Basic Info about Morini 500 Please?

Maestro, SEI-V
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JonnyP
Posts: 64
Joined: 24 Feb 2021 17:03
Location: Cheshire, UK

Basic Info about Morini 500 Please?

Post by JonnyP »

Hello all, I'm new to the Morini Rider's Club and new to this forum (I live in North West UK). I've just bought a 1979 Morini 500 (photo), fairly rough but largely complete. I intend to restore this to 'Maestro' spec- I always wanted one back in the day- 40 years later, here we are! I briefly owned a 3 1/2 Sport around 15 years ago, so I do have some limited Morini experience. I've owned motorcycles on and off for most of this time, doing as much of my own work as possible. I have many questions, and would be most grateful if anyone could help me out here to start with: What model of Morini have I bought? I've been reading up, and I'm not sure whether there was ever a choice of '500 Sport' and' 500 Strada' officially sold in the UK. Mine obviously looks like a Strada, but what is its exact model designation? 500S perhaps? Also, please can anyone recommend which battery I should buy? Many thanks for any responses!
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Steve Brown
Posts: 1390
Joined: 12 Nov 2007 23:44
Location: Leicestershire

Re: Basic Info about Morini 500 Please?

Post by Steve Brown »

Ahh! just seen you on FB! I still think it's a 500W. If you look at the frame number it will tell you there. For the battery most folk use a PC680 I think, from Motobatt. If you do a search of the forum you'll find lots of posts about that and how to make the starter motor better.
Hope you enjoy it and welcome to the club!
All donations to the rest home for old Camels, Leicestershire.
3potjohn
Posts: 1243
Joined: 02 Jun 2007 13:58
Location: Devon

Re: Basic Info about Morini 500 Please?

Post by 3potjohn »

Another battery choice would be a Xtreme 600, about 2/3 the price of a PC680. I used to use the Odyssey on my bikes but have used the Xtreme since discovering the price difference. Does it have a starter motor fitted , could not see the cable.?
Good starter motor rebuild info on Youtube (Paul Compton)
At some stage I would clean out the tank, have a good look inside with a torch, especially the left hand side. I use the “motorcycle tank repair kit” from Frosts.Anyhow it may not come to that.
If you do remove the tank just give the wiring the once over ,any rubbing etc, and clean the earth connection points up.
Best of luck, it will be good fun.
John
JonnyP
Posts: 64
Joined: 24 Feb 2021 17:03
Location: Cheshire, UK

Re: Basic Info about Morini 500 Please?

Post by JonnyP »

Thanks guys, useful information much appreciated. I'm sure I'll have a million more questions soon, better get searching this forum!
Canuck750
Posts: 111
Joined: 29 Jan 2018 22:14
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, C

Re: Basic Info about Morini 500 Please?

Post by Canuck750 »

Pretty much identical to mine but I have a late 78 ~ early 79 - 500W, with black frame and red panels and tank. Ground up restoration over the past couple years, nice riding bike.

Image

The engine in my bike was pretty much worn out, I fitted new cylinder sleeves, pistons, rings, reground crank with oversize big end shells, replaced all the crank case bearings, clutch etc. Grimeca calipers rebuilt and new rotors from NLM (Mdina Italy should have them in stock), returned to stock with the exception of Tarozzi rear sets. Starter motor was rebuilt and it works great, starts easily now.

I also replaced the Ducati Electronic ignition with the Elektronik Sachse igntion with mini coils, did a write up on the installation in the projects section on this forum.
https://www.elektronik-sachse.de/shopsystem-3/en/

And I replaced the old regulator with a new soild state unit.
Good luck with your refresh.
JonnyP
Posts: 64
Joined: 24 Feb 2021 17:03
Location: Cheshire, UK

Re: Basic Info about Morini 500 Please?

Post by JonnyP »

That looks fabulous. Well done for such a superb rebuild :)
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