Over the bank holiday weekend, we went on a nice ride to the Peak district. Just 3 days of riding, enjoying the scenery and crisp, fresh air. For this occasion, we decided to take out the Guzzi, which hasn’t seen extended action since Easter, when we took it for a ride around France. So it was the both of us, zipping up the M1 on the Saturday, reaching just in time for lunch. The next day we took it easy, but on the way back on Monday, we did the full 130mi on the motorway without any stops on the way.
So by the time we got back and parked up, we noticed the bike was dripping mustard coloured oil. It was coming from underneath the engine, where there is a breather pipe hanging straight down. Having seen this previously on Royal Enfields, where there is a dirty oil reservoir which needs emptying every so often, we were not overly alarmed. However, when this happens on a Royal Enfield, you do need to clean the air filter, because it gets all gunked up with the same nasty yellow oil that is dripping down. So we let the bike be, with a newspaper underneath. Over the course of an hour or so, it made quite a big puddle of dirty oil and then stopped…
Just to be sure, we phoned up our local Guzzi dealership to ask for advice. Apparently, this is not too uncommon for this type of bike. According to the dealer, if you use it for short rides a lot, condensation occurs inside, and then if you ride it for a longer duration, especially at higher speeds (he mentioned the word “thrashing” ) the bike expels a lot of dirty oil and clears the system out properly. So, although this is annoying when it happens, it is nothing to worry about and not like an Enfield where you need to clean the bike up (air filter especially) afterwards. All you can do is wait for it to stop, and it’ll be as good as new. Now I’m guessing, in order to prevent this in the future, we’re just going to have to “thrash” the bike regularly

www.davidsilverspares.co.uk - A famous name in motorcycle spares, and quite rightly so. They have an easy to use website, good range of spares, and offer quick delivery if the item you need is in stock.

www.wemoto.com - Full name: World’s End Motorcycles; great selection of spares, not so easy to use this site though, it’s a bit confusing getting through the first page of the site, to finally see the list of spares for your bike model. But once you do reach, just bookmark that page to save the hassle for the next visit. Whenever I’ve ordered anything, it turned out a little cheaper than David Silver Spares, and my order reached me the next morning! Now that’s a service worth coming back for.

I only wish that buying spares for our other bike was this easy… But that’s the price you pay for owning a Moto Guzzi! Everything goes through the dealer network.

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Recommended sources for other spares / parts:

http://www.motorrad-burchard.de - Great for custom parts to suit various cruisers.

http://www.startright.co.uk - Spares for more bikes than I have space to list here right now - including Japanese, Chinese, Italian, American, etc. ; if you want the full overview, why not have a look here!

What’s a headgasket

The headgasket is the seal between the cylinder head and the engine block. It ensures the pressure stays inside the cylinder(s), coolant stays inside the water sleeve (and doesn’t seep into the cylinders).

Symptoms of Headgasket problems (”blown headgasket”)

1. Loss of power - because compression from the cylinder(s) is escaping due to a leak of the headgasket.

2. Coolant can leak into the cylinders and evaporate inside or mix with the engine oil.

3. Mixing fluids (coolant and oil) causing either fluid to look contaminated (milky).

4. Compression from the cylinder may escape into the coolant system, causing coolant to bubble and gush out of the overflow tank.

5. Reducing coolant levels will cause the engine to overheat, which may seize the piston and cause further damage.

6. Excessive white smoke coming from the exhaust (caused by coolant evaporating inside the engine), damaging the catalytic converter (if your vehicle has one).

When your headgasket is damaged, it may be that you do not instantly notice a difference in how the vehicle drives. It could run like normal (but leaving behind clouds of white smoke) until all the coolant has gone and the engine overheats.

Repair

Depending on what type of vehicle you have (how much it’s worth to you!) there are two ways of countering a headgasket failure. Either take it to a mechanic and have the headgasket replaced (or if you feel up to it, replace it yourself). This could be quite costly, which may or may not be worth it considering the value of the vehicle.

