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1973 Moto Guzzi Eldorado!

So after rinsing I poured in about 500ml of acetone and half a jug of marvel mystery oil and sloshed it around. I think that would have been good enough and the fogging oil was just extra. You could drain rinse and coat in less than an hour for sure.
 
This morning I checked the valves and they were all just a skosh tight. Now they’re perfect. Hoping to ride the bike this weekend. Super happy with purchase and resurrection. Thanks all. :thumbup
 
Muriatic acid takes minutes to do a more thorough job than vinegar.
Just be sure not to leave the bare metal afterwards as it will flash rust badly after the h20 rinse.
 
Took the bike on a 70 miles shakedown ride today. Headed west through Sonoma Co. out to Tomales and south on 1 to Marshall and then east into Novato. Bike ran great! Took 101 north back home and it felt good on the freeway too, but I might have been hearing detonation on the Cotati grade. Not sure, could have just been valve noise because these bikes are pretty clacky. I'll double check the timing. Anyway its a blast to ride!
 
1962siia said:
Bike ran great! Took 101 north back home and it felt good on the freeway too, but I might have been hearing detonation on the Cotati grade. Not sure, could have just been valve noise because these bikes are pretty clacky. I'll double check the timing. Anyway its a blast to ride!
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:thumbup

Appearing outwardly unchanged from the Ambassador, the Eldorado nonetheless featured a number of significant upgrades. Combined with the 83 mm bore used to boost the Ambassador's output, Guzzi's engineers stroked the Eldorado's all alloy, 90-degree twin to 78mm, bumping displacement to 844 cc. New pistons raised the compression ratio to 9.2:1, giving the Eldorado a healthy 64.5 (crankshaft) horsepower at 6500 rpm.
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wonderful motorcycle you have there. :ride

wonder if the owner’s manual calls for high-test gasoline ...? :dunno
 
I run premium in all my bikes. Not sure what the manual calls for but I'll look. So one of my buddies was checking out the bike today and noticed a small sticker on the rear fender "Moto Guzzi Classics". I hadn't noticed it before but they are a shop in Long Beach that restores loop frame Guzzi's. I assume they are who did this one. I'm going to call them next week to see if they keep records. I've love to know what was done to the bike.
 
sounds like you’re wiser than I am, running premium whenever you can get it is probably cheap insurance. :thumbup

be cool and fun to run down the records from Moto Guzz Classics for your bike.

really admire you guys who can hear what your engine is trying to tell you. have learned about myself that I’m a blissfully-run-it-until-catastrophic-failure kinda guy. :laughing:facepalm
 
:laughing Sometimes I think I'm overly concerned about the noises I'm hearing. First time I took the xr650r to baja it had an aluminum skid plate and I spent the whole trip worried it was about to blow up. I put the stock plastic one on after the trip and the noise went away. :laughing

Not sure what I was hearing today but it was either the valves being clacky or pinging, I think. Tough to tell on a loud bike, on the frwy with no earplugs in, but it didn't seem to do it going down hill, only heard it pushing it up hill. Its got so much torque I might have been a gear to high. It doesn't have a tach so hard to really tell. Probably need to have someone who knows these bikes ride it.
 
1962siia said:
:laughing Sometimes I think I'm overly concerned about the noises I'm hearing. First time I took the xr650r to baja it had an aluminum skid plate and I spent the whole trip worried it was about to blow up. I put the stock plastic one on after the trip and the noise went away. :laughing

Not sure what I was hearing today but it was either the valves being clacky or pinging, I think. Tough to tell on a loud bike, on the frwy with no earplugs in, but it didn't seem to do it going down hill, only heard it pushing it up hill. Its got so much torque I might have been a gear to high. It doesn't have a tach so hard to really tell. Probably need to have someone who knows these bikes ride it.
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You can induce pinging by subtle changes in throttle under load. Valves will make noise no matter the load and may be more prominent at a given rpm.

My Dad used to use pinging to adjust the timing on our cars back in the day. It would take him a few hours (run test, stop, open hood, shift distributor, close hood, re-run test, etc., etc.). He even designed a cockpit adjustable distributor timing control on his F-350 truck used to tow a 5th wheeler.

Dan
 
1962siia said:
:laughing Sometimes I think I'm overly concerned about the noises I'm hearing. First time I took the xr650r to baja it had an aluminum skid plate and I spent the whole trip worried it was about to blow up. I put the stock plastic one on after the trip and the noise went away. :laughing

Not sure what I was hearing today but it was either the valves being clacky or pinging, I think. Tough to tell on a loud bike, on the frwy with no earplugs in, but it didn't seem to do it going down hill, only heard it pushing it up hill. Its got so much torque I might have been a gear to high. It doesn't have a tach so hard to really tell. Probably need to have someone who knows these bikes ride it.
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It's great that you're able to get out and ride it. It looks awesome.

I remember on a trip with my KLR where I didn't have my helmet on while moving it a few hundred yards and I thought for sure it was about to explode because I wasn't used to hearing the actual sounds of the engine :teeth
 
Thanks man! So I pulled the plugs and they looked awesome. I'm going to check the valves again, and recheck the timing and wear earplugs next time. :laughing
 
berth said:
Heck, the book probably says "Ethyl".
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Exactly. The oil specifications are brand specific like shell superoil or something like that. lol
 
So I reached out to Moto Guzzi Classics in southern california and spoke to the owner Mark. Really friendly guy and he said the bike is clearly one of his complete restorations. He doesn't remember the bike but can tell from looking at it that is one of his from back in the nineties. I'm super stoked and now have a reason for a leisurely ride down the coast some day. He gave me some tips on getting the tool box lid open with out the key so I can take it to a locksmith. :thumbup
 
bergmen said:
You can induce pinging by subtle changes in throttle under load. Valves will make noise no matter the load and may be more prominent at a given rpm.

My Dad used to use pinging to adjust the timing on our cars back in the day. It would take him a few hours (run test, stop, open hood, shift distributor, close hood, re-run test, etc., etc.). He even designed a cockpit adjustable distributor timing control on his F-350 truck used to tow a 5th wheeler.

Dan
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In 1962 my father had a motorcycle that had spark advance on the handlebar. It was black magic to me when he would make minute adjustments to get it to start and then run smooth. Don't recall the make but it was a big, burly thing (we were in Belgium) that rattled on the cobblestones.
 
I replaced the plugs which where ngk bp5es with the proper bpr6es plugs. Messed with the carbs a little bit in the drive way and it was a little lean so richened it up a bit. Felt good on the little blast around the block between rain.

Also installed rubber boots over the battery terminals.

Looking forward to a sunny day so I can get it out and stretch its legs again!

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Tried to ride the Guzzi on the Easter Ride to the top of Mt Tam this morning but the bike died on me in Larkspur. I thought I was hearing detonation as I mentioned earlier in this thread, but it may have actually been the head gasket going. Today it went!

Thanks to Mrs1962 for coming to get me a zero dark thirty! :love

Here are some pics of the carnage. Cylinder wall has a couple tiny scratches, presumably from gasket material getting munched up in there. Not sure what I'll do about that yet, and the head is cracked at the spark plug hole. Will definitely repair or replace this.

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Fack!! #vintagelife
 
I know right?! This doesn't seem as bad as when I fried the Aermacchi at least.
 
Always look at the bright side of life (cue the music)

Was it easy to identify the cylinder that failed?
 
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