It’s home at last!

[Orcade-Ian]

I'm now a convert - if I want practicality AND fun, I take the Forza - every home should have one! 

Ian

[DomP]

Was thinking when I was out on the Pan today if you had to get shot of all your bikes and could only keep one, which would you keep? For me it would have to be the Pan.

I would have to keep Millie the Mongrel 550. It's an absolute blast to ride, for a 550 the performance and handling are pretty phenomenal, the original Yoshimura pipe sounds fantastic, she has lovely styling and it's only a single seater, so I don't have to take anyone with me 😂😂😂. I love my 500 K1, she's such a classic but Millie wins my vote.

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Out of interest Julie, is your 550 standard engine wise?

[Nurse Julie]

Yes Dom, totally standard.

[Johnny4428]

These are in desperate need of refurbishment with the ht leads typically hard as hell and very flexible where they exit the encapsulation.

[Bryanj]

Have you read Ashs coil fix?

[Johnny4428]

Yes Bryan thanks! Done a couple of sets previously. Old leads removed, waiting for the postman now.

[Oddjob]

Little tip Johnny, try reversing the coils so the leads come out of the back instead of the front, leave the new leads long until you fit them so you can trim them down in situ.

It could be that you need to swap the coil brackets over as well when you do this, can't remember now, it's been a while. The benefits are less arcing as the wind doesn't drive the rain/water into the coil openings where the leads exit and they route across the top of the engine so look much tidier than hanging down above the exhausts, the 550 even had HT lead clamps fitted on the breather cover to take them away from getting burnt on the exhausts.

These were mine done that way and they are very tidy looking

[Johnny4428]

Good shout Ken! That’s a neat job. Yes you’re right there’s two clips on breather cover that held leads 1 & 4. I have a generous amount of HT lead coming home so should have plenty to carry out this mod.

[Johnny4428]

Battle scars! It wasn’t broken right accross but almost. Should have replaced but I’m having a go at repair. Two layers of glass fibre on the inside, bit of filler on the outside and see what like. The side panel badge was the replacement from DS.

[Johnny4428]

15 mins with scotchbrte and chrome cleaner on this scabby clutch cover. Sorry should have taken a before and after! It’ll get a right clean and polish when it is removed to replace gasket.

[Laverda Dave]

Battle scars! It wasn’t broken right accross but almost. Should have replaced but I’m having a go at repair. Two layers of glass fibre on the inside, bit of filler on the outside and see what like. The side panel badge was the replacement from DS.
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Is that heat damage Johnny or did it fall off and somebody ran over it as they did to the side cover on my Morini!
I tried to fix it with fibreglass but it was crushed so badly I couldn't get the shape back into it.

[Johnny4428]

Both side panels were smashed, the left one the centre was right out of it and there was chips missing. So I bought a replacement. The right one although cracked nearly right accross it still maintained its shape. I wasn’t sure what damaged it, I thought maybe being transported from the States. The damage was all prior to my ownership. I very nearly replaced it too but thought it was worth saving as an original part of the bike.

[Johnny4428]

Right Ken, this is a first attempt with the coils mounted 180 degrees. 1 & 4 are sitting just right, 2 & 3 not so. Unfortunately I had already bought new caps just to replace old ones as is. So think I need two longer plug caps for 2 & 3 to enable all lead entry’s rear facing. Protective sleeves to fit also.

[Oddjob]

Try swapping the coils over Johnny, I know I had to try a couple of time to get this method to work, I suppose it depends on how much the leads have been trimmed in the past as well. I'll see if I can find my coils and see which coil is where and whether the brackets have been turned or swapped as well. It doesn't matter BTW if No4 lead goes to No1 cylinder as they fire at the same time and the marking bands can be swapped if you need to do that, same for 2 and 3  of course.

I used right angled longs HT caps on the end cylinders and straight long on the inners BTW as you can see from the pic.

[Oddjob]

Found the coils Johnny. 1 and 4 are on the left now instead of on the right, they are facing backwards, the coil brackets are still in the same positions, the longer bracket (30511-300-000) where the bolt goes through is still the front bracket. So in essence you remove the coils from the brackets, swap them to the opposite side and turn them backwards. If that makes sense.

I think people trying this are just spinning the coil setup backwards and then finding the leads won't reach or they won't mount to the frame anymore, it's not as simple as that.