Progress...
 

Swingarm came out without too much trouble and has cleaned up lovely. The tank has been reassembled with it's new race cap, polished outer cap, new filters and a new seal (thanks Nelly!). Next it's engine out for the big bore!

Apologies for the low res pics but these were off my phone at 11pm last night - although the light isn't too bad for two flouro lights from B&Q at £8.37 each!

Here's the remains of the bike swinging from the rafters...

[Edited on 25-2-2005 by antonye]

Swingarm now looks silver and not dirty chain-lube black...

Here's the tank and new cap...


[Edited on 25-2-2005 by antonye]

Tank/swingarm look good. My swingarm's still sporting the '5mm of black gunge' look. Very fashionable amongst racers I hear!

More progress so far...

The engine is off to TecMoto to have the big-bore kit fitted and then the engine serviced and setup. The frame is now being cleaned (half way there!) and I've checked the steering head bearings which are fine.

The wheels have now been cleaned thoroughly and the front has twin disks on (cheers Ali). I've also stuck a pair of Pirelli Diablos onto them so I'll be ready to rock once the bike is back together.

The carbs have now been cleaned up, de-gunked and DynoJetted as well.

Next is finish off the cleaning of the frame, then fit the new forks and the front wheel. I can then put the bars on and mount up the front brake with the twin calipers and 916 master cylinder.

Here are some pics.

Carbs before, sitting on the kitchen table...

Take the float bowl off and OH MY GOD!!!! :o

Not too bad inside the carb itself. No idea if those float heights are right...

Take the whatsit off and theres that brass thing still sticking out...

And it's at this point you realise that you really do need to split the carbs to clean and service them properly. Bugger.

So take a quick picture to make sure you have a reference for when you can't remember how it all went together...

It's a carb body - detached from the other. Like a Siamese Twin operation, but only more risky.

Skip a few hours of swearing and dropping things and this is what you end up with.

No idea if these will ever work again...

Not too much hassle with the carbs, just took forever.

Only 2 screws wouldn't come out, but I managed to chisel them round without much problem and they then came out fine. Need to replace them with something suitable though.

The mixture screw in one of the bodies wouldn't come out either, so I'm hoping it's set right!

Here's the front wheel with it's new twin disks...

And here's the matching back. The buggers at the tyre place have put dirty marks on my wheels!

Oh, and these turned up today as well.

I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to do with the third one...

After you first tumble, that 'third' one will come in handy. Just got back from the garage myself doing similar things, although I'm reassembling. Keep at it.

Everything is done now so it will all be assembly from here on in.

I'm getting quite excited about it now!

Well done Ant! Everything looks absurdly clean, makes me feel a bit grubby......

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...

great news m8...sounds like she is comming together well and will be a nice sorted bike by the time she is on the grid.

have u had any more ideas on gearing.?

Phil

I've gone for 14t front, with 41, 43 and 45 rear sprockets for the different tracks. I worked this out last night to a 102 link chain to put it just in front of the middle of the adjuster for the shortest wheelbase ie, 45t rear.

I'm going to run the 45 to see how it goes at Cadwell. The only thing is the start/finish straight but I can always drop to the 43 if it's a rear problem.

Don't forget that if you are doing away with the speedo drive you can yank that drive plate out of the left hand side of the bearing housing, another few grams saved :D:D Just grab one of the drive legs with a pair of pliers and pull it out.

Got a feeling there is going to be a glut of speedo drives on Ebay shortly.

Lol.

It doesn't need yanking out but I know the bit you mean - will certainly be storing that away for returning it to stock and putting it up on eBay as "never been thrashed..."

All seems to be going to plan mate, if you need any thing as the time starts to count down give us a call. :cool:

You're more than welcome to come and make me cups of tea :D

I will get me piny :lol:

Antony, just a quick suggestion. Whilst you're at it I'd guess if you check the swingarm float, it'll need shimming up. The ones i've had in have needed it. Bikes of this age generally get looked after "at home" and it's often over looked.
I'm guessing you have a manual? It'll tell you how in there and give you the specs'.
Give us a shout if you need any help or shims.

Already done it mate :D

The shims were a real ******* to get back in. There were three each side and I checked them all to make sure I was only trying to put the thinnest one back in, but it was still having none of it. Without the shim it rocked a bit, so I definitely wanted to put it back in.

I'm sure that there is an art to it, but I resorted to the Brute Force [TM] method and put the breaker bar between the engine and the swingarm, then in an amazing feat of dextrousness, I managed to apply pressure whilst holding it in place AND slide the shim in AND push the pin through.

Right, well the bike is finally back together after much head scratching about which bit goes where, how cables route, which way round things plug in and also why I've still got spare connectors...

No major problems at all to be honest, and it's looking very, very clean and tidy now which is always the best place to start!

Will start her up tonight and see how she goes.

Fingers crossed!

Great work Antony - I so wish I was doing DD but nevermind....

Carbs - glad you got them looking good, mine had just a much gunge in them after being stored for '6 months' before I bought it (900ss).
The brass tube you mentioned I think is the base of the emulsion tube that needs careful inspection sadly,......

