Well it's been a while......
Anyhoo, Ive found myself a Guzzi Convert and this is what beautiful looked like in 1976.
Well it would have had luggage and a cash bar, but thats on the cards for the future.
So as with any new purchase, its time to find out all the faults and bodges and for a start there are 4 oil changes to do and thats without counting the forks and brake fluid.
Engine, Gearbox, Torque Converter, final drive - adds up to a pretty penny I can tell you.
Then there's the joy of a skew drive distributor (remember those), just like a proper car engine.
No dizzy cap and rotor arm but there are 2 sets of points in there. One set is fixed to the backplate and so can be timed by rotating the distributor - of course you need to modify a spanner to get the job done.
The second set is supposed to move on the backplate - naturally there's not enough movement so I thought the 'heel' on the points had worn away - nope they were all like that from new. See any condensers? No me neither, they are there just bolted to the bottom of the distributor and the only way to get to then is to pull the distributor out and then go to all the trouble of retiming it when refitting - Nope not doing that so I bolted some new ones next to the coils.
Did you know that ethanol fuel causes your tits to swell?
So thats new carb choke plungers too then.
So with fluids all swapped out, ignition all set up better than new I set aside some time the following day to go for a ride.
The Guzzi had other ideas....
Yes there's some 'green' growing on the electric stuff and thats preventing the spark pixies from travelling around.
I must say I was mighty impressed, the whole electrical system runs from a single 6mm piggyback crimp mounted vertically. If I had tried to make such a system I doubt it would have lasted 45 years.
Ok so NOW we can go for a ride......nope, one cylinder is playing up, plug is covered in soot.
Did you notice the new plungers are slightly longer? No, neither had I. Shorten the cable outer by 4mm and perhaps now we can go for a ride.
Fingers crossed.