The Moto-Guzzi Nuovo Falcone VOC

My NF appeared to have an oil leak from the beginning when I restored it and got it back on the road.  When parked up in the garage after a run, a small spot of engine oil would drop onto the floor.  To say the least, it was a bit disappointing.

I spent a lot of time, firstly checking gaskets, and latterly checking seals.

This weekend, I finally discovered the cause of the oil leak.

If you dismantle the left side of the engine and remove the flywheel outer cover, the flywheel and flywheel inner cover, as you have to to get to the front sprocket.  If you remove the sprocket & chain as I did, suspecting the gearbox shaft seal was the culprit, clean the area up with degreaser.  Then have a good look at the underside of the engine breather housing and you will see a small hole.  I am quite sure that this is designed as a chain oiler!

Rightly or wrongly, I have left the hole there just so that it does act as a chain oiler.  But it does explain the oil leak.

It's quite easy to translate the online manuals & parts books from Italian to English, using Google translate.  After a while you get used to certain words anyway.

Alternatively you can get an English workshop manual from Martin Noke.  Have a look on Ebay.  They cost GBP 20.00 and are very worthwhile having.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203756290354?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338268676&toolid=10044&customid=CjwKCAiA6Y2QBhAtEiwAGHybPbL2Rt_yKNM6qp5cAvhU_pkHHL1UJponAlotcjm2YB81BRGsGW0o1xoCYiQQAvD_BwE

Useful mods are to add an extra oil feed to the top of the engine to help lube the inlet valve.  You should change the engine & fork oil seals as almost all rubber parts will have perished by now.  Be very careful with the fork top nuts as they are aluminium and the threads strip easily, especially as you will reinsert them against the spring pressure.

Change the headlight out for one from a Mk1 VW Polo (if you had them in Oz).  It's about the same size but will enable you to have an H4 halogen headlight, but not exact. The headlight glass will rest directly onto the headlight rim, but you can put rubber U channel onto the rim to protect the glass. You will need to fit relays to control the high & low beam so you don't overload the handlebar switch.  Useful to have a relay on the horn too.

If you need to remove the flywheel, you can't get the original castellated socket for the special nut inside the flywheel.  However there is a Honda suspension tool that will do the job.  The thread is the opposite to normal and you might need a rattle gun.

Clutches can slip mainly due to age & old oil.  Oddly, this can happen at high cruising speeds. Replacements are available, but expensive.  Use new heavy duty springs.  Not a difficult job to do (can be done with the engine in the frame) but you will need to make a clutch compressor (easy).  Once done, I suggest you use oil developed especially for wet clutches (for peace of mind). Then you can forget about the clutch.

You could also fit a Dynastart instead of the dynamo.  It takes a bit if engineering, but saves kickstarting the bike. 

New petrol taps are rubbish.  The NF has a peculiar M12 thread, not common to other types.  If you get new taps, the seals are easy enough to replace, but have a tendency to move inside the tap housing which can restrict fuel flow.

Otherwise, it's an interesting bike to ride and will turn heads.

Rob

I suspect that the oil leak is coming from the neutral switch or from the drive seal.  You can see the leak area just ahead of the kickstart quadrant.

As a precaution I have ordered new seals for the flywheel shaft and gearbox/sprocket drive.  They are double lipped and in viton.  Expensive, but worth it.  I have a similar problem on my BMW airhead where the new seal behind the alternator is leaking.  That will definitely be replaced with a double lip viton seal.

I don't bother with the facebook page for the NF now, not since an a**hole in the USA tried to tell me (the way it was written was in the vein of "thou shalt not!" (do all Americans write this way?)) I was wrong to use stainless steel wheel rims and must never use stainless wheel steel rims.  I don't mind friendly advice & friendly suggestions (my advice/experience) is offered in the same way, but when some complete idiot tries to order me not do what I want with my own bike, it's time to leave.

Anyway, if anyone is in the vicinity of the Old Crown pub at Snarestone, Leicestershire, on Sunday 19th, the Taverners section of the VMCC are holding their Road Trial, and for the first time ever, I am having a go and riding the mighty Nuovo Falcone, complete with stainless steel rims and spokes and slight oil leak.

