Part 3 - Beasty Bikes

The third part of John Allaway’s
G5 restoration project
For the benefit of those who missed parts 1 and 2,
this is a running report on the rehabilitation of a rather
sad and neglected 1981 G5 that I took pity on. It is
really a joint effort, with me doing the cleaning up and
refurbishment of cycle parts and external surfaces, and
Roger Lee doing the technical stuff and final reassembly.
The hope I expressed at the conclusion of Part 2 that the
bike would be at least rideable by now has proved overoptimistic – we’re not too far off though.
The bike’s back on its wheels. It still needs the wiring sorting out: the main harness has gone back exactly
as it came off, with a few repairs to suspect terminals
or insulation. But the mass of wires that used to run
between the handlebar switches, the headlight shell and
the black plastic G5 speedo box are going to need some
serious attention. The G5 was fitted with a vast array of
largely superfluous warning lights and several switches
within the speedo box. I’m replacing all this with early
T3 instruments and console, which make do with only
a charging light, oil pressure light, and neutral and main
beam lights. The G5’s wiring includes circuits for all
these, plus warning lights for fuel, brake fluid, parking
brake (functional on the Convert only), dipped beam,
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V1000
hazard warning lights and indicators, plus switches for
lights, hazard lights and a mystery electrical function.
The task will be to work out how much of this
multi-coloured spaghetti can be done away with and
what needs retaining, then re-route wires as necessary to
fit the changed components. The left handlebar switch
is basically the same as later T3s, but the lights on/
off switch is blanked off. If I use this handlebar switch
I’ll have to work out where to put a separate light on/
off switch: the headlamp shell is probably already too
crowded, so it might have to go somewhere else unobtrusive, possibly in front of a side panel.
I’ve got the finished petrol tank, side panels and reupholstered seat in my living room (Roger doesn’t want
them in his workshop until absolutely necessary, understandably), and they’re too beautiful to consign to the
shed! For the purposes of this article I took them over to
Roger’s and offered them up, just to get a photo of what
its going to look like when finished: quite nice, in my
humble opinion!
I think the finished petrol tank and side panels look
excellent in their VW Mint green with gold stripes and
Guzzi eagle transfers. I thought the ‘V1000 G5’ side
Gambalunga
0 G5
panel badges looked clumsy, so I filled the mounting
holes with epoxy and opted for these transfers. I looked
into getting some ‘950 – T3’ badges specially made, but
decided that this would be over the top.
Clive Harrison has done a superb job of reupholstering the seat, for a paltry £45. Clive’s been doing this for
decades – I had a BSA B50 seat done by him in 1981;
the job he did then was faultless and despite accruing
a further 28 year’s experience, he remains content with
1980s prices. I can’t resist including another ‘before’ picture of the seat, saved from the scrap bin by two skilled
The seat pan (before)
October/November 2009
people: Julian (fabrication/welding) and Clive.
Despite its undeniably top quality upholstery, when
I offered up the seat and tank I was slightly dismayed to
discover that there was a gap of about an inch between
the two. It doesn’t look so bad as to appear noticeably
stupid, but to my eyes it definitely looks wrong. The
seat base was from a T3, and I’d assumed that the G5
tank would be identical in external dimensions (even
though it is quite different in several details, e.g.: the
badge positions, filler cap, fuel level sender unit etc). But
it seems that the G5 tank must have been a completely
revised pressing, and about an inch shorter!
I guess this was to allow for the seat to be
mounted further forward to allow for the
more forward-mounted footrests?
Roger and I wracked our brains for an
ingenious solution involving shifting the
two parts closer together, but concluded
there was no practical way of doing this. So
I gave Clive a ring, and he’s confident that
he can lengthen the foam by an inch while
retaining the new cover he’s just so painstakingly made: we’ll see what it looks like in
Part 4.
