Moto-Guzzi Rebuild Update 5

These titles are getting a little boring, but now I feel like I’m stuck with them. Oh well.

The first batch of parts arrived, and included in that batch were the new clutch parts and some of the gaskets. So that meant I could assemble the clutch and bolt up the transmission to the motor again.

So here we go. First was removing the lower two bolts from the bearing cap, cleaning them up and re-installing them with some Hondabond 4 liquid gasket. Then I removed the crankcase breather pipe and re-installed it with a new gasket. Since I was there, I also replaced the breather valve.

Next was bolting the flywheel on again. New bolts and locktite as recommended.

Assembling the clutch was an interesting job. Now I see why the forum post I looked at completely removed the motor from the frame and then stood it on it’s nose. Those eight circular pockets in the flywheel contain the clutch springs. There is nothing to retain them except the pressure plate that goes on top of them. The pressure plate also has pockets in the back to capture the springs.

Just placing the springs into the pockets of the flywheel didn’t work, because they would droop or fall out completely. I was starting to wonder how the heck I was going to do this without pulling the motor when I had a thought.

I had purchased a tube of high-pressure grease to use for lubing the splines on the rear wheel. It’s super sticky stuff. I spread a little bit of the grease on the bottom of the springs and they stuck in the holes in the flywheel just perfectly!

I took me two tries, but I managed to get the pressure plate installed with the springs captured correctly! After that I installed the “clutch installation tool” to compress the springs and align the clutch disks. I almost didn’t buy this tool as it was pretty expensive, but I’m not sure how you would install the clutch without it. You have to really compress the springs a lot and lining up the two clutch disks (yes, two) would be difficult.

I any case, I managed to get the two clutch disks and the center pressure plate installed.

If you are a Moto-Guzzi guy you might notice that I made a mistake here. The hubs on the clutch disks stick out on one side so there is a definite way to install them. I did it wrong the first time and got the ring gear fully installed before I noticed it.

It was easy to fix though, I just had to remove the ring gear and make sure the clutch plates were facing the correct direction.

That was Friday. Today I got the transmission bolted up and cleaned up the motor a bit. I ended up fully removing the left lower frame rail to make it easier to clean the fins on the bottom of the motor.

Here is a before cleaning photo, with the transmission installed.

And here are a couple of after pictures of the two sides of the motor.

Unfortunately I’m kind of stuck again at this point. The next part of re-assembly is to install the swing arm. I think it will be easier to do that and then install the lower frame rails. But I ordered new swing arm pivot seals from a different parts supplier and they haven’t even shipped yet. I also ordered the piston rings from the same supplier, so I can’t even do the base and head gaskets.

So now I sit and wait again. I can do some work tomorrow I guess. I can remove the oil pan and give it a good cleaning and then re-install it and the spin-on filter adapter plate. We’ll see how I feel about it tomorrow.