Guzzi 1100 custom build

[SIR REAL ED]

here it is finished...  just waiting on a small part to get it running, which is very frustrating!

Looks fantastic!  The color seems reminiscent of Laverda orange but even richer and deeper!

Do you have a specific paint spec/color code you could share?

The silver frame looks great!  The orange and silver combination has me rethinking some potential future projects!

Thanks for sharing.  Looking at the machine tools some people have always makes me (a hacksaw and file guy) realize he was born at the wrong time and place!!

 

[2WheelsUp]

Just saw the finished build... spectacular! Love your minimalist style, looking forward to some riding videos.

[buzzer]

Looks fantastic!  The color seems reminiscent of Laverda orange but even richer and deeper!

Do you have a specific paint spec/color code you could share?

The silver frame looks great!  The orange and silver combination has me rethinking some potential future projects!

Thanks for sharing.  Looking at the machine tools some people have always makes me (a hacksaw and file guy) realize he was born at the wrong time and place!!

 

Thanks!  the colour is RAL 2008, and is Laverda Orange...  way back in the 80's I used to do paintwork for Slaters here in the UK.  I have painted MANY jota tanks and side panels / seat humps.  Back then I had three shades of Orange to chose from, as many Jotas were different shades.  I remember going in the show room one day and he had 5 Jotas in a line, and an SFC...  they were all different shades!  It amuses me no end on the Laverda forums the argument over what it the "true" laverda orange!

As an aside, a bit of a story...   I went to take some paintwork back one day and Richard Slater was moaning about the fact he had quite a few bikes off the road waiting for rearset mounting plates...  if a bike fell over it would often break the plate...  I asked him if I could have a pair of broken plates, and took them home, welded them up (gas in those days!)  and sprayed them with spraying filler, and smoothed them off. The reason for the filler was alloy shrinks by 1/77th when you cast it.   At the time I had a small furnace in the back garden and some casting equipment...  so I used the repaired plates as patterns to cast up some new ones!  I machined them up, and took him a batch in, he was over the moon!  I left with some broken wheels to melt down with instructions to make another batch... Over the next 12 months I made loads as I was cheaper!

on the back of the patterns I had scratched "TL" which are my initials...  so whenever I see a Laverda with rearsets I always have a look to see if they are mine.  I have only ever found a few sets...  this is quite a treasured photo, we didn't have the luxury of digital in those days!

[SIR REAL ED]

Thanks!  the colour is RAL 2008, and is Laverda Orange...  way back in the 80's I used to do paintwork for Slaters here in the UK.  I have painted MANY jota tanks and side panels / seat humps.  Back then I had three shades of Orange to chose from, as many Jotas were different shades.  I remember going in the show room one day and he had 5 Jotas in a line, and an SFC...  they were all different shades!  It amuses me no end on the Laverda forums the argument over what it the "true" laverda orange!

Thanks for the information.  Orange has been my favorite color since childhood.

The Laverda orange paint story sounds "typically Italian!"  Reminds me of searching for "British Racing Green" paint!

You would probably greatly enjoy the AF1 forum on the Aprilia RXV/SXV bikes.  They have some stories to tell about consistency of Italian manufacturing.

The above picture of the MG reminds me of two quotes:

"The greatest artist is the simplifier!" - Vincent Van Gogh
"Everything should be as simple as possible but no simpler!" - Albert Einstein

[El Vikingo Tropical]

I use to follow your build’s at Ducati forums, admiring your great skills making your orange bikes, This Guzzi is no exception, just stunning 

[buzzer]

Thanks for the kind comments guys...

The front under the headlight didn’t look right, so I made a plate and etched a Guzzi badge on it, I am still amazed how well the etching works!

