La Macchina - working to make the old girl look good (part 2)

Underneath all the California 3 parts is a little Guzzi T3 that is trapped and just wants to be set free. With all the more hideous bits removed, a T5 fuel tank, a T3 California bench and a classic T3 read mudguard found its way onto the bike.

 

I mean, Guzzis are huge, but they also have this line from the seat to the tank to them:

 

Now there's nothing fundamentally wrong with the T5 tank, but when I found an 850T tank for the kind of price you can't say no to and it was red, actually it was R-O-S-S-O, one can't say no, right?

 Of course I also installed running boards and stock shift- and brake levers instead of the forward controls.

As usual, the uniball-joints were hopelessly worn and the whole gear-selector mechanics were completely loose and maladjusted. Luckily those joints are standard industrial Lego and are quickly replaced.
 

 The fuel tank needed a good rinse as it smelled of varnished petrol.

And while I waited, I got rid of the riser bars, trimmed the handlebar cover and put the bars in a more sensible position.

The 850T tank mounts by being hooked under two bushes on the headstock, which of course were missing.
 

Whilst these were missing, there were two mounting tabs for the Cali 3 tank underneath that were in the way of things. (They used to be where the shiny bits of frame are.)

On the subject of work on the frame, the rear mudguard had to be properly mounted, but as it came from a 1000SP it was missing the correct mounting locations and two more spacers, which I quickly made on the lathe.

In the meantime a new hazard-light switch arrived in the mail and guess what, this was the secret ingredient to make all the lights work. 

With some of the most pressing cosmetic issues being tackled and apparently even getting very close to being road legal, it was time to go from "running" to RUNNING.

The blued downpipes told me two things: First now the old girl was running properly on both pots and secondly the ignition is timed hopelessly late. Unfortunately it's impossible to see in the picture, but I adjusted the timing so the marks would be on the bottom end of the sight window giving it a bit more initial advance to help with things.

Then there's a huge difference between adjusting Guzzi carbs by ear and using some actual vacuum gauges on them.

I'll let the video speak for itself.

And with that, I can now turn towards making La Macchina road legal, so it can pass the inspection and get registered. Which means tidying up the whole electrics, making a seat mount, installing indicators and a tail-light and bleeding the brakes.