Moto Guzzi Loop Frames - Dash and gauges

Auxiliary gauge mounts

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Frank Granli's auxiliary mounts

Thanks to Frank Granli who sent this information to me in a private communication. In Franks's own words:

There is also a picture showing my extra instruments for monitoring oil pressure and volts. Both are 52mm instruments, placed in car exhaust pipe parts and clamped to the steering bar. Rather cheap and secure way of fitting those instruments, the problem is of course to make them watertight, but that could also be solved by choosing marine instruments :)

Ron Komoroski's auxiliary mounts

Thanks to Ron Komoroski who sent this information to me in a private communication. In Ron's own words:

When I was doing the resto on my bike I was still employed as a Senior Technician at an R&D Lab, working on Advanced Materials. As such I had access to all sorts of material stock. The mounts for the gages are made from two 3.00" long sections cut from a section of aluminum pipe I found on one of the stock racks. It's dimentions are: OD 2.63" wall thickness about .15". Whether it's a standard size, Where it came from I have no idea. The labs were originally set up in the early 60's by the Babcock & Wilcox Company for their Nuclear development. The length of pipe had some age on it when I used it in the mid 90's, so it may well have been a "drop" from some reactor componet.

UPDATE: After writing the above I got curious & started looking through my collection of "sources" Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Company sell "round aluminum tubing 6061T6" in 2 1/4" and 2 1/2" ODs with 7 different IDs & wall thicknesses. It's sold by the foot. I've never dealt with this company, but I got the catalog from friend Clifford who has had good experience with them.

I polished the pipe sections and epoxied them to the front cutouts in my Police dash. I didn't want to drill holes in the dash casting in case the gages didn't work out & I wanted to go back to stock. The epoxy I used was a super-zoot "Meta-Set A4" by Smooth On we had at the lab. (these days I use "JB Weld", it looks ,acts, & smells like exactly the same stuff).I wrapped the gage bodies with beer-can aluminum & aluminum tape so they are a snug fit in the pipe. I made a plate to bolt up to the two all-thread studs on the back of the gages, drilled holes in the plate, & cut 4 lengths of fine all-thread long enough to protrude from the bottom of the pipe sections when bolted into the holes. I cut two plates to go across the bottom of the pipe sections w/holes for the all-thread. using nuts on both sides of the plates w/ a drop of loctite has yielded a set-up that has been pretty much trouble free for about 13 years now. I have always run a fairing, so the bottom of the pipe sections are hidden & don't have to be pretty.

The gage needles do "dance" from the bikes' vibes, & I've had to replace each gage once due to failure over the years/miles. The oil pressure gage is mechanical. I cut, drilled, tapped, threaded & silversoldered a "T" fixture that screws into the block & supplies a feed to the gage an allows me to keep the idiot light sender. The pressure line to the gage is plastic/teflon?, It has failed at the connection to the "T" hose connection. Oil shot out from under the tank & made quite a mess. I ran the replacement pressure hose inside some tygon tubing to help damp vibration, & I carry an extra tube fitting with the hose melted closed to put on the "T" for emergency repair if it ever happens again. I've got a set of high-bux VDO gages on the bench to install the next time I have the fairing off, I'm hoping they'll be more stable than the el-cheap-o Sunpros I've been using. The hot set-up would be gages filled with liquid silicon for vibration damping, but I've never found a silicon filled 2"gage, it's only used in the larger sizes. Readings? w/about 45K on the motor rebuild, the oil pressure readings I get are: 60 psi cold, 50 hot above 1000 rpm & 20 cold 15 hot at idle. I'm running the awsome Greg Field alternator & get a 14 volt reading as soon as the rpms come off idle. If you zoom in on the picture & are curious about the black box between the gages on the front of the dash housing it is a turnsignal beeper.

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Dash indicator light placement - civilian dual gauge

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Dash indicator light placement - civilian single gauge

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Dash indicator light placement - typical police version

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Dash indicator light replacements

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I don't know of any exact replicas for the dash indicator lights. So, sourcing good used ones is about that best a person can hope for if you want to stay completely original. But, the originals can be expensive. Here are some alternatives:

MG Cycle part number MG115; replacement console indicator light set for Ambassador and Eldorado. These idiot lights are complete with bulb. Slightly different than original, but the closest to original that we have seen. Each set includes 1 red, 1 amber, 1 green, and 1 blue. Made for twin instrument consoles on Eldorados, Ambassadors, and Nuovo Falcones.