Here is the video of it running, followed by some photos that tell the story of its build… Its -5 this afternoon on the drive, so It wont be up the road for a while!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfrFwwEUpfk

[Huzo]

I thought I was in love before…
But now that she’s whispered into my ear, all I need is a wink….(That’s with an “i” not an “a”…) 

[balvenie]

buzzer,
Your bike sounds so much better than my old Cali
Thanks for the video

[Pescatore]

Hi Buzzer,
Do you have the stickers made or print them yourself?
I am looking for that letter font with the fat diagonal line of the "Z".
I'd like to make a sticker applied over paint.

I'm amazed how well the eagle came out. Any tips on making that sticker?
Thanks,
P

Thanks for the kind comments guys...

[buzzer]

Hi Buzzer,
Do you have the stickers made or print them yourself?
I am looking for that letter font with the fat diagonal line of the "Z".
I'd like to make a sticker applied over paint.

I'm amazed how well the eagle came out. Any tips on making that sticker?
Thanks,
P

I have a local lad that has a vinyl cutting printer...  I just send him what I want cutting out, in a JPG file format and he seems to be able to cut anything!  so if I send a Ducati logo, he cuts out what I want and I stick it on and peel off to make the mask. its really cheap as well! 

well my Guzzi build has come to an end, and is now in the back of the workshop waiting for some good weather.  So onto the next project which I bought 3 months ago...  this will be Ducati number 10, but I want to do something a bit different this time.  It came with a pile of tasty parts, some brand new...  there are lightweight forged wheels, big front brakes, Ohlins suspension, which will go to making a quick and light bike.

I have ordered a load of stuff, but due to strikes and the time of year nothing will be here till the new year… so the first job on this build was to make the throttle of all things. I made similar for the Guzzi build and it worked well, so this is an enhanced version of that with a slightly smaller cable wheel as the Guzzi throttle is a little too quick… I refined my silver soldering technique after watching the repair shop, and I have to say it worked rather well!







https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa-uJj8be10

[buzzer]

As I wanted this to be different to the other builds, I tried several other tanks… I had an ST4 tank and a Monster tank that had too many holes to repair, so I cut these down… while I liked the ST tank, I couldn’t get the seat to tie in… I didn’t like the monster tank… So off to the bike breakers… he gave me the key to his storage unit...  and said "say hi to the ghost!"


I walked around looking at the hundreds of tanks in there, discounting the plastic ones, of which there were many… the slope of the frame makes the choices limited...  Nothing took my eye.  Its a VERY old building though, and I have to say it spooked me somewhat being in there on my own, lots of creaking noises, and scuttling sounds which were probably rats...  I didn't stay longer than I needed!

In the end I went back to the 999 tank I have used before. Another with some holes in the bottom where its rusted out.

[buzzer]

While I love the look of a nice velocity stack they are not really practical for the road, hence while I make them for the photos I take, I like to use foam filters on the road. this of course means I need some suitable adaptors, which although you can buy them are REALLY expensive. these took a while to machine out of billet! I sometimes get asked where I get my material from for the lathe and miller. I am really lucky that there is a scrap yard locally that lets me hunt through the bins! They take scrap in from some of the aerospace companies so there are sometimes some nice bar ends in the skips. What is great about that is the bar ends are often etched with the material specification!

I don’t usually pay as I take my scrap in there and he writes the value in the back of his desk diary, and then as I take stuff, he takes the value off! he has done this for me for over 30 years! A few years ago I went in early in the year… he was no longer there as he had retired and I learned that his grandson had taken the company over. We chatted and I mentioned about the diary as I had a few pounds credit… The lad said he knew all about it and it was in the back of the book!

[buzzer]

Time to start the fabrication of the back end. I decided to use some rose joints as I like the look they bring to a build. Experience has taught me to tack everything up first before welding fully! its going to be a very stubby back end, I have also used three 10mm LED as a stop and tail light. they are amazingly bright

[buzzer]

Making the exhaust retaining flange out of 15mm alloy plate was quick and easy…

As an aside, that tin of marking blue is 50 years old, given to me by my Dad, along with one of my treasured possessions, a 0 – 1″ micrometre when I was 15 years old. Not much left in the tin now, but its still usable.

when I was a kid, I used some of that blue on the eye pieces of my brothers binoculars.. he still mentions it now!

