New 20 ounce tumblers available now! Forum donation credit with purchase. https://www.wildguzzi.com/Products/products.htm#Tumbler
Standard thread.
Hey Pete, do you replace the Valve Cover gasket every time, or based on inspection?
"Most Guzzi rocker locknuts are 11mm (wot an odd size)..."No, odd not at all. You would not believe what is fastened, bolted together, secured and so on with 11 mm nuts here in Europe. Especially we Germans love our 11 mm / 13 mm connections.
Cylinder head cover.Remove screws holding on HT lead cover.Then remove the cover. Suspenders-snappers will be overjoyed to know it's made of aluminium rather than plastic adding weight and cost to something that ideally should be made of plastic!Pull off the plug cap and hang the HT lead out of the way. It sits in clips at the top of the head and needs to be popped out to be pulled out of the way.Undo the three cap screws retaining the rocker cover and remove it.Remove the spark plugs, (You'll have to remove all the HT lead dross from the other side to achieve this.). Now the best way to proceed is to tie down the front of the bike and jack it up under the sump to get the back wheel off the ground. Once you can turn the wheel stick the bike in top gear and pull the engine over with the rear wheel. Turn the wheel in the direction it rotates when going forwards and watch the inlet valve rocker. You'll see it open the valve and then close. The piston is now on the compression stroke. Pop your finger into the plug 'ole or use a drinking straw through the hole onto the crown of the piston and keep turning the wheel until the straw starts to descend again or air stops pushing past your finger. Jiggle the wheel back and forth until you are confident the straw is very, very close to its highest point, (Achieved when the piston is at TDC.). Note it doesn't have to be exact. A few degrees each way won't make a blind bit of difference. As long as the tappets are on the base circle of the cams it's all good.Grab yer feeler gauges and adjust the valves by loosening the locknut on the adjuster and turning the adjuster until the gauge is a smooth sliding fit in the gap betwixt rocker and valve.When you're happy re tighten the lock nut while preventing the adjuster from turning.Repeat for other valve and then go round the other side of the bike and repeat the entire procedure for the other cylinder. Remember TDC on onecylinder is NOT TDC on the other. Treat each cylinder as a separate entity.Once adjusted put the rocker covers back on, put the plugs in, reattach the HT leads and replace the lead covers.Job done.Note the obvious provision in both head casting and rocker carrier casting for a central spark plug. 4 valves are just around the corner. Why they aren't launching the V85 with the 4V engine is beyond me!Pete
If we are picking nits, don't forget that the early V7s (MK 1) have a dry alternator with slightly higher electrical output than the later models. It's really easy to pop out the cover over the alternator and use that to turn the engine over while checking valve lash. You cannot do that with the wet alternator.Peter Y.
Depends on where you live and how you ride I'd guess. With 8V's I've generally found that the gaskets usually last well, (They are the same design and material to those of the V9/V7'-III.) but the factors that affect their life are climate and riding style. If you live somewhere where it's hot or ride hard enough to really get the head temperature up on a regular basis the likelihood of leaks increases in a directly comparable way. What will be more leak prone will be the tampons. Gaskets will usually go round three or so times reliably before they become too stiff, incompressible and frangible. The Tampons are less forgiving. My advice to people is have a set of gaskets and tampons on hand but only use them if you need to. It'll be the Tampons that will weep first.Pete
Moto Guzzi Tampons?What is that?
do you guy notice Pete's photographic skill has improved tremendously over the years?or it is the advancement in camera/phone
Maybe Can we use the same straw in the hole for TDC for the V85 Peter ?
I use a white straw, but do hold a green one in reserve.BTW, Ed, those of us blessed with the 2TB bikes (& at least the early ITB) don't have to worry about tampons. Those new-fangled gadgets don't apply to us. We can ignore them with impunity.
He's referring to the little rubber gaskets that sit under the valve cover screws.
Ed,The MkI etc refer to the 1TB models (2012/2013+).Your 2TB model is pretty close to the 1TB in most ways especially valve adjustment.Yes you can remove the front cover and spin the motor with a socket.