78 Moto Guzzi T3

No offense taken - this is the subject of much confusion and i do not pretend to be the official or last word on it. Really, Dyna is to blame. They need to be much clearer with their specifications. Way too many people have read different official instructions or gotten different answers from Dyna support on the phone. Hence, confusion abounds. I went with the Dyna instructions that came with my Dyna III and - so far - all is working fine and dandy. I've ridden it for hours on end with not so much as a hiccup. Does this mean I"m doing the "correct" thing? I dunno.

Regards,

Gregory Bender

YA,Like I said who dose know? And I see many 5 ohms coils on e- bay that came off long running bikes. I'm in the thinking it must not matter that much?? Maybe on the smaller bikes?

Greg, I have exactly the same model as your instructions, (D37-1) exactly the same wording all thruout, except, where yours says at least 3 ohms, mine says at least 5 ohms.

I'm not gonna put any series resistors in line with the coils, but I am gonna ride it close to home for awhile as I get some confidence in it. And get past break-in and the first oil change and head retorque. I can't see that they would really redesign the output amps for less power and leave the model number unchanged. If it blows, then I'll buy the Dyna Booster which is easier to change back to points, and by the way, their website rates that one at three ohms, just like your instruction sheet. I've got a feeling they had some failure complaints and decided to lower their power rating just to be safe. Wish there was someplace I could really see a complete spec sheet, or get a look at their output amp design. I did send them an email, but I don't expect a satisfying answer. It'll probably be a little harder to ride while I'm keeping my fingers crossed. roy

Who is Ed Mulch?

roy

Here you go! guzzipower.com
Lots of good stuff here ...Ed has answered my dumb questions more than once , I have learned a lot just from looking at his work!! Thanks ED!!

Looks like an interesting site. Always looking for new things to learn, helps me put something in place of all the stuff I forget.

roy

But life has been getting in the way. My wife's uncle (89) just went into hospice, and he's failing fast. We moved him down here from Wyo in August, and he took another fall (his third) a couple weeks ago. By the time he got to ICU, he was unresponsive and his body wasn't accepting food. He's a cool guy, quite interesting, it'll be hard to see him gone. He was a retired colonel in the army, as well as a safety engineer at an oil refinery; never married, so he had money to spend on his interests. After those two gigs, he pretty much started the Sinclair town museum, and ran it up until last year; got it on some historic museum listing that warranted a sign on the freeway. He was on the board of regents at the Univ of Wyoming, where in the 50's he was an all conference swimmer. Collected and donated enough indian art that the University put on a show of his collection. He was still sharp, right up until the last couple months. He had a Greeves at one time; if I can find it among the remaining relatives, I'd like to restore it in his memory.

Back to the progress...I have the wiring pretty much finished, at least I'm at the point where I'm ready to try what we used to call the smoke test. Hook up the battery. If nothing smokes that's a good first sign. I was surprised at how much it takes in the way of supplies to rewire a bike, even starting with a new harness...


And some of the supplies even included some wiring, connectors and stuff.

Will snap a few pix of the wiring harness runs as they stand now after I've convinced myself they work correctly with the battery hooked up. So far I've just ohmed things, but nothing out of the normal showed up in that, so it's a good sign. Haven't wired in the Dyna yet, I may get it running first off the points. more when I get more garage time. roy

Sorry to here about the uncle Roy, My dad is 85 and its getting scary! His eyes have been going for the last 8 years from the demacular, plus a 7 way by-pass before that. It hard to see someone that was so strong and independent lose ground...reminders that we are all mer mortals and every day is a gift! Which I spent working on my tail section until my tig welder ran out of gas ..
With the help of supplies of course!!



Looking forward to seeing the harness!!!
Eric

Not totally finished, I haven't mounted the instrument panel yet, and I need to redo the rear tail-light connections, but it is all working. I don't know whether I should be happy that I managed to get it rewired without any errors in the wiring diagram(s), or if I should be upset that it took me 2-3 days (as of late my workday seems to be about 2 hours) before I figured out it was blowing fuses with the flasher because I'd pinched the wire going thru the handlebar to the right bar end turn signal. Ended up drilling a separate hole for that wire, and with a rubber grommet and extra insulation I feel good about it long term.

