The Nevada 850 (smallblock) Adventure Bike

[Trevor G]

Well, there could be a bit of a double meaning in that topic - owning one of Ed Milich's breathed-upon and over-bored power houses could be an adventure in itself.

However, I recently test rode a Suzuki 650 V-Strom and decided I wanted to go adventure biking.  The Suzuki would have been good but it has a chain, and the only ones for cheap dollars are generally over 60,000 miles.

Instead I was led to an an ad in Craigslist.  I could see from the photos that I would have work to do, and I was pretty sure that the engine mods would be in a state that required finishing off as well.  I was right, but the purchase price has sort of made up for all that.

The 85mm piston from a big block engine is stretching the friendship, cylinder-wise, but this one has lasted 5,000 miles so far, and I it's going to last a lot longer. Power at the rear wheel went from 38hp to 49hp, due in part to the bigger valves and head work that Ed also did.

The vibration under power suggests that:

1) The new pistons are heavier, or

2) the throttle bodies are out of sync.

I hope it's the latter, although I did honeycomb? or beehive? a heavy piston in an English single many years ago with good success. Maybe this will need it also? (I hope not!)  Now I think the expression is swiss-cheese - I swiss-cheesed that AJS piston 35 years ago.

Ed finally gave me some encouraging information about the job and mentioned something about K&Ns for the engine breather. He admitted throwing the original air intake system away because it was too complicated. It certainly had pods and open mufflers fitted to help with the tuning.

On the ride back from Central California I noticed oil on the swingarm and decided that it either meant:

3) The engine breather was venting straight to atmosphere, or

4) the catch can was full, if there was one.

For some reason the oil did not transfer to the rear tyre, which puzzled me somewhat, but also made my day.

There are a few other things about this bike, like the side covers which were waving somewhat in the wind as if they would come off at any moment, various signs of damage from more than one drop at speed, clicking clutch and throttle cables (just a little dab of grease on the nipple at the top end fixes that, or else the cables break), the bent brake lever which was fouling on the exhaust pipe so that you didn't get rear brake and so on, that I know I will be busy for a while.

Here is how it looks now:





In the near future it will have adventure tyres, longer rear shocks with much softer springs and some work on the forks to make them more supple, too. 

Guzzi claim 5.2" of rear wheel travel for the smallblocks but they lie.  It is totally impossible for a shock with just 3" of shaft travel to give that sort of travel, especially when you factor in the amount of the bump stop which won't compress, on a simple, non-articulated linkage.  I removed the shocks and used a jack and a block of wood under the centre stand to find that I would need 110mm of shaft travel to yield 6" of wheel travel.

The other impossibility for the 5.2" of rear wheel movement that Guzzi claim is that the tail light housing is recessed into the rear mudguard (oops: fender) space on the inside, and with the standard shocks that are fitted, you can only realise about 3.5 to less than 4" of wheel movement before the tyre hits the plastic housing.  Ouch.

To make sure that this does not happen they fit very stiff springs on those short travel shocks, and provide an excessive amount of compression damping as well.  This all makes the thing impossibly hard in the back so that you feel every bump.  The front forks follow the same principle - hopefully some of the fork kits which are out in the market place will take care of that, but if not I will modify the valving in the forks myself.

[Rick4003]

Very cool project, I always thought the Nevada would make a good base for a scrambler/adventure bike build. Have been considering to do one myself, but have admitted that the few weeks I have of vacation a year is not enough to do one more bike project I will try and finish my T5 first

Be sure to post a lot of pictures of your progress! Pictures are good

-Ulrik

[Chuck in Indiana]

3) The engine breather was venting straight to atmosphere, or

Not a good idea on the small block. Read this from Rod, RIP..
http://www.thisoldtractor.com/moto_guzzi_small_blocks_older_small_block_issues_.html

[Trevor G]

I'm a strong believer in engine breathers; they perform an important role and if not "redone" correctly will draw dirty air back into the engine.

I guess that was what was happening with this setup:





The two valve cover breathers actually made it into the catch can, which at least is Italian, being originally a can of Pellegrino water.