The stainless steel collar however took an absolute age to make! I should have really used some stainless pipe, but its an odd size and I couldn’t get any that would fit, so I ended up machining it out of a solid piece of bar stock. I hate working with stainless… everything you do with it makes your life hard, just like the material!

[buzzer]

I tried for a while to make a seat out of alloy sheet, and failed.  the shape is just to complicated!  in the end I decided on an alloy and glass fibre approach.  I lifted the tank slightly so the finished seat will have some clearance, and then covered it with duct tape, followed by some tin foil to act a a release.  This actually worked quite well!  Cutting the foam to shape took a while and is a dusty job, but with the fan blowing on me and out the door it wasn't too bad.  The key to using resin is the mix ratio...  I used 2.5% as it was a cold day, in the summer that would have gone off in 5 mins!  I will send it to the trimmer to do his magic...  this is one of the few jobs I send out.

[buzzer]

To get the tank low, and get rid of the large pump mounting hole I had to cut the bottom out of the tank. easy enough with one of those 1mm cutting disks which I seem to use a lot of these days! I needed to make the infill patch and contour this to fit the hole. to make this easier I profiled it to the right shape by cutting some wood and pressing it to shape in the vice, then a bit of planishing to get it to the final shape.

The aim is to get the gap as small as possible to facilitate a nice weld. I used some 1mm mild steel plate which matches the thickness of the tank, so TIG welding is no problem on a low amp setting. I used a couple of magnets to position it before adding a few tacks all round. At this point I ran out of Argon...  The last refill I bought was £65..  now its £104!

The outlet is made, but I need the filter fitting on the bike first so I can position it to get the pipe runs neat. Once this is welded on I can leak test.

[buzzer]

I picked up the headlight and fuel filter brackets today...  What a fantastic process waterjet cutting is!  They were profile cutting a 150mm thick block of alloy while I was there!  The jury is out on the brackets at the moment, but I am struggling to think of a better design

[buzzer]

When i bought the bike it had a QD system on it… while I liked the concept, it was too big and heavy so I sold it on and decided to make an underslung exhaust of my own design. I wanted smaller and much lighter. I started with a mock-up of builders foam to get the shape and angles, and then moddled this in 3D. I did do a basic model on my iPad, but then found I had to pay to output it to a file! really frustrating! so I got my mate to do it and then had all the individual parts laser cut.

The baffle plates have staggered holes, which should quieten it down somewhat, but if not, I have a backup plan! Who knows if this will kill any performance? if I lose a few BHP so be it… but you never know!

here is a 1 min video of the process

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgssU93IbPM

[Huzo]

Damn…!
Although there’ll be a varied response to the styling choices, that is to be expected when producing art.
No one can fail to acknowledge your brilliance in turning a mental image into metal.
Love your  work..

[buzzer]

Damn…!
Although there’ll be a varied response to the styling choices, that is to be expected when producing art.
No one can fail to acknowledge your brilliance in turning a mental image into metal.
Love your  work..

Thank you 

Apart from a polish the exhaust is welded up and finished. I didn’t want to have distortion and burn through when attaching the baffles, so for these I used TIG braze which worked quite well.

The slip joints are held together with springs and to hold these I needed to make some spring hoops. These are actual quite difficult to make to get the bend just right and to a consistent shape. I made a little jig to make these.

[buzzer]

here is everything to go to be powder coated. The swinging arm will be just blasted though as I will be polishing that. In some ways it was a shame to strip the wheels as they were perfect, but black, and I want silver. The powder coater insists they are stripped of the powder coat before I send them, as its so difficult for him to blast it off… in the past I have used industrial paint stripper but its expensive, and a terrible job to do. This time I took them to a local car wheel refurbishes and they put then in their stripping tank for a couple of hours.. they came out fantastic, the pain literally fell of! I left the disks on and they came out without any paint on as well. I will be taking my engine cases in next!

last post for a month while we go and get some sun!

