Last summer, I was at the Guzzifest in Devon, and when I started the Fire Bike someone made a comment along the lines of “that starter motor’s not going to last long”. Well I can confirm they were not wrong! The bike has only refused to start once but the motor labours to turn the engine over before it struggles into life. Like this;
My bike was fitted with a Marelli starter for which very few parts (if any) are available. I think I may have found a source for brushes which just might fit. I’ve seen on This Old Tractor website that a modern Valeo starter can be made to fit. The modifications to the bike didn’t look too difficult so I ordered a motor from Gutsibits and set about making it fit. I could have tried a much cheaper Chinese made copy of the Valeo. They’re said to be good but the one I saw had a longer and fatter solenoid so I decided not to take the risk.
The main issue is that the old Marelli starter (and the Bosch starter of similar vintage) has its solenoid mounted below the main starter motor while all the later replacements including the Valeo one have the solenoid on top. On a 4-speed Guzzi this solenoid can clash with the neutral switch fitted to the gearbox and it obstructs the clutch cable which has a stop welded to the battery plate. The engine cases of early models also aren’t drilled for both starter mounting bolts as they use one bolt and one stud. Luckily, my late model V7 700 has the later engine cases which makes life much easier.
The first job was to disconnect the battery then remove this beast.

You can see my starter was held on with two bolts. Early models had a stud for the top mounting. Here are the old and new starters on the bench.



I offered up the new starter and it was clear that the clutch cable would be in the way. I disconnected that and tried again and found that the solenoid on the starter would touch the front one of the two screws which secure the neutral switch to the gearbox. It clears everything else. It’s a bit mucky down there. The clutch cable mount is in the foreground of this photo and the starter is prevented from bolting up by the neutral switch bolt. It looks like the neutral switch and main starter terminals are close. But they’re not “too” close. The camera angle makes it look worse. They’ll also be insulated.

Just to make sure, I took the starter off again, removed the offending screw and put it back on again. It fitted and I could see that I could get away with fitting a button-head allen screw instead of the original hex bolt.

The new starter in place. You can see the problem with the clutch cable mounting.

This Old Tractor and others say the way to get around this is to bend the mounting through 90 degrees so it sits higher up above the solenoid. Although there are pictures of this being done in-situ, I decided I would take the trouble to remove the battery tray to which the fitting is welded. I wasn’t confident of applying the heat needed and making the adjustment without setting the whole lot alight. As I’ve already said, it’s a bit oily down there!
Getting that battery tray out was a pain. Firstly I removed the battery and its clamps. Then the air cleaner has to come off. The locking tool boxes are next and these are secured with some nuts and bolts which are really difficult to hold.
The battery tray is held to the top of the gearbox with four M8 screws and to the frame with two M10 screws. This pair were really hard to budge. One was also the mounting point for the battery negative cable.
Now the battery tray was “fully floating” but it was like some cruel Chinese puzzle as I couldn’t find a way to winkle it out. I’d already taken off the rubber boot from the carbs to the air filter as well as the screw-on carburettor stubs. In the end I had to remove the top of the LH carb and its choke cable fitting which just allowed me to get the tray out. It would have been easier to remove the left hand carb completely. However, I have a problem with that. One of the bike’s fuel taps refuses to turn off and the tank is full. A job for another day I think. Anyway, I’d got the thing off and onto the bench.
I did as suggested, heating and bending the fixing upwards. Quite a lot of paint was burned off.

I jiggled the battery tray back into place and offered up the clutch cable. I could see that this would work but I needed to “twist” the fitting a bit so that it aims down toward the lever on the gearbox. This will make the clutch pull better. So it was all taken off and heated once more and the adjustment made. It ended up like this.


I fished out the battery plate again and spent a couple of days trying to repaint the damaged areas of the tray with red Smoothrite. It was just a mess so I took it in for powder-coating. I could have had it finished in red (alongside a batch of Welsh dragons) but it would have been a bit too bright. I decided on black as it won’t show anyway.




Some powdercoat had got into the threads for the clutch cable mounting. This was cleaned out with a M9x1.25 tap which I had to get specially. I’ll probably never need it again!
I went through the starter wiring and remade a couple of connections for peace of mind and insulated as necessary. New stainless screws and copper grease were used to refit the battery tray. I had to cut down two M10 screws for the rear fitting as they are a strange short length.

It was now time to put back all that other stuff that came off to get the battery tray out. Carburettor stubs and intake boot followed by the air cleaner itself. The tool boxes went back on with only a small amount of cussing and then the battery, its clamps, cables etc. The right hand battery cover was refitted as it had been dangling by the speedo cable. I’ve discovered the cable is jammed in the drive on the gearbox. Another job to do on another day.
Time for a test. Remember what it was like before? The battery hasn’t been charged in the meantime.
I’d say that was a result! It looks tidy too.
