Author Topic: 1978 Moto Morini 500 almost done!  (Read 34693 times)

Offline BikeMike

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #60 on: March 04, 2018, 10:52:46 AM »
Nice work Jim!  Are you in a new shop?

-Mike
1974 Eldorado
1975 850T Interceptor
1976 V1000 Convert Police
1949 Matchless G3L

canuck750

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #61 on: March 04, 2018, 06:05:20 PM »
Nice work Jim!  Are you in a new shop?

-Mike

Not really, I just moved most of my bigger tools and welding to a space I have open at my office, loading dock and some extra unleased space.

Assembled the front end, I miss the tapered steering bearings pf the Guzzi, these ball bearings are a messy job





Fitted the rebuilt calipers, cad plated steel brake lines and the new rubber brake hoses I had made, had to let the air out of the tire to get it to fit past the fender mounts then reflate it



the anodized splitter and I replated the pressure switch



Fitted the steering damper and the speedo cable guide





side stand back on



and the center stand



headlight shell and the front signal lights





Fitted the rear master cylinder rebuild kit, new hose to the caliper





the Griemca caliper uses cotter pins rather than sprung pins like on the Brembo, I much prefer to Brembo



Emptied a lot of boxes this weekend, and I painted over the ceramic coat matt black with very high heat exhaust paint, the ceramic just marks too easily, it will make a good primer coat though for the top coat. I am going to repaint my Le Mans exhaust with the same paint, I really like the look of the satin black.






« Last Edit: March 06, 2018, 03:08:14 PM by canuck750 »

Offline Rick4003

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #62 on: March 05, 2018, 08:24:48 AM »
immaculate Jim! It just looks great. I am with you on those ball bearing headstocks. Our small 150cc bikes have the same kind. Much prefer the tapered roller bearings instead. Honestly I hate those loose ball bearing types, not that they are so hard to fit if you pack them with enough grease, but they just don't feel as good as the tapered roller bearings when you riding the bike in my opinion.

Can't wait to see the engine back together!

Love your threads Jim, I can live a little through your builds while I wait for a change for continue on my own. :grin:

-Ulrik
Moto Guzzi 850 T5 (850 sport) - 1985
Moto Guzzi Ambassador - 1967
Yamaha FZR 600 - 1996 - SOLD

canuck750

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #63 on: March 05, 2018, 09:03:50 AM »
Thanks Ulrik!

I had to scrounge through old parts bins to find a couple ball bearings on the weekend, somewhere on the shop floor two of them are hiding out of sight.
« Last Edit: March 06, 2018, 09:26:13 AM by canuck750 »

Wildguzzi.com

Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #63 on: March 05, 2018, 09:03:50 AM »

canuck750

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #64 on: March 11, 2018, 11:12:15 AM »
Fiddling with the electric starter, I spoke to Stuart in the UK about them and he tells me that most failed due to lack of service, oil needs to be replaced in the drive unit and most owners didn't even know service was required.
On this bike the previous owner removed the electric motor and blanked it off from the drive mechanism with a lid from a tin can, the right hand stop / start button / throttle was removed and replaced with a Tomasseli, the wire4s from the switch where cut off and the remains of the harness to the motor wrapped around the frame.



This is the start / stop button that also holds the throttle, thankfully a previous owner left enough wires to join new leads to



This is the motor with drive (a spare)



Dirty inside but the motor looks ok, will clean and test it



Fill oil here, or not...



worm gear and bearing



and the other half of the drive gear assembly



yech...



time to clean it all up, lube and bench test it, brushes and armature look good, I think the gear mechanism was so gummed up it hardly turned 


canuck750

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #65 on: March 12, 2018, 10:16:13 AM »
Correction to the brake hose fitting on the rear master cylinder

I think this is now on the correct way



The low pressure feed line from the rear master cylinder reservoir to the master cylinder is fitted, I used a black EPDM line rather than saving the old brittle clear line,





canuck750

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #66 on: March 12, 2018, 10:16:00 PM »
The painter I use finished the Morini 3 1/2 paint work, painted white stripe with black pin stripe edge, he looked at the original 1975 Moto Morini brochure and a lot of pictures on the internet to try and match the paint, still its a guess but I like it.



I need to pick up some clips to hold the repro side cover emblems on



Its such a 70's colour, reminds me of the blue on the 1970 Mustang.