You may also want to try a less conventional method; Steel Seal. It’s a liquid which you pour into your radiator. It then moves around and (hopefully) seals the damage on the gasket to make it “as new”. Now I haven’t used this, so can only go by people’s opinions in various forum posts and reviews. The crowd is divided. Some people say it’s crap, and some say it’s brilliant. But it’s not that expensive so you might want to try it out before shelling out hundreds of pounds replacing the headgasket….

Prevention

There is no way to prevent your headgasket from blowing. As the engine gets older, the seal may become weak and just give up after a while. All you can do is pay attention to what your vehicle is doing (is excessive white smoke coming out of the exhaust?) and try to limit the damage to just the head gasket rather than driving around until your engine overheats and causes all sorts of additional problems!

And if you’re anything like me, you don’t exactly have a bottomless money supply for your custom paint experiments, so every little saving is welcome.

Get 5% off at the Halfords UK Website:

Quote this code during check out: AFF5APR

And you will get 5% off everything. (Not including MP3, SatNavs, Gift Vouchers and Alloy wheels). 

Enjoy!

Now what type of paint can you use on such components?

While researching this project, I came across a forum on MSN Groups dedicated entirely to Honda CB500’s. Unfortunately, since then MSN Groups closed down and all that valuable information was lost forever… But I do remember reading some posts from people who wanted to repaint their engine or exhaust and the prevalent opinion seemed to be just walking into Halfords and picking up:

1. Extra High Temperature Paint (comes in a rattle can) 

2. Plastikote BBQ Paint (also a rattle can)

Since both components tend to get quite hot while riding, it is vital to use a paint that can stand such temperatures. If you don’t, you may end up spoiling your brand new paint by having it flake off or discolour due to the heat.

For your engine, if you would like to match the original colour, Aluminium seems to be the shade of choice (In Extra High Temperature paint). Now I don’t know for sure if my engine is still the original colour or not, since it looks like it has been painted at least once or twice, judging from the flaking. However, it seems worth a shot, as I like the shade shown on the cap of the spray can. So I think I’ll try that out in the near future, when I get a weekend of dry weather. 

High Temperature paint comes in many other colours too though. You could get matte black for your exhaust, or even Red if you’re daring! 

For my exhaust, I’d like to stick with what it is now (sort of) - Black. And since people seemed to have a high opinion of the BBQ Paint I mention above; I’m highly tempted by the promise of a satin black finish that will hopefully last a while. The advantage of going with a satin finish rather than matte black, is that apparently matte black paint can rub off at times. Also, hopefully it will be easier to keep clean if it’s satin paint. 

Painting the exhaust seems less straightforward. At this point I am not sure if the downpipes can (or should) be painted also. They are quite rusty an flaky, and one cannot be certain if they would survive a good sanding. Perhaps I’ll just have to put some anti rust treatment on them and hope for the best… 

The exhaust itself is not in a great shape either; there is a small hole in it somewhere as well as some rust & scuffs. Since I’ll have to spray paint this, it also needs to come off the bike somehow, and the bolts are totally rusty. I foresee plenty of problems trying to open those bolts… 

So the action plan is as follows:

• Try to take above mentioned bike parts off without damaging anything (like bolts, brackets, or the parts themselves of course). 
• Sand off the scuffs, rust and loose paint until I have a fairly smooth surface to work with. This may be impossible on the downpipes, so I’m aiming for at least the exhaust can itself. 
• Use Hammerite Rust treatment on all rust which could not be sanded off. 
• Give everything 2-3 coats of BBQ Paint, or keep going until an even finish is achieved - Sanding inbetween coats to smooth out any dripping or bubbling paint and to prevent flaking of the paint.

If anybody has any suggestions regarding repainting engines and exhausts, I’d be very grateful!

Having time to spare (to let the poor thing cool down!) we kept ourselves entertained by looking at the new bikes they had on display. I particularly loved the V7 Café 750 Classic standing inside their showroom. What a good looking bike! Especially since I have a weakness for retro looks, and the combination of matte Yellow paint with the chrome spoke wheels etc. just totally works!

