98 ev11 questions

[PeteS]

The odometer is gear driven. No slip other than wheel slip. The speedometer is driven by a spinning magnet. You could actually calibrate it by moving the magnet disk closer or further away from the vane it deflects. I was able to do that on a BMW speedo as I had one that was pretty close. Used a drill motor with a nail filed square to drive the speedo. Drove the good one to max drill speed, noted the mph, then drove the other one and adjusted the magnet until it read the same.
Not sure many speedos are gear driven other than the old Smiths chronometrics.

Pete

[ivantheterrible]

First--Thanks again for all the thoughtful replies. I'd heard good things about this site and those good things have proven to be true.

New question-- can I remove the airbox on my bike without having to re-jet (if that's the temp on a fuel-injected bike)? Will it run as well with pod filters? Worse? Much worse?

I'm not crazy about the looks of the ev and have gotten my hands on an 850T tank with plans to do a conversion of sorts. The initial fitting shows the airbox is in the way. I'd read about cutting the airbox lid but that doesn't appear to me to free enough space for the T tank for fit. Also, I do like the bike and don't really want to start cutting on it if it can be avoided.

[Wayne Orwig]

New question-- can I remove the airbox on my bike without having to re-jet (if that's the temp on a fuel-injected bike)? Will it run as well with pod filters? Worse? Much worse?

Yea, since pods aren't going to breath as well as that large factory airbox, you will likely need to lean it out. On the 98, you can just turn the mixture screw on the ECU box to do most of that.

[ivantheterrible]

that's very interesting and the first i've heard of this. Were is this screw located? Would it be too much to ask for a picture?

[JoeB]

that's very interesting and the first i've heard of this. Were is this screw located? Would it be too much to ask for a picture?

Check page 11 of this manual:
https://dpguzzi.com/efiman.pdf

[ivantheterrible]

Thanks. After replying to Wayne. I went out and looked at my ecu and noticed that screw for the first time. How to manipulate it though? turn in to enrich? How many turns? Half? Full?

[n3303j]

I like the idea of a 6 gallon T3 tank instead of the stock 5 gallon but I have been told V11 intake is somewhat noisy.

The V11 look kind of grows on you the more time you spend with it. After 30K miles she's an old trusted friend.

[pehayes]

How to manipulate it though? turn in to enrich? How many turns? Half? Full?

IIRC, you turn it the same as you would a carb idle mixture screw.  Clockwise to lean, CCW to richen.  That might be backwards.  Someone else will chime in or it will become obvious as soon as you start the bike.  Seemed that a quarter turn resolved my popping on overrun.  Make note of where it is before you start and then keep track of how much you do and in which direction sot that you can UNDO.  The potentiometer has an internal clutch.  After 3 or so turns, you will reach the end of adjustment and can feel the stop point.  However, the screw will still turn with more drag.  Forever.  But no further mechanical or electrical change.  When you start back in the opposite direction, you are instantly recovering from the stop point.

Patrick Hayes
Fremont CA

[n3303j]

From what I've read you have to run/ride the bike for about 15 minutes for the adjustment to fully take effect. Unlike a carb idle screw adjustment that produces an instant response.

[LowRyter]

Thanks. After replying to Wayne. I went out and looked at my ecu and noticed that screw for the first time. How to manipulate it though? turn in to enrich? How many turns? Half? Full?

if you turn the screw and it backfires, you know it's running lean. 

To find the number of turns, just count from where you are to one side, then count the turns to go to the other side.

[Wayne Orwig]

Thanks. After replying to Wayne. I went out and looked at my ecu and noticed that screw for the first time. How to manipulate it though? turn in to enrich? How many turns? Half? Full?

99% sure it is clockwise for leaner.
It is a multi turn screw. Not 10 turns but something odd like 8 if I recall.
It does not 'stop' at the end. It has a torque wrench type deal, as in, it faintly clicks when you reach the end but keeps turning. Do NOT trust the ratchet. As in, if it fails, as in it has 20 year old grease in it, you may damage it. So be cautious make slight adjustments a little at a time.

[ivantheterrible]

what are these hoses that attach to the frame for?

[n3303j]

They mix your crankcase oil vapor with water to create a brownish mayonnaise that shows up in your rocker covers and oil pan.
https://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=88315.0

[ivantheterrible]

They mix your crankcase oil vapor with water to create a brownish mayonnaise that shows up in your rocker covers and oil pan.

say what now?  ; )

[n3303j]

say what now?  ; )

https://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=88315.0

[Guzzitenn]

This is great I’m interested in this model and all these great posts.
Gonna see tomorrow

[creaky99]

file:///C:/Users/Interceptor/Downloads/p7-p8%20(4).pdf

[ivantheterrible]

https://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=88315.0

that's interesting. I wonder why they run it into the frame?

[n3303j]

that's interesting. I wonder why they run it into the frame?

It is an attempt to scavenge oil vapor from the crankcase breather and return the oil portion to the engine. My T3 has a metal manifold that it uses for oil/air separation. My Ural just dumps to the atmosphere.

My V11 is the only one that routinely makes mayonnaise. Doesn't matter how hot the weather, the mayo never purges. Oil temp rarely hits 212 no matter how long the ride.

[ivantheterrible]

anything to be done about this mayo situation?

[n3303j]

anything to be done about this mayo situation?

Recently read somewhere about replumbing the breather to eliminate the problem. I'm old, I forgot what and where and only remember that the article discusses mayo elimination by changing the breather / oil separator circuit.

