Morini update

Well, it's sitting at the Chateau now.

It's really as per auction - a pretty good Morini 500, showing the years
with a nice patina, not all original, but in sound working order. At
least for the moment.

It starts from cold on the electric foot, which is good. It's a
five-speeder and all gears are present and correct. There's a little bit
of clutch slip when WFO but the clutch cable seems to have no free play
in it at all, so maybe adjustment will cure it. Maybe.

The idiot light panel does nothing. All the other electrics work,
though. The Pope has been informed.

There's a scuff mark on one fork leg's chrome, but the seal isn't
leaking. Yet.

The rather manky chrome to-into-one is LOUD.

A couple of small rips in the seat cover. Black gaffa tape will do for
the moment.

The handling is fabulous.

There's a hole where arev counter should be. It ought to be electronic,
and some

There are a few other things to sort - there's scuffed chroome on one
fork leg but the seal isn't leaking. Or else there's no oil in the leg.
The white wheels are horrible: Nitromors beckons, I think. I think a
good inspection is called for once the rain stops.

There's a massive history, or rather, collection of receipts with it. I
counted 32 separate bills, spanning the years. An interesting one is a
bill for over £300, in 1997, for "Rebuild of engine from box of parts
supplied". There are also bills for a crank regrind and other major
surgery. This collection suggests either that it's had all the work it
needed done to it since 1993 (when the archive begins) or that a
succession of owners have thrown money at it, retired defeated, and
flogged it onto the next sucker.

Oh, God, it's fun, though.

 

One or two chokes on?

Yebbut, for how *long*?

They all do that, sir.

You mean, the non-working rev counter turned into a complete lack of
rev counter or what?

They are painted though, so you'd have to repaint them afterwards. As
mentioned, grey or gold are the correct colours. Personally

Hmm.

It's an Italian bike.

<checks mirror>

There are plenty of suckers interested in buying Italian bikes.

Hmmm.

They all do that, sir.

 

Erm, there's a lever on the left-hand switchblock. Where the cable goes,
who knows?

No, someone else had the idea of fitting an aftermarket electronic tach
into the hole. But this one starts at 3k revs and redlines at 12k, so
the seller didn't bother with it. But my mate Dave has a spare
electronic tach, so that should be OK.

Hm. Yes, makes sense.

 

Ah well, 3 1/2 normally have two little flip-up levers, one on each
carb. At some point they used the cable but later ones used the
flip-ups again.

Ah well, that's fair enough. But I'd still give NLM a call to ask them
how much they'd want for a genuine mechanical one provided the bike has
an obviously orphaned connection point for the cable.

Especially because you probably don't want to find out what the
unpainted alloy looks like after two days of British weather.

 

There are several odd wires poking up through the hole for the tacho,
but no signs of a cable....

 

Uh-oh. Given what I know about Morini ignition systems I would suggest
that it may not be a good idea to connect an non-Morini tacho there.

 

Message received and understood.

I'll see what Dave wants for his pukka Morini one. I reckon a swap for a
pile of stainless fasteners is on the cards.

 

Well, the hell with the scuffed "chroome", are you taking it to Chimay?

 

If it proves reliable enough in day-to-day use before then, yes. If it
conks out every other day, then no fucking way.

 

<bad form alert>

My neighbour has just taken it round the block and come back grinning.
There appears to be an oil weep from the left-hand crankcase cover:
enough to leave a few drips on the tarmac when it's parked up.

The mirrors looked odd in the auction pic because the seller had put
them on the wrong way round :-/

Oh, and there are two, repeat *two* spring clips end-to-end on the
chain, but as there's more than an inch of adjustment left, one can come
off.

There were some tools under the seat, and four spare fuses, which is a
bit of a giveaway.

 

That'll most likely be your slipping clutch as well. Normally the
clutches on these are dry and, incidentally, under the lhs crankcase
cover.

Remind me again regarding Italian bikes and mugs? ;-)

<goes off to search for multimeter>

 

Oh bollocks.

Are we talking an oil seal that requires a totel engine strip here?

 

Check with Weggy - he's got the workshop manual. If you're lucky it
something that you can lever out with the rest in situ but my guess is
that it may be the crank seal which means you need to remove at least
the clutch basket...

Need someone to take pictures while you swear at the bike?

 

And I bet that's a bugger, too, right?

I have a workshop manual too. Or maybe a photocopy of one. It's
well-thumbed. Slightly foxed, and probably badgered, catted and
wolverined as well.

There are *lots* of additional copies of odd wiring diagrams. This is
not a good sign.

Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Weggy! Wake up! Let's have your
opinion.

 

Weggy! Wake up! Let's have your opinion.

I think he's on holiday, probably somewhere hot and expensive.

If it's leaking from the outermost lefthand engine cover, it'll
probably be the oil seal behind the clutch.

If it's leaking from the inner left hand engine cover it could just be
an 'ordinary' oil leak, but the clutch'll still have to come off.

It *could* just be leaking from the oil pressure switch, of course.
Hello Timo )

RM

 

Obsessively maintained, then.

Big hammer, tow rope, angle grinder?

 

Lucky barsteward.

That'll be my guess as well.

'ello. Morini still running, I assume? Have followed your exploits on
Realclassic...

 

Morini still running, I assume?

Indeed, better than ever. I keep finding things that'll need doing when
I strip it down to do some major work, but the need for major work has
yet to arise, despite the best efforts of myself and Cadwell Park.

The next installment will be all about removing a flywheel which has a
stripped puller thread. Hours of endless fun involving various
pwertools and - ultimately - a spot of welding...

 

Well, that doesn't sound too bad then...

Ouch. Nevermind, I'm looking forward to it.

 

The next installment will be all about removing a flywheel which has a

Ok, here goes.

Set about fitting a new cam belt yesterday.

And it was all going so well, too...

http://www.realclassic.co.uk/morini06051101.html