• Ciao Guest - You’ve landed at the ultimate Guzzi site. NEW FORUM REGISTRATIONS REQUIRE EMAIL ACTIVATION - CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER - Use the CONTACT above if you need help. New to the forum? For all new members, we require ONE post in the Introductions section at the bottom, in order to post in most of the other sections. ALWAYS TRY A SEARCH BEFORE STARTING A NEW TOPIC - Most questions you may have, have likely been already answered. DON'T BE A DRIVE-BY POSTER: As a common courtesy, check back in and reply within 24 hours, or your post will be deleted. Note there's decades of heavily experienced Guzzi professionals on this site, all whom happily give endless amounts of their VALUABLE time for free; BE COURTEOUS AND RESPECTFUL!
  • There is ZERO tolerance on personal attacks and ANY HYPERLINKS to PRODUCT(S) or other competing website(s), including personal pages, social media or other Forums. This ALSO INCLUDES ECU DIAGnostic software, questions and mapping. We work very hard to offer commercially supported products and to keep info relevant here. First offense is a note, second is a warning, third time will get you banned from the site. We don't have the time to chase repeat (and ignorant) offenders. This is NOT a social media platform; It's an ad-free, privately funded website, in small help with user donations. Be sure to see the GTM STORE link above; ALL product purchases help support the site, or you can upgrade your Forum profile or DONATE via the link above.
  • Be sure to see the GTM STORE link also above for our 700+ product inventory, including OEM parts and many of our 100% Made-in-SoCal-USA GTM products and engine kits. In SoCal? Click the SERVICE tab above for the best in service, tires, tuning and installation of our products or custom work, and don't miss our GT MotoCycles® (not) art on the BUILDS tab above. WE'RE HERE ONLINE ONLY - NO PHONE CALLS MADE OR RECEIVED - DO NOT EMAIL AND ASK QUESTIONS OR ASK TO CALL YOU.
  • Like the new V100, GuzziTech is full throttle into the future! We're now running on an all-new server and we've updated our Forum software. The visual differences are obvious, but hopefully you'll notice the super-fast speed. If you notice any glitches or have any issues, please post on the Site Support section at the bottom. If you haven't yet, please upgrade your account which is covered in the Site Support section or via the DONATE tab above, which gives you full site access including the DOWNLOADS section. We really appreciate every $ and your support to keep this site ad-free. Create an account, sign in, upgrade your account, and enjoy. See you on the road in 2024.

Tuning a Guzzi - my first adventure

D

dikman

Tuned and Synch'ed
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Messages
47
Location
Sth. Oz
My first effort at tuning my Breva - I'm sure some of you will get a chuckle at part of this.

The bike is a 2008, 13,000 kms. I would have thought that it should have had at least 3 services in that time, but the only logbook entry is for 04/2011. The dealer I bought it from mentioned that they had serviced it, which would be the one logbook entry. They also "checked it over" (which I paid for) before I took delivery.

So, what have I found.The yellow paint was still on the main throttle adjusting screw, which indicates it has never been touched since leaving the factory. This is backed up by the fact that the balance was way off! The TPS reading was 4, also off just a wee bit! So much for "checking it".

A few years back I built ye olde oil-filled-tube manometer, for balancing the carbys on my Bonnie, so I dug it out again. I made up a couple of suitable connecting nipples to screw into the manifolds and, having read the excellent tutorials on the site, away I went. (Big thanks to the guys for writing those how-to's).

I hooked up the laptop, running Ducatidiag and warmed up the bike. I then connected the manometer, locked the throttle at 3000rpm and nearly freaked out when I saw how unbalanced it was!! I started tweaking the screw, and it seemed to go ok at first but then just wouldn't hold at the balance position. The levels would drift up one way, then slowly drift back too far as I tweaked it. I was starting to wonder what was going on, as it really is a pretty simple procedure.
I finally worked it out - the tubing I was using was too thin-walled, and as it got hot (from the engine heat via the nipple) it was softening and the vacuum was squeezing the tube together!!! Doh!!

I replaced the last section temporarily with some thicker stuff and managed to get the balance fairly close. The idle was also out-of-wack.

Anyhow, I rode it down town afterwards, and it feels better, the idle is certainly more stable. I bought some thicker vacuum hose while I was out, so I'll re-make the manometer and have another go soon.

I'm pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to do the basic tuning on the bike. I've also turned off the Lambda sensor, so once I re-check the balance that's probably as far as I'll go, tuning-wise.

This bike is starting to give me a warm, fuzzy feeling when I ride it :D , and it doesn't hurt when friends (particularly the women) say what a beautiful bike it is :lol: .
 
How did you like Ducatidiag? I've been using VDST and MyECU, and enjoy both, but am open to other options.

Are you keeping the Lambda sensor off? I like it's efforts to keep things in balance, so think about re-engaging it.

Is this a 750 Breva or the heavy, ungainly one?

Joe
 
Heavy, ungainly one indeed! But yes, it is (I suppose) - 1200 cc 2-valve :roll: .

Ducatidiag is fine for my needs (I have no idea what the VDST software is like, so can't really say how they'll compare). Documentation is sparse, although the forum has lots of info there - if you can find it - and half of it is in French :lol: . Still, nothing like a bit of a challenge. I have a Tuneboy cable, but Ducatidiag wouldn't work with it, for some reason, so bought a new cable, plus the "Fiat" connector cable to hook it to the diagnostic connector.

As for the Lambda sensor, I'll be leaving it off. Lots of reading indicated that the closed-loop mode is mainly necessary for emission control requirements, and many reported smoother low speed running with it off. Good enough for me, and it certainly was smoother on my ride yesterday, although in all fairness that could have been helped by the re-balancing, I suppose.
 
I take it you used the ducatidiag uploading software to switch the lambda off, how did this go?
With the lambda off and the bike set up correctly it will be interesting to know how the bike runs over a few miles.
I have been thinking about doing it but for the 100 Euros for the uploader I wasn't sure of the benefits.
 
It took me two tries to turn it off! The dumb software started uploading before I was ready, so I had to let it go through and then re-do it, this time with the Lambda box ticked. (It appears that as soon as you click "connect" to connect to the bike it starts the process - I thought there'd be a "go" button or something!!).

But it went well, no other issues.

The 100 Euros seems a bit high, particularly as the guy said he's not doing it to make money, but I figured it was a one-off and worth it to have the access to the ECU. I'll probably also put in the speedo correction, once I check with a GPS to see what's needed.

Once I've finished re-building my manometer I'll re-check the adjustments, just to be sure they're right, and then I'm done. This bike really is pretty simple to tune - 2 valves per head, with pushrods and old-style rocker arms, one screw to adjust the balance at 3000 rpm and one screw to trim the idle. And all pretty easy to get to.

Much easier than the Tiger :D .
 
Actually, that's something else I've noticed, the suspension is very good on this bike. It handles our crap roads really well compared to my Tiger (and that had upgraded suspension front and rear).

As I've mentioned on the Tiger forum, I'm beginning to realize that Moto Guzzis are very under-rated bikes - they're not for everyone, but for those who can appreciate them they'll give a lot of riding enjoyment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top