a hammer onto the top, using a block of wood as an intermediary and away she came, dropping like Marie Antoinette's head into a waiting box. The top bearing lifted out of the frame, but an inspection of the lower one found it firmly pressed onto the lower section of the yoke column. I have had advice that it can be left there if in ok condition, just regrease and refit as one with the yoke. However, I do want to re-paint/powdercoat (decision not yet made), so it will have to come off. One Aigorite, Brett, has constructed a puller to remove this bearing, so I shall be borrowing that and will take pics for this blog.


So after a week of fun and not much sleep, all that lay before me was the engine on blocks, still attached to rails and centre stand.

Yes, I know it is grotty...
There were to be no further problems and simple removal of bolts and a bit of jiggling saw the engine free from the frame. Being a job for two, father and son (where did he come from?) lifted it onto an awaiting dolly and it was wheeled out into the sunshine to pose for a posterity picture.

Then it was wheeled back inside to await further instructions!

That just about brings us up to date. Next on the horizon is to get the bearing off of the yoke, and also the swingarm bearings out. The forks will need dismantling to allow the lowers to be re-coated. I will be spending some time in cleaning up parts to remove the years of oil, grease and grime. Decisions will have to be made on whether to paint or powdercoat the relevant parts.

Yeah, lots to do... but what fun it is!

Engine out. Please clean me.


Awaiting further work (note: lower yoke now successfully removed!)

Stay 'tuned' for more...

Sunday, November 27, 2011

ilRazzo comes home. The tear-down begins!

Well, today I managed to get all the boxes in the garage stowed away and so there was finally room enough for the bike to come home from its temporary stopover at the mother-in-law's shed.

Happy to be coming home

The bike had been hiding under a cover and was very happy to be out of there. I loaded it onto the trailer and drove home, where I introduced it to its new room mate, my 2009 Suzuki Bandit.

As it was already late in the afternoon, there was no time to stand on ceremony and it was straight into the tear-down.

New mates sniffing bums
Off came the tank. As well as the new paint, this will need a bit of work as there is a small dent from LHS clip-on and also the removal of my son's intitials that he so lovingly carved into it with a Stanley knife (box cutter)... hmmmm

Initials, courtesy of a loving son
After that, I removed fairing, battery (now on charger), fork brace, carbs, exhaust system, foot pegs and hangers. I am also taking many pics to assist in the re-assembly and to insure against short term memory loss and brain farts!

Some parts will not be going back on of course, with the fairing, lights, and footpegs just to name a few. I have secured a neat set of rear sets from a generous bloke named Colvin, a contact on the AIGOR (Australian Internet Guzzi Owners Register) mailing list. This is a great mob of Guzzi enthusiasts and I highly recommend a visit and sign-on, especially if you reside in Australia or NZ.

Menani Rear Sets
The Lafranconi Competizione mufflers have definately seen better days, both have a small hole on the inside near the end. Looks like I will be in the market for a replacement setup. Maybe chromed headers and mufflers would be the go? Will have to think about it.

Anyhoo, not a bad start made today. Enthusiasm levels are at an all time high, so let the tear-down continue!


Mufflers have seen better days

At the end of the day














Who's a happy boy!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

The best laid plans of Mice and Men?




Ok, here is the plan (subject to change at any moment, haha!):

Take 1 x pretty much standard Le Mans II as the base:

 

  Maintenance:
  • Pull down to frame.
  • All parts re-paint or powder coat. Frame colour probably black.
  • Repair tank and de-rust, then possible treat inside tank

Upgrades:
  • Re-wire
  • Replace switches
Modifications already in place:
  • Ikon Shocks
  • Dyna III ignition
  • Tarrozzi fork brace
  • Braided brake lines

Definate changes:
  • Crossbow fairing
  • Borrani wheels
  • Guzzi Convert disc carriers with original drilled LMII discs/rotors fitted
  • Rear sets
  • Single seat / tail light / indicators
  • Side covers
  • New instrument panel
Possible changes
  • I may de-link and upgrade the brakes to Brembo 4 pots. Still thinking about that one, what do you think?
 Paint:
  •  Yet to decide. I have been doing some photoshopping, came up with a design, and have at this stage narrowed down to one of these two colour possibilities, with any slight variations due to seeing the actual bodywork in place:


I wanted to use colours found on previous black Guzzi  models such as the 750S, 750S3 and 1000S. At this stage, I am favouring the green, but not fully decided. Plenty of time yet to make that decision! Why not let me know your thoughts by posting a comment? (Please be gentle with me)

The sharp-eyed among you will notice that the mock-up above has a square-fin motor. This is because I based my Photoshop image on the following  pic of an actual Crossbow fairing, fitted to a Le Mans III, and I was too lazy to swap out for round barrels.

Actual fairing fitted to MKIII

Here is a pic of the fairing mounted on a MKII, found at Vintage Motorcycles Online from an excellent article, "Against the Wind", by Nolan Woodbury:

Contemporary pic of Crossbow fitted to a MkII




 Finally for this update, here is a composite pic of the fairing I will be using:




Next update coming soon. Stay "tuned" ...

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

How it began

Ok, where do I start? I luckily came across this bike approx 8 years ago as it languished in the driveway of one of my neighbours. It stood there forlornly for week after week after lonely week. The cover blew off almost every day, and I would religiously walk across the road and put the cover back on.

I did not have a bike at the time, and the Moto Guzzi Le Mans II had been a dream bike of mine way back in the late 70s, when I was just a young rider with stars in my eyes. One day I decided that it was a crime to have it out in the weather, rusting away. It was obvious that the bike was unloved.  I walked across, knocked on the door told my neighbour that I was 'happy' to stick it in my old shed (which was not much better than out in the weather!). He was only too happy to let this happen, and the bike was duly rolled across the road to its new location. That was when I decided that the Guzzi deserved a better fate. It took over two years of trying, but finally I managed to convince him to sell the bike to me at a very reasonable price. The partnership had been consummated!

The day ilRazzo rolled into my shed
Unfortunately, at the time I had little (read: none) mechanical knowledge of bikes and even less on Guzzis. I did manage to get the bike started by cleaning out masses of grunge from the carbs and replacing jets etc. The bike was last registered in 1999. I pulled the fairing lowers off, preferring a more naked look.

I then made the decision to get the mechanicals looked over and took the bike down to a certain well-known mechanic at Bungendore for a look-see. In the end, I decided to have the motor zeroed, Dyna III installed and braided bake lines added. It was ready early in 2007, and once back in Sydney, John at Motociclo in St Peters did pink slip inspection, and the bike was registered in Feb of 2007.

That was the beginning of four years of riding enjoyment that included two runs to Phillip Island MotoGP, Ruptured Budgie and Ragged Fringe rallies, and daily use as a commuter into Sydney CBD.

Posing in front of Opera House
Putty Road



At the Ruptured Budgie rally
Camped at Phillip Island 2007
 








The daily commute

The bike itself ended up looking pretty much ok as you can see from the pics above, but I was hankering for a change. As a result, I decided to take it off the road for a makeover and refurbish. Initially, I intended to do a 750S3 look-alike but happened across a Crossbow Equipe dual-headlight fairing, one I have always admired, and so decided to use that as the basis for the look of the makeover.



I started collecting bits and pieces and now that I have finally moved to my new house with a sizeable and functional garage (a first for me, yay!), I am off and running on the project. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

Stay 'tuned' to find out...