1975 Moto Morini 3 1/2

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Thanks Charlie, I will take a look at your pictures for the rear brake.

The nut that secures the pickup over the cam, is this square sloted nut unique to the mechanical tach drive or is it common to all?

I am pretty sure it didn't come with the bike, the pickup and cover were bagged up in a parts box when I got the bike and the nylock nut I used was in the same bag. It does sound like something I could machine up.

The nut for the mechanical drive is unique to the models so fitted. I'm sure you could make one, the hardest part would be the square hole.

[Canuck750]

The nut for the mechanical drive is unique to the models so fitted. I'm sure you could make one, the hardest part would be the square hole.

 

[Canuck750]

Some small jobs got done today, stripped the control perches and cleaned them, fitted a new front brake micro switch



paint was falling off the Verlicchi throttle castings, stripped and powder coated them semi gloss black



cleaned and lubed the front brake and clutch cables, they look to be in good shape, reused them



Got a lot of the wire harnesses installed after a good cleaning and replacing some of the coroded or broken terminals



tail light and rear signal lights hooked up, I ran dedicated grounds to each signal light



I trial fitted the gas tank and seat, still lots to done: install exhaust, finish the carbs (once parts arrive) fit a signal light switch / flasher, etc..

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Looks great. If I ever do another one, it'll be that blue.

[Canuck750]

Looks great. If I ever do another one, it'll be that blue.

Thanks Charlie, I have never been a fan of blue vehicles but this colour suits the little Morini.

[guzziart]

Canuck,

Beautiful build!  Thanks for taking time to post pics & text.

Art

[Canuck750]

I struck out sourcing a new special nut for the end of the cam shaft to take the square tach drive stub so I decided to try and make one from 19mm round steel stock, the cam shaft end is 7mm x 1.0 so drilling and tapping a 12mm deep hole in the stock was the easy part, cutting the six flats for the nut in the milling machine was straight forward but how to make a 3mm square hole in the end of the nut??

YouTube knows everything and especially the site for Tubilcan, he has been posting metal making videos of the lathe and mill for a long time and his solution was clever, 1st cut a 3mm deep slot down the length of the prepared piece to the center plus 1/2 the width of the slot, so 8.5mm in this case for a 14mm face to face on the flats,



make a plug from 3mm flat stock and cut to fit, use a 3mm drill bit as a spacer then weld the slot in place and re-machine the surfaces



test fit and some hand file work and it fits good

the special cupped washer between the pick up rotor and the nut was missing, made a new one from brass stock



spin on the nut, shim the drive and button it up



cover on and cable fitted



I used some salvaged Guzzi bits to support the flasher



and wired in the front brake light



Hopefully the headers come in, supposed to arrive at the end of today

[Huzo]

Clearly not a comment on your work..
But how do you guys who use mph speedometers, EVER get accustomed to a tachometer with numbers like that ?


It never did, still doesn’t and never will make sense to have them so ostensibly similar. Why would they not have marked the face as (for example), 3 for 3000 or 4 for 4000…etc. and have “x 1000”
That tach looks so much like a speedo….

[Canuck750]

Clearly not a comment on your work..
But how do you guys who use mph speedometers, EVER get accustomed to a tachometer with numbers like that ?


It never did, still doesn’t and never will make sense to have them so ostensibly similar. Why would they not have marked the face as (for example), 3 for 3000 or 4 for 4000…etc. and have “x 1000”
That tach looks so much like a speedo….

Interesting observation Huzo, I agree the near identical face pattern between the two gauges is not a good design. I think that Guzzi used white faces for some of the tachs on the spine frame bikes to differentiate the instruments? I like how some bikes use a different diameters for the gauges as well as different face colours.

[Huzo]

Interesting observation Huzo, I agree the near identical face pattern between the two gauges is not a good design. I think that Guzzi used white faces for some of the tachs on the spine frame bikes to differentiate the instruments? I like how some bikes use a different diameters for the gauges as well as different face colours.

Yeah mate..
But even the single digit numbers around the perimeter would differentiate the two. Also if you let someone loose on your bike, you might say…
“Don’t rev it past 5….” (Meaning 5 x 1000)
Not.
“Don’t rev it past 50…” (Meaning 50 x 100)

But I guess it’s just part of the glorious quirky nature of these things. You would feel bereft if it were not thus.

[Canuck750]

Yeah mate..
But even the single digit numbers around the perimeter would differentiate the two. Also if you let someone loose on your bike, you might say…
“Don’t rev it past 5….” (Meaning 5 x 1000)
Not.
“Don’t rev it past 50…” (Meaning 50 x 100)

But I guess it’s just part of the glorious quirky nature of these things. You would feel bereft if it were not thus.

I have a bigger issue switching between left and right foot shit patterns, my Morini 500 and Laverda 750 are RH shift and the other bikes I have on the road are LH shift. Last summer I lost track of the number of times I was braking with the shift or trying to shift with the brake pedal. The odd thing is I got more used to RH shift bikes and was messing up the conventional shift / brake bikes. I got stuck at the traffic lights last summer wondering why my BMW K bike would not shift into gear as I stabbed away with my right foot on the brake, my buddy was killing himself laughing as I struggled through a traffic light, horns honking until he yelled OTHER FOOT!

[Huzo]

Funny thing.
When I finished this A65 years ago




It had a 1 up - 3 down pattern, right hand side.
For me, wrong side AND upside down and I had no problems although I was on my MV Agusta at the time.
I had more problems on my mate’s T 150 Trident with wrong side/correct pattern..1 down - 4 up….
There’s no comprehending.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

I have a bigger issue switching between left and right foot shit patterns, my Morini 500 and Laverda 750 are RH shift and the other bikes I have on the road are LH shift. Last summer I lost track of the number of times I was braking with the shift or trying to shift with the brake pedal. The odd thing is I got more used to RH shift bikes and was messing up the conventional shift / brake bikes. I got stuck at the traffic lights last summer wondering why my BMW K bike would not shift into gear as I stabbed away with my right foot on the brake, my buddy was killing himself laughing as I struggled through a traffic light, horns honking until he yelled OTHER FOOT!