The breather works correctly by feeding the two rocker cover hoses into a labyrinth chamber designed to condense oil droplets from the oil mist which leaves the engine via them.

The condensate oil is then supposed to travel back down into the crankcase via the big hose which, if you look carefully, did not quite make it into the catch can or fell out at some stage.  The result of this setup is oil mixed with dirt and grime over everything in the area, including the underside of the seat, all the electrics and electronics units, and runny oil running down onto the swingarm (not shown, I had already wiped it off).

My temporary solution is to cover everything with dense foam.  It works well, filtering most of the air that might get sucked back into the engine, but I still ended up with some fresh oil on the swingarm after 80 miles at 75 mph.  I think there could be a small hole in the poor catch can but I am loathe to change it just now in case I void the warranty.  (Aussie humour alert.)





I will probably buy either a Lario/V65 oil breather and plumb it correctly, or a Nevada airbox with its integrated breather, to see if I can cut it off and reuse it.  Both solutions will cost about the same for parts. The fourth pipe, which has been removed from this bike, actually goes to the intake side/engine side of the airbox so that any remaining fumes get reburnt.  When dispensing with the oem filter setup people frequently just vent this pipe into a small, breather-style K&N filter which should be readily available at an auto store near me.

[Noguzznoglory]

You forgot to add that little beak above the fender that all those adventure bikes have.
Seriously, looking forward to hearing how well it works for its intended use.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Oh yeah, gotta have a beak.. 

[SeanF]

 

[Trevor G]

The screen on the Nevada sends the air onto my chest and causes a lot of buffeting on my helmet.

I've seen a lot of good  recommendations for the X-creen, so I ordered one from Amazon Warehouse deals (returned stock, usually) and paid $110, instead of $130 to $170.









I had to replace a clutch cable as well - I knew it was clicking and when I went to adjust the free play I could not, because every strand had broken except one.  Never delay lubricating (I use water resistant grease) a clicking cable because it will soon break!





There is no adjuster on the cables supplied as Nevada replacements and in this case the inner is slightly short - there was no real free play for the clutch.  However, I guess it will stretch a little and make itself right - I certainly hope so.

In the meantime I will also look at the boss on the gearbox which the cable fits into, to see if a little filing might help

Anyway, the clutch cable solved my new problem of poor neutral selection, because the clutch was now releasing completely, or far enough to stop loading the transmission.  It was a great feel, slippery and slick in operation now that the click was gone.

And once I got to the freeway (only about 2 miles away, I found that the X-creen had done its job also. It was a still night, no breeze, and at 75mph I was now in a very comfortable zone with my head.

Tonight I tried again because there was a good wind blowing, and while there was some buffeting, I was still happy.  I tried several other positions but my initial one was still the best.

[Chuck in Indiana]

I'd be doing *something* about that clutch cable..

[canuguzzi]

Suzuki V-Strom engines are among the most durable out there, 60k miles is nothing. Switching a chain every 15-17k miles isn't anymore work than what your doing now and the VStrom is made to do what you want.

Of course, if the idea was always a Guzzi, it never really mattered anyway.

Just saying, by the time you're done, the V-Strom, even one with 20k miles will turn out to be expensive and easily as reliable if not more.

[Trevor G]

I'd be doing *something* about that clutch cable..

It is stretching, possibly enough.

I will call AF-1 on Tuesday but it's hardly their fault.

I will remove the cable and file the boss on the gearbox casing which acts as a ferrule - as long as the inner hole is deeper than it needs to be, and the outer part which locates the outer part of the cable will file, I should be there.

If I recall new bikes have the same feel about them, so that must be how they come these days.

[Trevor G]

Just saying, by the time you're done, the V-Strom, even one with 20k miles will turn out to be expensive and easily as reliable if not more.

   
That's OK, I'll be donating my organs to charity so it won't really matter.   

PS.  I might still get a V-Strom - it's quicker than my 850 overbore. And smoother.  But not the least exciting, if I remember rightly!