Look what I've done!

Well, well, well, (three holes in the ground)...
What a surprise, the re-build has begun at last and over this weekend I managed to bolt some parts back together.

Prior to beginning this stage, I put some thought into how to best utilise the limited amount of space in my shed. As it gets built up, this project is going to have to share room with my daily runner, the Bandit, as well as what appears to be half the junk in Sydney. I am too cheap (read: poor) to afford a bike lift platform, so I decided to build a mobile platform strong enough to take the full weight of the bike and yet be easily movable by an old fart like me. Last weekend was spent building it and I am very happy with the way it turned out. The result can be seen in the first pic below. It is now a simple one-man effort to push the platform out into the middle of the shed for work, and then back to the side when I tuck it in for the night.

The other invaluable item has been the engine stand. Thanks to Marcello Forestieri for the loan! It has made the one-man assembly of the sub frame, center-stand and frame a doddle for even a newbie bike builder like me, haha!

I engaged the services of my teenaged son to assist in lifting the engine onto the stand, after which he quickly exited stage left. I have not seen him since! Oh well, motorcycling can be a solitary past-time...at least the faithful dog stuck by me.

Ready to rock. Mounted on engine stand and my home-built mobile work platform

Front view. Lovely Jubbly!

I then spent the rest of the day fitting the sub-frame and the center-stand. I am very glad I took some pics when I tore the bike down because this was like putting a jigsaw back together.

Sub-frame and center-stand fitted

Center-stand up and mounted. That is as clean as it and the gearbox
has been for over thirty years.

The knee-bone's connected to the thigh-bone, the thigh-bone's
connected to the hip-bone...

Last job for the day was to fit the steering bearings, steering column and lower triple tree to the frame while it was free and easy to turn upside down etc. After that I would be finished for the night and happy and ready for a nice feed and a cold beer, right? WRONG!

Before I could get out the door, the gorilla-man cameth.

You may remember from an earlier blog that I had to fabricate and weld a new steering stop to the frame. How proud I was of that job. And gee, it looked really pretty and all shiny and powder-coated, too. Except for one thing...I discovered that it was the wrong angle and the tabs on the triple-tree were barely making contact. Arrgghhhh!!!! I think I may have sworn and said a few naughty words at that point. For some reason, the dog was eyeing me closely.

What to do, what to do? The gorilla man in me suggested that it would be simple to put a little leverage on it and bend it to the correct angle. How hard could it be? Surely this would be a simple ten minute job, then I would be off inside for that well-earned cold beer.

What happened next reminded me of the story of the golf-pro who taught his pet gorilla to play golf. On the first tee, a 550m par 5, he handed the gorilla a Driver and it whacked the ball an incredible 550m, stopping a mere three inches short of the hole. The pro thought to himself, "Wow! This gorilla is my meal ticket to the big time". They walked up to the green and the pro handed the gorilla a Putter. The gorilla walked over to the ball and whacked it another 550m...

Out came my big shifting spanner which I used to grasp the tip of the wrongly-angled tab. A little upward pressure and...nothing. Hmmm. Maybe just a bit more pressure is all it needs. I pushed up harder and STILL nothing. Nothing to do now, but give it the full gorilla. The veins on my forehead started to bulge as I gave it my all. The dog inched closer, sensing the excitement. Memories of all those years as a kid, reading about the Bullworker on the back of the comics flooded back to me and I gave it one final mighty heave-ho, and CRACK!, I broke the f@#%ing thing clean off.

This time the words I uttered caused all the paint on the walls to blister. The dog took off out the door at speed as he sensed what may be coming next and he did not want to be any part of it! So much for that congratulatory beer... Needless to say, I did not sleep all that well that night.

Like the trooper I am, I was up early on Sunday and out to the shed, looking (praying?) for a solution. In desperation I started looking through my parts bin and there lying at the bottom of the pile I spied the prototype steering stop that I had made. It was a bit small for the original job and had been chucked into consolidated revenue. An idea flashed up and I realised that with a bit of grinding and fiddling it could be drilled and bolted up under and against the welded piece that was now sans-tab. Necessity is definitely the mother of invention and an hour or so later I had a working solution. It works a treat and is possibly stronger than my original design. Relief!

As you can imagine, after all that carry-on the rest was relatively easy: On with the frame and in with the bolts. I removed the bolts from the Menani rearsets and slotted then into the frame, and of course, the essential battery tray was bolted on to mesh the gearbox and frame. All bolts/nuts bolts are firmed up, but not yet fully tightened to spec.

This is beginning to look like a motorcycle again.

Steering in

There is a full bike in there somewhere, just waiting for someone
with half a brain to build it!

Next:
A replacement U-joint is due this week hopefully, so next job will be to get the swingarm, rear suspension and final drive on. I may also spend some spare time putting the wheels together with their carriers and discs.

Stay "tuned"...

