Exhausted

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Stubaker58
Posts: 72
Joined: 28 Apr 2019 21:02
Location: Felixstowe, Suffolk

Exhausted

Post by Stubaker58 »

Hi,

Earlier this year I bought a rather sad looking 1979 Sport from Lusso Veloce (red frame, tank and side panels, grey wheels, black exhaust and engine).

It starts well, even on the electric boot, and runs but not too smoothly. One issue has been the silencers which are the original Lanfranconis and which have large holes underneath.

I have bought two new stainless silencers from Armours, they supplied them unpolished at a small discount, enough to buy the paint to turn them black. They are currently hanging in my paint drying booth (AKA the garden shed).

With some trepidation I attacked the old silencers and to my surprise they yielded without too much of a struggle BUT with both silencers removed I now have an issue. The left hand pipe has an extension about 250mm long which fitted inside the silencer, the right hand pipe ends at the stub where the clamp fits.

Is this normal?

I haven’t offered up the new silencers yet as I want the paint to harden off but has anyone experience of the Armours replacements and whether the left hand extension will fit inside?

(BTW if anyone wants the old silencers let me know and I’ll send you some photos, you can have them for the postage.)
mbmm350s
Posts: 666
Joined: 22 Jun 2018 10:18
Location: Reading UK
Location: Berkshire UK

Re: Exhausted

Post by mbmm350s »

Earlier this year I bought a rather sad looking 1979 Sport from Lusso Veloce (red frame, tank and side panels, grey wheels, black exhaust and engine).
Great! it will good to see another Morini on the road.
With some trepidation I attacked the old silencers and to my surprise they yielded without too much of a struggle BUT with both silencers removed I now have an issue. The left hand pipe has an extension about 250mm long which fitted inside the silencer, the right hand pipe ends at the stub where the clamp fits.

Is this normal?
Yes.

I am sure you could cut it back or off completely. most replica exhaust downpipes don't have the extension.
Never used Armours silencers.
Mark
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themoudie
Posts: 132
Joined: 13 Jan 2007 21:24
Location: Perthshire

Re: Exhausted

Post by themoudie »

Aye Stubaker58,

I recently acquired a 1986 350 K2 that was already fitted with a pair of Armour stainless steel silencers to original exhaust pipes. I believe different bracketry was required to attach the silencers to their mounts, but, as I didn't carry out this work I cannot be specific as to these potential differences. The Armour product appears well made and is easy to keep clean. Apply copper grease to all the stainless steel threads.

I can if you wish, post images of the silencers fitted to the K2 and of the brackets used.

The tone of the silencers is deep, yet not offensively loud and doesn't appear to 'spook' horses. :wink: I cannot make any comparison between the Armour silencers and the 'original' fitments.

My regards, Bill
Al B
Posts: 47
Joined: 03 Feb 2017 20:34
Location: Luton, UK

Re: Exhausted

Post by Al B »

The "extension" piece of pipe is there to even up the length of the exhaust headers, otherwise the front pipe is longer than the rear one. It's probably reasonable to assume it doesn't make any difference to the performance as Morini's aren't exactly highly tuned.

My bike has armour exhausts but as both header pipes finish at the join with the silencer I can't help you with whether the pipe will fit inside. There's only one way to find out!
Stubaker58
Posts: 72
Joined: 28 Apr 2019 21:02
Location: Felixstowe, Suffolk

Re: Exhausted

Post by Stubaker58 »

Thanks guys.

I had wondered about the pipe lengths matching.

I’ll leave the silencers for a couple more days then offer them up and let you know how it goes.
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MarkB
Posts: 673
Joined: 22 Jun 2009 13:14
Location: Stevenage

Re: Exhausted

Post by MarkB »

I've had some downpipes with the long extension on the LHS, others without, and one where the extension had clearly been hacksawed off. In real life I don't think it matters.
"I'll have a V please, Bob."
George 350
Posts: 450
Joined: 16 Jun 2007 09:43
Location: Northampton

Re: Exhausted

Post by George 350 »

Back in 1978 when I bought my Morini, the Strada and Sport had different part numbers for the downpipes.
The Sport got the one with the extension, the Strada without.
Subsequently they were commonised to ones with the extension.
As has been suggested though, the difference performance wise I'm sure is minimal if at all.
Its effect is more likely to be in carb balancing.
Regards, George
George
350 sport 1978, 350 Strada 1978
650 Norton 1967, 650 Kawasaki 1977 and 650 Enfield 2019
Stubaker58
Posts: 72
Joined: 28 Apr 2019 21:02
Location: Felixstowe, Suffolk

Re: Exhausted

Post by Stubaker58 »

So, the Armours silencer does not fit over the left side extension pipe so it’s out with the hacksaw this weekend. I also had to thin down the nuts for the attachment bolts as the bracket on the silencer does not give enough clearance for the full depth.
I’ll post a photo when they’re fitted.
Stubaker58
Posts: 72
Joined: 28 Apr 2019 21:02
Location: Felixstowe, Suffolk

Re: Exhausted

Post by Stubaker58 »

Finally cut off the extension pipe and fitted the Armours silencers. They fitted the standard brackets perfectly although I did have to slim down the nuts so they would slide into the brackets welded onto the silencers. I also had to run a drill bit through the clamp which is integral to the silencers so that I could get an m6 bolt through. Overall an easy enough fit.

