Subject: RE: hello all
Author: Ian Adkins
Date: Oct 17, 2004, 5:37 AM
Post ID: 1717713587
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Steve....welcome to the best group the biking world has to offer!
First of all don't get frustrated with these bikes....they are very simple
and if you apply a couple of philosophies you can't go wrong. One of those
is "for every problem there is a solution". The other is that "you can do
anything.....just takes money" :-)
OK...to your bike. You were right on with getting the points, timing and
valves sorted out. Next is to get cheap inline fuel filters on and get the
carbs cleaned out. The carbs are very simple....just pay attention to the
orientation of the slides and the little jets. The main jet is the one with
the bigger hole.
The reason the fuel leaked into the engine was that the float needle (the
little needle that shuts off fuel is worn....or has crap in it. Get it
changed.....cheap fix. Call MG Classics or MG Cycle for the parts.
Once everything is cleaned out...set to the factory settings (read the
manual) and the bike should fire right up. Fine adjustment can be done after
that. My 70 Ambo came complete with carbs full of rust. All I did was clean
them out and the bike runs terrific.
Of course...keep asking us...we'll help you through all the rough spots!
Regards...Ian
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Farris [mailto:nmwi-@msn.com]
Sent: Saturday, October 16, 2004 3:43 PM
To: loopframe _guzzi
Subject: hello all
Hi everyone,
My name is Steve Farris, I live in SW New Mexico, and have been lusting
after a Moto Guzzi for 40 years. Recently I broke down and got two old
loopframes, a "71 Ambassador and a "72 El Dorado. While both start, and
drive neither runs well enough to want to take it much further than the
nearest gas station. I'm hoping to use the parts from both to get one
running well enough to have something to play around on while I tear the
other down for restoration. I found Greg Bender's website via Guzzi Tech
and he has been kind enough to give me some advice about my Eldo's clunking
rear drive line which I am currently investigating. Here are a couple of
other questions for the group, please excuse the fact that I am new to
guzzi's and haven't got a clue.
1) the ambassador starts ok and has decent power but backfire's
constantly. I cleaned and reset the points, and reset the valves. It runs
better but still backfires (not as bad). My friend who has a '72 eldorado
says he thinks it is pulling air in around the exhaust nut on L cylinder (it
has stock nuts which are in pretty bad shape). I am planning on replacing
with the newer two piece nuts, and also heard that the condenser could be
the problem so will replace that as well (do I need guzzi condenser or will
something from NAPA suffice?). Any other suggestions as to the cause of the
backfiring?
2) I had the rear wheel off the eldo checking brakes and wheelbearings
for source of noise coming from rear end. Bike sat about 3 days after I
pulled wheel cause I have been too busy to mess with it til today. I went
out this morning and started it up to put it in gear and see if the noise
was coming from the u-joint. When I started it, it began blowing liquid out
the crank breather tube. I opened the oil filler plug and the crank is full
of gas/oil mix all the way to top of filler plug! I'm assuming this was
somehow caused by me leaving the fuel petcock on for several hours the day I
took the wheel off? Any ideas, suggestions, should I shoot myself now or
continue the torture for some time further before dying of a broken heart?
Thanks
Steve
PS the PO has the fuel crossover hooked up without any in-line filters
could this in any way exacerbate my problem?
sf
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<DIV><SPAN class=280162012-17102004>Steve....welcome to the best group the
biking world has to offer!</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=280162012-17102004></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=280162012-17102004>First of all don't get frustrated with these
bikes....they are very simple and if you apply a couple of philosophies you
can't go wrong. One of those is "for every problem there is a solution". The
other is that "you can do anything.....just takes money" :-)</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=280162012-17102004></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=280162012-17102004>OK...to your bike. You were right on with
getting the points, timing and valves sorted out. Next is to get cheap inline
fuel filters on and get the carbs cleaned out. The carbs are very simple....just
pay attention to the orientation of the slides and the little jets. The main jet
is the one with the bigger hole.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=280162012-17102004></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=280162012-17102004>The reason the fuel leaked into the engine
was that the float needle (the little needle that shuts off fuel is worn....or
has crap in it. Get it changed.....cheap fix. Call MG Classics or MG Cycle for
the parts.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=280162012-17102004></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=280162012-17102004>Once everything is cleaned out...set to the
factory settings (read the manual) and the bike should fire right up. Fine
adjustment can be done after that. My 70 Ambo came complete with carbs full of
rust. All I did was clean them out and the bike runs terrific.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=280162012-17102004></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=280162012-17102004>Of course...keep asking us...we'll help you
through all the rough spots! </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=280162012-17102004></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=280162012-17102004>Regards...Ian</SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">
<DIV align=left class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr><FONT
face=Tahoma>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Steve Farris
[mailto:nmwi-@msn.com]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, October 16, 2004 3:43
PM<BR><B>To:</B> loopframe _guzzi<BR><B>Subject:</B> hello
all<BR><BR></DIV></FONT><PRE> </PRE>
<DIV>Hi everyone,</DIV>
<DIV>My name is Steve Farris, I live in SW New Mexico, and have been lusting
after a Moto Guzzi for 40 years. Recently I broke down and got two old
loopframes, a "71 Ambassador and a "72 El Dorado. While both start, and
drive neither runs well enough to want to take it much further than the
nearest gas station. I'm hoping to use the parts from both to get one
running well enough to have something to play around on while I tear the other
down for restoration. I found Greg Bender's website via Guzzi Tech and
he has been kind enough to give me some advice about my Eldo's clunking rear
drive line which I am currently investigating. Here are a couple of
other questions for the group, please excuse the fact that I am new to guzzi's
and haven't got a clue.</DIV>
<DIV>1) the ambassador starts ok and has decent power but backfire's
constantly. I cleaned and reset the points, and reset the valves.
It runs better but still backfires (not as bad). My friend who has a '72
eldorado says he thinks it is pulling air in around the exhaust nut on L
cylinder (it has stock nuts which are in pretty bad shape). I am
planning on replacing with the newer two piece nuts, and also heard that the
condenser could be the problem so will replace that as well (do I need guzzi
condenser or will something from NAPA suffice?). Any other suggestions
as to the cause of the backfiring?</DIV>
<DIV>2) I had the rear wheel off the eldo checking brakes and
wheelbearings for source of noise coming from rear end. Bike sat about 3
days after I pulled wheel cause I have been too busy to mess with it til
today. I went out this morning and started it up to put it in gear and
see if the noise was coming from the u-joint. When I started it, it
began blowing liquid out the crank breather tube. I opened the oil
filler plug and the crank is full of gas/oil mix all the way to top of filler
plug! I'm assuming this was somehow caused by me leaving the fuel
petcock on for several hours the day I took the wheel off? Any ideas,
suggestions, should I shoot myself now or continue the torture for some time
further before dying of a broken heart? </DIV>
<DIV>Thanks</DIV>
<DIV>Steve</DIV>
<DIV>PS the PO has the fuel crossover hooked up without any in-line filters
could this in any way exacerbate my problem?</DIV>
<DIV>sf</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>
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