Two coats of zinc phosphate later. The first coat didn't 'take' in places and I wasn't too sure if that was the result of missed grease streaks or because I hadn't stirred the paint enough (most likely), so I left it overnight to go completely hard (10 hours according to the can, left it for a day). I then rubbed a lot of it back to the original paint/metal and coated the whole lot again. Of course, this time I collected a whole load of runs too as opposed to bugger-all on the first coat  It gets two weeks to go hard this time as that's the earliest I can get back to it and rub it down again before enameling it.

Finally got round to cutting this back:



Just after which the sun was replaced by rain, so it got hung up to drip dry 



Not much change from the view above, except that the Guzzi on the bench is my 1000SP which has been sold and I'm now putting it back on the road for the new owner. Another PBS.

Nice work Dai. 
Don't know if I envy your meticulous attention to detail or your manKave (workshop) more!

Keep going, you're doing a grand job there.

The enamel didn't come out as well as I'd hoped but that was down to me not cutting the phosphate undercoat back properly. Serves me right.





I can absolutely highly recommend using a zinc-phosphate based undercoat and brushed tractor enamel on top; there's a real delight in watching the brush marks fall out of the paint as it goes on. The enamel dries seriously quickly; within a few minutes there's a distinct colour change as the top layer starts to go off. Although the tin says re-coat within thirty minutes, I found that once the top layer starts to seal any going back will leave brush marks in the new enamel. The real problem was at the rear of the headstock where all the tubes and plates come together; that turned into a slap-it-on-and-get-out session.

I replaced all of the captive nuts too.



I had to laugh; I 'borrowed' a couple of dozen of those from my employer over thirty years ago and never used them until now.

Dai

While you were setting up that post I was out on my K having gone down to the local hardware/farming store to see about painting the rear frame on the RT. I work with paints too and zinc phosphate is the business but I had picked up a satin black tractor paint [no it didn't say Made in USA] and it mentioned exactly those properties you have said. Decided to ring someone I knew with lots of off road mud plugging bikes for advice and it was a case of go for it. Extra coats are good and have to let it time to cure fully before putting back cable ties etc.

Extra coats = six days between each one if you don't get it within thirty minutes. That's a long time! Oh - and use a good quality bristle brush. I forgot to mention that. I used a 30mm Harris Perfection.

Another one of those small things that irritated the hell out of me on Low Flying Brick is the two brackets that hold the mudguard on and go horribly rusty. Not on Brick2 they won't.



It's the first time I've done any stainless welding and I was quite surprised how much power I had to put through a 1.6mm rod (50 amps) before I started getting decent flow on the weld.

I snagged a K1100 mainstand off ebay for £30 inc p&p which I was quite pleased with but when it arrived I found this:



It was actually worse than the picture; that was taken after I'd gently hammered the foot back into shape. Originally it was folded almost flat against the leg. So, out came my old friend the SIP Weldmate:



No, that's not serious weld spatter on the left. The foot was worn so thin that even at 50 amps it punched right through and I had to build the hole back up again. I love this welder - I'll swear that you could weld sh!t to a blanket with it. I also ran a bead along the underside of the crack and then ground it flat.



Next up was the sidestand. I took the one off Low Flying Brick's original mainstand assembly (LFB got a K1100 stand a while back); I'd always thought it was a bit loose and expected to find a badly-worn spacer but when the bolt did (eventually) come out, there was no spacer at all. Of all the things that fitted perfectly and just required cutting to size, I wouldn't have expected a rear brake pedal spacer to do the job but here it is:



Finally, I applied a coat of Will's Hammershite to finish them off. I couldn't be bothered with the enamel because hanging down there in the flying crap, they're going to need regular recoats. Given a following wind they should be ready for fitting tomorrow.

Last Sunday I did mount the repainted mainstand and also the exhaust pipe; finally, it seemed, light at the end of the tunnel.



New feet, clean exhaust system and a missing plenum chamber. Read on...