American - but check out some of the links on the left here:
http://66.47.68.116

Just an idea about the choke cable etc - my trackbike has a simple cable tie sticking out under the tank - I'm sure the same system would work easily for our carbs as well - you might need to link two cable ties together but, its cheap and cheerful!

Cant remember DD rules - but quite surprised you didnt go for a dynojet kit when going for a big-bore as well?

Fastners: Ebay is good for all sorts of stuff but its worth while hunting down some good local faster / nut and bolt specialists.....here is my local one that has been SUPERB so far...

http://www.hawkfast.com

all sorts of weird and cool stuff - just got some stainless washers with rubber backing from them only small sizes but great for fairings / screens.

I like the updates - keep em comin please - Frank

Cheers frank.

I was thinking of a simple choke like you say - it's only a horizontal pull that is required so I could have mounted something really simple. It's just time and money to get a 916 clutch m/c sorted so I'll go with the original as I'm sure it will be adequate.

I did check the emulsion tubes (captions are for comedy effect only) and they appear fine. The carbs were Dynojetted at the same time - this was the reason they came off in the first place. The giveaway is the Dynoject box in the background on the last carb pic ;)

I've used a local fastener supplier in the past but the only problem is getting there during working hours as I work in the City but live out in Essex. By the time I get home it's 6.30pm and I leave the house at 7.30am so no chance of "popping in" to most places. That's why I like eBay and mail-order, as I can order it from my work PC and it'll be there the next morning for me to fit that night. It's far better than having to wait until the weekend, only to find they're closed or the part is out of stock or you get everything but then realise there's something else you missed!

Plus, of course, getting parts of people like Nelly and Nattyboy helps to keep everything within the "community" and we end up supporting each other.

I've got lots of pics to upload so I'll get my site update when I get a chance and put some pics up.

Well, it turns over :bouncy:

It runs!

The bike is now running, but the y-piece joiner for the breather and fuel feed lines that goes into the carb has a small leak around the join, so I need a couple more petrol hose clamps and that should be it sorted. The Ducati OEM clamps on there must fatigue over time as they crimp on, rather than being the screw-tight ones, so this is probably all it is.

I've been making progress with everything else in the mean time. The exhausts were polished up - actually that's a lie as they were run over with a bit of sandpaper to remove most of the rust. The remaining (rear) bracket for the rear of the seat has been made and the holes all drilled to mount up the Dzus fastener brackets. I couldn't rivet it on as the only ones I had were too big for the holes in the brackets. The chain has now been put on, thanks to Nelly at Cornerspeed who dropped the spare bike off at mine. He also delivered the catch tray and a fitting kit, and also a nice piece of thick black self-adhesive foam to make a seat too. Cheers fella, much appreciated.

I was checking the instruments but it looks like the brake master cylinder will rub against them, because of the clip-ons, so I've taken the tacho out and will mount it up in it's own housing (probably carbon fibre if I have time) along with a couple of idiot lights for the neutral and oil warning lights (and not a constantly lit "idiot" light, thank-you) to save hacking those about too. I tried to find a yellow light for the fuel warning too, but didn't want to go mad as they were 79p each from a local car accessories place and they only had green and red in stock anyway.

The belly pan was nice and easy to fit with Nelly's kit, and also using the other bike as a reference. I had to find a spacer for one of the engine bolts, which I robbed from something else, but it was in the "don't know what bits these are from" box so it's a bit too late if I need it now as I've cut it in half. The belly pan is quite slim, so it looks like the fairing sides will go right over the top of it rather than fit into it. The top fairing and screen went on fine though, and look rather good even in white.

So at this point I'm ready to ride and will be booking a trackday for next week, hopefully at Snetterton. I've got some holes to drill to mount the side fairings on the Dzus fasteners, fit the rearsets when they arrive as Nigel is putting them in the post for me, get a high-level link pipe and race exhaust made up and finish off the instrument pod for the tacho and we're there!

Oh, and get the fairings painted (being done by my sponsor!), get some numbers made up, fit a catch tank for all the breathers and everything else I've forgotten to do...

Nice one Ant, sounds like you've got everything under control.

:D

Nice.............PICCIES PLEASE :D

Nice update Antony.
In case anyone missed the most important part of the post, I have highlighted below.

Note though that you do need to be a member of the super-ultra-clique gang to understand. ;)

It's not really the spare bike, but actually my wet bike.

Having watched the MotoGP yesterday I thought it would be a good idea to have one ready to go in case of rain, and also as a backup bike in the event of an off in the first race.

Or something ;)

I will, I will!

I've got some pics on my phone but I've been spending every night out in the garage at the moment, until the small hours, getting the fricking thing sorted! I'm absolutely knackered as I'm not getting hardly any sleep either.

I need to get out there with the digital camera and take some proper pics as well.

Roll on next sunday as I might be able to get some rest after that!

Heh, there's nothing like grabbing the bull by the horns and holding on for dear life.

I'm booking Snetterton for monday, you fancy it? Stay over at mine on sunday, early drive monday? £79 with Focused Events if anyone else want to go.

he'll probably still be picking the gravel out of his fairing from cadwell on saturday! ;)

I don't have any fairings ;)

Snett is no go for me Ant, although I'd like to.

Cadwell on Sat is enough for me between now and race day.