il Crustico - '73 Moto Guzzi Eldorado Basket case Restoration
- Thread starter adventurco
- Start date
Glad you made it there, the Guzzi looks great. Maybe not 300 miles on a magic carpet, but I'll bet it was a good ride.
Thanks buddy! Great weekend as always. Glad you got to take the old goose out for a spin.
After a hot-as-hell ride out to Mid Ohio, and solid weekend at the event, the Guzzi and I made it back home.
During the first half of the 650 mile round trip, oil started being blown out of the breather box vent to atmosphere tube, all over the rear wheel and sprayed all over the back of the bike. Not a huge amount but definitely enough to make a mess and require regular stops to check and fill the oil as necessary. It definitely blows more at higher sustained RPMs. I lost about 3/4 of a quart over the entire trip. After some research, sounds like the aftermarket replacement breather/flapper boxes have been giving others similar problems, so I'm going to need to pull that and check the passages and valves to see what's going on.
By the time I got home it started stalling out when stopped, got a full tank of gas, so I'm not sure what's going on there yet, and I've got a few other things to address.
-R. Right Directional coming loose while riding
-Left Wixom cover not closing properly
-Breather issue
Other than those couple of (relatively) minor issues, the bike handled and ran great the entire time. I'll add pics later of the mods I did before the trip.
Stopped to break and refill the oil and stumbled on this place with over 150 pinball machines in Fort Wayne
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Time to address the breather box. This is apparently a known issue with the reproduction parts and the fix is to gut the spring loaded flap from inside the box and use a ball valve style breather valve from later model Guzzis.
I cut her open and pulled out the flapper, spring and mounting bracket.
Welded her back up and went ahead and sandblasted the exterior so I could powder coat it.
Used black texture since it was already in the gun
And with a quick freeze and a few taps the breather valve is installed.
I need to do another oil change just to 100% eliminate the chance that I overfilled it with oil.
The bike had started running poorly on the second half of the ride, and got even worse the last half an hour or so from home. It was idling poorly and starting to break up and backfire a lot.
I thought it was a fueling issue at first but after checking the carbs, they were still spotless. Decided it would probably be a good idea to do a tune up after the first big ride so I went back in and retorqued the heads - cylinder #1 definitely needed it. Set the valve clearances, checked the point gap and timing with the light.
When I checked the point gap, it had closed up significantly. Not sure if it moved or just broke in a bit, but it was at about 0.2mm and spec is 0.42-0.46mm. The timing was still spot on with the light after resetting the points so that must have been the issue.
Did a short 15 mile test ride today and she’s back to running like a dream.
I cut her open and pulled out the flapper, spring and mounting bracket.
Welded her back up and went ahead and sandblasted the exterior so I could powder coat it.
Used black texture since it was already in the gun
And with a quick freeze and a few taps the breather valve is installed.
I need to do another oil change just to 100% eliminate the chance that I overfilled it with oil.
The bike had started running poorly on the second half of the ride, and got even worse the last half an hour or so from home. It was idling poorly and starting to break up and backfire a lot.
I thought it was a fueling issue at first but after checking the carbs, they were still spotless. Decided it would probably be a good idea to do a tune up after the first big ride so I went back in and retorqued the heads - cylinder #1 definitely needed it. Set the valve clearances, checked the point gap and timing with the light.
When I checked the point gap, it had closed up significantly. Not sure if it moved or just broke in a bit, but it was at about 0.2mm and spec is 0.42-0.46mm. The timing was still spot on with the light after resetting the points so that must have been the issue.
Did a short 15 mile test ride today and she’s back to running like a dream.
Glad you're getting it sorted! All sounds par for the course after a big shakedown ride like Mid Ohio after such an extensive rebuild, but doesn't make it any less annoying. I really enjoyed getting to throw a leg over the ol girl. There's alot of charm in that machine!
A buddy and I did about 120 miles yesterday. All was good until somehow the dipstick unscrewed itself and the bike sprayed oil all over itself and my leg.
Luckily I was able to take my buddy’s bike, find a drain plug that fit the threads and get 3 quarts of oil at a local auto parts store, filled her back up and continued the ride.
The bike ran amazing for the first half of the ride but toward the end I could feel it start to run shitty again. I suspect the points are either moving out of adjustment or maybe just a cheap junk set.
I’ll get back into the garage today and verify the timing and points gap.
Luckily I was able to take my buddy’s bike, find a drain plug that fit the threads and get 3 quarts of oil at a local auto parts store, filled her back up and continued the ride.
The bike ran amazing for the first half of the ride but toward the end I could feel it start to run shitty again. I suspect the points are either moving out of adjustment or maybe just a cheap junk set.
I’ll get back into the garage today and verify the timing and points gap.
Yup... the joy of riding vintage. I suppose the good side is that your riding boot must be well water-proofed! Guess that's gotta be worth something, right?
The bike has been down for over a month, the last ride I was out it started running worse and worse throughout the ride, and barely made it home. It felt like the ignition was breaking down. I ended up replacing the points and condenser, and still had zero spark.
Today I finally pulled the seat and tank to get at the coil and main ground to ensure it was still connected. Well when I went to check for spark again I noticed some big sparks where sparks aren’t supposed to be.
It looks like the choke cable was routed wrong from the last time I was under there, and the rubber jacket eventually wore right through and shorted the coil.
Fixed the cable routing, reset the timing and hit it with the strobe, and she’s back alive.
Today I finally pulled the seat and tank to get at the coil and main ground to ensure it was still connected. Well when I went to check for spark again I noticed some big sparks where sparks aren’t supposed to be.
It looks like the choke cable was routed wrong from the last time I was under there, and the rubber jacket eventually wore right through and shorted the coil.
Fixed the cable routing, reset the timing and hit it with the strobe, and she’s back alive.
