JustinLonghorn
No Purple Hearts, No Blue Ribbons
Fucking ridiculous, man!
il Crustico - '73 Moto Guzzi Eldorado Basket case Restoration
- Thread starter adventurco
- Start date
Appreciate the compliments fellas. Yall over here on DTT kept me motivated even though this one was a slog at times.
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After the ride the other day I had a few things that needed to be addressed. First up is to re torque the heads and readjust the valve clearances.
I took this opportunity to add some stainless steel Allen bolts and head guards as well.
The shifter needed to be adjusted and a pinch bolt added, I’ve been putting it off because the muffler had to come off and the pipe loosened as well as the footboard moved. But I got that done and should be a bit easier to up shift now.
I got these cool brass valve stem covers from @CCRider at mid Ohio last year, I removed some paint and they match great with the brass details on the bike.
Also at mid Ohio I picked up this little leather moto Guzzi tag or keychain or whatever for $2. I grabbed it because why not. I had the idea to make it into a key pouch so that the stem lock and toolbox keys don’t mar the dashboard when riding.
I picked up a cheap leather working tool kit, a piece of scrap leather from an old project and put a saddle stitch between the two pieces and here it is.
Sent from my iPhone using DO THE TON
I took this opportunity to add some stainless steel Allen bolts and head guards as well.
The shifter needed to be adjusted and a pinch bolt added, I’ve been putting it off because the muffler had to come off and the pipe loosened as well as the footboard moved. But I got that done and should be a bit easier to up shift now.
I got these cool brass valve stem covers from @CCRider at mid Ohio last year, I removed some paint and they match great with the brass details on the bike.
Also at mid Ohio I picked up this little leather moto Guzzi tag or keychain or whatever for $2. I grabbed it because why not. I had the idea to make it into a key pouch so that the stem lock and toolbox keys don’t mar the dashboard when riding.
I picked up a cheap leather working tool kit, a piece of scrap leather from an old project and put a saddle stitch between the two pieces and here it is.
Sent from my iPhone using DO THE TON
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On Friday I rode up to the Guzzi Doc's place so we could do some final adjustments. The transmission had been giving me a hard time downshifting and by the time I got out of town on Friday all I had was 4th and 5th gear. That, plus the bike only wanting to idle on the left cylinder made for a shitty ride, but I managed to limp it the 25 miles or so up there.
It turned out that after a few rides the gearshift bias adjustment had gone out just enough so that the bike would not downshift to lower gears. The adjuster nut is on the back of the trans and more or less inaccessible, but we eventually got it adjusted and shifting through the gears fine.
We tore into the right side and found a cracked insulator for the carb to intake manifold, and re-cleaned out all the idle circuits, and got the carbs synced and idling perfectly.
Unfortunately as I was leaving I discovered we had destroyed the rear brake switch so I had to ride home in the dark with no brake light. Joe gave me a couple of original brake switches that could be rebuilt so I watched my ass on the ride home and eventually made it without issues.
Yesterday I wanted to ride, so I cut apart one of the brake switches, polished up the contacts, greased with dielectric grease and reassembled it with some gasket maker. Got it adjusted and now I have a rear brake switch again. (The front brake switch is integrated into the cable and absolutely sucks, it doesn't work unless the brake is barely useable so I'm dealing with that with the company it came from).
View attachment 240409
Put about 75 miles total this weekend and now shes running like an absolute dream.
View attachment 240410
It turned out that after a few rides the gearshift bias adjustment had gone out just enough so that the bike would not downshift to lower gears. The adjuster nut is on the back of the trans and more or less inaccessible, but we eventually got it adjusted and shifting through the gears fine.
We tore into the right side and found a cracked insulator for the carb to intake manifold, and re-cleaned out all the idle circuits, and got the carbs synced and idling perfectly.
Unfortunately as I was leaving I discovered we had destroyed the rear brake switch so I had to ride home in the dark with no brake light. Joe gave me a couple of original brake switches that could be rebuilt so I watched my ass on the ride home and eventually made it without issues.
Yesterday I wanted to ride, so I cut apart one of the brake switches, polished up the contacts, greased with dielectric grease and reassembled it with some gasket maker. Got it adjusted and now I have a rear brake switch again. (The front brake switch is integrated into the cable and absolutely sucks, it doesn't work unless the brake is barely useable so I'm dealing with that with the company it came from).
View attachment 240409
Put about 75 miles total this weekend and now shes running like an absolute dream.
View attachment 240410
chesterburnet
Been Around the Block
I just found this thread. A beautiful restoration. I'm working on a 77 Honda basket case that was always garaged. It seems like most of the work is on restoring rusted parts. Knowing what I now know, I wouldn't attempt to do a build that had as much rust and decay as your Guzzi. You really crushed it.