[buzzer]

back from holiday, and the first job was a frame repair on a Triumph...  I don't do work for other people these days, but one of my best mates asked me if I could repair this Triumph frame for him.  How the hell do people think using rebar and welding like that is acceptable? 

all done now though and once its powder coated it will be like new.

[krglorioso]

The job came out very well.   Why is no one on this forum surprised???

Ralph

[buzzer]

Started the engine build… these are simple engines to build, bit like a Guzzi, just a bit lighter!   just a couple of points to remember… There is one special bolt in the crankcase that has an oil feed hole in it. Its also much easier to pop the piston into the bore, and then put the pin in, the rings are very fragile (and expensive!) make sure you have some rag in holes though, those pin circlips have a life of their own! in one of the pictures you can see a plate which holds the flywheel… this is necessary as the alternator nut and crank nut are VERY tight and need torqueing to 190 NM.

I would like to thank the local council for the steel to make the engine stand. Leaving a large sign in the hedge at the side of the road for 2 years, I felt I had to re-cycle it 🙂

[vintagehoarder]

Very nice work!  Don't let any of the negative comments bother you, I'm impressed!  Keep us posted

[buzzer]

Waiting for a few engine parts so I switched onto the hydraulics. Not sure which front callipers to use yet, so I built both sets. Everything was in great condition so I didn’t change the seals as they were all good.

[buzzer]

I wanted the belts and pulleys to be on show, but I am not keen on open belts… all it takes is one stone! I have made these before out of the original covers. Start by cutting holes with a hole saw, and then cut the oval out. for this I use a saw in the dremel but a saw is OK. Then I marked the profile on some 3mm polycarbonate and cut that to shape. With that in the cut out, I drilled some 3mm holes half in the cover half in the poly. the windows are held in with some 3mm flanged bolts, washers and nylock nuts. I did ad a dab of high strength nutlock and some small neoprene washers as well.

I then hydrodipped them. I know that fake carbon is not everyone’s thing but I like it, and when covered with a lacquer its VERY durable and UV stable, unlike the real stuff! The actual process is easy, and the film and activator is cheap. link to a video below of how its done.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh6Hh1F0-Yg

[buzzer]

Polishing day… I did the engine cases a few weeks ago. I then set a side a full day to polish the rest of the alloy… its a dirty, hard, and somewhat dangerous job! the swinging arm took ages! I used to do it in the workshop, but it made such a mess I now do it on the drive. I have a 2.5 HP 3000 RPM motor that I use that is an absolute beast and takes no prisoners if you get it wrong.

Its mentally draining to do actually, thinking about the angle you present the item to the wheel each time. I sand everything with 400 Mirka Abranet first (if you have not come across that product its a game changer, you will never use wet and dry again!) I use an 8"  closed stitched mop and medium compound, followed by a loose mop with fine compound. I use some very fine compound on the stainless.

That evening I had a bath as I was so filthy. I actually used fairy liquid to clean me off as ordinary soap doesn’t touch it. Next day I absolutely ached all over!

[buzzer]

the engine parts I had been waiting for came, and I finished off the belt covers.  I also made the housing for the hall effect triggers, the most accurate bit of machining I have done in years as I needed to locate the sensors exactly 135 degrees apart.  I will post some pictures later on that.  But for now here is the engine!

[Huzo]

THAT is spectacular work Buzz, you are “lightyears” ahead of me in your approach to detail…
If I may suggest, the intake tracts seem to adopt a different approach to your usual theme, do you concur ?
But irregardless (sic), I reiterate that there should be…
Kiwi Roy for electrical.
Canuck 750 and Charlie for restorations.
Roper for mechanical instruction.
Beard, Meinolf and Beetle for maps and tuning.
Daniel Kalal for touring advice and example.
Yourself for “ground up” builds….