The light turned out to be a train. First up was a faulty back brake on Low Flying Brick. That was a bit of a peculiar one: the brake pedal was hard but the action was suspect. Then the reservoir ran dry (!!) but there were no signs of a hydraulic leak anywhere. While bleeding the system I heard a slurp-slurp-slurp from underneath; I peeled back the boot on the master cylinder and was promptly showered with hydraulic fluid. But the system pumped up perfectly...! And stayed that way. And worked properly. Until the reservoir ran low again and the boot filled up with hydraulic fluid again.

Conclusion: the seal was leaking but such a tiny amount that I couldn't see it and only prolonged pressure (braking) was forcing fluid passed the seal. Bugger. New seal kit: £54. However, as this was a Sunday, the nearest seal kit was in Brick 2's master cylinder. Ten minutes later the entire rear brake system was off Brick 2 and mounted on LFB. I mount the rear hydraulic reservoirs directly to the footrest hangers so there's no messing about removing the battery, FICU etc. when taking the rear hydraulics off. So now Brick 2 is missing a rear brake. Sigh.

Second up was the nice new throttle cable I'd just made. It worked perfectly with the throttlebodies on the bench, but just wouldn't go onto the throttlebodies on Brick 2. That was when I discovered the two different sizes of cable brackets, but only after I'd removed the airbox and plenum chamber to try and see what was wrong. Okay... so it did do me a sort-of favour because I found that the inlets from the plenum chamber to the throttlebodies were starting to perish. Add another £34 for new inlets. While I was that far into stripping the fuel system (again!) I took the inlet spigots off and checked those too. No signs of splitting at all (hooray), so I bolted them back to the engine with a bit of Threebond to seal them.

At least the handlebars are finished with (I hope). They're fitted with Triumph Sprint switchgear, a Moto Guzzi California EV adjustable clutch lever and a Suzuki Bandit 1200 master cylinder with fully adjustable lever.



Homemade clutch and fast idle fittings and cables.



Homemade throttle fittings and cable.



All those nice new brass fittings led to one conclusion; I'm going to be in deep shit if a cable breaks on the road. The idea is to make three clutch cables, two throttle cables and a fast idle cable and keep the lot secreted in the lunchbox at the back of the bike.

Nice new brass bits:



Unfortunately I ran out of 6mm tube after making the second throttle cable. A new lot arrived yesterday, so no excuse not to finish the job. I didn't dare try to cut a 6mm thread into an 8mm hex bar (I don't have the tools to drill to that sort of accuracy) so I bottled out and used 10mm bar instead. The top throttle cable is using an adjuster scavenged from a Honda CB250N throttle cable.

After throwing some more money at Motorworks, I replaced the split throttle body inlets and put the plenum chamber back on. At the same time I overhauled LFB's rear master cylinder and mounted it on Brick2. That's the easiest m/c overhaul I've ever done. Try doing Guzzi master cylinders for a bit of amusement one day...

Engine finally back in one piece:



I still have to check/do the tappet clearances. Now, here's a shock for those of you that are familiar with my bikes....

CLEAN WHEELS!!!!!!!  



(See avatar to see what they're normally like). I started off with a citrus-based cleaner to remove as much of the dirt as possible but had to resort to an abrasive nylon wheel, followed by 240 grade wet'n'dry lubicated with a colour restorer. Not again. Never again. They're actually the wheels that used to be on LFB but both tyres needed replacing. It was easier to take both of Brick2's wheels in the back of the car, then swap them over when I got home. I should have taken a picture of both bikes with no wheels...

Ringfad pointed me to a Givi mounting kit on ebay. I snaffled it, but found when it arrived that it was specifically for the 4-valve model. Bugger. Two out of the three required mounting points weren't difficult to relocate, but the last one was a sod. There should be a bridge mounted under the plastic mudguard that takes the place of the existing clamp, but because the 2v and 4v frames have different rear loops, it wasn't gonna fit. Oddly enough, the final bodge consisted entirely of Givi parts! Oh yeah - and it proves that I did do the back wheel too.



Eventually the rusty bolts will be replaced with stainless steel, but I just don't have any of the right size in stock.

Coming together nicely Dai.

Good work!

G'day Dai, Nice work like that is indeed very hard to ignore.....