I have 2 questions - did they chrome plate that box of bolts / parts or was that some other finish?
Where in New England was the photo of your Beetle taken? I live in southern Massachusetts.
I have 2 questions - did they chrome plate that box of bolts / parts or was that some other finish?
Where in New England was the photo of your Beetle taken? I live in southern Massachusetts.
Thanks fellas! Unfortunately the frigid air has set in so I’ll be buttoning up a few loose ends and putting the old girl in hibernation until the spring.
The nuts and bolts were zinc plated. They were pitted, so without any filing or sanding some of the pitting comes through, but I send in a box of rusted parts and it all gets derusted cleaned and refinished.
I grew up on the South Shore and the beetle lives there. The pic was taken near Plymouth. I use it as my daily whenever I go back and visit the rents, my dad doesn’t like to drive it anymore these days.
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The nuts and bolts were zinc plated. They were pitted, so without any filing or sanding some of the pitting comes through, but I send in a box of rusted parts and it all gets derusted cleaned and refinished.
I grew up on the South Shore and the beetle lives there. The pic was taken near Plymouth. I use it as my daily whenever I go back and visit the rents, my dad doesn’t like to drive it anymore these days.
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I stored the bike at a friends garage for the winter while I was doing some dirty work on the Bus, but I went and picked it back up over the weekend and I’m plucking away at the final punch list.
I stenciled the eagle logos on the front and rear fenders
The right cylinder valves were pretty noisy and I’ve got over 100 miles since the rebuild, so I decided to Retorque the heads and adjust the valves again. The valve covers were both leaking oil so I surfaced them, it looks like the last guy used 80 grit. Not perfect but way better than they were. Hopefully no more leaks.
I’ve got gear oil leaking from the rear drive so I dropped the oil and surfaced the little sump pan, then refilled with new oil. It’s hard to tell where it’s coming from but if this doesn’t fix it I’ll have to pull the rear wheel and see if it’s coming from the pinion seal.
Last year I powdercoated the ignition switch cover with black texture powder. I was going to 3d print a rubber boot but decided to look at the FLAPS for something that was less work. This disc brake pin boot works great cut in half, and I’ll have half a dozen for $3.
Sent from my iPhone using DO THE TON
I stenciled the eagle logos on the front and rear fenders
The right cylinder valves were pretty noisy and I’ve got over 100 miles since the rebuild, so I decided to Retorque the heads and adjust the valves again. The valve covers were both leaking oil so I surfaced them, it looks like the last guy used 80 grit. Not perfect but way better than they were. Hopefully no more leaks.
I’ve got gear oil leaking from the rear drive so I dropped the oil and surfaced the little sump pan, then refilled with new oil. It’s hard to tell where it’s coming from but if this doesn’t fix it I’ll have to pull the rear wheel and see if it’s coming from the pinion seal.
Last year I powdercoated the ignition switch cover with black texture powder. I was going to 3d print a rubber boot but decided to look at the FLAPS for something that was less work. This disc brake pin boot works great cut in half, and I’ll have half a dozen for $3.
Sent from my iPhone using DO THE TON
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Thanks man!
I finally got the passenger pegs installed. These are Bates pegs that were on the bike originally. They weren’t designed for this bike as the way they were would have only folded down to about 30 degrees. I filed them down a bit so they fold down all the way. Someone was reproducing the rubbers but now they’re NLA so I sandblasted these ones and superglued them back together where I had cut them off. Not great but will work for now. Replaced the hardware with stainless steel.
I fixed the rear left directional as it wasn’t working at all. I had the wires backwards for some reason they are opposite of the right side so I’m not sure if it ever worked.
Also got the cable integrated front brake switch to work finally. I could never get it to work last season so I just ran with rear brake switch only which was annoying.
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Thanks fellas. We ran in the DGR today, first time in 10 years that I’ve had a bike ready to ride for it. It was a blast, the Chicago ride has over 200 riders. I’m absolutely loving this machine.
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Well the damn rear drive is still leaking from the gasket. Maybe worse now. Still mulling about what to do but I’m thinking I’ll pull the rear wheel and drive box and see if I can surface both sides.
Anyways I started messing with the wixom bags. I stripped most of the gold paint forever ago and sanded them down with 80 grit. I’m not going to run the aluminum trim that hides the sloppy seam, so I hogged that and all the cracks out with the dremel and filled with thickened epoxy. Some of the worse cracks got some fiberglass mesh reinforcement.
Sent from my iPhone using DO THE TON
Anyways I started messing with the wixom bags. I stripped most of the gold paint forever ago and sanded them down with 80 grit. I’m not going to run the aluminum trim that hides the sloppy seam, so I hogged that and all the cracks out with the dremel and filled with thickened epoxy. Some of the worse cracks got some fiberglass mesh reinforcement.
Sent from my iPhone using DO THE TON
