Sport goes to the doctor!

Decided yesterday, I would do the remains of the 80,000 service - plugs and filter.

The inner plugs are a right royal prick to get to, requiring the tank off and the airbox out. Well I managed to cross thread the inner R/H plug, didn't I. Not wanting to make things worse, I decided to pull the R/H head, take it to work on Wednesday and perform life saving surgery on the crossed thread. I ended up repairing it at home, sitting on the grass.

Original cause was the last inner plug I put in (60,000 service) had a small dag where the earth side of the electrode extends from the threaded body of the plug - this had damaged the thread. Not having a 9mm x 1mm tap on hand (yeah real common size that one!), I transformed the old plug into a thread cleaner with deft use of a small file to clean said dag, and then a small groove in the thread. With patience, I made the old thread good again - you simply could not do this in situ.

Black Betty is now back together again.

Pulling a head off is fairly straightforward as is re-assembly - patience is your friend.

Who puts a frame tube straight over the inner spark plugs anyway? What were they thinking?

Gearbox oils and CARC lubricants will be done today and all bits put back on.

Replaced the fork oil with the correct amount this time (400 ml instead of 490 ml per leg) - ride was a bit firm on good excuse for tarmac, uncomfortable on the normal back stuff.

Can't wait for double demerits to return to normal - only a week to go!

Don't it shit you when a simple job turns into a clusterfuck? At least you saved it with a simple fix.

Magnificent recovery, old son. I'm proud of you. It sounds like you are going to get even more familiar with your forks, can't see you putting up with inadequate bounce on our "normal" roads for very long. Experimentation with oil weights and quantities?

Tony
Bastard inner plugs!!!!!
Sorry to hear of your cross thread, easy to do if your not careful
Care must be taken, hey
The one's on the G1100 are not that bad to get at but I was careful allthesame
Good to hear of your patient recovery
Good work
Have a great day
Stay safe

Cheers - desperate times call for desperate measures.

Mal the correct amount of oil is 380 ml/leg for a soft ride, 390 ml for an average ride and 400 ml for a firm ride. I like it firm, and not hard as it has been. All these with Penrite 5 wt fork oil and all is good. Last time I overfilled each leg by 100 ml - should wear the specs more often - especially in a dark shed.

Roll on next week when I can test it all in "a race like manner"!

Good work Tony.

Nice save Tony Interesting what you say about the quantity of fork oil, might suck some out of my forks too. Even with the adjusters backed right off, still way to firm.
Patience with the coppers Tony

Sorry I lied. the thread is 10mm x 1mm. All back together again. Oils in the CARC and gearbox looked like they went in yesterday instead of 22,000 km ago.

Pete, I think I might have a leaky rear main seal. How big of a job is this?

Incidentally, I purchased a full set of HH pads some years back, believing my bike did not have them. Over a year ago, I replaced the rears - there was a little wear evident. The fronts I removed and decided to clean them up to compare with the replacements. I did not believe it, but the pads were already Brembo HH and better yet probably less than 0.5mm difference in material.

I have just turned over 82,500 km and I still have the original pads on. To me, brakes are for emergencies, normal braking is performed admirably for the good engine braking and enhanced by a damn fine map, that cuts the fuel below 4.8 on the TPS. Another 5 or so years might be had out of the current pads. Not bad I thought.

Big enough. Engine out but it might be other things. I've limited innerneck access ATM as I'm down the beach. When I have more wifi I'll explain.

Pete

Pete Roper wrote:

Big enough. Engine out but it might be other things. I've limited innerneck access ATM as I'm down the beach. When I have more wifi I'll explain.

Pete

If I was a rude person, I'd say "Be careful no one try's to push you back into the water Pete "
But I'm not like that , tee hee

Oz1200Guzzi wrote:

Pete, I think I might have a leaky rear main seal. How big of a job is this?

Think of it like you were gonna replace the clutch...
I have not been in depth with a Guzzi yet but it's obvious that you have to split the engine/trans case apart while the engine stays mounted on the bike.
That's how they fixed the main seal on my 09 under warranty back in the days.
Since you have half the life left on your clutch (I'm assuming), you might wanna replace it as well.
Providing you have a main seal leak...could be the sump gasket or other.
Good luck though.

Thanks Pascal, I don't think it is the sump gasket - replaced it a couple of years ago after another incident. Seems to be coming from the gap between clutch housing and the back of the engine.

It's a slow leak, so not major yet. Just need to plan ahead, that's all.