The Le Mans has spent less time off the road, but has been neglected as well. The after-market seat was damaged to the point where the ABS base was cracked and crazed, and was all but disintegrating. The photo below shows some obvious cracks along most of the major contour changes of the base, but the situation was much worse - up close it was more like the cracked shell of the hard boiled egg when you're peeling it.
I arranged through a repairer to have a seat base template made in fibreglass, and a new seat base made from this template. The bloke who made the template and the base made it from the same fibreglass he uses to make long-boards for surfers, and the base is flexible enough to not crack under use, and strong enough to support my 85 kilograms when I finally get around to riding the Le Mans. I had a motor trimmer recover the seat and she looks a treat. Have a look at the photo below. Nice, huh? It would want to be - the fibreglass mould, the new base and the seat trimming totalled $875. Mind you, we have the mould, so more seat bases could be made for Le Mans owners who have experienced similar problems. We reckon the cost of a new seat for any subsequent copies would be about $500.
Marty purchased a new dry cell battery for $200 and we changed the oil and flushed the tank and started her up. It took a while, but eventually she started and ran steadily.
We removed the sump the last time he was down and gave it a good clean to remove varnish and contaminants. We didn't have a replacement oil filter at the time so we replaced the sump gasket and refilled with oil and started her up. She leaked at the right hand side rear of the sump right from start up. In the meantime Marty got an oil filter. Then he went back to Central Australia where he works.
We removed the sump the last time he was down and gave it a good clean to remove varnish and contaminants. We didn't have a replacement oil filter at the time so we replaced the sump gasket and refilled with oil and started her up. She leaked at the right hand side rear of the sump right from start up. In the meantime Marty got an oil filter. Then he went back to Central Australia where he works.
I removed the sump again, and discovered the reason for the leak - a small amount of the old gasket had remained on the engine base, and despite scraping the base clean the remnants were not removed. Our bad!
So I purchased some gasket paper and rather than spending $27 on a new base gasket, I folded the paper 3 times and made 3 new gaskets up from scratch. A sharp blade, a straight-edge and a hole-punch helped me achieve new gaskets that look every bit as good as the originals. I fitted the new oil filter, and the hand-crafted gasket and ran the Guzzi and presto, no leaks.
Now that she's running well and is ready for registration. Next time Marty comes to the "big smoke" I hope he'll have the rego papers and we can go for a ride.
So I purchased some gasket paper and rather than spending $27 on a new base gasket, I folded the paper 3 times and made 3 new gaskets up from scratch. A sharp blade, a straight-edge and a hole-punch helped me achieve new gaskets that look every bit as good as the originals. I fitted the new oil filter, and the hand-crafted gasket and ran the Guzzi and presto, no leaks.
Now that she's running well and is ready for registration. Next time Marty comes to the "big smoke" I hope he'll have the rego papers and we can go for a ride.
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