Wish me luck and give me a wave if you see me.  I am on a blue ex-Carabinieri bike.

This afternoon I had a chance to test out the new clutch. It works ( what did you expect).

My ride was over a mix of B roads and hills. Hills are probably the worst enemy of the mighty Nuovo Falcone. However, everything worked fine. Finding neutral isn’t too much of a problem. I just put the gearbox into first and then tap on the lever a couple of times to get the neutral light to light up. It’s the same as before.

My greatest concern was the weight of the clutch action due to the new, longer springs. However, all is well. The clutch action isn’t too heavy so I won’t have to develop muscles like Popeye. I might consider a device such as an EZ Clutch in future, but for now, it’s not necessary.

Everything probably needs a little time to bed in.

Having been out and about a few times on the NF, unfortunately I have discovered that it suffers from clutch slip in 4th (top) gear.  It is quite disconcerting, especially when you have built up speed, to suddenly hear a sharp rise in engine revs.

Having read many posts about engine oil, clutch springs and everything else, I decided it was time to delve back into the engine to investigate.

The first problem to overcome, once the side of the engine was removed (the engine is in the frame and the exhaust is still connected) was a clutch compressor.  It is quite simple to make with a piece of 50x50mm 300mm long wood, some 40mm diameter plumbing fittings and some M6 studding and some M6 nuts and washers. Because the exhaust is still in place, you need to make the studs long enough to allow the wooden compressor bar to compress the clutch and still be clear of the exhaust.

You need to drill 2 holes in the wooden bar set at least 50mm in from the end (to allow the wood to retain its integrity) and 200mm apart.  The studs screw into crankcase holes diagonally opposite each other so that the wooden bar goes over the centre of the clutch.

I used 40mm plastic plumbing fittings as that is what I happened to have lying around (in fact the M6 studding was the only part I specifically bought) and put a screw on compression fitting on the end to press onto the clutch.  This means it sits nicely into the centre of the clutch spring plate.

When you have set up the compressor, make sure you use some penny washers under the nuts that will do the compression work onto the wood.  They spread the load and stop the nuts from digging in. Gradually do up each nut equally to compress the clutch spring plate to allow you to remove the big retaining circlip.  This is not difficult to remove once the pressure is off, and then you can carefully back off the compressor nuts.

Once you have disassembled the compressor you can examine the springs and clutch plates.

Here was my first problem.  The springs were longer than standard, by about 10mm.  My guess is that they are Morini springs.  Secondly, neither Gutsibits or Stein Dinse had clutch springs in stock.  And Norton springs do not fit (diameter too big).

Fortunately, I have a biker colleague in Germany whom I asked to contact Pirner Guzzi. At first I just wanted springs, but Uwe Pirner suggested that I should replace the friction plates as well.  The reason for this is that the original friction plates were marginal at best, and of course the ones in my bike are probably 50 years old, soaked in the wrong or old oil and they splip and the wrong springs were fitted!

Therefore I made an executive decision to change the clutch for Pirner's new improved clutch. This is where I have an advantage.  Since Brexit, Pirner like many other small business, will not deal with the UK (it has become slightly more complicated).  However, my colleague ordered the parts which he received very quickly.  Unfortunately my colleague was unable to get the parts into my weekly shipment from Germany (I work for a German company) this week as they had suddenly become super efficient and closed the weekly shipment early. So it will be at least 2 weeks before I get the new parts and can fit them! Updates in 2 weeks!

I think I may have answered my own question by translating some of the Italian on a diagram of the relay & dynastart wiring.

The suggestion is that if you want to use a dynastart with the standard regulator for the Militare version, you need a relay.  The Lucas SRB 325 was specified. 

The regulator for the Civile already has "protection" or is already suitably rated to not need a relay.

I had to search round various posts regarding the pulley.  Modern pulleys are available with suitable taper lock bushes so that mounting on different spindles is not a problem.  I can source this and the shorter drive belt quite cheaply.

It looks like I'm going to be busy!

I would like to fit a dynastart instead of the standard dynamo, having recently experienced knee problems.

If I fit one with the correct regulator for a dynastart, do I still need to fit a starter relay?

Or, can I fit the dynastart and use the standard dynamo  regulator in conjunction with a starter relay?