nuovo acquisition

[tobinh]

a while back there was a thread here about a Nuovo Falcone for sale in my province - very rare here!

Would you buy it?

A 1972 Military Nuovo Falcone Militaire Ad reads...." True mileage is unknown, odometer reads 25000, but likely higher than that. New wheels and spokes, wheel bearings, new tires, new battery, new switch gear, new steering head taper rollers, rocker oil delivery improvement, buffalo fairing...

www.guzzitech.com

turns out... it never sold. I posted in the NF facebook group - I've wanted a Guzzi single for ages now - and the very same gentleman from the ad contacted me with the following photo:



the price was agreeable, and so was my 'friend with a truck', so it was road trip time:





and a happy result, into friend's garage (I don't have one in the part of BC I'm living now):



and the tinkering begins:

 

[Vagrant]

Nice find

 

[Raven]

What a beauty! It even fit in the truck with the cap on so it didn't get covered in winter road shmutz.
Congratlations.

 

[scottmastrocinque]

Lucky you! I almost bought a super clean example at Vintage Bike Days at Mid-Ohio racetrack a few years back. I’ve always wanted a MG single too.

Looking forward to updates and comments.

Congratulations!

 

[V700Steve]

Congrat's, they have their own issues. Don't be in a hurry, they don't fly like the twins.

 

[GTM®]

and a happy result, into friend's garage (I don't have one in the part of BC I'm living now):

Well congrats my friend! I’ve ridden and raced several, and one day I’ll own one.
My good friend Paul owns Guzzino.com - might be of help to you. I helped my friend Michael (right in pic below) retrieve one bought from Paul, forever ago now. It was sold to someone else without me knowing.
Be sure to document all of your progress and processes here please! I’ll be following this thread. Enjoy it, sure you will.

 

[Mindis]

She's a beauty! Following

How about sm heavy mods, eh?
Don't hang me for treason, just joking LOL

 

[DeadEye]

Wow, congratulations on your *New* addition !

 

[tobinh]

Thanks guys, I will certainly keep the thread going with lots of pictures and updates. I could not start it yesterday, but I didn't have much time to tinker. Today hopefully the old lump will make some noise!

 

[tobinh]

result!

managed to get some tinkering in, and it fired straight away! wait, no - it was *on fire* straight away...


while tinkering I killed the battery, and decided to hook up a little unit intended to jumpstart cars. worked great! until I got a bit distracted and stayed on the starter button for a bit too long...

after a few moments with my 'wiring tool box', the loom was rebuilt and... still no joy. pulled the plug to look for spark - dry, no fuel smell. pretty clear what the problem was at this point, but the spark was also very weak. gap was very wrong, so fixed that, also found the lead to the plug was quite loose in the coil, and the plug tip was partially unscrewed (I didn't even know they unscrewed to be honest). sorted all that, and spark was much improved.

checked compression while I was there, tho I was pretty certain it would be fine from the feel through the kickstarter, and it is.

tried starting again, predictably no joy, so off came the airbox and...





is your carburetor supposed to be furry? most jets were completely blocked, our classic 'ran when parked' syndrome. since I have no ultrasonic machine in my current location (this is a real 'tinkering in a borrowed shed' situation here, hence the clutter in the background), it was out with the teeny brushes, bits of wire, starter fluid (makes an okay carb cleaner) and ... result!



rum and cokes all round! ... should be prosecco really but the working conditions seem to suggest rum and coke somehow.

the video cuts off right before I mutter 'well, guess the clutch is coming out'. it's not disengaging at all, as I suppose you can hear. still, the engine sounds great, so I'm confident the engine internals are in good shape.

 

[Raven]

Fantastic news. Carbs don't take long to get ugly and may have been on their way to ugly when parked.

 

[Nordicnorm]

I absolutely love what you are getting into here. If it is a wet clutch, don't try to make it release with the engine running. Put it in gear and try to break the plates free by rocking the bike in gear with the engine off. I love singles. That was all I rode through the 90's. They connect us to that place when we were kids and got totally fascinated by internal combustion. A single cylinder, with 2 valves and a single carb taking you down the road at 70 mph is simply magic. You will fall in love with this bike. I find it hard to conceal my envy

 

[scottmastrocinque]

Me too.

 

[BrianR]

Thats a wonderful find. Hopefully we can get together in person and see it running one sunny day.

 

[tobinh]

well, no luck today. lots of exploration:



indexable footpegs?


our area of inquiry


everything looking very nice in here, a bit dirty maybe, but this machine has limited filtration


cobbled together removal tool, worked great!


the disks were stuck together completely! I thought this was the whole issue, but after careful cleaning and soaking in clean engine oil... no change.

ah well, no luck today and time for bed. the clutch is so thoroughly frozen together, I'm sure there's some assembly issue. we'll find it!

 

[DeadEye]

Did you get the clutch plates separated without issue ?
or is it still a solid pack ?

 

[scottmastrocinque]

Most likely caused by putting automotive oil into her. Any oil rated “high mileage, energy conserving, or anything remotely like that” will cause your exact issue. The additive package in those oils will do this. Seen it a dozen times.

You need to make sure to use a JASO MA2 rated motorcycle oil. Then the plates will not fuse like that.

Best not to try and separate the plates as the friction surfaces have been contaminated. Just put in new plates and be sure to remove all previous motor oil.

I personally would replace the clutch pack (soak the plates overnight in a ziplock bag of clean fresh oil to impregnate them), then run for a couple minutes, drain oil and then refill again with fresh, just to ensure that the offending oil is all diluted and flushed out. IMHO.

 

[tobinh]

Did you get the clutch plates separated without issue ?
or is it still a solid pack ?

well I wouldn't say 'without issue' exactly, but they did come apart, and I was confident they were going to work properly when I put them back together. the previous owner mentioned hard shifting, I suspect he's been in here, maybe some assembly issue will become obvious once I pull off the basket.

or... maybe it's still the plates stuck together despite my cleaning/lubing, and I just didn't shock them apart hard enough...

 

[tobinh]

Most likely caused by putting automotive oil into her. Any oil rated “high mileage, energy conserving, or anything remotely like that” will cause your exact issue. The additive package in those oils will do this. Seen it a dozen times.

You need to make sure to use a JASO MA2 rated motorcycle oil. Then the plates will not fuse like that.

Best not to try and separate the plates as the friction surfaces have been contaminated. Just put in new plates and be sure to remove all previous motor oil.

I personally would replace the clutch pack (soak the plates overnight in a ziplock bag of clean fresh oil to impregnate them), then run for a couple minutes, drain oil and then refill again with fresh, just to ensure that the offending oil is all diluted and flushed out. IMHO.

ahhhhh okay. I have been flushing with motorcycle oil, but very possibly this has occurred in the past. will do!

 

[DeadEye]

I Hope you got a deal on it ?