They look good too and have a lovely sound, the engine seems to run better too but that may be the clean and refurb of the carbs.
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3potjohn
Posts: 1243
Joined: 02 Jun 2007 13:58
Location: Devon

Re: Exhausted

Post by 3potjohn »

I also have black chrome silencers Sito brand and in spite of me filling them with old oil in 2011 have begun to blister at the ends, so will be on the lookout soon. In a perfect world I would get some more black chrome ones, but this is not simple.
If I had a limitless supply of cash I could consider getting some new ones black chromed. I last painted a set of exhausts and silencers with Sperex on a 1973 A65 in about 1976.Come to think of it I sprayed the tank a metallic orange in my parents tiny cottage and I can remember the cloud of paint drifting over my Dad’s mashed potato so not popular.
But at least paint was paint in those days.
John
JonD
Posts: 37
Joined: 14 Jan 2014 10:40
Location: Wantage

Re: Exhausted

Post by JonD »

Found the picture of your bike interesting. My 3 1/2 Sport has exactly the same colour scheme with black pin stripes. When my bike was imported in about 1999 it was given a manufactured date of 1983 in the V5C but component parts on the bike are dated late 1978. I believe my bike is either late 1978 or 1979. The frame number on my bike is A3 16413. Would be interested to know the frame number of your bike if you are happy to share it. Once you have sorted out the running I think you will have a lot of fun riding the bike - possibly the best bike I own. Carb balancing makes a big difference to the performance and running. The £15 I spent on a second hand Morgan Carb Tune II at the Popham Megameet was the best £15 I have spent on a bike in a long time! Enjoy your Morini.
Stubaker58
Posts: 72
Joined: 28 Apr 2019 21:02
Location: Felixstowe, Suffolk

Re: Exhausted

Post by Stubaker58 »

Hi,
I bought the bike from Lusso Veloce (formerly NLM) and Stuart was there and said it is an original factory colour scheme, but not a common one. The frame number as far as I can make out is A/*17917, so later than yours and it is registered as 1979.
TBH the colour scheme (like the rest of the bike) is a bit of a muddle. The tank and side panels have the black pinstripes, the front ‘guard both black and gold and the rear ‘guard nothing. A case of using what was available I think. It’s grey wheels and double discs BTW and has swan neck clip-ons which make the brake hoses a stretch.
Stubaker58
Posts: 72
Joined: 28 Apr 2019 21:02
Location: Felixstowe, Suffolk

Re: Exhausted

Post by Stubaker58 »

Hi,
I bought the bike from Lusso Veloce (formerly NLM) and Stuart was there and said it is an original factory colour scheme, but not a common one. The frame number as far as I can make out is A/*17917, so later than yours and it is registered as 1979.
TBH the colour scheme (like the rest of the bike) is a bit of a muddle. The tank and side panels have the black pinstripes, the front ‘guard both black and gold and the rear ‘guard nothing. A case of using what was available I think. It’s grey wheels and double discs BTW and has swan neck clip-ons which make the brake hoses a stretch.
JonD
Posts: 37
Joined: 14 Jan 2014 10:40
Location: Wantage

Re: Exhausted

Post by JonD »

Thanks for getting back with the frame number. Seems to confirm my thoughts that my Morini is in fact a late '78 or early '79 bike. My bike hasn't been restored as far as I can tell, it still has the original Castrol GTX oil stickers and several service date stickers from Italian bike shops attached to it. Both mudguards are plain red, same colour as the frame with no pin stripes, grey wheels and double front discs. The footrests and clips on were changed to Tarrozzi items by NLM about 2011. The clip ons are the flat adjustable type so no stretch on brake lines. I replaced all my brake lines with HEL Performance items - very fast service and made to the customers dimensions. I like the look of the black originals which is a no cost option from HEL. If you do replace the brake pipes the banjo at the caliper is not straight on original pipes, it has a slight angle about 15 degrees, I missed this when ordering the new pipes, wasn't a problem as the new pipes are thinner than the original Pirelli rubber hose so cleared the caliper body ok.
The Dutch Morini site has a picture of another A3 Morini in red with black pin stripes, frame number A3 17707. According to this site the A3 models were for the Italian home market.

Jon
mbmm350s
Posts: 666
Joined: 22 Jun 2018 10:18
Location: Reading UK
Location: Berkshire UK

Re: Exhausted

Post by mbmm350s »

Hi Jon

A/3 is the third homologation of the 350, this meaning it is equipped with disk brakes. It is a update to the original homologation.

for the record:
A/1 is sport (wire wheel large drum brakes)
A/2 is turismo but we call it Strada in the UK (wire wheel smaller drum brakes)

Sport/Turismo had different homologation because the brakes are different between the models.
There is no different homologation for sport/turismo with disk brakes even though optionally sport could have 2 disks

Since when the cast wheels were introduced no new homologation was necessary and so cast wheel remain as A/3

New homologations were raised for the K series, K (new frame), K1(rear disk) however the frame numbering was not restarted.
Also the K engine is different to the A engine.

All models were export compliant.
142xx and 146xx known to me were registered in summer 1978 (july and august)
1774xx and 177xx known to me were registered in autumn 1979

so 164xx late 1978/early 1979 sounds right.
Interestingly your seat is a 1978 model year seat, larger hump like mine had when I bought it in 1981.

However as Morini were notorious for using up stock, changing things as supply dictated, painting bikes in different shades of red etc etc
its perfectly fine and let no one tell you its wrong.
I think also you have painted stainless mudguards which were a transition to cheaper mild steel painted.

Cheers

Mark
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