There is quite a noticible notch on all of the valves on my Cali 1100i which has done less than 20k.
A couple of things bother me. The first is the static sweep pattern - I was expecting the valves to rotate but clearly none of them do.
And second the depth of the notch which has or will affect the tappet setting with a feeler guauge.
I have read some stuff on interweb that says the sweep pattern is normal but is it for Guzzi?
I dont think the head has been starved of oil but I havent owned it from new. Soft tips, maybe?
Tempted to file tips down.
Anyone else experienced this.
All help and assistance welcome.
you are right to expect valve rotation and even wear patterns.
you need new Stellite coated valve ends or new valves or, if there is space to fit them: valve caps.
In the future you could replacing the springs on the rocker pivot shaft (that are used to take up axial slack) with spacers you could set the rocker off the centre line by 1-2 mm to get rotation.
Thanks for this.
I hadnt thought about valve caps but I will investigate further.
I must admit I thought the rotation was due to torque reaction to spring compression but I couldnt see why this wouldnt be working.
I did watch what I thought was a good series of videos on Mike’s Machines on replacing valve guides on a Le Mans 1000. It goes into some detail about setting up the rockers but the guy in the video doesnt offset the rockers, in fact he goes to some trouble to centre them.
I havent checked the spring length/shimming yet but I understand from video this could be crtical.
Again thanks for the advice, muvh appreciated
Andrew
Update on issue
Stripped engine and found valve guides and stems were worm beyond servicable limits. Valve seats, particularly exhaust, pitted.
Camshaft and cam followers look ok. As does the crankshaft and main bearings.
All point to oil starvation in the heads
Removed the sludge trap plug but contrary to parts manual (and Gutsibits site) the 1100s have a 24mm plug not 22mm. Mine was drilled off centre and deeply punched which resulted in a crack in the threaded part of the crankshaft. This I have welded up and retapped. There was a level teaspoon of sludge in there. By contrast my 50k Spada had none.
I then looked at the pressure relief valve. This appears to be the culprit. It should “blow” at 4 bar but mine went at the slightest of pressure.
It was clean but virtually no mating surface. So Ive lapped it in with valve grinding paste, easier said than done. It now works to spec (4 bar)
My next question is “What pressure should the system work at?”
The oil pressure switch is set for 0.2 to 0.5 bar which doesn’t sound a lot and my bike could have been running at 0.2 bar without any warning.
Ps I checked valve springs and all were a bit weak. Oddly the strongest spring had more shimming than the others. These were checked disassembled without shims. I will reuse but shim to strength rather than length and even the load.
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Just realised the italian oil pressure switch has 0.15 - 0.35 so its not even half a bar!
Ps ps I had the rockers refaced by Phil Joy for a reasonable £60. He’s over Stanstead way.
Enough meat on them not to need building up with weld.
Club members put me on to Piper Cams but they put me on to Phil.
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