v7 lack of power, why?

[Steph]

The current "small-block" 750 goes back to around '77, starting as a 500. The V65 didn't have to meet as stringent of emissions or noise standards, so less hp loss to that. All production 2 valve per cylinder small-blocks have Heron heads.

Moto Morini 250, 350 and 500 v-twins (and a few late singles built from the twins) also have Heron heads, though they seem to have done better with it. Guzzi could have learned a few leassons from Morini IMO.

Speaking of Moto Morini, I can't help thinking how they missed the boat when they could have had a game changer: instead of having a rubber belt driving the cam and then the pushrods to an heron head, 'all' they had to do is put the rubber belt to an OHC head -Eh voila! A Ducati Pantah engine born at least 5 years earlier. That design saved Ducati, Morini was so close...

[bpreynolds]

Much appreciated, Chuck.  I'm enjoying the crap out of it.  Guess I once was one of those guys who thought the bike needed more power.  Until I bought one and rode it for more than 20 miles. 

[Kev m]

                                                                              UBER

    :l

 Sorry , that German word always makes me laugh .

  Dusty

I thought it would appeal to your BMW side.

[Trevor G]

http://guzzipower.com/V65dyno3.html

ed seems to have gotten a v65 to above 50 rwhp ...

therefore a v7 should be able to do the same at least, just given the right modifications. given the displacement advantage it should require less work to get there ...

The current V7 puts out 53hp without going to any engineering effort at all.  They just had to see the guys in the marketing department. 

It's a shame someone didn't tell Ed Milich.  ;-)

[Trevor G]

Hah!  After doing a small bit of research it seemed like guys had some of the best luck using a steamer so out ours came.  Yup.  All gone now (pic taken last week) and took about 20 minutes tops for all of them - four or five, I think.  Even took the ones off the shocks.   

Hair dryer is all you need for removing stickers that are fresh.

[erik_w]

I am not a HP fanatic, actually quite the opposite! I do Think that 70 hp above is all any sensible person will ever need in a bike.

But I am a manic mechanic in the sense that I can't ride anything that I haven't personally screwed around with - for me there is no satisfaction to an Engine I don't know how it looks like on the inside.

But it might be stupid to get a new shiny v7 just to tear it apart.

What about an older v50 or v35? Anybody have experience in tuning those?

[Kev m]

I am not a HP fanatic, actually quite the opposite! I do Think that 70 hp above is all any sensible person will ever need in a bike.

But I am a manic mechanic in the sense that I can't ride anything that I haven't personally screwed around with - for me there is no satisfaction to an Engine I don't know how it looks like on the inside.

But it might be stupid to get a new shiny v7 just to tear it apart.

What about an older v50 or v35? Anybody have experience in tuning those?

I think you need to call Ed Milich and GuzziPower

http://www.guzzipower.com/



http://www.guzzipower.com/store/Headwork.html

http://www.guzzipower.com/store/Sumspacer.html

http://www.guzzipower.com/store/V7bigbore.html

Drop him an email explaining what you want to talk about.

ed@guzzipower.com

We can banter back and forth all day, but he has more practical experience with what you're talking about than anyone here.

[bpreynolds]

Hair dryer is all you need for removing stickers that are fresh.

That's the cool thing about the steamer, it sorta rehydrates old and dried on stickers to make them more elastic again - I had at least 2 or 3 come off all in one piece even. 

http://guzzipower.com/V65dyno3.html

ed seems to have gotten a v65 to above 50 rwhp ...

therefore a v7 should be able to do the same at least, just given the right modifications. given the displacement advantage it should require less work to get there ...

If someone were to ask me if I'd like an additional 15 HP even on my Stone I'd have to ask why.  And  while this bike is certainly stirring me in many other ways aside from efficiency and tank range, if that bump in hp came at the cost of lessening either of those, I'd most certainly say NO THANKS.  I have a Thunderbird Sport that is highly modified and - when running  - turns near 90hp at the rear wheel so I have that aspect of riding covered. 

As stated earlier, I only have about 490ish miles on mine now, so maybe my views will ultimately change but for now they have greatly surprised and pleased even me.

[waxi]

I dared to reopen this thread, since it's quite interesting. Look, it's like in car engines (at least in Europe)... everybody started to manufacture smaller engines with a lot of horsepower. Take a look at Renault for example. They are making 900cc engine with 90HP!! Do you remember when 1900cc VW TDI engine had 90HP? Or Audi for example... todays 1.6 TDI with 105HP. Emission regulation is a b**ch. Mercedes on the other hand is still using 2.2 liter engines. The problem nowadays is that these small engines are not made to last very long. Have you ever heard of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence? Engines are getting so small (and I mean literally) that metal fatigue will show up sooner or later. Since these designs are relatively new... time will tell. And you know what? It is similar in all other fields. You never had a feeling that some old thing was much better than new one?

What I want to point out is that Guzzi's 750 Heron head engine is from times when it was designed to last. That's why it is simple. That's why it is close to people. More complex engine, higher the possibility that something will go wrong. It runs "slowly" but reliably.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Yeah... a VW 1.9 TDI will only go 250,000 + miles. Darn junk. 

[sign216]

I dared to reopen this thread, since it's quite interesting. Look, it's like in car engines (at least in Europe)... everybody started to manufacture smaller engines with a lot of horsepower. Take a look at Renault for example. They are making 900cc engine with 90HP!! Do you remember when 1900cc VW TDI engine had 90HP? Or Audi for example... todays 1.6 TDI with 105HP. Emission regulation is a b**ch. Mercedes on the other hand is still using 2.2 liter engines. The problem nowadays is that these small engines are not made to last very long. Have you ever heard of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence? Engines are getting so small (and I mean literally) that metal fatigue will show up sooner or later. Since these designs are relatively new... time will tell. And you know what? It is similar in all other fields. You never had a feeling that some old thing was much better than new one?

What I want to point out is that Guzzi's 750 Heron head engine is from times when it was designed to last. That's why it is simple. That's why it is close to people. More complex engine, higher the possibility that something will go wrong. It runs "slowly" but reliably.

Waxi, you are right on target.
Joe