Hello all

[Lotus 7]

Hi, well taking possesion of a Moto Morini was a suprise, but following a garage clearout of one of my friends , it appears I now have a 3 and a half . As an ex biker from many years ago and not having restored a Moto before, can anyone tell me what model this is please, I have googled the bike but it seems neither one thing or the other, seems it's a bitsa.

I have uploaded the picture of it here

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/3214/pic0058d.jpg

and have spent the last week stripping it down, the frame awaits a trip to the blasters, as does many of the steel parts.

I have quite a few spare bits as well, which if I don't need will advertise on here , if that's ok, also I will need many parts as well, so go and dig deep in the parts bins folks, lol.....

Anyway thanks for having me onboard, and you may end up regretting having me around, such will the questions be posted on here as the restoration gets underway.

Makes a change from working on the Kitcar anyway............

L7

[atreyu]

Welcome!! Im in the same boat as you, ive only just joined myself but your project looks in a better state than mine! Ive only had a couple of days on here but i think yours is an electric start sport? Best listen to one of the many experts around here though.

Any idea what spares you will have spare? Where abouts are you located?

[John Bunting]

[quote="Lotus 7"]Hi, well taking possesion of a Moto Morini was a suprise, but following a garage clearout of one of my friends , it appears I now have a 3 and a half . As an ex biker from many years ago and not having restored a Moto before, can anyone tell me what model this is please, I have googled the bike but it seems neither one thing or the other, seems it's a bitsa.

Some of them left the factory like that, but don't worry all the bits go together to make a very nice bike.
Bit interested about your name and mention of a kit car
John

[Dean Brown]

Well it's a 3 1/2 Sport I should guess. It looks very similar to mine only yours doesn't have an electric start. My electric start doesn't work so you're missing nothing. Is that a front wheel from a wire spoked sport? Lots of bits there to make a lovely bike out of. Enjoy!

[Lotus 7]

Thanks all, Yes I did wonder if it may have left the factory ' as is' so to speak and yes it is a spoked wheel, of which I have two, these maybe one of the items I may sell, as I also got two more alloy wheels with it as well, looking at pics of completed bikes, I do prefer the alloy look . The bike has not been on the road since 1988 according to its tax disc, and suffered a fairly major crash , which probably is why it was taken off the road. You can just see in the picture I posted that the front wheel is bent, together with the ' old' set of forks I have. Someone has fitted some 'newer' forks to it, but these will need attention due to the rust on the chromed areas.

I can confirm at least, that it is not the electric start model, that I can say.

As for the bits I may have to offer, that will become obvious once I get into the rebuild, as there are a few boxes of parts that came with it as well, at the moment all I can say is that the spoked wheels and the lower alloy sections of the 'bent' forks will be available ( as it was just the main chromed uprights that were damaged), together with any bits that I feel need brand new parts - that's if they are available......

The kitcar is not a Lotus despite my user name, that's wishful thinking on my part, lol., but it is a ' 7 ' replica and one step up from a motorbike some say.....

My location is Lancashire ( North West) btw, sorry I did not enter that into my profile yesterday, I will attend to that shortly, hehe.

Thanks for the comments and you will no doubt be hearing from me again.

Regards
L7

EDIT TO ADD -:
Following an inspection this morning, it appears that the two spoked wheels I have are slightly different in that one is alloy rimmed and the other is steel rimmed, maybe someone can identify the differences in terms of model they were fitted to ?, both wheels look straight but do need some TLC.

[unreal]

Hi and welcome, you'll find us a helpful lot.
Looks like a 78-79 sport to me, lost it's electric start and gained an earlier engine side case, no big deal once sorted they'll start with 1-2 kicks and saves weight!
The wire wheel is an early strada one.
Beauty of a bike like that is you can do what you like, if it's too ‘good’ the temptation to go all original kicks in...
Parts are pretty interchangeable, which helps a lot, get a manual and parts book (both are online, but hard copies are better), NLM
http://www.northleicestermotorcycles.com/
have all the important stuff you need. Phillpots can rechrome the stanchions (about£150), change the cam belt before you even think about kicking it over.

Sign up to the Morini mailing list
http://www.smoke.com.au/~ic/morini-list.html

There is also an archive, if you need to know, someone else has probably asked before!
https://www.lowmem.net/lurker/list/morini.en.html

These are great little bikes (just don’t tell it it’s little!), simple to work on, with a good part supply, and willing owners. But they are addictive, so you have been warned!

Good luck

Simon

[John Bunting]

The kitcar is not a Lotus despite my user name, that's wishful thinking on my part, lol., but it is a ' 7 ' replica and one step up from a motorbike some say.....
Locaterfields -- 4 wheel motorbikes

[3potjohn]

And what an excellent number plate to go with it.
I'd make certain that the fuel tank is sound,a pain if you repaint it and then find pinhole leaks. Also get the exhaust castellated nuts out ( preferably with a proper tool) and carefully clean the threads of any carbon deposits. These need to screw into the heads smoothly (with some heat resistant grease) to retain the exhaust pipe with a pair of collars and a gasket.
If the threads are damaged they can be repaired but it is a nuisance.

[unreal]

Actually looking at the picture again, the engine looks like it may be an early one maybe '75 as it seems to have metal intake manifolds, but the frame is definitely a later electric start one, you can check the frame number here:

http://www.morini-riders-club.com/thebi ... llist.html

Simon

[Lotus 7]

Wow thanks for those links, Unreal, they should come in handy. Spent all day in the garage cleaning stuff up, at least I can see what I have now (or have not as the case seems to be with some of the electrics).

I contacted the mate I got it from, and he confirmed that indeed it was the electric start model to start with, but apparently the erm...Italian electrics weren't up to much and as the engine needed replacing anyway it was swapped for a kick-start only version, which as you say saves weight (i'm all for that).

I am now approaching this rebuild in much the same way as I did with the kitcar ( Yes John you were had it spot on, hehe - its a Westfield), it can be whatever bike you want it to be really, within reason anyway.

Going to have some food and put my feet up, been a long day in that garage...........

Thanks again all.

EDIT, was just about to post and 3potjohn posted before me, yes I did notice the plate when i brought it home, lol...
The fuel tank.......yesssssssssss well it had been repaired already I am led to believe, so not sure what I will find under the paint, so thats another worry.

Ahh yes those exhaust header nuts, well I was going to post about that when the engine strip time came around, but seeing as you now mention it, the rear cylinder is fine, the header had already been removed, however the front one has had many attempts by the looks of it at removing the collar, so much so, that there are no 'castles' left to use !?. Not sure the best method of removing that now, but as I said the engine was going to be after the main work, so will need to think about that.

EDIT 2 @3potjohn, yes it is an earlier motor, but not sure how old, thanks for that link.