Good post Dai enjoyed reading it, have owned my k for 18 years.
after reading this post, I think it's time to do some of the serious maintenance, since 1998 I have only done fluid and oil changes and filters, I do all the maintenance myself. Never been game to do the spline lube but it's time to learn how, new fork springs would be nice, I am sure it used to sit higher at the front. Thank you for the inspiration 
Cheers Gary

Doing a spline lube on a paralever is a bit different Gary. The thing to watch for is the phaseing of the two halves of the shaft.

Thanks Rick, I will research the procedure, where do I get a phaser:-c: think I have a mate who could help he is a Star Trek fan,

Make sure it is only set to stun, not kill. 


Bill

One step closer...



and one step back. See the pile of lower fairing parts on the bird food boxes upper middle of the pic? They looked silver in the ebay pictures but turned out to be Sea Foam Green (or whatever it is) when they arrived. The upper fairing isn't silver either, but I could have lived with respraying such a large flat piece of plastic. Not the lowers - too many nooks and crannies and some things I get really lazy about. Plus one of the lowers (leftside) was far more scratched than the pictures made it out to be. Bugger. I should have asked about the colour; have only myself to blame for that one.

I made my own mounts for the Givi topbox. No amount of squinting at ebay pics was able to tell me if the Givi mounting kit used the existing BMW rack holes, so I decided not to chance it. The standoffs were made from 14mm aluminium rod; the rear ones were drilled and tapped so that I could secure them from inside the seat hump but the front ones were just drilled straight through as spacers. Figuring out the angle so that they'd mount vertically on the seat hump was interesting...

So, I actually got round to doing the wiring test yesterday. No.1 fuse kissed its ass goodbye as soon as I turned the ignition on. After a couple of simple tests and a couple more blown fuses, I walked off and left it for the day. I came back to it this morning and disconnected the instrument panel. No blown fuse. Next thought - what have I cross-wired? Answer - nothing. I've rewired the bloody connectors the wrong way round, so sockets 1-12 went into pins 13-24 and vice versa. Just at the moment I don't have any spare sockets, so a Stanley knife was brought in to relieve the tongues that ensure correct location and that was followed by a permanent marker that scribed 'LEFT 1-12' and 'RIGHT 13-24'  in BIG LETTERS on the relevant connector.

Problem solved with a first-class bodge

Oops! Anyone spot the typo above?





Checked the valve clearances (which I wasn't looking forward to) and whaddya know? They were all okay!





Lastly, gut and overhaul the fuel tank. I checked the resistance while I was at it and got reading of between 4ohms and 113 ohms. Good enough, I hope.





Today was also bite the bullet day. Add fluids and sneak up on the starter button... I'd love to say it fired up first time but it didn't, just sat there and churned. Putting the fuel lines on the right way round helps a lot Then no.4 injector started spewing fuel from the fuel rail, so off came the whole assembly for a check and reseat. This time the garage was filled with a cloud of blue smoke - never been so happy to run out of a cloud of choking fumes!!!!


So, I'm left with a couple of niggles. The alternator seems to be bolloxed as the blue wire has 12 volts on it but the charging light is not going out. Voltage across the battery is just the battery voltage; no charge at all. The other annoyance is the fuel light is not going out. I tried wiggling the float but no joy. The first problem is easy to fix as I have two spare alternators but the second one... I'm not sure where to start.

Charging problem fixed - I swapped the alternator for another 50amp verison. I checked the brushes in both alternators and found that the 'original' one had better brushes than the replacement. The unproven conclusion is that the regulator had failed.

Anyone any ideas on the fuel level light?

Dammit - the fuel level sensor is buggered. I pulled it out again this morning and dismantled it according to the word of Robmack. No dirt or corrosion on the inside but there's a definate break in the track. No idea what I was measuring before..!

WTB inserted in the appropriate forum...

Problem fixed. I found a not very good solder joint under a thin rubber tube in the tail from the fuel tank, so I chopped the connectors off both the new loom and the tank tail (I'd reused the OEM connector on the new loom) and crimped on two new Molex connector blocks. Must have been a broken wire in the OEM connector as this time the fuel gauge responded almost immediately when I pulled the float up but the fuel low light still remained on. After a few minutes of faffing about, I turned away from the bike and when I turned back, the light was out. I thought I'd imagined it, so I turned the ignition off and went through the test procedure again. Light on. Turn away, come back a bit later and light off. Then the remaining grey cells sputtered into action and I finally figured out that there's an RC network in the instrument panel damping the input from the float.

