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1973 Moto Guzzi Eldorado!

Cabrito said:
Always look at the bright side of life (cue the music)

Was it easy to identify the cylinder that failed?
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Yes, once I pushed it off the frwy and calmed down a bit, I tried to start it again. It fired right up and was blowing exhaust out on my leg and a little piece of head gasket was flapping in the wind. :laughing

I knew then I hadn't melted the piston at least.

I'll be pulling the other head too.
 
obligatory can of penetrating oil in background. :thumbup

have a bit of time to get her fixed before the September assault on Wild Plum. pretty sure EDCo would make short work of that crack. :ride
 
After further inspection I’ll be ordering a new piston and sending the jug and head to Millenium for fresh nikasil plating and head repair. I’ll pull the other side next to make sure it’s good to go.
 
A good thread and an entertaining read, Dan. You have a fun project and I like your spirit in the face of mechanical adversity.
I knew what happened after reading John's Easter Ride thread first. Knowing that from the beginning reminded me of some of the old horror movies as you were discussing the symptoms of the possible detonation issue earlier in this thread. I confess I had an uncomfortable feeling of "Don't go in to that room!" after learning what you were about to find out.
Please keep the pictures and narrative coming as you progress through this project. :thumbup
 
Thanks Jeff! Lol. Don’t do it!! Is that bike gonna die??!

Got sucked in to work this week. Hoping to pull the other cylinder and see how it is tomorrow. Hope it’s fine and I can ship the other one off ASAP.
 
Pushrod said:
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.
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I think there were many older motorcycles that had manual spark advance back in the day. My 1968 XLCH Sportster had a spark advance/retard with the left handlebar grip.

Iron clad rule: fully retard the timing BEFORE attempting to kick start otherwise you would get a sharp kickback. The trick was to advance timing as you accelerated to match the timing to the throttle.

Also, if you wanted to idle through town at a low rpm, you could dial back the timing for a smooth lope along.

Dan
 
Work has been getting in the way of too much of my moto time lately so the Guzzi has been sitting. Today I ordered a 950 kit from Cycle Garden and dropped my heads off at Edco! Hopefully in a few weeks I'll have everything ready to go and get this thing back together. I'll post here when it happens.

The left head has a small crack that needs repair and it needs to be resurfaced at a minimum. Hopefully the valve seat isn't damaged but either way Edco can handle it all.
 
Update on the Eldorado! Heads are fully repaired and rebuilt! 950 kit arrived as well as carb rebuild kits. Petcocks are suspect as is fuel line so new stuff coming in the mail. Also ordered pertronix ingition kit for it which should be here in about a week.

The engine is all back together and ready to go but I'm not going to fire it up until the petcocks and fuel lines are replaced incase they were part of the lean condition that cause the problem in the first place.

Also found a very clean set of Wixom bags that are black with white pin striping! They were not cheap but the bike will look complete and they will be useful on overnight trips that are coming up soon!

I'll report back after the first start up hopefully next week! Super excited to have this one dialed. May have another project arriving soon, but I should get on the xl350 and triumph instead of buying another bike. :laughing
 
I'll get a video of it once its done!

So the 950 kit uses steel liners and comes with jugs pistons gaskets etc. so didn't have to repair my cylinders. They went to Cyclegarden as cores.

Edco rebuilt the heads. New valves, seals, crack repair, one new seat, helicoil, resurfaced, all for just over a grand. 950 kit was $1200 so overall it cost more than I paid for the bike but I'm still super happy.

Tracking shows the petcocks and fuel line arriving Monday. :thumbup

These are the bags. They are supposed to be here Thursday.

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Petcocks and fuel lines showed up today. Got them installed and fired it up for first heat cycle! It’s alive!! Sounds good an idles nicely. I think these pistons are balanced better than the last set was. It’s much smoother idle than before.

https://youtube.com/shorts/BzB5ck-uA9k?feature=share

I’ll retorque heads and adjust valves and take it for the first ride hopefully tomorrow before work. :thumbup
 
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1962siia said:
Petcocks and fuel lines showed up today. Got them installed and fired it up for first heat cycle! It’s alive!! Sounds good an idles nicely. I think these pistons are balanced better than the last set was. It’s much smoother idle than before.

https://youtube.com/shorts/BzB5ck-uA9k?feature=share

[YOUTUBE]BzB5ck-uA9k[/YOUTUBE]

I’ll retorque heads and adjust valves and take it for the first ride hopefully tomorrow before work. :thumbup
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so awesome ... :thumbup
 
First ride this morning. Definitely more smooth and powerful than before. I'm still having petcock issues most likely from crap in the tank still. Ordered new seals for my old petcocks and going back to them. If I'm not on reserve all was good with the new ones.

Also just ordered a pile of parts from McMaster Carr to go full heim joint for rear brake and shift linkage. Its just way to sloppy for my liking. Headers were the same temp when I got home so that made me feel good. Next up retorque again, adjust valves, oil change and clean oil pan.
:thumbup
 
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Congratulations on a really nice bike!

Battery holder: I had the same problem on my Aermacchi. Got a new truck innertube for about eight dollars, cut it up and used it to pad the battery holder. Battery not only now fits, but is insulated from vibration.

I would replace both tires and any tubing. Rubber has a half life. One of the guys in my club put his wife in the hospital when the twenty year old tires on his ride split down the middle.
 
Norton Margie said:
Congratulations on a really nice bike!

Battery holder: I had the same problem on my Aermacchi. Got a new truck innertube for about eight dollars, cut it up and used it to pad the battery holder. Battery not only now fits, but is insulated from vibration.

I would replace both tires and any tubing. Rubber has a half life. One of the guys in my club put his wife in the hospital when the twenty year old tires on his ride split down the middle.
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Not bad idea to replace the tires. I’ll probably do that soon too. These ones look good to me but they are 7-8years old I believe. So did you check out my aermacchi thread?

https://bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=524537
 
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Ok so I retorqued the heads again, reset the valves, pulled the oil pan and cleaned it and the “filter”. Messed with the carbs a bit. I’m now about 1/2 turn further out on the mixture screw on left side and 1/4 turn further out on the right side than I was before. Just got back from 15 mile loop which included the Cotati grade in fifth gear. It pulled up the hill with no trouble. It sounds happy as a clam and I didn’t hear any detonation at all. Plugs are cocoa brown. I’m calling it good to go.

My wixom bags showed up today. One of them is missing the signal lens which is annoying since they both had them in the pics. I found one on eBay for $9 so no biggie.

Hoping my electronic ignition shows up soon but other than that I think I’m good for a while.

Next up is full seat because mrs1962 wants to go for a ride!

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