So, I didn't want to hijack Dave Swanson's thread of "1974 Eldorado Rejuvination" so I'm starting my own. Dave has been very helpful to this point and I thanks him for that. I purchased this 1974 Eldo Police from the son of the previous owner after the Father passed about four years ago. The Father lived in California so I know the bike is a Cal. Police bike. The son had it stored in Baltimore, I answered the ad so here I am. I always thought Moto Guzzi's were cool bikes, not having never ridden one, I just liked the design. I've owned BMW's for the last 26 years, both opposed twin and flying brick, putting close to 250k on them. I've had motorcycles since 1970 and had formal motorcycle mechanic training and worked in several motorcycle shops in the 70's and 80's.
I wanted to ride this bike so badly after I purchased it but you guys here talked me out of it and told me to inspect and check the cylinders and pistons for wear and the dreaded chrome flaking of the cylinders. I did all that and am grateful to you guys to point these things out. At this point the bike is down to the frame, engine out, heads off, forks and triple tree disassembled. I'm not going into a total restoration to the point Dave did, which is absolutely gorgeous, but I just want, at this point, to get it mechanically sound and dependable. The lack of attention to detail on this motorcycle in the past has led me to a total disassembly and inspection of this poor bike. The first thing I did was rebuild the front wheel with new bearings and install a bearing spacer it didn't have, if it's not supposed to have one it does now. Then a rebuild of the front caliper and master cylinder. I lengthened the braided brake line for better routing.
The engine was then removed, cleaned, sludge trap cleaned and sits ready for re-assembly. I'm looking at a Stein-Dinse oil filter conversion kit for it right now....thoughts? The rear end was very tight, so I'm leaving that alone for now. I did have to replace a u-joint that had excessive movement. The front forks are being rebuilt with new 10mm seals and Wirth progressive springs and dampers, the forks were a mess and assembled incorrectly. I have new steering head bearings and races going in also. New bearings were installed in the generator and the cross-threaded shaft has been repaired and new hardware installed. Transmission bearings and shifting feel good so I'll leave that for now. There's chrome hardware everywhere, I hate chrome hardware. So much is flaking off I have to be real careful when I'm handling hardware. I'll be replacing a lot of hardware with zinc coated bolts and locking nuts where I can....thoughts? I had custom ignition wires made, distributor is tight. I'll need to re-wire the bike and also go LED on bulbs and H4 headlamp.
So I'm saving the big items for last, the cylinders/pistons and valve job. Okay, that's it for now, thanks for reading. Feel free to comment and guide me where your expertise may help this Guzzi Noob....much appreciated.
