'82 Moto Guzzi v50 Rebuild/Redesign

After looking at the block on the stand for a few days I decided I really need to see what was inside. I really wanted to get to the very bottom of things to make sure I'm sinking all of this labor into something that will run for years to come. So, I apprehensively started unbolting, and didn't stop until well, there was nothing left disconnect (With the exception of separating the pistons from the con rods. Don't see any need for this).

It's amazing how many pieces that block explodes into. The pic actually only has about half of them laid out on the cardboard. I've never been this deep into an engine before, and I was kind of worried that I was going to do something irreversibly stupid. Luckily I've found a few good local advisors to help prevent this. Curtis, from TechShop, knows the larger Guzzis backwards and forwards (as well as anything else with a mechanical basis) and has been my go to guy on most matters. When I need small block Guzzi specific knowledge and Ed Milich of Guzzi Tech is the go to guy. Ed has been building and racing small block Guzzis for years, and has a host of custom parts for them. I've turned over my bike's (pile of parts) clutch and flywheel to Ed to get a little love (http://www.guzzitech.com/store/Flywheellightening.html).

As I began the block disassembly I ordered some parts in advance. I picked up the last set of rings that MG cycle had for a v50 and a complete gasket kit. Now that I've dug deeper, I'm going to need to track down a few more bearings and seals before I can put the block back together. I'll do posts on the minor signs of wear I've uncovered individually.

The best news of this exercise is that all of the core pieces of the power plant are solid. This bike is going to make a fine little runner.
 

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Very nice and we all love the Moto Guzzi. Thanks for the link to the BMW Motorrad video also very nice. I (partially) bought a Honda CX500 because I couldn't find a Guzzi I could afford, you did well, especially in a city like San Francisco.
Cheers, 50gary
 
These are great little bikes. I did this one awhile back. They will Do the Ton!

IMG_1599.jpg



Here's a link to my build may give you some insite. Going to follow your progress

http://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=26896.msg407105#msg407105


Great source of info on this forum

http://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?board=1.0


Chao
 
All right,
here's the breakdown of the good, the bad, and the ugly of the engine internals:

The Good (but seen better days):
Front and rear main "half bearings" are worn. Nothing terrible, but time to replace.
"Half washers" these are in decent shape. It would be nice to replace them, but I'm not sure I'll be able to locate a set. If anyone has any leads please let me know.

The Bad:
Con rod half bearings show signs of particulate oil contamination. Those cavities are the result of the soft babbitt bearings saving the crank shaft from scoring resultant from whatever worked itself in there.

The Ugly:
The engine temp sensors on these bikes actually hold the cam in position by inserting (or it is/was supposed to) into a whole on the (yes there is only one) cam shaft bearing. At some point somebody loosened the sensor and cranked it back in totally crushing the bearing. Amazingly, despite it's destroyed state the bearing continued to do its job until I got to it. There's no damage to the cam. This piece is never going back in going to be really hard to replace.

To address the above items, I currently have con rod bearings coming in from Stein Dinse in Germany and a list of parts that MG cycles is sourcing for me from who knows where. The only outstanding parts needs I have for the engine internals are the half washers and the cam bearing.

Additionally, I have walnut shell, glass bead, and soda blasting material arriving shortly. The drive train of this bike is going to be fresh inside and out.
 

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Zachattach,

Rebuilt a V-65 motor some years back. They are nice little engines.

But, I'm amazed that you can't get thrust washers? They are still making variants of that motor. Aprillia use it in their Guzzi V-7 retro-bikes.

Good luck with your project.

SD
 
Hi Zachattach
Take a look at this spanish forum
It´s a v35 not v50 but I think it could be a good inspiration...

http://pruebaweb.clubcaferacer.net/foro/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1483&sid=3537cc862648a67ab202657d1b29035d
 
manolon6 said:
It´s a v35 not v50 but I think it could be a good inspiration...
http://pruebaweb.clubcaferacer.net/foro/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1483&sid=3537cc862648a67ab202657d1b29035d

The second pic is his "Intenciones". Its a LeMans. But a VERY nice one, and most definitely great inspiration, although its would be pretty difficulty to get the "bulky" look into the little V35.

Zachattach, I also had to replace those pesky big ends etc. MGcycle in Wisconsin have one or two sets left if you're stuck for parts... In fact, they've got a bunch of cool stuff on their site that you might want to check out if you haven't already. Its all looking good, and I admire the way you're plunging in there. Good luck.

www.mgcycle.com
 
Floating rear fender, That's basically what a Sportbike "hugger" is. I think it's a fine idea if it's not too heavy as it does add some to the unsprung weight of the rear suspension.
Cheers, 50gary
 
Everybody,
Thanks for the replies on that last post. The advice and commentary are much appreciated.

It was great to see the floating fender. My primary interest in the concept was to preserve the sense of openness I created in the rear frame by removing the battery and glovebox (which wont go back in as there will be a LI battery hidden somewhere). It looks so much better, and I don't want to sacrifice that look to keep me and the engine compartment clean while riding in SF drizzle. The concept is something I'll toy with further once I can get on to the creative design aspect of this build. Until then there is a lot more wrenching to be done.

During the disassembly process I've noticed a few machining or molding defects, and I set about doing a little quality control on the first of these late last night. On the inside of one of the conrod rings one of the bearing groves was full of burrs and flash. I corrected this with a very fine half-round jewelers file and and a super high grit stones. The hand work is really very pleasing zen stuff (especially at 12:45 AM), and I suspect imperfections like add up at 10,000 rpms or at 50,000 miles on the odometer.

Wish I would have gotten a sharper picture of the burrs and flash of the defect initially.
 

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Hi there looks like your having fun....
I'm off to pick a V50 up tomorrow, looking at the pics you've posted (cx500 etc) looks like we have similar ideas, I look forward to seeing how you get on, i'll be posting some of my build/strip down soon too. good luck and have fun ;-)
 
Super 8,
This is what you're picking up: http://motorcycling.speedtv.com/article/bikes-the-little-guzzi-that-could/

Looking forward to watching your build as well. Dale has set the bar nice high in terms of what we can do with these bikes.

More good stuff from my blog trolling in the attached pic. It's from here: http://wrenchmonkees.blogspot.com/
 

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Swivel said:
Be a bit patient when working on the v50,they used some horrible cheap alloys in making these things.Super Mario on Monday built these things.

Not sure where you get your facts from, the V50 is one of the most reliable Italian motorcycles ever built.
They were the chosen motorcycle for the Italian Police for years.

And Super Mario, was in fact born in Japan, nowhere near the De Tomaso factory. ;-)
 
got it back the other day, looks worse than i remeber. still it turns over in gear and there isn't to much rust so.... should be ok :) i'll put some photos up when i get the time and have worked out how to do it.
as for the CX stuff going on, nice bikes but i had a friend who had one, i remember it weighing a huge amount, i used to be able to beat him on the little lane around where i used to live on a ts50 (to be fair i had more throttle than brains).
 
i would choose a guzzi over the cx any day of the week... i worked for a guzzi aprilia dealer a few years ago and own a 84 t5-850 right now.. as long as you change the oil they will go forever, they are like old italian tractors.. working at the dealer i saw a hand full of them with over 100k on them and still driving
 
I started the bead blasting work on Thursday. The work is tedious stuff, and I'll be happy to get to the other side of this part of the project. Does make a markable improvement in the way the parts look, though. In the pic with both cylinder heads the one on the left is the product after a thorough scrub with degreaser. I'm wondering if I should ceramic coat the block so that I don't rapidly loose the luster to oxidization.
 

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