Guzzi 1100 custom build

thanks for the complements guys...  As you will see I have graduated from Cardboard to FAD....  Foam Assisted Design 

yes, the garage is centrally heated, so its quite warm, although of late its been turned down  to a level to just keep the chill off.  dam energy prices!   the workshop at the side has no heating but is warmed to a degree by the garage...

here is everything to go to be powder coated. The swinging arm will be just blasted though as I will be polishing that. In some ways it was a shame to strip the wheels as they were perfect, but black, and I want silver. The powder coater insists they are stripped of the powder coat before I send them, as its so difficult for him to blast it off… in the past I have used industrial paint stripper but its expensive, and a terrible job to do. This time I took them to a local car wheel refurbishes and they put then in their stripping tank for a couple of hours.. they came out fantastic, the pain literally fell of! I left the disks on and they came out without any paint on as well. I will be taking my engine cases in next!

last post for a month while we go and get some sun!

Started the engine build… these are simple engines to build, just a couple of points to remember… There is one special bolt in the crankcase that has an oil feed hole in it. Its also much easier to pop the piston into the bore, and then put the pin in, the rings are very fragile (and expensive!) make sure you have some rag in holes though, those pin circlips have a life of their own! in one of the pictures you can see a plate which holds the flywheel… this is necessary as the alternator nut and crank nut are VERY tight and need torqueing to 190 NM.

I would like to thank the local council for the steel to make the engine stand. Leaving a large sign in the hedge at the side of the road for 2 years, I felt I had to re-cycle it 🙂

I wanted the belts and pulleys to be on show, but I am not keen on open belts… all it takes is one stone! I have made these before out of the original covers. Start by cutting holes with a hole saw, and then cut the oval out. for this I use a saw in the dremel but a saw is OK. Then I marked the profile on some 3mm polycarbonate and cut that to shape. With that in the cut out, I drilled some 3mm holes half in the cover half in the poly. the windows are held in with some 3mm flanged bolts, washers and nylock nuts. I did ad a dab of high strength nutlock and some small neoprene washers as well.

I then hydrodipped them. I know that fake carbon is not everyone’s thing but I like it, and when covered with a lacquer its VERY durable and UV stable, unlike the real stuff! The actual process is easy, and the film and activator is cheap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh6Hh1F0-Yg