I gots me wheels!

Yay! The Borrani wheels are back and are all shiny now!

Nice job done by Ash's Spoked Wheels

Of frames and engines...

Well, this has been a positive weekend for Project Crossbow and all the hard working staff (ie. me, haha!).

As mentioned in the previous blog entry, the frame, swing-arm and sundry bits and pieces were in for blast and powder-coat at Precision Coating Services in Seven Hills. I was informed that they were ready for pickup and I drove out there on Friday arvo. I was one happy chappy to get them home and see the lovely transormation that had taken place. Everything looked brand new again.

All the bits back home. All holes still plugged.

Close-up of steering-head... nice!

Me old mate JB 'Feels Good' about it, too

I had a bit of fun removing all the bolts, covers and plugs used to protect areas I did not want coated. It is nice to have the skeleton of the bike back in the shed and ready to get parts bolted back onto. I finally feel like some progress is being made.

Next job for the weekend was the engine (and gearbox). I had it zero-totalled at 68,000km and it now has 90,500 on the dial, so that's 22,500 km done in a bit over 4 years. There was no way I was gonna pull this baby apart just to be able to have the cases blasted clean. Also, I am making a bike I want to ride, not show, so a clean engine is all I need. Therefore the rest of my spare time in the man-cave was spent de-greasing the engine/gearbox and then scrubbing with various wire brushes.

Degrease, blow-dry, scrub. Repeat.

I am actually quite happy with the result. Sure, it could be better, but after a few weeks, months, years of use, what difference will it make!

A huge improvement over what it looked like before. Me happy!

That is about it for my weekend's efforts. The only other part to show is the dash setup that I am going to use in place of the big rubber car-type dash the LMII came with originally. I bought it through Stein-Dinse.

Simple and tidy... heaps better than original LMII dash IMHO

So, what's coming up next? I am waiting on the return of the Borrani wheels. Once they are home, I can get them shod, add bearings, carriers, discs etc. Then it will be possible to get the engine and suspension back on the frame... exciting shit, man!

...and one final conundrum: what to do about the mufflers. I am thinking of getting the whole setup HPC coated. However, the mufflers have small rust holes. I am thinking that these could be repaired, then coated? A new set of Lafranconi mufflers can be expen$ive. Any suggestions? Lemme know if you do.

Holy mufflers, Batman!

Stay 'Tuned' ...

What's happening? An update:

Okaaaaay... Time for an update on the project.

I have been stumblin' and bumblin' along with a few bits of progress made.

1. The frame and associated bits are at the powder coaters and should be ready for pickup this week. I ended up going with Precision Coating Services at Seven Hills. They are able to do all blasting and prep, as well as the coating and seem to have a pretty good reputation. I will post pics and a report asap I get the stuff back.

2. The Borrani wheels... I deliberated quite a bit over what to do with these as far as preparation for use goes. They were in pretty good nick condition-wise, with nice straight rims and very few nicks. However, there was some surface grit, grime, etc. and the hubs were quite darkened. I am not in any way wanting a concours-type bike, as I wanna ride it! But I do want to start with the wheels in a good (and safe!) condition. That means a pull-down to hub, spokes and rims; something I am confident in doing. HOWEVER, there is no way I am confident in re-assembly. Therefore I decided to bite the bullet and get the job done correctly by the professionals, and as such have shipped them off to Ash's Spoked Wheels in Brisbane. They will be getting a vapour blast for the hubs and a clean and polish for the rims and spokes. They will be ready in a couple of weeks and I will report back here with pics.

3. The fork lowers on the MkII are normally painted black. Over the 30+ years on the road, the paint on these had become chipped , worn and dulled. I decided that the not only was the paint to come off, but they were then to remain bare, as I think this will suit the overall look that I am seeking for the bike. So off to the local hardware store I went. Add one can of stripper and a few hours of elbow grease later: no more paint!

No more paint, plus added new dust covers

4. Now, for the biggie, as far as applying elbow grease goes: the engine/gearbox.
I am definately not inclined to pulling down a motor just to be able to get some blasting done. I don't need a 'new engine' look that badly, haha! My plan therefore is to just scrub the bastard clean, and stop when I have had enough (which could be very soon!). Here is the setup, after one afternoons's work. It consists of the engine on a stand in a kid's wading pool on a dolly. Thanks to fellow Guzzisti and champion all-round bloke, Marcello Forestieri for the loan of the engine stand. Much appreciated.

Wish me luck!

Well, that's about it for the moment. I will be back soon to report on the frame and wheels.

Stay 'tuned' ...

Please Be Seated

As an update to keep this blog rolling, here is the seat option that I am working on, with much assistance from Brett Rosenthal. Brett had this old seat (made by 'Bertolani' of Italy), which was buried deep under his house. It does have a touch of Laverda SFC about it, although the rear number plate section is a tad different. Who cares, I like it!

