Italian Tune-Up

grandpaul

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I was once taught about the shop technique referred to as an "Italian Tune-Up"

Take your poor-running bike out on the interstate and run it right up to redline through all the gears, then hold it wide open in top gear.

The bike either starts running right, or breaks.

If it starts running right, the tune-up is complete.

If it breaks, you fix it and it should run right after that.

If not, repeat till it runs right.

Same goes for noises and/or leaks you can't seem to fix.

It actually works!

Must have originated in the Laverda shop...
 
I used to do it all the time when my dirt bikes started running rough.

Mostly after I'd pull up the gas station, put $2 worth of gas in the tank, go inside and buy a quart of cheap recycled oil and pour "just about that much" in the tank, shake it up by pumping the forks with the front brake held tight, then ride off in a cloud of smoke...
 
Similar Fact; Chet Watson assembled New BSA's at Edgar Kauffman's run it down Rt 41 WOT and the way back the same. If it blew up back to BSA stayed together put on show room floor!!! LOL
 
Never heard the term Italian tune-up before …. but ,been around long enough to know the process described does work , mostly …. why did you pick Laverda, not MotoGuzzi which would have been my first guess ….
 
Never heard the term Italian tune-up before …. but ,been around long enough to know the process described does work , mostly …. why did you pick Laverda, not MotoGuzzi which would have been my first guess ….
It was the first Italian brand that popped into my head. (which is a bit strange, as I've never owned a Laverda, and DID own a Goose)
 
I remember people saying to run it hard to blow the deposits off the valves, but never as a tune up. I had a 69 Firebird that had work done to it before I purchased it and it never seemed to run quite right. Took it to a performance shop to have them look at it, They said the carb was way too big. Changed it out and it transformed it, he said people seem to think a bigger carb makes more horsepower when it really can hurt performance. Velocity is what you want. LOL
 
Sounds like I gave my 24v Cummins an Italian tune-up yesterday - LOL - blasting down the 401 in the hammer lane pulling a trailer for about 4 hours :cool:

Still running good when I backed in the driveway :)
 
Where I used to work the guy who ran the stores had an MG 1100. He was know as "Top gear Ted" as he would be into 4th gear within 50 feet of pulling away. One day he complained to one of the mechanics that the car was really down on power. The mechanic took it out for an Italian Tune up. Initially he said it had no go, so while he was on a long motorway stretch he held it in 3rd gear and it wouldn't rev but he just held it in 3rd until eventually a huge cloud of black stuff came out of the exhaust and the revs shot up. I was outside when he came back and when he parked it up he switched off the engine and got out. We could see smoke coming from the tailpipe, which turned out to be burning coke. Apparently it was still smoking three days later, but that MG had never gone so well.
 
That brought a smile to my face as it reminded me of the opening scenes of Ford V Ferrari and the MGA.
 
Hmmm..First heard back in the day that from a mate who had an Alfa V-6 running webers & lodge plugs.....

Ctefeh
 
I was once taught about the shop technique referred to as an "Italian Tune-Up"

Take your poor-running bike out on the interstate and run it right up to redline through all the gears, then hold it wide open in top gear.

The bike either starts running right, or breaks.

If it starts running right, the tune-up is complete.

If it breaks, you fix it and it should run right after that.

If not, repeat till it runs right.

Same goes for noises and/or leaks you can't seem to fix.

It actually works!

Must have originated in the Laverda shop...
That’s what the Norton rotary guys did at Shenstone, a good blast up the M6 to clear the carbon build up,most people tootled about and the seals would gum up.
 
That’s what the Norton rotary guys did at Shenstone, a good blast up the M6 to clear the carbon build up,most people tootled about and the seals would gum up.
I used to work for an organization which ran a fleet of Interpol II. It soon became apparent that the bikes which were used for low speed "Special Escort Duty" were not suited to that kind of work. The others, on the other hand flew.
 
Nissan got into a pickle when they marketed a diesel car saying it was designed for the Urban Jungle, except it had a soot filter that only regenerated and cleared out on a fast motorway and this was needed every few 1000 miles. Cue lots of central London buyers, who never went near a motorway, permanently blocking the soot filter and being charged £1000's for a new filter.
 
Nissan got into a pickle when they marketed a diesel car saying it was designed for the Urban Jungle, except it had a soot filter that only regenerated and cleared out on a fast motorway and this was needed every few 1000 miles. Cue lots of central London buyers, who never went near a motorway, permanently blocking the soot filter and being charged £1000's for a new filter.
As the old saying goes…
Engines and children both deserve a jolly good thrashing !!
 
I used to do it all the time when my dirt bikes started running rough.

Mostly after I'd pull up the gas station, put $2 worth of gas in the tank, go inside and buy a quart of cheap recycled oil and pour "just about that much" in the tank, shake it up by pumping the forks with the front brake held tight, then ride off in a cloud of smoke...
That reminded me of Hudson recycled oil in a glass container and $.19 a gallon gas. I don't think the word recycled had even been coined back then.

Use to put a few cc's of ATF in the fuel tank. Fake Marvel Mystery oil.

The Red Neck fresh engine break in uses a similar principal as your Italian tune-up.
 
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