Offline TRw1

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #67 on: March 13, 2018, 06:35:31 AM »
Enjoying all 3 of the builds going on.  Very cool stuff. :bow:

Offline brubache

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #68 on: March 13, 2018, 10:05:14 AM »
WAYYYYYY better than when you got the 3 1/2!  Looks great!  Nice choice as there are really not many that color.

twowings

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #69 on: March 13, 2018, 04:26:11 PM »
Even if the color isn't an exact match, it's still bitchin'! Looking forward to more... :thumb:

canuck750

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #70 on: March 18, 2018, 05:44:22 PM »
Safest place to store the freshly painted parts is on the bike, the 3 1/2 will sit for a while before I can rebuild the motor




twowings

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #71 on: March 18, 2018, 05:46:04 PM »
I wish I could be your apprentice!  :bow:

canuck750

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #72 on: March 18, 2018, 06:00:20 PM »
I wish I could be your apprentice!  :bow:

And I wish I had a real mechanic that I could apprentice under to properly learn the ins and outs of motorcycle electronics and carburation, two things I need to learn a lot more about!

Offline huub

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #73 on: March 19, 2018, 03:29:10 AM »
try and find a original airbox for the 350,  K&N filters on a morini are a pain,
at speed the forward facing filter gets lots of wind, leaning out the mixture.
leaning out the rear cylinder is not a good idea, it is the hottest of the two to begin with.
in serious rainshowers the K&N soaks up enough rain to drown the engine.
the original airbox is fiddly, but K&N filters are worse.

canuck750

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #74 on: March 19, 2018, 09:19:30 AM »
try and find a original airbox for the 350,  K&N filters on a morini are a pain,
at speed the forward facing filter gets lots of wind, leaning out the mixture.
leaning out the rear cylinder is not a good idea, it is the hottest of the two to begin with.
in serious rainshowers the K&N soaks up enough rain to drown the engine.
the original airbox is fiddly, but K&N filters are worse.

The K & N's are going in the bin! I talked to Stuart Mayhew about my 500 and he set me straight on using the stock air box and filters, the 3 1/2 will be reverted back to stock carbs and air box.

canuck750

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #75 on: March 21, 2018, 03:05:11 PM »
A package from England!

North Leister Motors delivers again!, small parts for the restoration, replacement dash indicator lens', rear signal light brackets and dampers, choke lever, a bunch of cables, disc brake nut retainers, stainless steel instrument bezels, handlebars and a rebuilt starter motor.



NLM has supplied a lot (most) of the parts to rebuild the bike and what is amazing the parts arrive from the UK in a week or less.

Offline brubache

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #76 on: March 21, 2018, 05:22:51 PM »
That is incredible.  They are about the only people to get parts from. 

canuck750

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #77 on: March 22, 2018, 09:33:13 AM »
Got a few more parts out of boxes and back onto the bike,

The low rise Strada type handle bars are the closets thing to stock that Stuart could find for me, The knurling is wider than the clamps but other than that they will work just fine



I found a new Grimeca master cylinder on German Ebay months ago and grabbed it for the price it was listed at, complete with lever, a nice find



The stock throttle with the ON/OFF and START buttons, rewired and sheathed



A NOS left hand switch, Italian Ebay, cheap, these are also used on the early Ducati Twins and in North America they go for three times the price,



The choke lever locks into the underside of the clutch perch, kind weird but it makes sense when your hand is resting on the clutch, I need to powder coat the clutch lever to match the brake lever matte black



..... meanwhile the Le Mans carbs were torn apart last night, ultrasonic cleaned again for a couple hours and blown out just to be sure, then the floats re-set, going to try to fire it up again on the weekend if time permits. Doubt it was a carb issue, still think it's the dreaded Guzzi kill switch :thewife:




canuck750

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #78 on: March 22, 2018, 10:45:57 PM »
Went to fit the rear signal lights, the stems on the bike are not stock, the end that passes through the frame should be a small diameter, I have a box of signal light parts, reproduction Lucas lights I buy for V7 Sport use have these imperial threaded stems that fit the bill,



Next problem the CEV signal lights have a metric female threaded nut and the stems are 7/16" x 20 thread, I used a 7/16" x 20 tap and tapped the CEV signal light



The new rubber dampers at the rear frame tab provide a little bit of deflection



I fitted water proof disconnects to the signal lights



Front signal lights are a straight forward fit, the original head light shell wears the road rash from a previous crash, think I will leave it as badge of honour





I replaced the four coloured idiot light lenses in the console



The instrument bezel covers are reproduction stainless steel caps that will be glued onto the rubber instrument receivers