Though they didn’t have a demo bike for that model available, they did have the normal V7 Classic. The only difference between both is mainly cosmetic; different handlebar and seat, rest is pretty much the same.

So off I went taking it for a little ride. It’s a fairly small and light bike, doesn’t really feel like a 750. It took a little while getting used to the gears and clutch. Everything is so new and smooth, you don’t even notice the gears changing – quite a big difference after being used to the Honda which in comparison sounds and feels like a tractor changing gears. The clutch travel is minute, way less than I expected, so my start was not particularly smooth, until I got my head around where the biting point is.

Now it does say it’s a 750, V-Twin - but it doesn’t really go like a 750. Both my husband and I are spoilt with the Honda’s acceleration, and although the spec says the Guzzi has 10 less bhp, it feels like way less than that. For exactly that reason, my husband didn’t like the bike at all. I on the other hand was more influenced by the looks of it. It may sound very, very wrong but the whole bike just seemed endearing. Compare it to a lion cub, it’s really cute and at the same time demands respect - A small V twin with a tiny little roar to go with it when you rev it a bit. Possibly changing the exhaust to louder ones will make it more impressive but I was overwhelmed by the cuteness of it all. (Men will hate this remark I’m sure!). One thing I did note on my little ride around the neighbourhood was that other bikers seem to inherently respect you on that bike more than on a Japanese one. I got a few nods and looks, which NEVER happens on the Honda.

All in all I think the bike is quite nice, perhaps a bit girly. I’d prefer the Café version of course, and a louder exhaust system. However, for the same price or less I could get a small Harley… which is also very tempting. I couldn’t really fault the bike, it has its own charm and quite different looks, however the main thing that would make me think twice is servicing costs. After being presented with the bill for our California this point was emphasized even more, shelling out 400-500 quid for a simple service just feels so wrong – there wasn’t even anything broken on the bike! Imagine getting it repaired when it does break down; Ouch!

So as you can see, the tank looks decent (on a picture, not in real life!) with the paint still on. But some of the paint is bubbling, indicating that there is rust underneath it which will sooner or later cause it to peel off. Therefore I cannot paint over the existing finish.

In that way the state of the tank pretty much decided my next step; which (power)tools to buy! I impulsively went ahead and bought a Black & Decker Multisander from Argos (it was on sale…). It’s a random orbital sander which comes with a triangular base as well as a round one. However after trying to sand some of the paint off, I found that although it could do it (eventually), it eats up the sand paper way too quickly.

So today I went on another shopping spree and bought a little 600W Draper Angle Grinder. I know it’s not the most powerful one out there, but that’s OK; I’m not particularly strong (and for those that aren’t aware - I’m a girl) and the thought of having to wield a huge 900W angle grinder was not very appealing at all. I also bought a poly carbide abrasive disc to go with the grinder.

As soon as I got home and unpacked my stuff, my husband couldn’t contain his curiosity and immediately assembled the grinder, putting on the abrasive disc and taking it to the same tank. Turns out (in spite of its relatively low wattage) this grinder is actually quite effective. Have a look at 5 minutes worth of paint stripping:

We figure it will probably take 30-45 minutes to do the whole tank.

However, the rest of the body panels are made of plastic, instead of metal. So they will need to be sanded down with the multisander and by hand, which should take a fair bit of elbow grease.

UPDATE:

So last weekend we felt like making a mess as well as a whole lot of noise… The tank is now fully stripped, eating up the entire grinding pad. It took about an hour, but the result is not bad:

Note the big dent on it, well there are plenty more on this tank, so the next step will be trying to get rid of them somehow…

Symptoms: Perfect running until for no apparent reason the bike gets jerky, loses power, revs fall, and just acts as if it’s run out of petrol. Upon pulling over it would stall, and refuse to start for the next 3-4 minutes or so. After it does start again, upon revving it will backfire once or twice and continue to run perfectly until everything starts all over again….

