Topic: Time to learn Italian

[Aaron J Williams]

I found this thing in an old guy's shed about 40 miles from my house. Its a 1967 Moto Guzzi V7 and the PO bought it new and rode it across the country 40 years ago. His nephew tore it all apart to restore it and then lost interest and it has been waiting for me ever since. Any of you guy have experience with old guzzis? I'm thinking I will by the time I ride this one. All the parts are there except the clutch actuating shaft and the throwout bearing and misc. nuts and bolts. I looked for a guzzi forum similar to SOHC4 but found nothing, so I guess the service manual and parts book will be my best friends for awhile.

[kghost]

I know nothing and am no help...

But cool project 

[bill440cars]

I know nothing and am no help...

But cool project 

           I'm as much help as Tim. I wish you the best on it though because, also like Tim, I think it's a cool project too! Not sure how much he knows on them, but I think Uncle Ernie knows some about them. At least it seems like he's said as much ( sure hope I'm remembering right, if not I can always claim "senior moment"!).

[hahnda]

Download manuals and tons of info here.
http://www.thisoldtractor.com/gtbender/loopframe.htm

Really good Yahoo list here:
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Loopframe_Guzzi/

I'm 50 miles east of you. If you would have been a little slower I may have had that bike myself.


Me and my friend leaving for the WI Guzzi Rally. (mine is the red and his the tan)

[Aaron J Williams]

I'm actually a little bummed out. I talked to Rick at MG Cycles and he told me that the clutch pushrod and throwout bearing do not exist anymore and that my only option is to find used stuff or have the back of my tranny machined to fit the newer bearing and have a new pushrod machined to fit. He didn't have the swingarm pivot pins or a distributor rotor and he seemed like he was in a hurry to get rid of me and didn't care to talk to me at all. Not a very good way to treat a prospective new customer IMHO. I did petition to join the Yahoo group and maybe someone there will be more helpful. I was sure hoping to get this thing together and ride it but without those clutch parts and pivot pins I'm kind of hosed. When is that rally? maybe I can find what I need there if they have a swap meet. Your bike is beautiful! Maybe someday mine will be too if I can ever get it to move under it's own power again.

[hahnda]

The rally is Aug 1-3. No swap meet or anything there. http://www.wmgr.org/

The loopframe group is VERY knowledgeable and VERY helpful.  They will get you straightened out.

Also try here for parts.

http://www.motoguzziclassics.com/

and

http://harpermotoguzzi.com/

[hahnda]

Oh and I'm pretty much willing to bet that your cylinders are shot. These old bikes had chrome bores and they like to flake if they haven't been used on a regular basis. There used to be replacement kits but those are in very short supply. You will probably have to have them re-lined with nikasil. If you try to run the bike and the chrome starts flaking you run the risk of killing all your bearings and oil pump.

[bunghole]

Moto Guzzi classics is right down the street from me and I stop in from time to time to see what they have.  They have a large inventory of bikes/parts etc.  Let me know if I can help.

http://www.motoguzziclassics.com/

[seaweb11]

Can't find old parts?

Looks like some dark clothes and a ski mask late at night at WI Guzzi Rally could be in order

I kid, I kid.

[Aaron J Williams]

I just got done talking to Curtis Harper and he set me up with everything I needed to put the bike together. ($650 later) That guy really knows his stuff. He was able to rattle off the part number on an ancient Del Ortto carb just by my saying that it had rectangular slides. I asked him about the chrome flaking and he said that if it was in a dry place (top shelf in the back of a well sealed newer garage) the cylinders would be fine and if they were flaked the motor would smoke like crazy when I started it and it would have less than 100 psi of compression. Once I get the trans re-installed I'll compression test it before I try starting it. I already sprayed the cylinders with spray lube and rolled it over by hand and it spun quite easily. I would think that if the chrome was bad, corrosion from the aluminum cylinders would have made the engine hard to turn over maybe?

Moto Guzzi classics is right down the street from me and I stop in from time to time to see what they have.  They have a large inventory of bikes/parts etc.  Let me know if I can help.

Thanks! I'm sure I will need much more to finish this thing as time goes by. My goal is to have it move under it's own power by June if the cylinders aren't hatched and ride it to the rally if I can get the bugs worked out on it.

Looks like some dark clothes and a ski mask late at night at WI Guzzi Rally could be in order

More like dark beer and late nights at the rally maybe?

[hahnda]

If I were you I would pull those heads and at least have a look. Won't cost you anything to do it. It will only take an hour at the very most for each side. It will not only tell you hoe the cylinders are it will also let you have a look at the valves. At the very least you have to pull the oil pan. If you see flakes there you know you have a problem. Actually you wont see the flakes, the sludge will just look kind of glittery. In any case pull the oil pan and clear anything in there and fita new $10 gasket if yours rips while taking it off. The engine will still turn over easy even if the chrome is flaked. It doesn't actually corrode it just falls off. My buddy's bike had this problem when he got it.

The rally is a great time. Its a good goal to shoot for. Its the same goal we had for my buddy's bike. We finished it up that morning. Test rode it 5 miles and hoped for the best. We had our problems but we made it there and back under our own power.

[Aaron J Williams]

Pulling the heads doesn't look to me like a big problem but can I re-use the head gaskets? Curtis did mention that I should re-torque the heads so maybe gaskets are re-usable and I'll pull the heads and have a look. I am definitely pulling the pan because from what I have seen in the book there is no oil filter, just a screen at the oil pump. Getting all the years of crud accumulation out of that pan is my first step after making an adapter plate so I can mount the Guzzi motor to my engine stand.

[hahnda]

I would reuse it if it looks ok. The good thing is that if it does leak you can change them in about 30 minutes.  Try that on your SOHC4. I peeked in on my cylinders when I got my bike last summer and slapped it back together with the old head gaskets. No problems and its 3000 miles later.

Are you on the loop list yet?

Are you looking for carb parts?
http://www.guzzino.com/vhbparts.html

[333]

The only Italian I know, and it seems appropriate:

"She's a no looking so good".

[Aaron J Williams]

Are you on the loop list yet?

Are you looking for carb parts?
http://www.guzzino.com/vhbparts.html

Yes I'm on the list as proverbs25_2122 but I haven't posted yet. I am absorbing info now and lurking until I find a question I can't get the answer for by searching. I'll post a Hello thread this evening. I haven't taken the carbs apart yet because my carb rebuild station is full of goldwing carbs waiting for parts and a harley carb waiting to get rebuilt. I ordered carb kits from Harper's and hopefully I won't have to replace any hard parts. Thanks for the link though, I may need it. I'm going to pull my heads this afternoon and have a peek inside. It should be a piece of cake, the carbs and exhaust are already off so I just have to pull the valve covers, pushrods, and head bolts. I hate to say this in the SOHC4 forum but I'm really getting excited about this bike. It reminds me of how I felt when I bought my first bike - the K0!

[kghost]

GOldwing carbs I know about...shudder......

[Aaron J Williams]

Goldwing carbs I know about...shudder......

Yeah, definitely some prayer when I put them back together. It sure is nice to ride one when the carbs are dialed in though.