Well now - time to bolt the bike back together, put two new tyres on it and pass it on to the new owner.

Yes, it's sold. I told you I wanted that Guzzi Nuovo Falcone...

Oh No Doc I think we're losing him, someone has been feeding him anyiKpox vacine in his loffee.

Been reading this with interest Dai. Good job.
A bit of Guzzi fever coming on I think. Take a couple of Panadol and have a lay down. It'll pass.

In my defence I have to add that I also sold a Guzzi to fund the Guzzi. I'm still looking to sell the Suzuki to finish funding the Guzzi. It's funny; I sold the 1000SP to a guy for whom I'd built an 850-T3 from the proverbial six boxes of bits about eight years ago. His son has an MV Augusta Brutale but was looking for a boxer for an easier commute. I knew where there was an R100RS for sale but as soon as his father told him I was selling Brick2, he jumped, even though I pointed out that he could most likely get a K100 cheaper than the price I was asking. Even so, it was still only half the price of the boxer.

So I find myself in the odd position of building bikes for father and son.

Dai - did you take any final pics of the finished bike - I was sure cleaning up nicely!

Hi Will! It's not quite finished yet, so don't worry about that. More pictures to follow.

Finished - apart from not having plugged in the Tom-Tom. I switched the navsat power from the leftmost switch in the crashpad. At the new owner's request I also fitted heated grips, a clock and fuel gauge in the fairing and two power take-offs (USB and Hella) mounted on the ignition coil cover.



Surprisingly, he (or rather his father!) wasn't too fussed about the colour mismatch saying that his son would get it resprayed when he could be bothered.





The additional light on the back of both bikes is a foglight.

On Monday Brick2 passed its MoT on the first attempt, not bad considering I took it straight from home to the testing station with no other checking - but it shouldn't have done. The speedo died within a hundred yards of home. Somewhat pissed off, I decided that at least I could find out if I'd missed anything and the cost of a re-test is less than booking a new one. However, the tester missed it and I wasn't going to tell him! The new brakes and swingarm/headstock bearings tester is great for getting someone to scrub-in brand new tyres too .

Yesterday morning I sat down to troubleshoot the speedo. I started by checking the drive sensor but that was pulsing fine, then replaced the entire speedo but still no joy. That just left the drive board; a quick root through a pile of buggered speedos turned up a replacement board and sure enough, that was the problem. It's just taken you ten seconds to read what took me two hours to sort out!

Now for the interesting bit - a back-to-back comparison with LFB. If you recall, LFB has had K1100 TBs fitted and the timing advanced by six degrees. I'd always been curious as to how much difference this had really made and I found out.

LFB made Brick2 feel like a slug. Oops.

Great job Dai, always things to learn watching guys like yourself do these builds.

Is your choice of using non-BMW handlebar switchgear based on personal preference and/or cost and availability?

Thanks

It's based on teenage injury   . I have only half the normal range of movement in both wrists and both thumbs which makes the standard BMW paddles somewhat painful to operate.

Well, I thought it was finished anyway... only today when I went to fine-tune the throttlebodies Brick2 pissed all over the garage floor. It didn't take long to track the leak to the brand-new(!!) clutch boot. I was absolutely not amused to find that the reinforcing ring (where the clutch arm pushes against the boot) was only bonded to the rubber for about a 30-degree arc. I've ordered two this time, just in case  

Do they check the actual speedo in your MOT? Over here the UK MOT test doesn't check its operation, only that any illumination bulbs are working.

Mike

You're right, but a non-functioning speedo is frequently caught under the catch-all of 'tester's discretion as to whether something affects the roadworthiness of the vehicle'. Also, it's difficult to miss that it's not working when doing the brake and suspension test on the rollers. Personally, I'd class a defective speedo as potentially dangerous but... This might be of interest:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/510388/mot-inspection-manual-classes-1-2.pdf

New clutch boots arrived from Motorworks today so I gave them a close inspection. Turns out that the leaky one was completely screwed. The reinforcing ring is molded into the rubber - or at least, it should be. On the original one the internal molding that the ring bonds into was thin to non-existent in places. The reinforcing ring must have parted company with the rubber boot the very first time I pulled the clutch lever in. The red outlines show where the rubber molding is missing - sorry about the poor picture but I had to wind the brightness and contrast right up to get the missing bits to display.



