Digging into the Guzzi part III

Thanks to some found money, I opted out of fabricating my own special tools for the V700 and instead purchased some from MG Cycle. The flywheel/ring gear holder will obviously lock everything up to allow removal of the generator drive pulley, timing gears, and then ring gear, clutch, and flywheel removal. The other tool pulls the rear bearing carrier.

In action, using the 3-tooth part to hold the ring gear for the starter. The single tooth on the top is used later on, after the ring gear is removed, to hold the flywheel in place.

This pisses me off to no end. As mentioned previously, this bike had a lot of work done to it in the 70's. Apparently besides new cylinders, pistons, and a top end job, they also put in brand new clutch plates. What I don't get is, why the hell you wouldn't replace the transmission input seal while everything was apart. Because they didn't take that step, these brand new clutch parts are completely ruined by gear oil. Such an expensive waste...

Timing gears. You can just make out the scant timing markings between the cam gear (big) and the crank gear (small). These were wiping off when I put my finder on the gears, so I had to make my own new markings that were more obvious.

Took some white out for the time being, need to clean it up a little on the cam side, but it'd be hard to mess up alignment for timing now.

And this is where my work ended for today. Shockingly, I don't have a 26mm socket or box end wrench anywhere (in fact what I have goes up to 24mm, then skips to 27mm and up, so timing gear removal, and subsequent bottom end disassembly, will have to wait for another day.

The Placebo Effect

I had an introspective moment today. After taking my 2007 VW out on a test run after changing the two accessory belts on it, the car just seemed to feel better. The car seemed to sound a little better and pull a little stronger. But here's the thing... The accessory belts control the AC compressor, water pump, and alternator, they do not affect performance, so to speak, and are perhaps one of the most mundane features on the staid 2.5L I5 engine. Not only that, the belts I was replacing, in all honesty, probably did not need changing (in fact, they're hanging in my garage in the event I'll need a quick emergency fix down the road). They didn't seem stretched, didn't seem cracked, but then again I didn't have THIS WASTE OF MONEY . I just had these new belts laying around from a previous part order to make it the $100 required for free shipping and figured with the car now 8.25 years old and approaching 80k miles, it was a responsible thing to do.

I've noticed a similar result when I do things like check valve lash on my motorcycles, even when they don't need any adjustment whatsoever, they feel better the next time I ride them. Same thing goes for oil changes. It's like there's some kind of subconscious worry that exists until things are verified or replaced, and once you can attest that yes, the exhaust rocker arm clearance really is .008," no there's not metal filings clogging up the engine oil filter (that did actually happen on my wife's Passat). Only then can you stop thinking about every little sound, creak, or rev and start enjoying the ride; or maybe it's just me. It probably is just me...

Maybe I'm the type of person that placebos will work well on, I should keep this introspective post in my back pocket should I ever develop cancer or something.

In other news, the company I work for awarded us safety bonus gift cards, which wound up being just enough money that I could buy Moto Guzzi special tools and spare myself the trouble of fabricating them. I should be getting the starter gear + flywheel holder along with a rear bearing puller in the near future, allowing me to go forward with the engine disassembly. More to come later.

Digging into the Guzzi part II

I began disassembling the top end in anticipation for bottom end removal to access the sludge trap. So far everything I've seen confirms that this bike had a lot of work done to it in the 70's and then sat for 40 years, but there wasn't any mention of sludge trap cleaning on the receipt (just oil pan cleaning and oil pressure checking) and the wear on the rear drive makes me doubt this bike is only a 19k bike.

Ready for tear down

Bad shot of the crank and lifters. What you can't see if that everything looks super clean and fresh. When I pulled the lifters out there was absolutely no wear on them (I believe they were replaced when this bike last received service), cam also showed no pitting or marking. There was some side to side play at the connecting rods, but I'll have to see what's acceptable in the Guzzi world, by BMW standards this is way out of spec.

After a half hour, this is as far as I got. It looks like I'll need to fabricate special tools to proceed with the generator drive pulley and clutch/flywheel removal.

Generator bracket. I guess I'll need to weld this back together. I guess the previous owner didn't know when to stop tightening the upper clamp...

All wrapped up until next time.

Digging into the Guzzi

Since I have receipts for work that included new pistons, cylinders, top-end job, connecting rod bushings, oil system check, and pretty much everything except for cleaning out the sludge trap, I figured I'd dig in a little to see if it was true.

Cylinders are the original chrome plated type. No signs of peeling, piston does look fairly new. Thinking I'll likely get the cylinders re-lined with Nikasil and keep the existing pistons to avoid the engine self destructing later.

More carbon on the heads than I expected to see. Exhaust valve looks a little recessed as well, will check compression later and take them into a machine shop if needed.

Engine separated from trans. Trans definitely leaking gear oil, starter appears to be in good shape with fresh grease on the bendix drive.

Rear splines at final drive, not good.

 Rear splines at hub, almost non-existent

This leads me to believe that the bike doesn't really have the 19k that was indicated on the odometer, far more likely 119k. Also, given the amount of work that was done to the top and bottom ends in the 70's, I assume this engine had a seizure at one point which makes me wonder about the condition of the sludge trap. Looks like I'll be diving in deeper. Don't know what I'm going to do about the rear drive just yet, it looks like you can still buy splines for the final drive portion, but not the rear hub.