A Wet Oil Change
January 2, 2009
Wet Oil Change
Today’s ride was short but wet. If my buddy José hadn’t called I probably would’ve have skipped it, but had been waiting to mount a Sumpspacer on my Breva for a while and José had the time today, so I couldn’t refuse.
It rained quite hard during the ride but as usual I have no problems with traction. I like riding in the rain. It makes me ride smooth and carefully, just being careful and watchful as the greatest enemy for me is the poor visibility — my own and that of other drivers. Hard to keep the visor from fogging especially when it rains harder and you have to slow down. Always a great combination. But today’s ride went well and smooth.
The picture above is at José’s garage. Couldn’t take pictures during the downpour. Spent a great afternoon tinkering on the bike. Changed the engine oil at 7.705 kilometers. Same for the shift box oil. Didn’t have the shaft oil today so I have to wait a couple of days. Checked the plugs — spotless. Cleaned them a bit with a wire brush and reinstalled them after closing the gap a bit as it was close to 0.8 mm than the stated 0.7.
Finally, we also got the Sumpspacer installed. It was simple but I didn’t get my sump gaskets on time so we ended up making new ones. No sweat. Two of the front bolts needed washers to tighten properly. In the end, a solid seal with no leaks.
But always remember one thing: when you begin to pour that expensive Agip 10W60 oil into the bike dput back the nut that closes off the sump or yujmpoil on’t forget to close ofou’ll see that precious liquid run quickly onto the floor! Oh well, these engines do use oil anyway.
Here go a few pics of the Sump and in a future post we may discuss why I mounted one on my Breva.
Emptying the sump
Making a sump gasket
Getting a good seal on the Sumpspacer
Sumpspacer on!
Tiny Goose 
I want one of them spacers right now!
Scotty
Do get one. One of the best additions you’ll make on the bike.
I am considering a small block Guzzi, so I have a question about the sump spacer. How does the oil pick-up work in the sump? Do you need to extend it to work properly with the sump spacer? Seems like if you don’t you are only gaining some marginal extra cooling and possibly an extended oil change. Do you retain the original dip stick?
Hi Rick,
You do not need to expand anything with the spacer. Same dipstick works. You are only adding volume which is significant with the small block engine that runs very hot, especially with fuel injection. It was so strongly recommended to me by people I trust that I did not have much choice in the matter. having that extra oil is simply good insurance and the set up is so simple that: why not?
I was just curious. Some people might get a sense of complacency and not check their oil level as often if they don’t understand that they can still starve the engine of oil with over a quart left in the extended sump. Too bad the pick-up is not extended, because then you could have real piece of mind about having the oil level get too low.