No wonder it leaked.

Dai

When did you put the previous one in? I have a similar issue and mine was replaced April 2014, wondering was there a bad batch of stock out there....!

It arrived here on Sept. 29th last year.

Well, that was an interesting hour. I found that if you hang a 14lb weight, a 7lb weight and a Guzzi swingarm off the end of the silencer you get just enough room to slide the clutch arm pivot rod through. After that, it's just a case of growing another hand to push the pivot rod back again while your original two hands hold the clutch arm, spring and boot in place.

Actually, I used the clutch cable to hold the clutch arm almost in place. That in itself held the boot and spring together while I wiggled the pivot rod through. Once that was back in again, I pushed the boot over the gearbox spigot and clamped the securing clip back up. The advantage of doing it this way is that you don't put any pressure on the boot from the big spring. Not a difficult job but just awkward because of the confined space. Next time I think I'll take the back wheel off for better access.

don't know how I missed this
but great write up and work Dai
many good tips and ideas

cheers mate

Thanks Charlie!

floyd wrote:Great stuff Dai, thanks for documenting this.

Before delving into the world of K - wiring and electrics in general was perhaps my weakest moto-related skill...now ive done a few things like learning to solder well, installing headlight relays, installing an aux fuse box etc etc I actually really enjoy it....and have a bizarre fantasy about making a full wiring loom one day

Really need to get me a fancy crimping tool soon.

Cheers mate

Guys, I know this is going back awhile, but so do I:
Everything I do with wiring is experimental, so I’m curious about the crimping machine. I’ve done about a dozen battery cable connectors on the K while I’ve been moving stuff around in the chair. 
1) I’ve been crimping with a cold chisel and a controlled whack with a big hammer, it’s been effective but I’m sure not text book. Does the crimping tool do anything very different?
2) At what guage or wire diameter do you solder rather than crimp?
In the interim I am trying to re learn how to solder, for some reason I seem to be struggling with modern solders and electric irons. I will get there as I want to fix my shiny new Hall sensors to the old backplate, and they need to be right first time.
Sorry to ask such basic questions but I’m finding the wider internet has many opinions and fewer empirical facts...
Cheers, Stu

Well, I'm far from the most qualified on here. But as a shed builder, here's my twopenneth:

Crimping is a cost & efficiency invention. When done to a proper design, with correct crimps/wire and calibrated, crimpers (not the stuff most of us have in our toolboxes) it meets required standards.

At all other times a chisel can be as good as you'll get!

I don't like using insulated crimps for a few reasons: on a bike I find they are susceptible to corrosion inside the crimp, which can loosen/add resistance to the join. Also, I've never found a (cheap enough for my pocket) hand crimping tool that I'm confident gives a proper crimp. Lastly, I've not got the patience to properly investigate and acquire the correct selection of crimp sizes for the variety of wires I come across on the jobs I tackle.

I do use uninsulated crimps on the multiblock connectors for looms etc. I'm happy that the bespoke tool I've got does a reasonable job. Plus, it's easier to see how much success or damage you've inflicted on an uninsulated crimp. I often have two attempts at a crimp.

Everywhere else I use soldered joints. If you use active flux and a Weller iron (with a bit of power) it's usually a good join. Active flux helps a lot with 'old' wire that you'll find in a loom. Soldering is for life whereas crimp-to-crimp connectors look like sh*t to me. But not everyone has the choice.

On heavier gauge 2.5/4.0/6.0 wire I use a heavy gauge crimp connector, removing the insulated sleeving with a knife if necessary. Squeeze this down with any suitable tool, but not madly, and then run solder in as well. On a 6.0 battery terminal I even use a small blowtorch to get it hot enough to solder. Add some adhesive heatshrink over the top as a protection/strain relief and it looks good enough to me!

They're my confessions. Looking forward to corrective information from more skilful guys!

