Ducati Sporting Club UK > Model Specific - Discussion, Technical Problems and Help > 998 / 996 / 916 / 748 > Air cooled 916?

[hairyblokedude]

Hi, I bought the bitsa 916 that was on ebay recently....no laughing at the back...anyway, it has a big hole in the bottom of the crankcase under the gears, a mashed oil cooler, voltage reulator and other assorted items, all of which I knew about before buying it....stop laughing...
I've got several ideas for it...I've always wanted a 916, but I' ve got a mint '92 900ss in my shed which I dont really want to part with as I love it to bits, but I have considered selling that to help fund the 916...Of course ideal world, I'd keep both, but anyway.....
Option 1, try and find some good used 916 crankcases and rebuild what I've got...orwould a 748 or 996 take the 916 heads and crank..?

Option 2, get hold of an air cooled 900/750 which does't have the flaky rocker problem (?), no fuel injection, water cooling and less complex electrics etc, whilst keeping the prefered look of a 916 (?)

I don't think value of the finished item would be an issue as it is a cat c write off anyway, so I'd be doing it for love rather than profit.....Whatdoyareckon?
Cheers Rich

[chris.p]

Mmmm, the idea of putting the 900 aircooled motor in sounds ok, but what if you bored it out to around the 1100 mark??

Just a thought



Chris

[dunlop0_1]

Excellent idea. There was a Dutch guy in the SOT las year a Snetterton with an air cooled 1100 engine in a 900ss frame. Looked superb and a top 10 finisher.

[skidlids]

Bit like going back to the old Battle of the Twins bikes (BOTT) The likes of Geoff Baines on a 900SS powered 851.
Last year I posted a pic of one of the local bikes that was a BOTT race bike at one time, again a 851 chassis with a 900SS engine with a Dual Spark conversion.
Can't see why it can't be done with a 916 Chassis, I should think a little bit of fabrication is required getting the Swingarm mounted and sorting the rear exhaust downpipe are a few things that spring to mind.
I think the swingarm mounting becomes easier if you go with a S2R engine which already uses a single sided arm

Few links to pics of the UltimaDue
http://www.kaemna.de/pic/gebrauchte/ultimadue1.jpg
http://www.kaemna.de/pic/gebrauchte/ultimadue2.jpg
http://www.kaemna.de/pic/gebrauchte/ultimadue3.jpg
http://www.kaemna.de/pic/tuning//ultimadue05.jpg

[pguenet]

That Ultima Due has been built by a guy in France - not Kaemna actually
Instead of adapting the rear arm, he actually adapted 748 crankcases to a 900ss engine (which he pushed to 944 I believe).