Forgotten Era Speed Hill Climb 350 Morini MKII

Show us your projects and restorations
Greybeard
Posts: 108
Joined: 27 Oct 2018 18:47
Location: Cottingham
Location: East Yorkshire

Re: Forgotten Era Speed Hill Climb 350 Morini MKII

Post by Greybeard »

I'm fascinated - and impressed - by the amount of tweaking and tuning that goes into these old machines. This club truly deserves the 'Riders' aspect of its name :) I'm looking forward to reading about the results. Unfortunately the event is too far away from me to come and see. Good luck.

Steve
User avatar
72degrees
Posts: 1549
Joined: 31 Aug 2007 21:24
Location: West Midlands

Re: Forgotten Era Speed Hill Climb 350 Morini MKII

Post by 72degrees »

Ming wrote:
72degrees wrote:When this engine goes in to the hill climb machine once the pistons are run in (some time before Hartland Quay on 29th March) ...
Ooer, a significant date - mind it doesn't get postponed... :wink:
Ha, ha. I can't see why it would, but in any case Hartland is actually on 31st - shows how the 29th has become stuck in my memory :) I only have to cross the Torridge to get there, not the channel. I will have needed to get the engine in place by the 29th though or I'll be taking brinkmanship further than T May ;)
User avatar
72degrees
Posts: 1549
Joined: 31 Aug 2007 21:24
Location: West Midlands

Re: Forgotten Era Speed Hill Climb 350 Morini MKII

Post by 72degrees »

Nothing more enjoyable than the first ride of the season (I'm no TWO). Even better if on a machine that you have just completed major spanner twiddling on.

First port of call was a BP garage to fill up with 97 octane juice. Without base gaskets it must be nearly 12:1 compression ratio now.

Then a gentle bimble round 15 miles or so. Carburation is still off mid range. I'm going to give up with the Polini elbows/foam filters and go back to S&Bs so I can get it jetted correctly for impending hill climb duties.

Shows promise. Certainly no less eager than before but I've not given it the beans yet. No sign of any oil leakage from the cylinder bases as yet.

Given the forecast I should be able to get a fair few running in and jetting tweak miles before completing the engine swap before Hartland. Looking at the two exhaust systems, the 'race' 2:1 has significantly smaller diameter headers. It may weigh a bit less than the NLM version on the road bike but I may do a back to back trial on the road before deciding which one to use on the Forgotten Error this season.

Now to sort out the mess that are my toolboxes, after my usual haphazard return of spanners, sockets and screwdrivers, while engrossed in getting cylinders and heads back on before the 'gloop' dries too much.
User avatar
Ming
Posts: 798
Joined: 01 Aug 2014 16:32
Location: France
Location: Central France

Re: Forgotten Era Speed Hill Climb 350 Morini MKII

Post by Ming »

72degrees wrote:...Now to sort out the mess that are my toolboxes, after my usual haphazard return of spanners, sockets and screwdrivers, while engrossed in getting cylinders and heads back on before the 'gloop' dries too much.
Now add in a sandy-floored corrugated iron barn and you have my workshop / barn. Hope all goes well for the coming season.
MickeyMoto
Posts: 2415
Joined: 22 Nov 2008 17:41
Location: Even further oop North

Re: Forgotten Era Speed Hill Climb 350 Morini MKII

Post by MickeyMoto »

Bet the local council has gritted the roads. The A1 was awash with the stuff today!
User avatar
72degrees
Posts: 1549
Joined: 31 Aug 2007 21:24
Location: West Midlands

Re: Forgotten Era Speed Hill Climb 350 Morini MKII

Post by 72degrees »

MickeyMoto wrote:Bet the local council has gritted the roads. The A1 was awash with the stuff today!
Not too bad round here as we escaped the significant snow you had 'oop north and that affected the south west. When I went to the NHCA AGM on 2nd there was not a sign of snow until I got nearly to Bristol.
User avatar
72degrees
Posts: 1549
Joined: 31 Aug 2007 21:24
Location: West Midlands

Re: Forgotten Era Speed Hill Climb 350 Morini MKII

Post by 72degrees »

Ming wrote:
72degrees wrote:...Now to sort out the mess that are my toolboxes, after my usual haphazard return of spanners, sockets and screwdrivers, while engrossed in getting cylinders and heads back on before the 'gloop' dries too much.
Now add in a sandy-floored corrugated iron barn and you have my workshop / barn. Hope all goes well for the coming season.
My concrete garage floor can get a bit dusty but I lay old rubber car mats over a small area under/around the bike if doing anything 'delicate'.

Thanks for the well wishes. I can't see me suddenly knocking seconds of my PBs or even my PBOMs (Personal Bests On Morinis). To be fair, the latter were set 30 years ago and a few of the former required a 72 degree V twin with 100 HP. Hoping to tick a couple of boxes for hills I've never ridden before though - so that guarantees a PB if I can get to the top at least once ;)
MickeyMoto
Posts: 2415
Joined: 22 Nov 2008 17:41
Location: Even further oop North

Re: Forgotten Era Speed Hill Climb 350 Morini MKII

Post by MickeyMoto »

72degrees wrote:
MickeyMoto wrote:Bet the local council has gritted the roads. The A1 was awash with the stuff today!
Not too bad round here as we escaped the significant snow you had 'oop north and that affected the south west. When I went to the NHCA AGM on 2nd there was not a sign of snow until I got nearly to Bristol.
Not much here... I think you mean north west...
User avatar
72degrees
Posts: 1549
Joined: 31 Aug 2007 21:24
Location: West Midlands