You need a Convert to act as a "reset bike".  I find that if I ride my Convert in between right-foot-shift bikes and "normal" ones, it's easier to adapt for some reason. Maybe because the Convert requires little footwork.

[Canuck750]

You need a Convert to act as a "reset bike".  I find that if I ride my Convert in between right-foot-shift bikes and "normal" ones, it's easier to adapt for some reason. Maybe because the Convert requires little footwork.

I have never ridden or owned a Convert but they have always fascinated me since I first heard about them twenty years ago. I worked with a lady who once had one with a sidecar, she was a single mom with two kids and a motorcycle fanatic, both kids in the sidecar and off they would go on long trips, she said it was a great bike.

[Canuck750]

A box of new headers and cross over pipe arrived by DHL this morning from Italy, looks nice, only issue (like Charlie experienced) is the cross over is not slotted to compress the cross pipe over the header stubs, three quick cuts with a cut off wheel and that is taken care of. I also bought new exhaust port crown nuts to replace the chewed up originals.





I installed the left pipe 1st, the heat shield is giving up its chrome, may replate it or find a better one. The bike came with simple straight cut straps to support the mufflers, I had a pair of proper Moto Morini muffler hangers from my 500 build, just powder coated them and they do a proper job



right side no issues other than the crown nuts were very tight on both sides, I have a proper Morini exhuast nut tool so was able to tighten them snug without any damage to the crowns



The Italian's know their lines, the curve of the rear set hump swoops down towards the front and the seat meets the tank just so then swoops back up across the line of the tank, one curve from rear to the front rising slightly.
As much as I respect the Japanese bikes for thier engineering the Italians have them beat in design.



the mufflers are pretty nice, not perfect, a small dent on the left and some pitting on the undersides but too nice to replace

[Canuck750]

A few more little bits added, plastic chrome strip to the underside edge of the gas tank (the cheap stuff from an autoparts store)



The carb air filter side alloy flange extensions arrived today so I can attach the hose clamps to the rubber intake boots and I found a decent pair of manual petcocks in my stash that fit



I don't think I am going to bother refitting the electronic petcock, never liked them anyways.

So just waiting on a reproduction tail light, throttle cables, carb intake manifold gaskets, needles and atomizers, charge up a battery and cross my fingers that it will start, that won't happen until early June, heading off on holidays on Friday (being retired can I even call it a holiday anymore?)

[Canuck750]

Last night a package arrived from Mdina Italy plus more carb parts from Eurocarb in the UK, all but the tail light arrived.



Gaskets for the intake manifolds. main jets, needle and atomizer, some hardware, throttle cables

I flat sanded the manifold mating faces on a piece of 220 paper on a sheet of glass,



glad I did there were serious high spots where the bolts pass through, a pass of blue marker



And sanded out, I flat sanded the plastic insulation block as well



gaskets and O rings



thread sealer on the male stub that threads into the head



new internals



set the float at 10mm to the center line of the float



the ferules on the new cables were of a slightly larger diameter so that they could not neatly seat into the plastic throttle guide, I drilled out the plastic to 6.2mm



the cables were made just a bit too short to get any slack in the cable at the carb, I milled 2mm off the carb top cap stub



Carb set back on the manifolds, everything tightened up and about 4mm of cable slack at the carb, the rubber boot to air filter is seating properly



I attached the battery and everything worked except for the horn was blaring and the rear stop switch was not functioning, I had not grounded the horn properly, easy fix

The rear stop switch didn't work because the bracket was so bent the push rod to the switch would not engage, straightened the bracket in the vice and then the switch worked fine



fitted the fuel hoses and cut down an old Moto Guzzi rubber battery tray to fit the Morini battery tray, temporary battery tie down strap made up, pulled off the emblems and applied new mounting tape and other than the tail light that's about it

Last thing I did was test for spark, hurrah! it sparks, fitted new plugs and there it sits until I get back from vacation in June



and the weight (no gas but battery and oil included) is 325 lbs on the nose

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Your cables fit much better than (the first set of) mine did. Mdina supplied Venhill cables and they had at least 10 mm too little free length. I sent the originals to Barnett and they got it right.

When I tried to drill the plastic block they go into, it snapped, was previously repaired.

Looking great!

[Canuck750]

Thanks Charlie!

[Canuck750]

I finally got the Morini running this afternoon, it's been a bit of a struggle, I had to pull the motor apart, the shift drum was binding and I needed to fit a thick case to case gasket to get sufficient end play on the drum shaft. Struggled to get a strong spark, went the trough all the wiring again, replaced almost all the female blade connectors with new brass crimped on pieces, tore apart the ignition switch and cleaned it, replaced the spark plug wires and finally replaced the pick up unit with a new one, problem solved. Starts and restarts easily, idle is a bit faster than I would like, I need to work on the fuel mixtures, sync the carbs and I think the timing is still a wee bit off, My strobe was only able to get near where the advance mark was indicated on the rotor. I need to get it on the road next week and see how it runs under load.

The only thing I can't get to work properly is the electric petcock, despite taking it apart and cleaning it the solenoid is not strong enough, it clicks but it won't allow the rubber diaphragm to release. Not that it is necessary but I think its a cool little feature and would like to get a working unit. The mechanical tach works great, my little home made coupling nut works ok.

[berniebee]

The bike looks fabulous! It's really interesting to follow the progress.