MRC Forum- brought to you by www.morini-riders-club.com

Just a quick hello from me having taken delivery of my first Moto Morini this week - I bought Simon (aka Brickboy)'s 3 1/2, luckily got my hands on it just before the lockdown. Phew.

I'm really looking forward to getting to know a bike I've admired since it came out in the 70's, and then thought of buying a few times but never quite got round to it. I love it already!

Looking forward to chatting to other Morini enthusiasts - I will I'm afraid be asking all sorts of stupid questions as I take things apart.......

Welcome Andy - enjoy.

Welcome to what could turn out to be a lifetime addiction.

Welcome. Have you searched Brickboy's posts on this forum?

Welcome Andy!!

Don't go too mad about taking things apart - get riding and appreciate the bike then mould it to your own preferences (once all this lock down stuff is over). Most of all enjoy the experiences (there will be many!!) and ask away.

You will find that the search function is a good place to start when you have questions. If you can't find an answer it doesn't mean the question hasn't been asked but the answer has got hidden!

I look forward to hearing about your adventures!

John.

Thanks all!
jb666 - not doing much more than looking around and a wipe here and there with an oily rag at the moment. The carbs need setting up though.

MickeyMoto - yes I've seen Brickboy's posts about getting the bike to run right (he has new jets to send to me) and the vague speedo.

Look forward to seeing some pics,,enjoy .

Can anybody tell me the easy way to post images?

Two methods.

1. Upload to a photosharing website (Fliickr, Photobucket etc). You will find a link for each photo which can be copied and pasted into your posts. Make sure you have set the properties to Public. The images can then be viewed in all their technicolour glory without affecting the space constraints of this website.

2. Search on t'web for a JPEG optimiser site and reduce the size of the photos. You then have to go to the Upload attachment tab below the pane you are typing in and select the photo from your hard drive. You can repeat this for more photos, but there is a strict limit on photo size.

Hope this helps.

Thanks....pics to follow. Hopefully.

This is the bike, 1st pic courtesy of previous owner Simon.

I'm trying(!) to take a logical approach to my oily rag clean up and fettling; I've removed the front wheel and am applying Plus Gas and heat to gently persuade the disc bolts to loosen. The disc is scored so I'll be searching the site to find out about pattern replacements but will probably first try having the disc ground by a local engineering company when things open up again. I also want to strip and service the caliper but at the moment I'm finding it difficult to find Grimeca-specific info and service kits; any pointers would be welcome! I'm really impressed how easily the fork lowers have cleaned up, and the quality of the front guard. In fact the forks look very good with just a bit of cosmetic work needed to the yokes. The wheel is a bit scruffy, I'll get rid of any flakey paint and then decide if/how to tidy it up more. The bearings feel pretty good.

The carbs still need setting up and syncing; Simon is sending me the new 43 jets he bought but didn't fit. I bought a pair of dial guages but they disappointingly only have screw-in connections. I'll see if I can find something at home to adapt them to a needle but suspect it's one of those instances when I should have just gone straight for Carbtune guages with the appropriate adapters..... Ah well. The engine races when starting from cold with the choke on which makes me wince so I need to read up on choke settings, and then vibrates at idle - such as it is. I'll be pleased to get the carbs set up properly.

More pics (and questions!) to follow, in the meantime I would be interested to know if any members previously owned EYA 101T - there have been quite a few owners, one of whom fitted a Sport engine; it would be great to know details of the swop and what the bike has been up to.

Glad you're getting on with your fettling, we all need to do some now! Ref your carb balancing kit-you can probably connect the rubber tubes direct to the carbs. There is a vertical brass pipe sticking out of the top of the inlet side on each carb, this is usually to connect a balance pipe between the two inlet tracts and smooth things out a little. The brass pipes are around 4 or 5mm diameter and should be easy to identify when you look at the carbs.
As for the racing from cold, they all do that sir! It's because the starter enrichener/choke is either on or off. Most people learn their own technique such as only using one choke to start it, then maybe putting the second one on while turning the first one off. Some fit a cable control kit that allows you some adjustment of the fast idle but they can be a pain too for a few reasons.
The 43 idle jets are well worth doing too, some even try 41 but every bike is slightly different so no 'absolute' 1 size fits all settings.

Just tried looking at the pics of your bike, maybe yours has the older carbs without the balance pipe connections...if so there should hopefully be a plug/pin in the rubber intake 'manifold' for connecting gauges. You can get away with carefully inserting the threaded type adaptors in there. A bit of rubber grease will help to remove any doubts about sealing. It does work I promise!

Hi Andy,
Welcome to Morini ownership and hopefully to be able to ride it too.

Just tried looking at the pics of your bike, maybe yours has the older carbs without the balance pipe connections...if so there should hopefully be a plug/pin in the rubber intake 'manifold' for connecting gauges.

1978 strada would originally have had the metal manifolds and VHBZ 25BS carburettors, i.e without the vacuum take off tubes.
The metal manifolds have sensibly been replaced with rubber ones. Early rubber manifolds had a hole and a plug. Later ones do not. I cant see from the picture if there is a plug or not.
However I have drilled the manifold (where the plug used to be its kind of obvious on the side) with 5mm drill (if i remember correctly) and push the screw in adaptors (those that would fit the metal manifold) in. After I plug the hole with a suitable bolt. I am sure there are more elegant solutions out there.

I also want to strip and service the caliper but at the moment I'm finding it difficult to find Grimeca-specific info and service kits;

Unfortunately these do not appear to be readily available outside of Italy. Just now obtaining parts from Italy is going to be difficult.
Ariete defintely do the master cylinder overhaul kit and NLM used to supply that, so may be Mdina still have.

NLM did have replacement disks, I have one on a 250.

If you replace the disk bolts please be sure to use proper high tensile bolts DIN912 BZP 12.9 for socket cap bolts i.e not ungraded or A2 stainless
I use Orbital fasteners who have a fantastic range and free delivery in my area, they also stock the proper thick DIN982 type P Nyloc nuts
which are correct on Morinis, you know the ones that screwfix and sheds don't stock.

Unfortunately they are closed at present.
Anyway I suspect you will want to replace some other fasteners too.

Also: Take very good care of the gear for the speedo when handling the wheel and if replacing the bearings, these gears are hard to replace.

All the best

Steve - thanks for the tips, the carbs don't have the brass balance pipe connector on top so I'll probably go with mbmm350's solution and drill a hole - I think I will leave the original plugged holes (love the neat little plug) as the threaded adapters are too big for them. I'll see if the moulded circle above it could take a blanking bolt.

Thanks for the reassurances about starting revs - just jars a bit given the warnings to warm the engine properly before revving!

mbmm350s - thanks to you too. I'll keep an eye out for a new disc on ebay etc over the next few weeks, and will contact Mdina about the caliper service kits. The disc bolts look nearly new, but the washers and nuts are older so maybe I'll replace those. I've noted your warning about being gentle with the speedo drive; the hub eased off the wheel and there's plenty of grease in there, will treat it with kid gloves when I reassemble the wheel.

Enjoying myself so far