Hi
I’m not actually a Guzzi owner … at least not yet, but I have a MK I Le Mans to fully restore which in common with many bikes of its age and genre have barely turned a wheel in the last forty years but has suffered some serious neglect.
The owner had started to strip the bike, but I don’t think he would mind me saying that he somewhat ran out of skill. Now I’m a Kawasaki man, but I’m sure I’ll me ok with some pointers from you guys on models specific issues I will get there.
I firstly need to get the motor stripped to its individual components so that Stephen Smethurst can work his magic on the ally cases. All the zinc plated bits can be sorted at Bryony’s and I’ll powder coat all the parts that will fit in my oven and the remainder can go up to Griff’s Reality Motorworks.
The inside of the timing looks as though it has had bits coated with epoxy or similar, presumably to cure leaks. I know the current owner’s relative had the bike from new and I’m not sure he did any work on it so could this be original? Were the casing’s porous?
Gutsibits don’t seem to have stock of the special tool for removing the middle sprocket of the timing chain set up on the engine front. Is this usually very tight? I’m considering machining something up from a suitable piece of tube on the milling machine, but I have no way of hardening it and don’t have CNC.
Any thoughts?
Many thanks
Ralph Ferrand