Not sure there's all that much to see in looking at a wiring harness, but I took a coupla pix.



oops...something's changed in how I thought I knew to post photos...and considering that I became an inmate in about 2006 and just felt like I knew how to post pix this year, I'd say that doesn't bode well for my ability to continue with this little thread. I'll give it a day or two and see if I'm doing something wrong. roy

ok, it posts allright, I just couldn't see it til I posted it. The tape wrapped portion is something I did while I was chasing the shorted wire, totally unnecessary as it turns out, I did have it all in heat shrink. Oh, well.



I did bleed the front brake, just so I could make sure the hyperlites worked with the stop light. And I have a voltmeter I need to mount...actually, there's a lot left to do before I can try starting it, but at least this feels like progress. later, roy

Hi Roy, I just wanted to say that your taking the time and trouble to document and photograph everything has been inspiring. Yep I know that you have your reasons for doing so, but it'll come in handy when I rebuild the 78 T3 that I've just bought. I'll need all the help I can get.



I've just found out that I'm a posting pictures numpty so will have to revert to RTFM.


Brian

I have most versions of manuals, Haynes, factory, parts, tips & tricks, Guzziology, and there's quite a bit I still can't figure out by reading the f'ng manual. If you haven't already, make sure you know your way around Greg Bender's site, this old tractor. I'll toss in one more pix, just cause it's the only one I have that shows those bar end turn signals. The first time I got it running, I had wired up a coupla LED's to show me if I left the turn signals on, this time I left those out, kinda hoping the bar end flashers will catch my attention if I forget.



I mentioned that my wife's uncle died, he was a great music lover, had so many cd's that they filled three bookcases. He even had a box in the closet labelled "no good music". That cracked me up. At any rate, I got quite a few of them, and it's nice to be out working in the garage listening to music that was his. Matter of fact, I may like working out there and listening to music at least as much as I do riding...prolly a sign of advancing age.

I should probably mention the issue I had with the bar end signal on the throttle side. The shorted wire was a function of the fact that between the width of the start sw/ and the throttle assy, I just barely had enough room for the expanding bolt portion of the turn signal to fit inside the metal portion of the handlebar, and I was crowding the new wire between the start sw/ and the brake master cyl. After I messed that up the first time, I tried a Yamaha start switch, more because it's cable outlet was larger and outside the handlebar dia, so not prone to making a pinch point. In order to use it, I ended up sanding down the sides of the start sw/, the throttle cable housings, and the end of the rubber throttle. Between all those junctions, and drilling a new hole in the bottom of the handlebar, I have enough room for the turn signal expansion bolt that it's gonna do fine, at least up until the point where I manage to drop the damn thing. Hopefully that won't happen, at least not for a good long while. Can't remember when I last dropped one. roy

We finished helping our aunt clean out her brother's place, so got a little more time out in the garage. Finished the wiring.


Not at all sure I'll be able to see the voltmeter clearly in the saddle due to that crosspiece on the handlebar, but I'm not too worried about it; just a monitor for the charging system anyhow.

I did change the instrument indicators to LED's, they don't look factory, but they are much more visible in the Az sun.



And I managed to mount an extra breather to feed the inlet to the Bunn breather system under the gas tank...



I've been aware of a little problem for a week or so...the damn front tire is flat! I'd thought I'd managed not to pinch the tube the last time....


I'm quite embarrassed by how many tubes I've managed to pinch on the front. This is at least the third one. I've been reading a bit in the garage section, and I'm trying to get hyped up to try again with better results. But in the meantime, I'm having fun doing stuff like linkages, cables, exhaust; heck I may even mount the carbs before I go after the front tire again. Makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something, instead of redoing something I screwed up.
Feels good to be working in the garage again.
later, roy

Hi Roy,

As an alternative to drilling the dash, I fit LED bulbs on my Convert. The ones I fit are very bright and work a treat, even in the sun:

http://thisoldtractor.com/gtbender/moto_guzzi_tonti.htm#gtb_dash_indicator_light_improvement

I'm really interested to hear how the Bunn breather works out for you.

Regards,

Gregory Bender

I'm gonna try to document all my mistakes too, trying to keep from repeating them some time in the future. so....