To get the early T3 rear light units to
fit the rear mudguard needed some tinkering: the G5’s comparatively horrible black
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1 Le Mans, i.e.: with upswept and swayed-out exit
pipes that allow that model’s upswept silencers
to clear the back wheel spindle, rear shock lower
mounts etc. Commando silencers, being fairly
wide at their widest points, would foul these, and
would also not look right without a fair degree
of upsweep. The only solution is to buy a new Le
Mans H piece from Armours, together with a pair
of Commando silencers with special 1 5/8” inlet
stubs. Armours tell me they can supply all these for
a total of £209, which doesn’t seem at all bad.
It has been surprising to find how much adaptation, tinkering and fettling can be called for
when mixing parts from different bikes, even when
they are as superficially similar as the G5 and T3.
It would certainly have been much easier to have
simply restored the bike to original G5 specification, but what would have been the point, in view
of the fact that I don’t much like the G5’s looks?
I promised to give a breakdown of costs so
far at the end of my last article, so here it is. I’ve
made adjustments to allow for ‘deals’, whereby
various people swapped work for bits and pieces
they needed for their own projects, by asking what
they’d have charged normally. Where people have
done work without charging for their time, or donated parts, I have estimated what the ‘real’ cost/
value is. Allowing for all the above, the breakdown
is as follows:
plastic item used different fixing points, and the detail to
the back part of the rear mudguard is quite different to
that on an early T3. There is a large area at the bottom
of the mudguard that is stamped flat with convoluted
indentations, presumably to add stiffness, as this was
used for directly mounting the number plate. It’s ugly
and had to be covered up, and that meant mounting the
number plate over it. This in turn meant mounting the
T3 light unit fairly low, which then exposed a number
of redundant holes further up the mudguard. It was a
toss-up between this, or thinking of some ingenious way
of disguising the pressed mudguard section, without it
looking too contrived – a miniature skull with red LEDs
that come on with the brake light, perhaps? Perhaps not.
In the end, we went for fitting the light and number
plate unit as high as possible without revealing the ugly
part of the mudguard, and blanking-off the useless holes
further up with stainless plugs and blanking grommets. I
think it’s worked out as a reasonable compromise.
The exhaust system needs adaptation, tinkering and
fettling too. Roger did a great job of polishing the old
stainless downpipes and H-piece, and they came up very
nicely. However, I’ve realised that my plan to fit Commando style reverse cone silencers won’t work with the
existing H piece. The one that’s on the bike is a standard
G5 part which, on close inspection, turns out to be
quite different to the item on my T3 (which I’d assumed
was a standard T3/G5 part).
It turns out that the H piece on my T3 is from a Mk
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• Roger’s workshop hours so far, estimated: £775
(this includes stripping down, rebuilding the gearbox,
reassembling engine new clutch and gearbox, stripping
and reassembling bevel drive box, reassembling bike
with repainted/cleaned/polished parts provided by me,
plus dozens of small jobs).
• Powder coating: £75 (frame, swinging arm,
centre stand, side stand, battery tray).
• Secondhand parts: £495.50 (mainly from ebay,
some from Spada Spares, a few bits from NBS. Includes
rear light unit, grab rail, seat base, T3 lower frame rails
and side stand, speedo, exhaust H piece, exhaust flanges,
gear and brake pedal linkages, gear and brake levers, T3
instrument console and revcounter).
• New parts: £606.25 (includes numerous bearings, oil seals, gaskets, clutch centre and plates, carb and
brake service kits, cables, fork dampers, handlebars and
all sorts of special rubber mountings, grommets etc, plus
numerous stainless fasteners)
• Bead blasting to rocker covers: £20.
• Seat base repair/re-fabrication: £30.
• Seat reupholstery: £45.
• Paint spraying to tank and side panels: £170.
• Aerosol paints, primers, cleaning products etc:
£40.
• Total spent so far: approximately £2256.75
• Plus: Original cost of bike, £800 (I’d valued the
two V50s I swapped it for at £900, and Tony gave me
£100 for keeping the new seat he’d bought for it).
