Friends,
I know Im preaching to the choir, but just in case a noob or young fella with no vintage experience wanders by.........
I have enjoyed mostly success in the rescue of my new to me and first ever 1977 V1000 Convert. new battery, new gas, oil chang and she started. More service to include fork rebuild and extensive carb goings through and she was STRONG. Most of my setbacks were uses error and POS (Previous Owner Syndrome). Well I was ready to declare the Old Gal sorted out. Since Im of the "If it aint broke dont fix it" camp, I was ok with the progress made.
In anticipation of a trip to Tampa next week, I was unhappy with the spitting and coughing when cold, which cleared up after a while as engine heated up, and the low rpm hunting and surging, making 10mph crawling a bit difficult. Also the idle was a little hit and miss with it sounding like it was hitting on one cylinderl now and again, but did idle ok...enough.
I decided the previous owner was a ham fisted Philastine who had never heard of a torque wrench. So....I retorqued the heads, readjusted the valves, checked the timing and reset the points (both of them) . Everything was way out of spec yet the bike ran well enough that it didn't bother me. That shows how forgiving these big lumps can be.
Well,....no more spitting and coughing, no more lumpy idle, no more surging and hunting at low speeds. I had to readjust the carbs be cause it idles too high now that both cylinders were firing as they should. I am so chuffed with the positive way this old Convert has responded to attention and care, the moral of the story is BASICS....start with the basic tune up, even if things are ok enough...they can and usually do...get better.
Headed from Charleston SC to Venice Fl on Thursday for a Blue Knights rally. It will be an endless sea of identical black Street Glides festooned with matching skulls and chrome spikes, trailing leather fringe wherever they go. Best thing is that everywhere we stop people will walk past the murdered out CVO Glide Du Jour, and ask what is the sideways engine silver bike? Yay Guzzi.
