Morini angst: Part The Next

The 500 now has new head races.

*Phew*

About my least favourite bike job. As new cups and cones are £100 (!!!)
I made do with cleaning up the existing units (top ones are perfect -
bottom ones marked) with Loyblox, and just using brand new ball bearings
and lots of grease.

Not an ideal solution, but when it's £100 or 46 balls at 3p each, it's a
no-brainer.

And sure enough, the job was a nightmare, because as I knocked out the
bottom yoke and steering stem, it displaced some of the balls from the
top race and they fell down inside the steering stem, jamming against
the steering stem and locking it solid.

****-a-doodle-do. It was stuck angled to one side, and every time you
wiggled it, the balls on the other side fell further down and wedged it
even more solidly. And I couldn't knock it back up, because the end had
managed to lodge itself in the slot for the steering lock.

If swearing is a mortal sin, then I'm going to burn for ever in the
fires of hell. Eventually I wiggled it one way and then the other, while
The Doctor peered down from the top with a torch, and suddenly, after
half an hour, the balls just dropped free.

Reassembly was a doddle after that, and we now have a notch-free
steering head.

We still have a grabby clutch though, and, surprise surprise, the first
signs of an oil weep again from the clutch seals. Wtf?

I really don't think this thing is going to get me to Chimay. There are
still half a hundred little jobs I need to do - replace the chain, tax
it, ride it around for an adequate mileage to see if it proves reliable.
I reckon it ought to be OK - it's running very sweetly now I've slowed
the tickover.

Fukkit. It owes me £800 or so. If anyone wants to press £750 into my
sweaty fist, I could be sorely tempted. SW London.

 

One presumes this is the /actual/ meaning of the Sport bit?

 

Wimp.

 

75p and a half empty bottle of wine, and that's cutting me own froat.

 

(The Older Gentleman) wrote in

Hmm... I've wanted a Morini for about 25 years...

But it seems you're flogging it 'cos you can't be bothered to fix it and
you're considerably more prepared to **** around with bikes than I...

Plus:
- K1100; exhaust sounds like it may be blowing at the manifold. Some
**** replaced the copper nuts with steel ones so I'm prolly going to
have to cut the nuts off...

- K100; original exhaust rotten, replacement Motad doesn't fit properly
and it's blowing from the manifold... Got to **** around with that too
for the MOT.

- ZXR750; needs a service and a little mild fettling.

And that's not counting the cars, house and garden. Or my job come to
that...

The last thing I need is another bike needing attention really.

*sigh*

 

If you can get a nut splitter on them, I'd go for that rather than cutting.
The splitters totally destroy the nut, but leave the stud in perfect
condition, allowing for a nice easy re-build. I reckon the £6.50 I paid for
mine was the best value for money tool ever.

Job? Wassat then?

You know you want to.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

The shimming job is well worth the effort and you sould really have
done it while replacing the oil seal.
<ducks>

A little weep is no great concern so long as it is not slipping, it may
get no worse.

I blame the previous owner(s). The problem is that they are pretty free
of major faults but seem not to thrive on neglect. All too many are no
longer in any kind of regular use and suffer as a consequence (I am
guilty of this to some extent myself).

If I had room I might consider it myself.
Having said that I have always preferred the 350s.

The Voxan, however, when being ridden hard (well hard for me) at
Cadwell reminded me even more of a stonking great Morini so no need for
the halway house of a 500.

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, The Older Gentleman belched forth and ejected the
following:

So £100 saved in races actually cost you more than that in time.

£250 and that's cutting me own froat.

Actually, **** it.

Keep it

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, Timo Geusch belched forth and ejected the
following:

Damn. Ginged by Timo )

 

Sort of. It's running sweetly enough, and I reckon it'll get to Chimay
OK. But it isn't actually as nice as a 350. I've decided. And it really
is appallingly crude. It's a very, very basic engine in a very basic (if
stiff) chassis.

It sounds nice and it handles well. And that, really, is about it.

 

Yebbut I didn't know it needed doing then....

That's how I see it.

This makes sense. Ducatis are supposed to be the same, really. You know,
my old SS is coming up to nine years old now....

 

Er, no, because I'd still have had to take out the old ones, YTC.

 

Well, if I win this 400/4, I'll be heading Chateau-ward at some point in the
near future, with a trailer of some description. I'm sure an extra bike
wouldn't be too much trouble.

You know you want to.

 

What are you worrying about?

This was the state of play of the Guzzi *10* days before departure, last
year:
http://www.sweller.dynalias.org/guzziprogress/

 

Top tip: leave the Morini, and take *both* 400 Fours.

 

*Nice*

But you had what you knew was a fundamentally reliable bike, that would
work when reassembled.

I have this.

 

Looking at the studs they're pretty rusty so I'm figuring that I need to
remove all 8 of them...

I doubt there's room to get a nut splitter on them, which is a pity.

If I cut them off it'll be with a dremel, carefully and split with a
chisel. I've done it before but it's a bloody pain.

Yes, but I also know it'll not get used and will just gradually degrade.

Pity really.

 

I really REALLY wouldn't attempt to. If they're studs into ali, they're
going to be "well connected" and it's best to leave well enough alone. Get
the headers off after splitting the nuts, then clean the threads of the stud
and apply a little copperslip or anti-sieze compound and re-fit the headers
with brass nuts.

Dremel first, so there's **** all left to chisel.

I'm in the same situation with my VN. It needs the back cyclinder sorting,
so I got two new heads, 2 new barrels, cams, valves, the lot, leaving just a
pair of pistons to get. That's where I've come to a grinding halt and it's
only a bone desease stopping me (It's called "idle")

'Tis


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

Well, I've done this before on about three occassions. I know it's a
fucker of a job. I did my K100 about three weeks ago and needed to
replace 7 of the studs.

I won't replace the studs if they have a useable thread on them; I'm not
looking for work... and, yes, I'll use the correct, copper (I think),
nuts that BMW supply.

I've had a bit of a search on ebay and there are some small nut
splitters there so I'll have a go with one of these once it arrives;
hopefully it'll fit on half of them.

So it looks like it'll spend at least a week soaking in plus gas. Next
weekend looks busy so it might be two weeks soaking in plus gas.

Well, quite, I use the dremel to cut a slot which the chisel can get
into and either spin the nut undone or failing that split it.

I had an H1 for 8 years I think. It got parked for the last three and
really went back. It's now with someone who owned it 20 something years
ago who's restored it. Which is nice. I've learnt my lesson!

 

In that case, they're your eggs, you suck 'em

Good thinking. Steel nuts on manifolds are a complete ****.

Have a wander into Machine Mart. They have a wide selecton and none of them
cost much. There's nothing like holding them in your mitts to know if
they'll do the job. They're always handy anyway.

Fucking great stuff that is. Even better than coca-cola.

That'll do it, no trouble.

I've GOT to do this one as it stands me at too much cash to have just lying
around doing nowt. It'll probably go to my sister when I've done it.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19