“The Old Girl” Rides Again

By Alan Lane-Richardson

After many years of continual use and abuse “The Old Girl”, my 1969 Moto Guzzi V7 Special, needed some major attention. The electrics were a bit of a mystery with wires stuck in any lug hole that could be found that could feed power to the required object that needed electrons to make it go. The motor rattled and clanked but still worked, and rust was taking over causing the front mudguard and side covers to slowly disappear.  So I decided that what was needed was a headlight to taillight makeover.

I’d already carried out some work on the bike including the gearbox and the front suspension. The gear box repairs were rudimentary, lots of cash and get the hands dirty, whereas the front suspension proved a bit trickier. The suspension repairs started out as a simple job to fix a few bits and “She’ll be right” by a mob who gave the job to an apprentice. On the first ride out, it rained and I discovered that the work done wasn’t as expected when the front end locked up almost chucking me of the bike. Zenith Engineering (www.zenith.net.au) and RAD (www.radhardchroming.com.au) were employed to rebuild the now totally stuffed forks back to standard tolerances and fix the left hand fork boot. Some 30,000+ kms later they are still in good order.

D Day arrived around January 2005 when the bike was pulled apart in preparation for a well overdue overhaul. How much of an overhaul was unknown even though some items such as paintwork, brakes, and electrics were on the agenda, and lots of important questions had to be answered (and asked) along the way.

In particular the condition of the motor was a shock. The motor still ran and didn’t blow a lot of smoke even though oil leaked from just about everywhere. Once the motor was pulled apart we found the front bearing for the motor was so badly worn that there were grooves in the crank and you could physically rattle it by hand. In addition, the valve guides were badly worn, the valves and valve seats were shot, and one head was cracked. The piston rings were worn, rockers were worn, cam thrust washer was worn, and the oil pump gears were also worn. Yes, the motor was technically stuffed! What to do?

Don Newell Motorcycles (www.newellmotorcycles.com.au) provided most of the parts for the motor and what couldn’t be found in Australia came from Teo Lamers (www.tlm.nl). Zenith Engineering was also employed to check and adjust tolerance for the cam, crank and oil pump once I had completed the preliminary motor rebuild. The crank had been reground but didn’t need rebalancing because, let’s face it, the bike is not for racing. But not to skimp, a check of the con rods, and pistons was carried out to ensure their weights were well within tolerance on Meredith’s kitchen scales. With the necessary motor parts in hand, crank reground, heads refurbished, rockers rebuilt, and motor tolerances checked I put the motor together by March 2006.

What colour scheme? What design? What logo? Painting the bike was one of my biggest dilemmas. Being a Libran changing my mind is just part of the game. Fortunately Mark from Queensland Motorcycle Panel and Paint (www.qmpp.com.au) didn’t completely lose it but instead sat me in his office with a fist full of colour charts to gaze at. Some colour charts later and checking out lots of cars and bikes I knew what colour scheme I wanted. The rest is history and eventually the panels that were broken were rebuilt and the bits that needed painting were painted by January 2006.

Do I want stainless steel? Do I want chrome? Finding header pipes and mufflers is not as easy as one might think especially when you want the same materials throughout to original specifications. I could get stainless steel header pipes but no stainless steel mufflers. I could get chromed mufflers but no chromed header pipes. Muffler manufacturers in Australia wanted a fortune to reconstruct what I had in chromed mild steel and refused point blank to try and bend stainless steel header pipes to the original specifications. Pipe manufacturers wanted to make dies for $500 and an order for some absurd number of header pipes. Eventually after surfing the net and some general chatting I found what I wanted. Teo Lamers provided the header pipes in stainless steel for under $100 each landed in Australia, and Peter H from Gympie, right here in good old Oz, provided some absolutely immaculate hand made stainless steel mufflers and clamps manufactured to original specifications for a reasonable price. The final fitting of the exhaust system was in April 2006.

Did I have everything? Once the basic bike and motor was back together it was time to locate some of the other bits that were needed. Teo Lamers was the perfect choice to find wiring looms that fit straight onto V7, Ambassador, and Eldorado’s cheaper than I could make it myself. In addition I was able to locate the two front mudguard brackets for reasonable prices.