So what does a girl do? Getting sick and tired of having the bike die on me in the midst of rush hour traffic up to three times in a 1.5 mile trip to work, I decided to drop the bike with a mechanic. Picking a “proper shop” nearby, I explained the problem and hoped for the best. Then I remembered that sometimes (every few months or so) the bike tends to overheat and spit out coolant. That little bit of extra information pretty much distracted the mechanic from then on - insisting that both problems MUST be related.

A phonecall a few hours later spelled trouble. The mechanic said he had a look around the cooling system of the bike and found that the coolant level was extremely low. He then tested the fan (which worked) and ran the bike a little. To his horror coolant gushed out of the bike as soon as the engine ran for a minute or so, not enough to make it hot!

His diagnosis: blown head gasket or cylinder ring. He told me he’d do a compression test.

Result: left cylinder: 175psi, right cylinder: 125psi. He was even more sure now that it was a major engine problem causing all my trouble… Quoting me a grand for all the work to put it right, I was totally horrified obviously (especially since the bike had cost me less than that in the first place!) so I decided to take it back as it was.

Mechanic #2. Luckily, there’s this other mechanic close to where I work who helped me out on previous occasions (see: Replacement Spark Plugs) I gave the bike to him, explaining what the other mechanic had said (blown headgasket - repair: 1000 bucks) and although the repair cost gave him a good laugh (and he quoted me about 350 for the same thing) he promised to have a good look around the bike to see what was up.

A few hours and phone calls later: he claimed the bike ran beautifully, and after having it on for a while, coolant stopped leaking out, making him suspect that it had been overfilled. It couldn’t possibly be anything as serious as the headgasket then… 

As my husband and I had suspected from the beginning of this whole ordeal, I told him maybe the tank and carbs are dirty. I asked him to strip the carbs and clean out the tank and see what he finds inside. He was happy to oblige. Indeed I get a cheerful phonecall that evening detailing how he’d found “a load of shit inside the carbs and tank” and the bike was still running beautifully. 

Yay! I got it back last night, drove it around til it overheated and spat coolant out again.. but it didn’t stop even once! Sure I know I should have the radiator fan looked at (It doesn’t cut in even when you could use the engine for a stove), but hey, from home to work it won’t even get luke warm. At the moment (having spent what I have just now on two separate mechanics’ fees) I think I’ve bought myself some time.

Morale of the story: 

1. Before paying a mechanic a grand to work on your old vehicle, take a second opinion!

2. If the bike feels like it’s not getting any fuel, it might just be as simple as it literally not getting any fuel.

3. Older bikes might have rust in the tank which might eventually cause running problems. 

For more information on headgasket problems, see my next post “Headgasket Woes”.

As I told the mechanic what had happened he explained the following: Once the carbs flood with fuel, the spark plugs will get wet and basically become useless. After that, the points of the spark plugs (even if you do take them out, wipe them dry, and sand off the dirt from them) will never be clean enough to give a reliable spark.

It’s not all that bad though. Replacement spark plugs come for around £6, and if you have the original tools that come with the bike, you will already have all required tools to replace the spark plugs yourself.

Here’s what you do. Once you get two replacement spark plugs, take the side covers (shrouds) off the tank. On the top of the engine you will see black rubber plugs which go all the way inside. This is a little fiddly, especially if you have big hands, but it’s just about possible to pull out the plugs from the engine and take them out entirely, put the spark plug socket inside the cavity you just removed the rubber plugs from. Open the spark plug by twisting on the tool with a spanner going anti clockwise. This may require quite a bit of force!

Once the spark plugs are unscrewed, just take them out, if you can reach make sure the area round the spark plugs is clean and dry, and put the new one in. Repeat this process on the other side of the engine. Once you’re done, simply push the plugs back in, make sure they are properly tightly connected - you might feel a subtle click when they push in, after which they won’t move around anymore. Then put the shrouds back on and you should be up and running!

Just wanting to look something up I did a quick search for an online version of a service manual, well here is the full thing:

Honda CB500(S) 93-01 Service Manual