Charlie's "Ambovert" build thread.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Motivational bump 


Hope all is well!

Spring has fully sprung and with it lots of yard work, clean-up and repairs. Several customer projects taking much longer than they should. Oldest sister Holly passed May 15th after a battle with cancer, she was under Hospice care here for about a month. Been riding quite a bit as well. Not real motivated to do much of anything except ride of late...

[smdl]

Very sorry to hear about your sister's passing, Charlie.  Riding can be good for the soul, so I'm glad you are finding some time to fit it in.

Shaun

[Groover]

Very sorry to hear Charlie. Hang in there.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Update: the front fender situation was holding me up a bit, so I did something about it. All of the fenders I had were going to need modification and a good bit of metalwork to bring them up to the level I wanted. So, just on a whim, I posted a message looking for disc Eldo fender braces on the Facebook "Moto Guzzi Bikes & Parts" page and it was suggested that the California II braces and fender would work. Joel Cooper responded that he had the whole works, so after a bit of checking to make sure it could work, I bought the Cal II fender and braces from him for a very reasonable cost. It arrived Saturday, very well packaged and in nice condition. Thanks Joel! After supper I went back out and installed it to see how it fit.



First, I had to swap my lowers left-to-right - I had planned to use modified drum-brake braces and mount the calipers behind the forks, the Cal II fender requires that they be in front. After that the fender slipped right on and I loosely mounted it just at the center. The fit of the wheel into the forks is so close that the bolts securing the braces to the lowers couldn't be inserted until after the wheel is in place. Wheel in place, it looks pretty good, but slightly low at the center mount.



Sure enough, measuring the center of the axle-to-lower edge of the fender distance on my Ambassador and comparing it to the Cal II fender distance, I found that it's about 3/4" too low. I could cut and weld to extend the center mounts, but that would destroy the (quite nice) chrome plating on them. Instead I will most likely make a simple bolt-on adapter plate to raise it.

The decision I have to make now is: chrome or no chrome? The chrome on the Cal II fender is very nice and it would be a shame to paint over it. However, the chrome totally changes the looks of the front end. I'm leaning towards leaving the chrome at this point.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Guess I should probably rename this thread. After a lot of deliberation, I decided that this project will take a different path than originally intended. I was building this for myself, but now I've decided it will be sold when finished to fund other things. In order to maximize the number of prospective buyers, I think the 'Vert part had to go. Let's face it - there's only a small sub-section of the already small Guzzi population that would want a Convert, much less a Convert drive in a Loop frame. I'll probably keep all of the Loop-vert stuff I made around and might eventually build one.

Anywho, out with the 'Vert transmission and in with a T3 five speed I bought from Dave W.



Some modifications do need to be made of course. The T3 rear cover has the casting to support the inner end of the shift shaft, but it's not machined. Plus, the speedometer drive is at a more vertical angle than the Eldo five speed, so a hole will need to be drilled in the battery tray to accommodate it and a smaller battery or different orientation will be necessary.



From the start I planned to use a Valeo-type starter, which is nice because it will draw less current, making it easier on a smaller battery, plus it clears the battery tray without any cutting.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Looks nice, Charlie.. I've forgotten. Is that a soda blast finish?

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Looks nice, Charlie.. I've forgotten. Is that a soda blast finish?

Yep.

[Groover]

Sounds like a great plan for the new intent. As far as the name goes, you can call it "Ambovert-ical T3 angled speedometer drive hole", keeps the "Vert" in there :-)

Happy holidays!