I dragged it home and pulled the old upholstery off and cleaned it up a bit. It appears to be a pretty good fit for the bike, and I discovered that it should actually mate quite nicely to my spare original seat/guard base from the LMII. All I will have to do is hack off the mudguard from the original and this one should slip nicely over and mate the remaining part with a minimal amount of fandangling. The advantage of this is that I can use the original rear swivel mount and position lock, which allows the seat to lift for access to the battery etc. Nice!

Here are a few pics. You may also notice the modified / triangulated  LM1 / LM2 sidecover that will be used (thanks again to Brett Rosenthal, who makes/sells these covers). The advantage of this cover is that it will allow the use of the standard mounts and keeps the room to conceal the coils and fuses etc. in their original positions. Nice one Brett!

Side-by side comparison with previous seat shows seating position will be similar

UPDATE

Hacking now completed!

I hacked off the no-longer-required portion of the spare seatbase/guard with the trusty Dremel last night. Pics of the result:

Bye-bye guard!

Tail docked

This just might work!

UPDATE on the frame:
I am back to choosing to powdercoat and am now plugging holes,threads in preparation for blasting and coating. The trade-off is that I will still be doing the painting of the tank/seat/fairing myself.

Stay 'tuned' ...

Back to the Grind

Before final prep of the frame for paint or powder-coat, I have a few little jobs to sort out, so I tackled two of them tonight.

Firstly, I never had a key for the steering lock. I discovered that Stein-Dinse sell a replacement lock with keys for less than it would cost me to have a locksmith pick the lock and make a key. So out came the drill and a few different sized bits and I drilled the old one out and cleaned up the shavings. Easy-peasy!

Started off small and worked up

Eventually... voila!

The second job was to remove the broken steering stop from the frame so that I can weld a new piece in there. The replacement piece is not yet made, that's the next job on the list (well, after I buy a cheap arc welder, that is. haha!).

It is not the easiest location to get in and remove something, that's for sure:

That's a 30+ y/o frame there, folks

 The snap-off is the result of a low-side fall. I imagine it is a fairly common problem in older Guzzi's. I have been looking forward to including this fix, as it has been a real pain without it when using clip-on bars.
As access is tight, out came the trusty Dremel tool, which I used to cut the piece out and then grind down the excess weld.

Cut

Grind, baby, grind!

Done!

...all ready to receive new piece. Stay tuned to see how that turns out!

UPDATE 6 April 2012:

Well, I bit the bullet and picked up a little second-hand AC arc welder off of eBay. After a bit of farting about on some practice bits of mild steel, I attacked the job and surprisingly managed to do the business on the steering stop. Not the prettiest I admit, but I think it will do the job. My thanks to Rod Yeomans, Graeme Wilson, Mark Glanfield and Charles Anstis from the AIGOR list for their advice, and also a special thanks to Rob Anderson for offering to do the job for me if my effort did not work out (which was certainly on the cards!).

'Fingers crossed'

Next step: Quit buggering around and get the frame finished so I can start the re-build!
Stay 'tuned'...

Back on Track

Well after a short hiatus over Christmas and New Year, I hit a snag with suspension of my licence due to a slight over-exuberance 50km south of Thredbo... major detune!! Anyhoo, we are back on track now and doing preparation work for finishing of frame and associated bits.

The associate bits

I had a great visit from well-known Guzzi enthusiast Brett Rosenthal, who had been working on a set of (more triangular looking) side covers for the project. He also brought over his special tool for pulling the lower bearing off the triple tree. Worked a treat! Thanks Brett for the help and the mountain of other advice you have provided.

Brett on the job

Close-up of Brett's tool

I have done some hard thinking and have come to the decision that I will be painting the frame and not powder-coat. This is purely a personal decision as I want to do as much of the job as possible and this will allow me to work to my own time-frame and give me more of a feeling of personal achievement. I realise that I may stuff it up, and that it may not look as good, but the personal satisfaction will be there. I have never painted before, so I will be learning a new skill, so that is a bonus I will get from the project.

I have also decided to do the whole paint job for the bike. Ambitious? Yes. But I am not really concerned to get a 'concours' look from this, just a bike with a different look and a feeling of having done it (mostly) by myself. So now I am in the process of putting all the bits/tools together to start on the paint! I also am in the process of picking the brain of a Queensland Guzzi lover and world traveller, Rod Yeomans, who has been fantastic in giving me the benefit of his experience plus many tips to help guide me. Rod has a couple of great blog entries on his Guzzi travels through the USA and Europe over at Squadra Guzzista website as internet persona 'Morizzi'. Check them out and dare to dream!!!

Finally an honorary mention to Peter Clare from the AIGOR mailing list who came to my rescue and supplied a spacer for the rear Borrani wheel that I was having difficultly finding. AWESOME support from the Guzzi community. Thanks Peter, I owe you one.

And on it goes...