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Land Speed Racing: Guzzi Rebuild

Tonerjockey

New member
Joined
Jun 11, 2008
Location
The edge of Bankruptcy
Moto(s)
Street and LSR
Hey Barferz,

I thought there might be a Guzzista out here who might like to see some pics from a '73 Guzzi V7 Sport rebuild. The intention of this effort was to capture the 750cc P-PP class land speed record. So... it's a work in progress.

Starting off. I bought the V7 Sport as a basket case on Ebay 9 years ago and it sat in various places around the house for 8 years... dissasembled.

The frame had some ughly spots:

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I dunno what that was all about. Moto-Italiano shopped out the reweld. After cleanup and paint the frame turned out beautiful in red.

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The engine was salvageable. Here's the timing chest with early drive gears. Later in the next production year, in the Eldorado, Guzzi went to a timing chain with a notoriously dissintagratable tensioner. I feel pretty confident that these gears will last the life of the bike. Timing is a breeze and the marks don't dance as they can with the timing chain (in my Eldo).

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Here is the chest later:

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The heads were workeable as well. Little did I know that I installed a problem in this step that was to bite me later. Here is one of the heads as recieved.

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Here is the crank with con rods:

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Here's the trans. Gears look OK. Shimming is always a pain to me. I still need to fine tune 3rd gear.

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Gotta true the wheels:

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After buffing the brass nipples, lacquer looks nice but I don't think I'll do that again. It's a lot of work and the lacquer comes off when the rim is trued:

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So anyway... I got the engine assembled for a base test. All stock. New pistons, rings etc. Valves by Gromm. Looks OK.

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So I go to the Dyno and get an very uninspiring 40HP. I had another set of heads with better valves (?). While swapping them out I noticed media from media blasting in the bushings for the rocker pivot pins!!!! #$%^&*(*

Engine out and appart. Scrub clean, new oil pump, new rod bearings, all new seals and gaskets. Mains escaped unscathed fortunately.

More pics later if you like.

Tonerjockey
 
That is great! I love the Guzzi. Wish I had one. Thank you for the photos. MORE please.
 
How much dust from the media blasting did it take to cook the head? Any guess where it came from? I ask b/c I just put together a rebuilt top end on an old bike and had previously had the head media blasted...i think it was glass. Took for ever to clean it with spray contact cleaner and air, but still one of those things that I worry about when it comes time to fire her up...

By the way, keep the pictures and narrative coming, these threads are always a small treasure to come across!
 
I've always thought it would cool to own a goose. Great post. Keep it coming!
 
Right on Toner Jockey... good to have you posting..and glad to be a small part of your effort :thumbup

Nice to see the little barf logo on the bike ;)

Chase it baby... looking forward to more!

:smoking
 
SWEET!!!! :thumbup

I too have a '73 V7 Sport that is in many parts and someday will be on the road....just gotta find more money and time :rolleyes

So what did you use to clean up the cases and other parts?
 
Talked to Toner Jockey last night.. and he is scrambling to get a part fixed for next weeks racing.. He had is Rod's/Crank in his back pack and was searching for help..

That thing looked like it came from a car :wow Good luck man.. I hope my suggested savior and savyour ass!

:smoking
 
Land Speed Racing V7 Sport

Hey All Y'all

I am consolidating the LSR thing and will soon post my Big Adventures @ Bonneville.

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For now though I am tied up in having rolling shutters installed on my house to prevent yet another break in.

Tonerjockey
 
Cool, I was wondering what was up the past 2 months. Post it!
 
Are you going to the BUB event? We are starting out tomorrow at 0 dark thirty for the 9 hour ride. Will look for Guzzi in the pits. We will have a twin engine 305 Superhawk to run Weds. Just follow the people pointing and laughing to find us...
 
Looking forward to it!!..

Got the pic.. thanks! Very cool of you to do that.

I am sure he will post it in the thread.. nice shot of him on the Guzzi.. on the salt :thumbup

:smoking
 
Bonneville Speed Week 2008

We ran 2 vehicles at 2008 Bonneville Speed Week. A lakester and a Guzzi V7 Sport. Here’s some of the story…

The Guzzi ran 112 at EL Mirage and even though I beat the outside temperature (111 F) I needed 16 more MPH for the record. The bike would rev to 6200 RPM at speed and no more.

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My handy dandy Guzzi Gear spreadsheets tell me that I need to get over 7000 RPM in 5th to get near the record. That assumes perfect traction, no clutch slip etc. I figure 7500 RPM should do it.

Back in the shop (aka my garage) checking over the engine I measured .025” or so in the wrist pins. That would explain some of the irritating noise (my Eldo also has this one in its symphony of sounds). After looking around locally for someone who could (would) make up some wrist pin bushings for me I ordered a pair of Carrillo rods. Later I found the bushings at MG Cycle. BTW MG has become my main source for Guzzi parts. Absolutely flawless execution, the guys know more about Guzzi’s than I ever will, and they seem to have what I need in stock. Now if they would only move to the Bay Area so I can get around the shipping cost and delay… but I don’t think anything can get them out of their corn field. Great shop too… give ‘em a call next time yer in Albany Wi. Bring “good” beer.