I could not get the damn clutch cable back on, nor could I find any real helpful link or service manual page that showed how the complete idiot should be trying to do it. Finally, I ended up using a piece of wood to pry the operating lever and see if I could get a little more cable slack...I went too far (seems like I remember the actual movement is only supposed to be tenths of inches) and I broke something, now there's no pressure at all. So there will be a slight (slight?!?) delay while I ask for advice and start taking things apart.

So far I know the operating lever and it's threaded adjustment screw are both ok, the outer body looks ok to me, the thrust bearing spins freely, but I haven't managed to get it out; that's as far as I've gotten. More when I know more. roy

Bummer Roy,
I always like to go from the perch. suck every thing up tight and take the lever bolt out and use the lever to pry it back to the bolt hole...

Taking note that I have not done this on the guzzi yet as I went with the hydraulic unit that I have no line for yet??

Hey Greg !

have Any knowledge of the Agostini Competition Breather Box ? I got one from a guy at MG..I read some of your oil box testing in Guzziwild.

I've never played with one because I didn't think it would fit on the loop frames (I can't remember for certain on that). At the time, I did not have a Tonti frame. I think the main advantage of it is larger volume. The Bunn breather take a different approach altogether (I've not played with one of those, but I am interested in doing so, sometime).

Regards,

Gregory Bender

....At work we always tried to balance keeping the boss informed with not panicking, so we would keep bad news "under investigation" for 24 hrs before sharing any detail. Lots of things fixed themselves or went away in that time.

Turns out I may have over-reacted about my little clutch issue. After consulting with Greg, I yanked off the rear tire just to see better, pulled out the inner and outer body and the thrust bearing that goes between, and I could find nothing wrong....concensus seems to be that I had something off center at first and when I pried on the operating lever, it centered itself with alacrity. Either the operating arm to the outer body (most likely, as it had not been adjusted), or mebbe the cup inside the pressure plate. At any rate, I've got it adjusted now so it feels like a clutch, it may not be perfect, but I suspect it'll work now.

I do need to ask some other question(s)....went to talk to a painter today, seems pretty confident, talked me out of lining it with POR15, saying he always nickel plates the inside gas tank... so when I got home, I looked at the tank with a little closer eye, I have three questions I'd like some help with....



This pix clearly shows paint being attacked by the fuel, I'm pretty sure this was a repaint, not factory original, but still...Should this area under the gas cap be painted, coated with something that seals the edge of the paint and is more impervious to gasoline, mebbe left unpainted? And does this tell me that I need a new gasket on the gas cap? I think I'd like to understand before I cart things off to the painter.

2nd que. How do I get out the little round clips that hold the Moto Guzzi emblem to the side of the tank? Do I just assume they're gonna be replaced and mangle then to get them out?

3rd. There was all sorts of what looked like clear RTV above and around the petcock threads. They were not leaking to my knowledge, but that surprised me a bit. I didn't even think RTV would seal for gasoline. So is there a preferred sealant to use on the petcock threads? I don't wanna see any leaks on a nice looking (and expensive) paint job. Thanks, roy

This is what I used on the Guzzi tank and my wifes honda...Seems to have worked fine?? Did the BB"s and CLR 2 times to clean the inside and I left the top of the gas cap part UN painted....I took the emblems off and went w/ the stickers under clear..New petcocks, no sealer..


My tank was BAD and needed a lot of work,Lucky for me my bro law is a body man


Hope this helps!

Got any finished pix with the gas cap open?

roy

Hi Roy,

The area where the gas cap seals should not be painted. Fuel will get under there and start bubbling up. Your painter should know where to mask for this. You may need a new gas cap gasket, but you do not want any place inside that tank to be able to wick fuel under the paint.

Electroplating the interior of the tank is a great way to go. Caswells and POR-15 have their place. But, if you can get the tank electroplated inside, that is a fantastic way to go.

Those emblems clips are a pain. If you don't have to remove them, don't. Just clean them up afterward and be done with it. The clips are tiny and I would not risk damaging them or where they fit just to remove them. If they fall out when you painter is working on things, oh well. Just replace with new, then. I had to "glue" one of my emblems on because the tiny clip would no longer stay in the tank.

You should not need any sealant on the petcock threads. Maybe some teflon plumbers tape, but that really should not be needed, either.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Gregory Bender