| Not many updates but plenty going on in the garage, which is the right way round I think!
I picked the engine up last weekend, and it took me less than an hour to get it back into the frame and the swingarm and shock back on. I know that's only 3 bolts to mount the engine, 2 for the shock and 2 for the swingarm, but it was quite a big deal!
The engine is now looking very nice, even if the paint is somewhat poor on it now. But hey, it's a Ducati and they all do that. TecMoto spent an hour jet washing it to get all the crap off out of the nooks and crannies - it really was that bad. The kit all fitted ok and Mitch the mechanic made sure that the alternator nut was Loctite'ed, torqued up "and then some" to ensure it didn't come off, which has happened to a couple of the other bikes. The valves were all spot on, so not bad for a 33K mile bike. It did require new head studs and some new nuts here and there, but otherwise it was fine.
So now I'm starting to build it back up, and I've got the front brake calipers on after scratching my head for a bit as to why the lines didn't look right. It turned out that the bleed nipples were in the wrong hole, so I swapped them over and they lines fit lovely. The 916 master cylinder went on ok, and I've only had to rotate the resevoir round a bit to clear the fairing supports.
One of the biggest headaches so far was trying to get the throttle cable lines routed right, which has been a lot of fitting, checking, removing, repeat. A big tip here if you're thinking of stripping a bike - take lots of pictures of *everything* as a reference because the bit you're not sure about is guaranteed to not be in the manual! Luckily some of the other guys with 600ss bikes were on hand with help, so thanks to them. The carbs went on ok, but I'm buggered if I can figure out how Ducati put their OEM fuel pipe clips on. I must have spent at least an hour trying, but binned them in the end for some petrol hose clips from the local car spares place for just £1.49 - sometimes it's better to pay the money and replace it to save the time and effort of arsing around; another good tip for you there.
The clips ons were giving me some grief as the bars are slightly too big (in diameter) but only by a fraction, so everything is very tight. I've stuck with the original 600ss clutch master cylinder too as this incorporates the choke lever, so if I switch to a 916 style then I'd have to bodge the choke somehow and it's just easier to go with it as is. I've also noticed that the clutch lever is exactly the same as the original 600ss brake lever but flipped, so I already have a spare clutch lever if I rob the one off the old single brake system.
Moving back along the bike, the original front sprocket locating plate had hardly any teeth on it when I went to refit it. It looks like whoever fitted the front sprocket didn't quite know how the locking plate works (you slide it onto the output shaft splines, then have to rotate it in the gap in the splines to line up the bolt holes in the sprocket. This stops the sprocket pulling off the splines) and simply bodged it on with a big bolt and washer instead. Again, ebay came to the rescue here as we have no local Ducati dealer for parts as yet, and it's easier for me to do mail order anyway. A locking plate is less than £3 and I went mad and replaced the bolts at the same time for about 45p each too. It does look like the chain has come off the bike at some point as the engine casing, chain running guard on the swingarm and the swingarm pinch bolts were all worn, which may have been the source of the knackered locking plate. Having to replace the swingarm pinch bolts, these were again sourced off ebay - a pack of 6 M10x30mm allen head stainless bolts was £3 including postage, so again it's easy and cheap to replace them. The rest I can make use of elsewhere with any luck.
The lower chain guard (or shark's fin as it's known) has been measured up and I'll be drilling the holes for this tonight. A couple of self tappers into the swingarm should do it, but it's steel and I've been told it's a ******* to do. No change there then. The rear wheel all went on fine - again I replaced the six sprocket nuts as these were a bit chewed with stainless ones for 35p each. I replaced the set on the 748 and I'm sure I paid £25 for a set of black anodized ones with titanium inserts, but these stainless ones look much better! I do need to sort the locking bolt on the chain adjuster though - these are a tiny bolt which go into the end of the much larger chain adjuster bolt to stop it backing all the way out. They were both broken off, probably through the same incompetant mechanic who did the front sprocket, so I need to source those as they must be something silly like an M2 thread.
I'm starting to de-stress a bit now as it's finally looking like a bike again, rather than just a frame, and I can see that there's not much left to do before I can fire it up. Next things are to clean and refit the airbox with the Pipercross filter, fit the coils and reconnect all the electrics. I'll refit the original exhaust for now and can then take it down to TecMoto to get a high-level system made up. Then it's just bracketry for the seat unit and fitting up the fairing for cosmetics, and I also need to remind Nigel to sort out the rearsets for me and we should be (almost) there...
Pics to follow...  | 
antonye
Linear Mode
