Oily exhaust tailpipe, ok? Too much?

[lucky phil]

Seems to me any shop that is familiar with BMW air head bikes would find the Moto Guzzi very similar.  But, the 2 local places I have called (BMW experts) say they only work on BMWs. 

I checked with Harpers and they do this kind of work ... so if I decide to pull the heads off I think I'll just send them to Harpers ... that way they'll have the parts as they inspect stuff.

I'm more familiar with bikes that have valve guide seals ... and those are pretty easy to change out ... but looking at parts diagrams, it seems like this engine has no seals?  So just the metal valve stem inside the metal valve guide prevents oil from running down the valve stem? 

I was thinking of waiting for the rain season here in California ... but seems we are in the "bad air quality" season, so getting a bit tempted to pull the heads off now.   

I know guys are saying just ride it as is, and I could do that if it was more like 1 qt every 3000 miles ... but 1 qt every 1500 miles is hard for me to just leave it like that.   This Quota is now under my stewardship and I should take care of it properly.   

This is the way it works these days. Have you noticed that there are fewer and fewer "all rounders" in anything anymore? Peoples expertise and knowledge has been narrowed down to quite specific areas.
The BM dealer probably has enough work on BM's and it's probably fortunate that they do because if you gave a Guzzi engine to a BM "specialist" that needed the work, these days he'd probably just make a mess out of it anyway because it's not a BMW and that's the extent of his expertise.

Ciao

[usedtobefast]

OK, update time ...

I took off the tank and checked the airbox again, clean, no oil, so oil not getting to the motor that route.

So I pulled the heads off and decided what the heck and pulled the cylinders off too.    

Took the heads, cylinders, pistons to a super expert BMW airhead shop that also works on MGs/BSAs/etc (older air cooled stuff).  They measured everything and said:
- piston ring gap near max spec, suggested to put in new rings
- pistons are fine, reuse
- cylinders are fine, reuse (they de-glazed them and cleaned them up for me)
- valves are good (need to be cleaned up), valve guides need to be replaced
- valve seats have a lot of carbon build up and will need to be redone (cut? I guess)
- and they will clean up the intake and exhaust ports

They also suggested to check over the fueling map as they thought it was running too rich, but they don't do that kind of tuning.

They will have the heads done in 2-3 weeks, and I've ordered up rings, and gaskets, and o-rings, etc from MGCycle. 

[usedtobefast]

Update time:

To recap:
- valve guides were worn, got those replaced
- 3 piston rings beyond max gap, 2 were right at max gap, so new rings
- tons of carbon on piston top and valves and seats ... shop cleaned all that up and I cleaned up the valve seats (not sure if cut or not)

I got it all back together a couple of weeks ago.  Did the start, ride ~25 minutes, then next day re-torqued the heads

I have put about 250 miles on it so far, when I hit 500 miles I think I will do a compression check and compare to the start, and re-torque heads again and set valve clearance.  Saw some info saying the one re-torque after 25 minutes was enough, saw others saying to also re-torque again at 500-600 miles.

As for running now vs before, I've noticed it is easier to start, seems smoother, not a huge power difference but does seem to rev a bit more willingly and seems to have more torque ... like at 4000 rpms, going up a hill, holds it's speed a bit better than before (for example).

Will also check the oil level at the 500 mile mark and see how that is going.

Nice to have it running again! 

[usedtobefast]

Oh, a question ...

Any tips on getting the rocker arm shafts back in easier?  With the "washer, spring, washer" combo it has to slide through, getting all 3 of those lined up is kind of a hit or miss, try over and over and finally it lines up and slides in.  And gotta do that 4 times.

That was by far the most time consuming part of the work!   

[John A]

Sounds like progress! The rocker pins can be a little pain in the butt. I put the stack in, it’ll stay in place by the spring pressure unless you look away. Then it helps to use a round short thing to line up the shims and spring from the top. Sometimes it goes together by feel but if it’s troublesome look in the hole to see which item is sticking out in the bore. I usually just use my little finger in the top and turn the rocker pin with a screwdriver in the the convenient slot. I generally try to drop the mess a couple times before I’m satisfied.