Electronic Tachometer question!

[Backmarker]

Hi All,

New forum (and club) member here.....picked up a (my!) 3 1/2 Sport today, 1977 Italian import. It has an 'S' stamped engine, no number which is usual for an Italian market bike, but seems to have a early Sport/Strada style tank. Very clean, low mileage bike which on first inspection doesn't appear to have been messed to much ( hopefully!) Even has a working electric start. What it doesn't have is a working electronic tachometer so, does anyone know if there are any tests I can do to check whether the fault is down to the tachometer itself, or wiring etc? I believe the tachometer is fed a signal from one of the transducers?

Looking forward to having fun on the bike and meeting some fellow club members when I'm out and about.

I'll try to keep the daft questions to a minimum.........promise!!

Thanks in advance
Dave

[MickeyMoto]

Dunno why you bothered. Morinis are rubbish. I only have four.... never learn

Welcome..

Try the following, in no particular order....

1. Earth
2. Swap wire into other transducer
3. Cable
4. Tacho. Do you get anything on the end of the wire?

Mike.

[MarkB]

Dave, are you bitchin' in Hitchin Hertfordshire? I'm just down the road in Stevenage. Don't ask me about anything electrical though... Cheers, Mark.

[Backmarker]

Thanks Mike, I will give this a go over the weekend. The ignition is definatly not 100% standard as the is a 'MOIRA' box mounted under the tank.......needs some further investigation i think! Having said that the bike starts very easily, ticks over nicely and it is quiet (for how long If the speedo is to be believed it has only done 21k miles so maybe thats why.

Hi Mark, Yes just up the road from you. Been looking on and off at Morinis for years and have finally bought one.....better late than never! Just a steep learning curve with the Morini way of doing things and working my way round the bike - a workshop manual is on the way!

Cheers
Dave

[Backmarker]

Hmmmmmm.........the plot thickens.....

After having a closer nose today it seems that the complete ignition system is not standard at all. There is a different style pickup, one coil unit that both ht leads are connected to, and a box under the tank with 'MOIRA' on it (assume this is the make of the ignition system. Anyone know anything about these?!

May well explain the non working revcounter. I'll get the tank off tomorrow and see what I can see.....

Dave

[robint]

A quick chat to the god Google with 'MOIRA ignition' shows up a lot of stuff - ignition appears to be an updated Lucas RITA system by Mistral Engineering who apparently are no longer in business - certainly not an original fitment to Morinis! But if it works.......

[EVguru]

Battery powered, wasted spark (single pickup; coils in series).

Custom advance curves are meant to be available, but does it retard to after TDC at kickstart speed and give 34 degrees full advance?

[Backmarker]

It was all going so well..........

Thanks for the info. Took the bike out for a 5 mile gentle run in town to get it nice and warm before balancing the carbs. I got within 1/2 mile of my house when there was some grating and grinding sounds coming from (I think) the clutch side. Pulled over as quick as I could and turned the engine off. Definately some loud and scary noises.....I pushed the bike home and there were still some clunks coming from the engine for the first few revolutions of the wheel but then it stopped, and was quiet for the rest of the (hot, sweaty, sweary) push back.

So, took off the clutch side plate, and apart from some oil seepage, and lots of oily soft 'filings' (gasket?) just below the clutch, clutch disengages fine.

No knowledge of these engines at all so will probably need some help! My 5mm Allen key has gone walkies so couldn't get the generator cover off today.....

I was enjoying the ride up until this moment........"oh bugger!!"

Dave