Thanks to Paul Linn who posted this information on the Yahoo! Loopframe_Guzzi news group.

• Pioneer Breaker & Control Supply part number PLI-7T-RS-24A-12VDC (amber), 7 mm (not sure if that is the hole size or the bezel size)
• Pioneer Breaker & Control Supply part number PLI-7T-RS-24G-12VDC (green), 7 mm (not sure if that is the hole size or the bezel size)
• Pioneer Breaker & Control Supply part number PLI-7T-RS-24R-12VDC (red), 7 mm (not sure if that is the hole size or the bezel size)

Thanks to Mike Jones who posted this information on the Yahoo! Loopframe_Guzzi news group.

• Radio Shack model 276-272 (orange LED), requires 9/32 mounting hole
• Radio Shack model 276-271 (green LED), requires 9/32 mounting hole
• Radio Shack model 276-270 (red LED), requires 9/32 mounting hole

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Dash variations

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Numerous dash variations were created for the loop frames. Here is what is out there:

Civilian dashes

Police dashes

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Dash wrinkle paint

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Dupli-Color truck bed liner

Thanks to Mark Etheridge of Moto Guzzi Classics for providing the following information on the Yahoo! Loopframe_Guzzi news group.

Dupli-Color truck bed coating works very well on dashes, starters, and breather boxes. Good stuff.

Eastwood Wrinkle Black

Thanks to Charlie Mullendore of Antietam Classic Cycle for providing the following information on the Yahoo! Loopframe_Guzzi news group. In Charlie's own words:

I've used Eastwood's wrinkle black with good results. A few things that help (at least with the Eastwood product):

• very warm part (warm on a woodstove, with a heat gun, etc.)
• warm paint ( a little above ambient temp)
• practice on an old part first

Still tricky to get it right. Directions say two heavy coats. Not easy to get heavy coats without runs, the warm part and paint help it "flash off" before it has a chance to run. Still, you don't know how well you've done until 12-18 hours later...

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Gauge repair

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There are a number of companies that rebuild old instruments such as speedometers, tachometers, etc. I haven't used any of these, but I thought I would provide references, nonetheless.

• Alpha Instruments - Toronto, Canada - (416) 736-4267 ask for Ted
  Note: I've heard of at least one customer who was less than completely satisfied with Alpha Instruments.
• APT Instruments International, Inc.
• Bob's Speedometer
• Joel Levine Company
  Thanks to Mike Tiberio who posted this information on the Yahoo! Loopframe_Guzzi news group.
• Nisonger Automotive
• North Hollywood Speedometer & Clock Co.
• Oliver Bienz - 15670 Roper Ave., White Rock, BC. V4B 2G8, Canada - (604) 535-6221
• Lionel Otto Instruments - 124 Evans Road, Salisbury Queensland 4107, Australia - phone: 3277 3888 (STD: 07 - International Dial: +61 7)
• Overseas Speedometer and Instrument Service
• Palo Alto Speedometer
  Note: I've heard of several reports that service has gotten very slow and that returns due to any number of problems is a regular occurence.

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Gauge trim ring removal

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I extracted this information from Danilo Gurovic off of the Yahoo! Loopframe_Guzzi news group. In Danilo's own words:

To get the chrome retaining rings off the Veglia instruments, just get a nice #00 screw driver and a small hammer or mallet. Find a soft work surface, and gently rap the screwdriver as it's resting flat along the chrome on the side of the ring. Gentle persuasion and about 15 minutes yields the ring, unmolested, in your hands.

To get the nice black face back, get some "Black Chrome" and a few Q-tips, and gently clean the face of the instrument with it. Looks like new in about 30 minutes. Make sure you wipe the excess. The rubber gasket holding the glass and items is probably shot -- I used black rubber goop. I also painted the outer retaining ring satin black, and had new glass made. Looks like new.

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Speedometer gauge o-ring

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On single gauge dash panels, there is an O-ring between the dash and the gauge. When I removed the gauge from my dash, the O-ring disintegrated. I found a replacement at my local home center (Menards). I went over to the plumping section and found a set of o-rings made for the large filters on reverse osmosis water filtration systems. They came in a package of four o-rings (two black and two blue). The black O-ring was a little small, but easily stretched around the gauge.

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Tachometer retaining bracket

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On dual gauge dashes, the tachometer is retained by two nuts that secure a specially shaped bracket in place. If you've lost your bracket, use the following pattern to make one yourself.

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