[Wayne Orwig]

anything to be done about this mayo situation?

The moisture is caused by blowby past the rings. There is a lot of moisture in the blowby.
The valve covers are cool, so the water condenses inside them. You need to really heat the valve covers to cook off the water, or you get the mayo goop.
It is not caused by moisture coming in from the outside as some people think.

Just above the clutch, you have a large vent hose. That blows crank pressure into the frame near the steering. That drains down the frame to the two lines that let any oil drain from the frame back into the top of the heads. Near the very top of the frame is a line that takes the fumes to the airbox, to be reburned. If you overfill the engine oil, it will pump a lot of oil into the frame, and it will get pumped into the airbox. The airbox has a drain just behind the starter where the spooge can come out.

[AZRider]

I am no Tex or Wayne Orwig, I only put 170,000 on my 98 EV before I totaled it last summer. And I have a second 98 EV that I built into an “1100S” and have put about 30,000 on.  There’s a lot of good advice in this thread. I have opinions on a few of your questions and some relevant experiences and I will share them so you can include in your decision matrix.

I had one original relay go bad just a few years in, an I replaced them all with the supposedly better ones. Less than a year later I had one of those go bad on a trip so I replaced it with one of the originals that I had put in the tool bag just in case. No more relays ever went bad on the bike in the next 150,000 miles and I used another of the original relays to make a clock switch to a backup battery when the ignition was off, and that relay was still working fine when the bike met her untimely end. The relays on the S appear to be replacements and have been trouble free. My new Stelvio has already eaten a relay, though of a totally different type than the EV, or I would have installed another one of the take-offs from my first EV.

The speedo and tach are garbage. Waste neither time nor money on fixing them. Hartmut at Palo Alto Speedometer has fixed two of mine and I have repaired both a speedo and a tach and they are disgraceful to Italy. Search a bit and you can find instructions to take apart the gauges if you are curious. With the hose clamp trick you can even get them back together looking good. But it’s wasting time. I like the VDO electronic speedo and a modified GM Hall Effect sensor, a process I found on this forum. It’s a bunch of work to set up and then trouble free and accurate. Unfortunately VDO doesn’t make tachometers that work with Guzzis. Beware of tachs that say they work on 2-cylinder engines because most are for Harleys. The difference is that Harley has never changed from 1903 when primitive engineering made it easier for the ignition to spark every revolution although it is only needed every second revolution. Guzzis do not use that “wasted spark” system. Since electronic tachometers count sparks, the Harley ones think Guzzis are running at half speed. You have to find one like the Equus that can be set to 0.5 sparks per revolution.

The kickstand switch is just a matter of unplugging the switch and sealing the socket from the weather. I did ride off once with the stand down and fortunately noticed before trying to turn left and dying instead. I decided once in all those miles wasn’t reason to reconnect the switch and I left it. I won’t be insulted if others disagree.

You can spend a lot of time and try a lot of things to fix a starting problem that turns out to be the starter motor. The original Valeo starters Used glue to hold the motor magnets in place, and the glue was failure prone. The magnets come loose and jam against each other and eventually crack and the pieces start jamming against the armature. Euro Moto Electrics sells both complete starters and just the magnets and motor cup assembly if you wanna fix it yourself. EME is great people who got very creative to rescue me when my starter failed in Shawnee Oklahoma on a Friday. I bump-started or gassed the bike while running all the way to their place in Colorado where they got me the new starter via a helpful person on a Saturday. Great price too!

The Startus Interruptus mod is worthwhile. The Guzzi starter wiring is just barely enough for the job.

Seek out a mechanic who really knows these bikes and get your throttle synch and Throttle Position Sensor adjusted CORRECTLY. they run BEAUTIFULLY when dialed in, which a lot of mechanics don’t know how to do right. Andy Schnabel at Hamlin Cycles in Connecticut is the best I know at this job and I don’t look forward to trying to find someone equally good on the West Coast. I have done a clutch job and still this is still something I will happily pay someone who has “the touch” to get it perfect.

If you ditch the airbox to make an old style tank fit as I did on my S, don’t go with pods right on the throttle bodies. Jason from Moto International advised that I try fitting velocity stacks. I used the velocity stacks that go to the stock airbox, trimmed about 3/4 inch so the pods had room. John T at Dyno Solutions ran the bike with and without the velocity stacks between the pods and the throttle bodies and the difference is significant.

If you want to try to make the bike breathe more freely with the stock airbox, drill big holes in the lid. Or buy the “Guzzi California intake-exhaust derestriction kit” I have on eBay. It includes a drilled airbox lid, K&N filter element, drilled stainless stock mufflers, and a scabby not-stainless Mistral H-pipe to replace the middle muffler.

I never got used to the brake pedal and eventually de-linked the brakes, using a stock Ducati 916 front master cylinder. They used the same calipers as the EV, and the master cylinders were cheap when all the guys with 916s were upgrading to radial master cylinders. On my first ride after the de-link, I locked the front brakes and nearly ate asphalt. It’s a LOT of braking power. The original system with HH compound pads is probably enough for anything short of track days.

All in all what seems like a long list isn’t much over 170,000 miles. The clutch made it to 155,000, the drive shaft was still good when I did the clutch, and the compression was still in spec two years ago without a rebuild. I tinkered a lot and made it what I saw in my mind’s eye and was really happy with it. We rode coast to coast several times.  If I could get ABS brakes on one, I would have replaced it with another when I totaled it.


intelligent smileys

[ivantheterrible]

thanks for that detailed and informative post.