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Well. I have re-wound the coils with 30 turns of 1mm wire on each and re-assembled the stator back on the bike. I can't start the engine at the moment because I haven't yet fitted the new ignition system, so the best I could do was take the plugs out and spin it over with a drill. I reckon it was ma...

Thanks for the comments and the photos of 350 vs 500 stators. Mine certainly looks more like the later model 350 version - maybe that was fitted to the early 500s, I don't know. I used to have a 1986 K2 and I do remember that had a centre tapped stator. I may well have a photo somewhere, I'll have a...

Hi Mark, I have just been looking at used 500 stators on eBay and sure enough they are exactly as you describe. It is visibly wound with MUCH thicker wire than mine, probably something like 1.2mm at a guess. I can see two yellow wires, a green and a white, so there is no centre tap and from what I c...

Hi Mark, Interesting! There never was a white wire, the ignition winding earthed via the mounting screws - you can see the earth tag. I wonder if this was a transitional design used on early 500s. The number of turns is quite different to the 350 but as you have verified, it is also different to the...

Hi Mark, Thank you for your reply once again. I have made a bit of progress and have now un-wound all the alternator coils - one thing for sure, they were unusable , the insulating varnish having peeled off large parts. I'm sure there were shorted turns all over the place. Some were showing more evi...

Hi Mark, Your winding "code" agrees exactly with mine, so that's a good start! This bike is only number 32 of the 500s and probably has a few differences to the more "established" models. Some years ago, I removed the red wire. The link between the two winding strings was on the ...

Hi Mark, Many thanks for all that, you have encouraged me by not saying it's a daft idea! My bike is an early 500 from 1978 and it had a centre tapped alternator and a rec/reg which (presumably) had a full wave rectifier. Unusually, the regulator gave a negative output and the centre tap was the +ve...

Hi everyone, I haven't been on here for a long time, but I'm still riding the 1978 500W - or at least I was until last September. On the Piston Rally, my modern electronic rectifier/regulator failed big time with smoke and suitable sound effects. This didn't last long and when the smoke cleared, I c...

Hi John, Thanks for your suggestions. I think you're right, I'll have to give it a good clean, take it for a run and see what happens. There is so much oil and muck all over it now after the rally, I could convince myself of almost anything! Still, once again, the bike has been great and it is ideal...

Hi everyone, it's been a long time since I've posted on this forum, but now I have a question which might ring a bell with someone. I have just completed the Moto Piston Rally on my 1978 500 Strada, it's about the 4th time I've done it on this bike and once again it was pretty trouble-free - except ...

Just a bit of feedback! In the end I did take the Morini 500 to Spain and as expected it gave me no problems at all. 2280km in just a week, all on wonderful mountain roads. I wish I could say it was hard work, but I was grinning too much to notice! The Morini is just about the ideal bike for the job...

Many thanks for your replies, I am much encouraged! I've done the Piston Rally several times on various bikes and my two favourites being the Morini 500 and the 750 Bonneville. You certainly don't want anything too heavy, but good brakes is a big help - not the Bonnie's strongest suit! I've never ta...

One of my heads has been weeping slightly for the last 15 years. Have you checked the M6 caphead screw in the pushrod tunnel? Haha! Paul, thank you for that! I did check that screw, I remember it well from dismantling the engine - "why won't the head come off? etc" I've just finished serv...

Morning folks! I have just started preparing my 1978 Morini 500W for this year's Moto Piston Rally (starts 21st September) and I was a bit concerned to see oil weeping from both cylinder head gaskets. Not a major leak, but enough to have caused a couple of drips from the edge of both the top barrel ...

Well I fitted the new set of Surflex starter clutch shoes and it has completely cured the problem. The clutch bites immediately and cranks the engine strongly with no slipping. Phew! I hope that's now the end of this saga. The new shoes do feel significantly heavier than the old style ones and the l...