Moto Guzzi Cali Cafe Racer Build thread

With the seat in place..

This is how far I got today, will make it more 3D and as neat as I can manage tomorrow

Had to finally think about the dreaded electrics. I hate electrics, dunno why, just never bothered with it. Made a start by replacing the points ignition with a single fire electronic 'in cone' ignition. Wasn't too difficult once I'd got my head around the instructions. Spent along time working out the wiring diagram, think I've got something that will work, now waiting on a delivery of wires, connectors, heat shrink and relays..

I settled on the type of oil line to use.. braided steel and those lovely blue and red anodised fittings would usually be my default choice, but that was too modern, while simple black nitrile hosing seemed a little too plain and low rent. So I went for over braided nitrile tubing with stainless clamps.

The oil filter mount placed the oil lines too close the chain for comfort, so it was modified to angle the lines down to clear the chain. Its a bodge for now, using a short bracket with the original billet mounting plate, its something I'll revisit another time.

With the oil lines done, that allowed the sprocket cover to be fitted (left it undrilled for now), and the exhaust which needed some last minute work to give more clearance from the frame tubes. The front pipe is still close to the down tubes, but should be ok.

Still being held up waiting for the promised brake lines, but getting them at mates rates so shouldn't really complain.

Here's a short vid I took this evening, in a couple of weeks hope to have it running at last.

http://youtu.be/SE-o0zMiv7E

They say custom bikes are never really finished, as there's always something that could be improved or changed in the light of riding the thing. So it is with my Norley. Before I start on my next big project I want to fix a couple of issues, the main one being the heavy clutch. The clutch activation is a one off hydraulic system, using a master cylinder from a Honda VTR1000 and slave cylinder from a Ducati 900 Monster, with a custom billet housing. When we made it, I knew it was an experiment and there was a good chance the ratio of Master to Slave wouldn't be perfect when used on an old Harley engine. Sure enough it turned out to be very heavy, too heavy for me, particularly if I was ever caught in slow moving traffic for more than a short time. Also the bleed nipple was part of the banjo bolt fitting, which made bleeding the system very difficult, unless I could somehow tip the bike on its side, which I couldn't.

Time to make a Mark 2 version..The Ducati Slave is 26mm in diameter, so to make an lighter clutch, it would need to be replaced with a bigger diameter slave. How much bigger ? No idea ! So I went with a Honda 36mm Slave cylinder to match the Honda master.

For this Mark 2 version I wanted to avoid making a completely unique slave body, because if it failed/wore it would be a lot of work to make a new one. Much better if I could use the standard Honda part and just make some kind of adaptor to fit it to the Harley.

So that's what we did, here's the new version roughly machined with its thread just cut by a proper machine shop (cost me a packet of Mr Kipling mince pies ..) as we couldn't do that bit. Before the holes were drilled to mount the Honda Slave, I took it home and screwed it tight to the engine case and noted where to position the slave so it was orientated correctly.

The new clutch line arrived yesterday, so once fitted I spent ages bleeding the system until the lever firmed up and it all seems to work well. The lever effort is now much lighter as expected, while there is enough movement in the slave cylinder to disengage the clutch. It'll be awhile before I can try it out on the road, but I'm happy with the change so far. I may polish the slave cylinder or have it anodised maybe over the winter..

Then on to the seat itself, as usual I made a template in card and had it replicated in steel by Geoff the welder for £25, after which I decided to add an extra piece to run up the back of the box like tank, similar to an early Lemans.

The hole in the seat unit has been fibreglassed over, it looks a bit rough and ready, but I tell myself no one but me will see it, as the seat will hide it from view. Then I rattle can sprayed and lacquered it, looks ok and the metallic black is a good match for the tank, turned out to be a Vauxhaul colour. It still needs more work cutting back and polishing, which I'll do in a few days when the lacquer has hardened.

Next the replacement Lucas coils needed a home - one of the originals was cracked, so Lucas coils were bought as a much cheaper replacement. I mounted them on a simple alloy bracket bolted to the underside of the electrics box.

I cant finish mounting the seat unit until the seat comes back from being upholstered, no idea how long that will be, probably have to wait until early Jan. I still need to find a rear light which will look the part, some kind of square-ish LED lamp would be ideal.

I collected my Guzzi seat today, still need to bolt everything down to the frame, but it looks ok and feels comfy enough at first sitting, cost £60 which is good value I think. I could've opted for coloured stitching or fancy panelling, but decided to keep it simple.

The cheap frame powder coating I had done a couple of years ago, was a mistake, should've used Triple S. Despite the bike not seeing the road yet, corrosion is breaking through all over the frame...

There's nothing that can be done, except strip the bike down and have the frame powder coated correctly. Surprisingly I'm not too bothered about this, as it gives me the excuse to revisit areas I wasn't too happy about and to make improvements here and there.

I made a start today stripping the bike down, got most of the work done, just need some help to lift the frame away from the engine. Its not heavy, but the engine / gearbox isn't too stable on the lift, so better safe than sorry.

That done, and after a well earned tea break, I made a start on one of the improvements I wanted to make. The first step was to make a simple plate to protect the bevel box when its bead blasted to clean its surface. I'll need to go and buy a nice cake as a bribe/payment when I go to the local machine shop where they'll hopefully let me use their blasting cabinet.

Turned out ok, if its good enough for those beautiful German Kaffee Mchine Guzzi's its good enough for me..