Edit, make sure to wipe excess flux away afterwards - or the active stuff will just carry on being active... 
Also, you can use active solder on cleaner wire, this etches the old wire for successful tinning too, but there's no leftover 'active' gummins when you've done.
Active solder/flux is good - that's why it's been banned I think!

Wires and tools from here: http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/

His 2.8mm mini terminals are a bit expensive, so

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/380pcs-set-Car-Motorcycle-Electrical-2-8mm-2-3-4-6-Pins-Wire-Terminal-Connector/292994411475?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140122125356%26meid%3D2f895325d14b407c9fec9e5c6762c3f4%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D333131777980%26itm%3D292994411475&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

Good enough for the current floating around on a bike.

As Chris correctly states, it's damn near impossible to get a proper crimp with insulated terminals. I hate the feckin' things with a passion. With non-insulated terminals you can see the crimp before you push the terminal into the block. Non-insulated spade/pin terminals have two sets of 'ears' on them; the forward (smaller) pair are crimped over the exposed wires and the rear (longer) pair are crimped into the insulation for support. Also, if you need to use a flag terminal in particular, you'll never get a crimp on that without the correct tool.

I only ever solder when 'branching' wires within the main loom (e.g. making an earth-return backbone, wiring up the indicators); years ago I settled on a 30-watt soldering iron as being the best heat for the job. Whatever you're soldering, it has to be scrupulously clean - any sign of copper oxide (black) or copper carbonate (green) and it won't solder. Active flux (Baker's Flux) is no longer generally available because it's acidic nasty stuff, so you will be buying mulitcore solder. If you're a masochist you can always buy a tub of Baker's Blue and use non-cored solder . If you really have to reuse a wire (the Hall effect cable) and the wire is a bit suspect with copper oxide, Baker's Blue and multicore solder is your friend. In all cases, make sure you tin the iron (have a small drop of liquid solder on it) before going anywhere near the joint. It helps transfer the heat a lot more quickly.

I'm going to partly disagree with Chris - soldering is for life only if the joint is in a non-stressed area of the loom. I've seen people recommending putting solder on the end of a wire ('tinning') before crimping it. Bad idea guys; you've just introduced a serious stress area where the wire exits the terminal because there's no flexibility in it. Most of the multiblocks on a motorcycle experience some form of movement during a ride. Even where they are clipped into the frame (as on a brick for the left and right switch terminal blocks) there's some movement down there when you swing the handlebars from left to right.

Just a thought as well; if you source a 50-amp 'police' alternator (it's a drop fit) you could stick a headlight or five on the tub. Watch ebay; when they come up they usually go for between a pound and a pound-fifty per amp.

Oh yes - and I learned at the weekend that Brick2 is still being thrashed daily between Coventry and Rugby!

Chris, Dai, you guys always come through. Cheers. Plenty of food for thought there.

I’ve got my 12 volt (with built in resistor implied as per CF, lets not have that debate again 😂) LEDs to test the old HES to confirm that it is failing.

I then plan on soldering in some of the newer standard shielded cable that’s been mentioned elsewhere herein and re test the old HES.

I’ll redo these tests using both the old and new shielding with the new sensors.

I’ll run the tests at room temp and with a heat gun 1) on the sensors and 2) on the wiring; as I have seen some discussion that the old spec wiring/shielding may be a contributory factor in HES failure.

I figure that by the time I’ve done this I’ll have picked up the skills I need to press on with some K electrical projects and maybe add to the Knowledge base with any interesting findings.

Just have a go - it's only a bike. The best lessons come from the mistakes you make, nobody is born with this knowledge, and all of us are still learning. That's why I bang on about wiping away excess active flux for example - I once had a green wiring loom.

There's another thread going at the moment, with info on a diy manometer/carb balancer. I once had a go at one of these myself. That was before the internet and helpful guidance. I managed to suck windscreen washer fluid (I thought the blue would be a helpful colour) into the cylinders, and things quickly went very bad. I'm an expert in most forms of destruction.

 Riding Madass must be an act of faith...

chris846 wrote: The best lessons come from the mistakes you make . . .

I get my best lessons from the mistakes others make because they help to lower my educational costs, too.   I'm happy to live in an age where information about them is prolific. 

Well-crafted reply from Laitch -

So do you want me to post diagrams for my manometer? Ho ho.