The time had arrived to fit some tyres. What tyres to fit? How do you select a tyre? The decision was made to find a tyre with a tread that was similar to that of tyres from the 60’s era. Simple it sounds but not that simple when you realise just how few manufacturers make such a tyre that fits an 18” wheel. A quick search on the net and it’s AVON to the rescue and a trip down to Tyres For Bikes to check out availability and prices. Tyres were purchased and fitted in March 2006.

How do you stop? The original brake shoes were not completely worn. However, the brakes could slow the bike down but they couldn’t stop the bike in a fit. 30 years ago finding someone to fit shoes to brakes was probably an easy thing. These days with disc brakes almost fitted to everything there aren’t that many people around that want to go down the old brake shoe road. Once again thanks to Internet technology and the good old yellow pages phone book I found TBS right here in Queensland who would do the job and at a good price. The new brake shoes are a softer compound and the bike now stops as required. The brakes were refurbished in March 2006.

What to sit on? Sore point this one. Most bikes have a seat of some kind. Mine had one but still in bits stuck on some shelf in someone else’s shed. I did get it back after riding there to say g’day sitting on a cushion. I think the impetus of my visit prompted the quick response of one sit-on-able seat but not much else. It was quite obvious a quick search of the Internet was needed to locate a new seat. Harpers Moto Guzzi (www.harpermotoguzzi.com) in the US provided an LAPD single seat with a matching luggage rack and pillion pad. The single seat is very comfy and fitted without alteration - which is a first. The seats and rack were fitted in June 2006.

What condition are things in? Of course not everything else was clear sailing. When dismantling the bike it was found that some threads were badly damaged or worn and some fittings were badly damaged. As a bit of a side issue Zenith Engineering manufactured the following items in stainless steel to original specifications: front and rear engine bolts, engine/frame spacers, front and rear axles, studs for the handle bar clamps, skid bars for the motor sump, side stand and centre stand spacers and bolts. These items were manufactured over the rebuild period. In addition I machined and polished the heads of all stainless steel bolts used on the bike, sort of give it that finished shiny look.

Is everything alright? Since the rebuild the bike has successfully completed its first 3,000 kms with no issues other than a seal leaking around the distributor and a crook generator. A quick trip to a bearing shop soon located a new O ring to stop that dreaded oil seepage. Hamilton Auto Electrics were employed to rebuild the generator and to refurbish the regulator in May 2006 (just before ending up in hospital for an operation that meant missing out on the Ruptured Budgie Rally).

How on earth do you set things up? The final setup of the motor was carried out using my eyes, ears and a H₂O U tube. The timing was achieved by setting the crank to 10^o by calculating the degrees per tooth on the flywheel. Once the crank is at 10^o I used a magnifying glass to detect the point gap just starting to open when twisting the distributor. Don’t smoke so don’t have cigarette papers. Tuning of the motor was done by running each cylinder as a big single to set air mixture and initial idle speed. To synchronise the cylinders and final idle speed I attached a U tube that hangs from the roof of the shed. The U tube has about 2m of head. I can get the accuracy pretty close to a couple of Pascal’s from idle up. Like any tune up, a trip up Mt Glorious tests the timing and the clutch doesn’t slip. A good run out round Esk tests the fuel economy and engine performance at high speed. While around town tests the idle when sitting at the lights. The final setup was carried out in June 2006 after an extended and comprehensive run in period.

Where is the key ring? Of course a bike isn’t finished until you receive that key ring for the key that sits in the ignition from your loved one. Meredith slaved for hours making a bead key ring with the letters V7 embroidered. A simple thing? No! Bike trips to the gold coast and local shops were made to gather a variety of beads in many colours and sizes. Meredith painstakingly put together many key ring samples until the perfect colour, size and lettering combination was found to keep me happy. Of course the key ring has pride of place hanging off the ignition key sitting in the ignition of the bike up front where I can look at it regularly.

The bike runs well and is a real treat to own. How many hours did it take? How much did it cost? Well, I actually can’t tell you because I don’t actually know.  How long is a piece of string? I will say you will need a decent shed, a buff/polisher, plenty of spare time and plenty of patience before starting this type of project.