So back to the V7 Sport… CP Pistons agreed to sponsor me and make up 4 custom pistons (min order). The Megacycle Cam lady told me “sorry, we don’t provide that service anymore” when I called them for a cam. Mike Rich Motorsports had an interesting cam and he shipped it fast! Nice. The cam has a grind that looks to give me good breathing at about 7500 to 8000 RPM.

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The cylinders got shipped to Millennium Technologies for a Nikisil treatment. I sent a spare set of T3 (83mm) cylinders and they Nikisiled them to 82.5mm for the 750cc class. Millennium provides fast service and excellent communication. I have since sent another set of cylinders to them because I liked their product so much.

While at El Mirage Bill Ross http://teamsubtlecrowbar.pitpilot.com/about/ross.htm introduced me to Phil Wyatt of Performance Induction. Phil received a pair of heads to do his magic.
So I’m ready to put parts in and Speed Week rolls around. The only new parts I had were the rods. In they go (this particular noise addressed) and away we go.

It seems that Glen and I have a gremlin that follows us to races. Every time we travel we experience some sort of vehicular cessation. This time I implemented a strategy to fool the gods of the highway. Glen bought a replacement dually (big pick-em-up). To misdirect the upcoming breakdown I sat in the old one (La Machine) and acted like we were gunna take it to Bonneville. Then we left in the other vehicles. While I still think this was a good strategy, we still broke down en route.

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This time the RV lost a chrome wheel ring which cut the valve stems. Excitement at Donner’s Pass. Also the radiator overflow bottle cracked causing a visit to our friends.

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The RV wouldn’t crank so a replacement battery was obtained. Lee discovered a loose ground connector and resolved the starting problem. And of course the socket set was dropped initiation a rousing game of find the sockets in, under and around the RV… in the heat.



Speed Week Tech Inspection began on Sunday.

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We arrived on Saturday evening and began the “you SAID you had rooms for us” routine.
Sunday AM finds us on the salt setting up the pits. I stored my bike (685B) in Glen’s box trailer. Glen’s lakester (6060) was on the tarp. Cliff Gullett (7070) was next to us, and Jack Costella (5050) was next to him. Thanks to Jack we had great pit location.

It was typical temps but the sun made it seem even hotter. I guess it was in the low 90’s in the shade… but there wasn’t any shade.

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3 courses were set up at Bonneville this time. The long course for highest speed racers, the short course and a duplicate short course called The Special. My 1st run with the Guzzi was on the Special course.

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The bike ran smoothly but an unsatisfactory 109 MPH. I got 6200 RPM max. again.
My next run was on the Short Course. I stayed in 4rth and revved to 7500 but could not better the 109 speed. An additional run on the Short course confirmed it. I needed more horsepower. I couldn’t get past 109 MPH in those conditions.

Remembering my friend Budman’s suggestion about “sucking paint” I practiced my tuck. I was able to put the face shield on the helmet onto the fill cap of the tank. I guess loosing 25 pounds and wearing my old Schwaben Leders helped after all. While in this position, I couldn’t see in front of me so I followed some tracks in the salt made by previous travelers. This felt good until I looked up and found I was headed towards the black line of the track’s edge. A nice easy shift of weight and we went back to center… at 109 MPh.

In an another effort to gain speed through weight loss I replaced the 22 pound battery with a 8oz 50,000 mfd computer grade capacitor.
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This necessitated an outboard power source to start the bike. We went green this time by putting a solar panel on the battery cart to keep it charged up. My Rube Goldberg mounting system was awkward but I Liked the idea.

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The lakester wasn’t running well. The speed didn’t change after changing the axle sprocket, which is not a fun job on the salt. The culprit was identified as something got loose in one cylinder. That was the end of Speed Week for the lakester.

Two days of driving and we are back home in California. My brother George, flew out from Chicagoland for the event. He’ll have some stories for his family and friends when he gets home.

Now to put some parts into the Guzzi. Pistons arrived but for some mysterious reason they cut the intake valve reliefs 90 degrees off.
I guess they didn’t pay much attention to the sample piston I supplied them. New new pistons currently being fabricated. Looks like I’ll miss El Mirage for September.

New cam arrived, looks great. New lifters and followers from MG right on time. Millennium is Nikisiling another set of cylinders to CP Piston spec. The heads are due from Phil this week.
I’ll need to fly cut the new new pistons for the head/valve/cam combination when everything gets here.

On a tragic note Cliff Gullett died during Bub races, two weeks after Speed Week. Cliff's streamliner motorcycle crashed after proving his record run.
Here's a pic of Jack Costella watching his team mate Cliff set another record during Speed Week in the Costella/Gullett 7070 Streamliner.

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More soon... I'm out of space
 
Last edited:
B S W 08

Lots of great bikes and cars ran during Speed Week:

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A rubber band powered car:

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Some folks got salt on their vehicles:

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Thanks to all my sponsors and supporters. This is a dream come true for me.

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Tonerjockey
 
Hey Mtn Rider,

I buffed the shiney parts with various wheels and rouges. The rest I blasted with the lightest media I could find. I strongly suggest you DO NOT MEDIA BLAST THE HEADS. It has taken me many hundreds of dollars and way too much time to get that crap out of there.

Lemme know if I can help,

Tonerjockey
 
Nice :thumbup

Rubber band car :wtf

Suck paint.. but look where your going.. :teeth

Check out the little black barf logo between TJ's legs..

Living a dream is always a damn good thing.

:smoking
 
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