Offline brubache

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #79 on: March 23, 2018, 10:18:03 AM »
The headlight rash explains the headlight mounts then.   As always... your work... to be admired!

canuck750

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #80 on: March 23, 2018, 11:25:51 AM »
The headlight mounts are actually stock, I thought they were some after market things but the parts manual confirms them to be as they left the factory,



Trying to confirm what is factory stock on this Morini has been a bit of head scratcher at times since a lot of little things on the bike were changed over the years by previous owners. I am trying to get it back to as close as stock correct as possible, I like to preserve them as they were when new. Tracking down a stock pair of shock absorbers will probably be a dead end but who knows, maybe NLM can find a pair that could be rebuilt. :smiley:
« Last Edit: March 23, 2018, 11:27:59 AM by canuck750 »

Offline brubache

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #81 on: March 24, 2018, 12:52:24 AM »
ha! Thats awesome.  The ikons are probably a decent choice anyway.  Were the originals Marzocchi on that one?

canuck750

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #82 on: March 24, 2018, 09:08:39 AM »
ha! Thats awesome.  The ikons are probably a decent choice anyway.  Were the originals Marzocchi on that one?

I am not sure about the rear shocks, they may have been Marzocchi but perhpas Paoli?

The Ikons look 'close enough' and are probably a decent riding shock, but if a stock set did turn up it would be nice to hgave them.

Offline Antietam Classic Cycle

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #83 on: March 24, 2018, 01:00:46 PM »
All three of my Morinis ('80 500 Strada bought used, '86 350 K2 bought new and my present '85 K2) had/have Marzocchi rear shocks.
Charlie

canuck750

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #84 on: March 24, 2018, 10:42:46 PM »
All three of my Morinis ('80 500 Strada bought used, '86 350 K2 bought new and my present '85 K2) had/have Marzocchi rear shocks.

Thanks Charlie

Offline huub

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #85 on: March 28, 2018, 06:28:14 AM »
I am not sure about the rear shocks, they may have been Marzocchi but perhpas Paoli?

The Ikons look 'close enough' and are probably a decent riding shock, but if a stock set did turn up it would be nice to hgave them.

i should have a couple of original morini marzocchi's somewhere in the stash of parts.
if interested i can have a look, but postage from europe might make it impractical

Offline gentlemanjim

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #86 on: April 02, 2018, 03:24:59 PM »
Very nice workmanship

canuck750

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #87 on: July 06, 2018, 11:11:24 AM »
A little bit of progress this summer on the Morini 500, the machinist finished the crank shaft regrind, fitted and trimmed the replacement big end shells NLM provided and fitted new small end bushings as well, and he did a full valve job with new valves and valve guides. Thanks to Charlie for  the simple engine stand idea I copied from a picture on his Morini rebuild post



rods have been balanced



The big end shells that NLM sources are too wide for the rods so they need to be trimmed and fitted



All of the ball bearings in the cases were replaced with the exception of the one large crank ball bearing



All the shafts spin so hopefully there won't be any problems with the bottom end



I used Honda case bond to seal the two crank case halves together

canuck750

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #88 on: July 08, 2018, 08:53:49 PM »
More bits and pieces found their way back onto the motor, pistons, rings, cylinders and heads,

The flat Heron head, same design as used on the small block Guzzi's V35 and V50 of the 70's (and I assume carried over into more recent Guzzi small block engines).



The combustion chamber formed into the top of the piston





I have lost one small bag of important parts that I kept out not to be cad plated, go figure I can't for the life of me find it. A small order for woodruf keys, special spacers etc has gone off to NLM. In a couple of months that little plastic bag is going to come out of hiding.

Offline Rick4003

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Re: Any Morini Fans?
« Reply #89 on: July 09, 2018, 12:21:42 AM »
Very lovely job Jim,

Sorry to hear about the missing bag with important parts. Almost happened to me too when rebuilding the Alfa motor, it took a while to find the right box where it was hiding. It will surely come out of hiding the day your new parts arrive. :)

-Ulrik
Moto Guzzi 850 T5 (850 sport) - 1985
Moto Guzzi Ambassador - 1967
Yamaha FZR 600 - 1996 - SOLD

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***Wildguzzi Official Logo High Quality 5 Color Window Decals Back In Stock***
Shipping in USA Only. Awesome quality. Back by popular demand. All proceeds go back into the forum.
http://www.wildguzzi.com/Products/products.htm
Advertise Here