Gambalunga
Roger Lee: “Here’s one I rolled earlier!”
Still to buy: silencers, Roger’s time to do wiring, final
reassembly and get MOT etc, plus undoubtedly several
items I’ve overlooked. My original guesstimate of ‘up to
£2000 to spend’ is already looking a tad ridiculous – but
by way of an excuse, I didn’t know at the time about the
gearbox damage or the extent of the rest of the transmission’s knackeredness.
So, how does it measure up to my rule of thumb,
as expressed at the start of Part 1, that no restoration
project is really worth bothering with unless either: (a)
the bike is something rare and/or what you’ve always
wanted or (b) the value when finished exceeds the total
cost? Answer: not very well on point (b), but possibly
not so badly on point (a) as I reckon that, when its
finally finished, it will look beautiful and will hopefully
prove to be a very usable, generally nice old bike. Maybe
it will be back on the road in time for Part 4? Watch this
space…
Who’s helped so far? As part of this project I’m keeping a record of all products and services I use, and rating
them for price and quality. I hope this will be useful to
others undertaking restoration projects, or who just need
parts or jobs for old Guzzis.
Roger Lee, Beasty Bikes, Unit 5, Green Farm, Rackheath Industrial Estate, Norwich NR13 6LQ (01603
721463). Fantastic service in every respect as usual.
Highly recommended for all kinds of work to all kinds
October/November 2009
of bikes, ancient or modern, but especially Guzzis (and
Harleys).
Clive Harrison, 4 Beaumont Road, New Costessey,
Norwich (01603 741460). Expert motorcycle upholstery for all kinds of bikes from pre-war veterans to
modern superbikes, all at hard-to-believe (in a good
way) prices.
Armour Motor Products, 784 Wimbourne Road,
Bournemouth, Dorset BH9 2HS (01202 519409).
Armours have been making and retailing good quality,
well priced replica and special exhaust components for
classic bikes since 1972. Willing to make one-offs to
customer’s design, or to adapt standard items to fit different machines.
Motomecca Spares, Unit 302 Woolsbridge Industrial
Park, Three Legged Cross, Wimborne, Dorset BH21
6SP (01202 822453). New only parts for Guzzis of all
ages. Very helpful, reliable service at reasonable prices.
Just about everything obtainable kept in stock. Workshop staff also very helpful and willing to advise on
technical matters.
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Corsa Italiana, 5 Walpole Mews, Walpole Road,
Colliers Wood, London SW19 2BZ (020 8540 7155).
Seemingly exactly the same service and prices as
Motomecca, with possibly even quicker postage. Equally
helpful workshop staff too.
Guzziology, by Dave Richardson. Sadly out of print,
but well worth obtaining if you can. A goldmine of
useful information about all Guzzi twins up to about 10
years ago. Very sought after: if you can find a copy in
any readable condition for under £20, you’re lucky!
Mastercote UK Ltd, 11 Wendover Road, Rackheath
Industrial Estate, Norwich NR13 6LH (01603 720326).
“Quality coaters of aluminium and steel” is their logo’s
sub-heading, and I’d certainly go along with that!
Julian Mason, JM Autos, 30 Blind Lane, Horsham
St Faith, Norwich NR10 3JQ (07831 426010). Top
quality welding and general mechanical wizardry. Happy
to take on one-off jobs on bikes but may take a while to
fit motorcycle stuff in with his usual car work.
Beardshaws, Stalham Road Industrial Estate, Wroxham, Norfolk NR12 8DZ (01603 783811). Suppliers
of metric and Imperial fasteners in stainless steel. Good
prices, good stock range, helpful service.
Sammy Miller Products, Bashley Common Road,
New Milton, BH25 5SF (01425 616466). Off-road
specialists, but make some very good quality chromed
handlebars (various styles) – not cheap though!
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Gambalunga