 888sp4 - racing pistons bad idea?
Hi all,
I'm on the scrounge for some more expert advice.
My SP4 suffered a major blow up last year resulting in the bottom half of the engine being replaced with a donor motor.
New pistons were fitted but these weren't standard Ducati items. It turned out that the height from gudgeon pin to crown was slightly more than standard. The solution to this was to raise the barrels by adding more base gaskets.
Initially this seemed like a good solution (in fact according to Steve Wynne, common practice). However, there is an oilway on the crankcases which is only for air cooled engines. This is sealed with an 'O' ring between case and barrel but on this occaision the ring wasn't high enough to seal the joint at the multiple gaskets.
My question is: Can I fit a thicker 'O' ring to take up the extra joint height? Or are there any other options available to me.
At the moment the engine runs sweet but 'bleeds' visibly from the oilway area (which is unnervingly close to the belts) Funnily, the front cylinder is unnaffected.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Fred  | 
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