Meteor Update December 2007

The custom forged pistons made by CP Piston are works of art, and very light with the Precision Parts donated titanium wrist pins. Eric Hjeltness machined some alloy plates to mount the Dyna S crank fired ignition, it works perfect with the highly modified twin plugged heads by Phil. She fired immediately and ran crisp and hard ! Loud ? Huh ? Like an open header big block at the strip, but even better !

About 30 minutes into the second break-in run on the next day, the motor halted when the pistons ran into the intake valves. The cam dowel had sheared , changing the valve timing enough to cause the interference. Although a major disappointment it turned into a blessing. Had to remind myself of this, I was pretty depressed initially. The dyno runs would have to wait…

The only real damage was 2 bent chromoly pushrods, but , we had other, more serious problems between the Web cam and lifters. The lifters had been coated with DLC “ Diamond like Coating “ to make them more durable by a company called Oerlikon-Balzers. This low friction coating came highly appraised, being used by Nascar teams and the like for engine components etc. Well the Guzzi motor wasted no time chewing it up and spitting it out into the oil. Subsequent phone calls and emails to Oerlikon were never returned . I mention this to hopefully save any of you from a similar experience. To quote Mike Rich “ the best lifter coating is no lifter coating “ ……. lesson learned.

The even larger problem though was the cam lobe profile ended up not being compatible with the stock Moto Guzzi lifter diameter. The cam had been measured on a Cam Doctor and I was assured the stock lifter diameter was adequate… it wasn`t. Had the motor been allowed to run hard, it would have chewed the cam up in a very short time. Not good if we had been on the salt at speed.

Back to the drawing board… Phil machined the case to accept larger diameter Ford flathead mushroom tappets , we can now run about ANY cam that will fit in this motor. In addition we have twin doweled the cam which still has adjustable timing. The block is going back together as we speak, with shorter `cut to fit `chromoly pushrods from local’s Crower Cams.

We should have the motor up and running after the Holidays and be in the dyno room by January / February. The plan is to run her at El Mirage for some shakedown runs prior to the Summer and Fall events at Bonneville.

We will list the dates for those events we plan to attend as that information becomes known. Please stay tuned and again Thank You Thank You Thank You to the individuals and businesses that have sponsored us and help make this exciting endeavor possible.

Una solo passione… Moto Guzzi !