One question--- how did you get the cover so clean, inside and out?

Coworker that welded it for me soda blasted it.

I did not get much work done today. At least on the Z. At work I framed up two walls, installed a metal fire door, ran wiring for lights and receptacles and hung a few sheets of rock.

Oh back to the Z, I put in the front seal, no big deal, a little oil to help fitting it in. The Timing kit I got from MSA only came with the two front cover gaskets, So all other gaskets I needed I tried to source locally. Not to much luck, but I did at least find the water pump gasket. I find it absurd to pay 7.99 shipping for a 49 cent gasket and have to wait for two days for it to arrive. So for the coolant inlet and oil pump gaskets I cut out my own.

I cleaned more parts and bolts and installed the water pump on the front cover.

I hope to have the front cover installed tomorrow.

One other thing, just to be on the safe side I removed all spark plugs and turned the engine over a few times with a ratchet, every thing moved smooth. peace of mind.

Doesn't it suck having to work for Z money? You could make gaskets for a living though, those look really good.

Though it has been fun riding the Moto Guzzi the last two weeks,

I want My Z back running. After work today I put the front cover back on, the oil pump, crank pully and the AC pump. The AC pump was a PITA.

I hope to finish up tomorrow and see how it runs. I do not want to rush anything, but thats the plan.

Thanks for all the help.

Some very nice bike roads there. Beautiful country. And the oil pump timing looks correct as well.

Any more pictures of the Guzzi?

Olzed, You do have a good eye. I installed the pump before the crank pulley. I did not wish to move the engine from TDC until I had the pump and distributor spindle installed for that reason.

Off topic, Bikes:

Moto Guzzi and fiance's BMW during packing for Motorcycle camping.

And My Fiance's garage (no room there for the Z).

The Moto Guzzi and the old 1977 KH400 are mine, the BMW and Ducati are her's.

You both have good taste in bikes.

I used to do a bit of touring with a group back in the mid eighties.

So I put everything back together. Changed the oil, filled the coolent and started it up.

The engine ran really rough and idled low. Then I noticed that at some point during the whole operation the WTS came unplugged.

Put it back in and the engine sounds great.

Out of curiosity I put the timing light to it and found it was timed exactly at 10 deg advance. before changing out the timing chain I had it set to 14 deg advance.

So I adjusted it back. Could the slop in the old chain advance my timing that much?

Timing is linked to the crank with the crank sprocket. Your timing shoudn't have moved with the chain swap operation.

But since you have removed the dizzy with the cover, you might have moved slightly the dizzy. 4° timing difference is a rotation of 2° at the distrubutor which is a small offset.

If the engine runs good I wouldn't be worried. You could just check that bolts are all tightened correctly for peace of mind.

Yes it does not make sense. anyhow I have been driving the car, and it runs great! It feels like I finally remembered to take the parking brake off.

Thanks again for the help everyone.

My Z has been running great since the last post. I looked under the hood yesterday. Alas I have a major oil leak coming from between the head and front cover on the passenger side.:angry::angry:

What did I do wrong!? Argg!

Grantf

That's a normal problem when you do the front cover. (I've been told anyway) I had to do my brother four times before I got it right. This is what I ended up doing. I pulled the cover off again. (for the fourth time). I cut the old head gasket where it would mate to the top of the front cover. (carefully) Then I purchased a new head gasket and cut the front of it off to match the one I pulled from the motor. I then placed the new head gasket atop the cover and covered both sides liberally with copper silicone (RTV its copper colored). Then I put everything back together and I have no leaks. It sounds like a PIA but its the only way I've found that works. I've tried using anaerobic sealant between the cover and the head gasket with no luck. I know it sounds like a complete PIA but I think you're going to have to do this AGAIN to fix said oil leak. :mad:

Hope that helps

Jan