Howdy from the Moto Grappa at the top of Virginia.
My ’98 EV has been hors de combat with unspecified “don’t run right” issues for almost a year. The right cylinder ran when it felt like and it didn’t feel like it much. The left ran, but was hardly perfect. This, despite a recent VA, TB balance, R&R of spark plugs, fresh fuel, and fiddling with plug cables to the coil.
As it’s a favorite of Kathi’s for two-up riding, we haven’t done much of that while the EV’s been on the lift and after I sold my Norge last summer.
Kathi’s a talented pillion who enjoys spirited riding — too bad I’m so old and unskilled — and I enjoy her company on rides.
So, I finally Tom Sawyered two great Guzzi wrenches into coming down and setting things right this past week.
The Capo Meccanico was Scott Mastrocinque, whom everyone here knows.
His able assistant, Bob Wegman, a longtime Guzzista, drove down from Rochester, N.Y. Bob was an early Guzzi dealer under the Berliners, so, as the saying goes, this wasn't his first Italian rodeo.
I had (most) everything ready for the two surgeons, as my job was primarily to have tools and beer ready when the skilled labor grunted meaningfully.
Ahead of the adventure, Scott had me have waiting new injectors, along with new plugs, and air and fuel filters.
The injectors were pricier at $360 than I had expected, but after 107K miles, fuel erosion of the OEM innards — that’s a tech term; RTFM! — had done its erosive thing, so needed.
Aside from learning lots by watching and listening, I had a great time, and think the pros did, too.
Some pix are in the link, below, but for those who are impatient for the bottom line, the EV now runs GREAT.
In fact, as some of the last pix in that slideshow convey, Kathi and I took advantage of the 60ºF temps on Saturday after our guests left, to do a 200-mile loop that included the top third of Skyline Drive. Then, although I detest the slab, I dislike riding in the dark more, so we jumped on I-81 to race sunset. Two-up, we ran at 80 mph — GPS, not Veglia — for about 45 miles. The EV was rock solid and had more to give when I occasionally put spurs to it to get around a tractor-trailer convoy.
The cause of the problem that led to the fix?
Well, even tho we R&R’d injectors, air and fuel filters, and plugs, Scott speculated correctly that there was “old hose” debris in a fuel line south of the filter and north of the injectors. Bob also found that the right-side plug cable needed "more wire, less cable." When we cleaned out that fuel line and exposed more wire ... VAROOM!
So, here are the culled pix (but, yes, still lots) in a slideshow with captions. In my defense, I started with about 150 and cut out more than 100!
The link opens in “landscape collage” format, so you can see all at a glance without slogging through one by one unless you want to do that.
Hover your curser over any pic to see the caption.
[For maddening reasons I do not completely understand, the captions “disappear” if one enlarges the pix and goes through them. On “pure” slideshow, i.e., automatic switching to next slide, the captions continue to appear, but the pace is quick. Keeping the cursor in the “caption area” seems to help if going through manually. As I said, maddening. If anyone knows the code to make it more seamless, please tell me.]
The pix? Go here:
https://bill-and-kathi.smugmug.com/Scott-Bob-Revive-the-EV-Nov-23/n-ngSPNK/
Bill
My ’98 EV has been hors de combat with unspecified “don’t run right” issues for almost a year. The right cylinder ran when it felt like and it didn’t feel like it much. The left ran, but was hardly perfect. This, despite a recent VA, TB balance, R&R of spark plugs, fresh fuel, and fiddling with plug cables to the coil.
As it’s a favorite of Kathi’s for two-up riding, we haven’t done much of that while the EV’s been on the lift and after I sold my Norge last summer.
Kathi’s a talented pillion who enjoys spirited riding — too bad I’m so old and unskilled — and I enjoy her company on rides.
So, I finally Tom Sawyered two great Guzzi wrenches into coming down and setting things right this past week.
The Capo Meccanico was Scott Mastrocinque, whom everyone here knows.
His able assistant, Bob Wegman, a longtime Guzzista, drove down from Rochester, N.Y. Bob was an early Guzzi dealer under the Berliners, so, as the saying goes, this wasn't his first Italian rodeo.
I had (most) everything ready for the two surgeons, as my job was primarily to have tools and beer ready when the skilled labor grunted meaningfully.
Ahead of the adventure, Scott had me have waiting new injectors, along with new plugs, and air and fuel filters.
The injectors were pricier at $360 than I had expected, but after 107K miles, fuel erosion of the OEM innards — that’s a tech term; RTFM! — had done its erosive thing, so needed.
Aside from learning lots by watching and listening, I had a great time, and think the pros did, too.
Some pix are in the link, below, but for those who are impatient for the bottom line, the EV now runs GREAT.
In fact, as some of the last pix in that slideshow convey, Kathi and I took advantage of the 60ºF temps on Saturday after our guests left, to do a 200-mile loop that included the top third of Skyline Drive. Then, although I detest the slab, I dislike riding in the dark more, so we jumped on I-81 to race sunset. Two-up, we ran at 80 mph — GPS, not Veglia — for about 45 miles. The EV was rock solid and had more to give when I occasionally put spurs to it to get around a tractor-trailer convoy.
The cause of the problem that led to the fix?
Well, even tho we R&R’d injectors, air and fuel filters, and plugs, Scott speculated correctly that there was “old hose” debris in a fuel line south of the filter and north of the injectors. Bob also found that the right-side plug cable needed "more wire, less cable." When we cleaned out that fuel line and exposed more wire ... VAROOM!
So, here are the culled pix (but, yes, still lots) in a slideshow with captions. In my defense, I started with about 150 and cut out more than 100!
The link opens in “landscape collage” format, so you can see all at a glance without slogging through one by one unless you want to do that.
Hover your curser over any pic to see the caption.
[For maddening reasons I do not completely understand, the captions “disappear” if one enlarges the pix and goes through them. On “pure” slideshow, i.e., automatic switching to next slide, the captions continue to appear, but the pace is quick. Keeping the cursor in the “caption area” seems to help if going through manually. As I said, maddening. If anyone knows the code to make it more seamless, please tell me.]
The pix? Go here:
https://bill-and-kathi.smugmug.com/Scott-Bob-Revive-the-EV-Nov-23/n-ngSPNK/
Bill
