Laverda a-fettleing we go

Ho hum, barsteward Italian bikes...

Anyway, pulled the plugs and unsurprisingly the bike was running
*massively* rich on the lhs cylinder. RHS is slightly better but still
far too rich. A quick peek into the lhs carb didn't show anything amiss
(it's not like I don't know what a Dell'Orto looks like from the
inside...) but no markings on the main jet so to be on the safe side
I'll order a set of standard ones as a starting point. Surprisingly
enough the O-ring on the choke/enricher jet (every Morinisti will know
*exactly* what I'm talking about) doesn't seem to be too mangled but
it'll get a new O-ring anyway.

Next stop, the contact breakers. Mangled screws on the cover
*ggrrrrrrr* necessitated the use of an impact driver but I did get the
cover off eventually. Contacts do look rather well used so heeding
Champ's mate Keef's advice, I'll chuck out the lot and will stick
electronic ignition in there. Supposedly that'll make it run a lot
nicer at low to medium revs as well. Oh, and breaker cam was of course
bone dry, but that does without saying, no?

And now for the fun part, otherwise known as getting the fucking air
filter out. First, you have to remove the side panels. That's easy,
although matey hard screwed them down *hard*. Then, remove the battery.
Ah, that'll be a dry cell battery then. Hrmpf. The airfilter looks
*very* original so no wonder the thing's been running rich - undo two
nuts on the cover plate and pull it off. Bingo.

Unfortunately the only part that pulled off was the cover plate;
Removal of the air filter seems to necessitate removal of the battery
carrier, which would be reasonably easy if the bolts that hold said
carrier to the rear mudguard hadn't rusted nicely. Guess it's time to
dig out some stainless steel replacements then. If I ever get them off,
that is.

Other bits that I've noticed so far - crankcase breather tube broken
and "fixed" with electrical tape, no steering lock and some other
little niggles. On the positive side it does look very much like the
bike's been restored at one point in the past as I seriously doubt that
even Laverda painted the frames this nicely. Oh, and the original
colour was a rather fetching shade of dark metallic red - given the
quality of the hyperfrog paintjob, I'm tempted to pay Beav a visit...

Oh well, I guess my wallet needed emptying anyway...

 

I have a Lucas Rita on the Guzzi - fitted it over ten years ago and can't
recall ever having to adjust it. It simply works.

These people are now the manufacturers:
Mistral Engineering
Unit 12 Taylors
Gravel Lane
Chigwell, Essex
England IG7 6DQ
44 20 8501 2161 voice
44 20 8501 2270 fax

 

I have a big tin of assorted stainless, that you're welcome to rob.

 

I've got a shoebox like that, but thanks for the offer anyway. Only had
to get one bolt off, it turned out that the lug held on by the other
one had vibrated off...

Oh, and the airfilter I couldn't get out had been manufactured out of a
car airfilter with the aid of a hot glue gun and a sharp knife. No, I'm
not kidding...

 

....and before doing that making sure the filters are clean, valve
clearances and timing all set correctly?

 

Yes, I know that - problem is that the idle is so far off the mark it
should be at and it's running so rich (it'll start pretty much without
choke) that I need to get the basic settings sorted out first before I
can even think of advanced stuff like plug chops.

.... and that's where it falls down in the first place. Haven't checked
the valves yet but already compiled a shopping list that does include
and air filter.

The air filter that was on the bike is actually quite spectacular...

 

JPEG man, JPEG

--
Dan L

http://thebikeshed.spaces.live.com/
1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr

BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6/7)
X-FOT#000
DIAABTCOD #26
BOMB#18 (slow)
OMF#11

 

Coming. Later today, that is.

 

Nothing wrong with that if it was done right and paying some attention
to the effect on mixture. Wouldn't surprise me if OE filters weren't
available or simply cost an arm at the time.

 

Exactly, MZs run quite happily on slightly modified Morris 1000 air
filters.

 

And here we go:

http://www.bsdninjas.co.uk/scratch/sf2-filter-1.jpg
http://www.bsdninjas.co.uk/scratch/sf2-filter-2.jpg

No wonder it ran a bit rich. I think we need a FAQ section for inspired
bodges; this one's a definite candidate.

 

After the GT380 air filter made of carpet underlay, nothing would
surprise me.

 

Sorry, it's still not in the carpet underlay class, horrible though it
is.

 

Did you ever take photos of the carpet underlay "filter"? It's no good
if we can't stick a few photos up as well...

 

No, sadly.

 

Bummer.

 

Classy, very classy.

Nice use of silicone there too.

--
Dan L

http://thebikeshed.spaces.live.com/
1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr

BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6/7)
X-FOT#000
DIAABTCOD #26
BOMB#18 (slow)
OMF#11

 

The guy who contrapted that was not a bodger, he was a candidate bush mechanic.
A real bodger would either have left it out or *really* bodged it.

 

I haven't checked it that closely but I had the impression that the
silicone was actually hot glue out of a hot glue gun...

 

Sounds like a halfway decent bodge to me.