Re: Forgotten Era Speed Hill Climb 350 Morini MKII

Post by 72degrees »

MickeyMoto wrote:
72degrees wrote:
MickeyMoto wrote:Bet the local council has gritted the roads. The A1 was awash with the stuff today!
Not too bad round here as we escaped the significant snow you had 'oop north and that affected the south west. When I went to the NHCA AGM on 2nd there was not a sign of snow until I got nearly to Bristol.
Not much here... I think you mean north west...
Perhaps. I'm hoping we don't get another 'beast from the east' before I get a chance to run the pistons in and then swap engines.
How's the 'Winter Project' coming along?
MickeyMoto
Posts: 2415
Joined: 22 Nov 2008 17:41
Location: Even further oop North

Re: Forgotten Era Speed Hill Climb 350 Morini MKII

Post by MickeyMoto »

Progressing. Not quickly, but ok. More photos time.

Waiting for the crank to return...
norbert
Posts: 750
Joined: 15 May 2007 15:15
Location: Lübeck/Germany

Re: Forgotten Era Speed Hill Climb 350 Morini MKII

Post by norbert »

This weekend seems to become a spring one, so I´m going to have a Dellorto ride too. I´ve read you took the 90°Polinis off. Well I´ve mounted them just one day before the snow salt and wet period.
I´m going to start with main jet 130 and then probably going down (501). A ver que pasa?
User avatar
72degrees
Posts: 1549
Joined: 31 Aug 2007 21:24
Location: West Midlands

Re: Forgotten Era Speed Hill Climb 350 Morini MKII

Post by 72degrees »

I shall probably have another go at getting the Polini system jetted properly once I have swapped the engines. They have advantages for a road machine. I was down to 119 mains and X8 needles and still a major mid range flat spot. I was going to try 260T atomisers (262T currently) but didn't get round to it.

Meanwhile I discover, on measuring, that the NLM 2:1 has 36mm OD headers. The silencer may be a little more restrictive than the re-packable one on the 'race' system, but that has only 32mm OD pipes I am wondering if it might be stifling things a bit. If it was a 350 in a 350 it would be a few minutes work to swap the systems, but with a 350 in a 250 it's a bit of a pain getting them on.
User avatar
72degrees
Posts: 1549
Joined: 31 Aug 2007 21:24
Location: West Midlands

Re: Forgotten Era Speed Hill Climb 350 Morini MKII

Post by 72degrees »

Another glorious day and perfect running in weather, so a last 40 mile tootle to bed the new pistons in on this season's hill climb engine. It is going very eagerly once over 7000 rpm and I gave it a few brief spins on to the red line with ease ( the road bike being a 250 has a 9000 rpm red line tacho cf. 350 Sport at 8500). The new Metzeler ME22s are scrubbing in nicely and I'm very impressed with them.

Already got the exhaust system, seat, tank and footrests off ready for the transplant tomorrow. The Forgotten Error's current engine is already out, so the swap shouldn't take long. One issue will be that the alternator stator on the race engine powers the ignition OK but the lighting coils have zero output so I may need to switch them. However, I have a spare stator/rotor on the shelf - but I can't remember its status, so time to get the multi-meter out for some resistance testing. At least I have one I can send away for rewinding if necessary without having to remove one first
User avatar
72degrees
Posts: 1549
Joined: 31 Aug 2007 21:24
Location: West Midlands

Re: Forgotten Era Speed Hill Climb 350 Morini MKII

Post by 72degrees »

The engine swap is complete. I took the road 2C now with the engine I rebuilt two years ago for a ride today. Interesting how two otherwise similar engines can feel so different. It goes pretty well and by luck the carburation is pretty good at the first attempt wearing S&Bs (125 mains, 262T atomisers and X8 needles). Doesn't have the top end go of the L5, high compression lump though. It will make a nice machine for VMCC runs - except that the clutch is still very grabby. Last year I ended up swapping the plate stack from bike to bike. The grabby set are all new friction and plain plates and I'm sure I'm installing them in the same configuration. The centre is shimmed perfectly and if fitted with the other set of plates it's fine. They are exceedingly dry and the new plates already show some rust pitting though, whereas the other set have been run at some time with leaky seals and so are very "mildly moist". I tried de-rusting the plain plates last year which didn't seem to help much. I may even resort to a very light waft of WD40, short of introducing slip at kick start speed and see what happens.

This year's race engine didn't want to start when first installed in to the Forgotten Error. D'oh, I forgot the ignition, though also NLM module has been wired slightly differently and it fooled me for a while. Once connected correctly it burst in to life first kick. My doesn't it pickup quickly on the super QA throttle with the L5 cam and the large diameter headers 2:1. I also fitted the 13T 520 gearbox sprocket. When I get a chance I will do a trial launch up the drive (with the GOOD clutch pack!).

The road version definitely needs a different stator if the lights are to work for long. Unfortunately the stator I found on the shelf only has an ignition coil resistance of 175 ohms (cf. 220 on the road bike and 300 now on the race unit). I may try it but I think it came off the 350 that got rebuilt and was a pig to start before it got 'broken' so I used the stator/rotor from the Spanish barn find 250. Time to get it rewound I suppose.
User avatar
72degrees
Posts: 1549
Joined: 31 Aug 2007 21:24
Location: West Midlands

Re: Forgotten Era Speed Hill Climb 350 Morini MKII

Post by 72degrees »

I was re-reading some of this in search of carb setting pearls of wisdom to pass on to someone trying to get a Dellorto set up.

My, a lot of water has gone under the bridge since February 2019. Must write a brief 'catch up'. Watch this space.
Post Reply