Winter Layup - 1995 Ducati 900 Supersport

[Edbear]

I've run a Shorai on my BMW racebike for about 2 years, total loss and I run it a day on a charge. I think you would need to swap out the regulator as the lithium batteries need a higher charge rate compared to the 'sloshers'
Weight is about 1 kg.
Liam http://www.fastbikegear.co.nz/ also does batteries too and my racing mate has these on his BMW.
The welded cracks on your frame seems to have a knock on effect with modifications
Great thread ( so far plonker free)

Good to hear it's been reliable for you. The key to longevity is to keep them above 12.8v which leaves 20% in reserve.

Waiting on bearings, shops aren't open to go look at bearing and seal drivers (turns out that you can buy them), so I've been playing with the airbox mod idea again. Well, the first bit, anyway: is it possible to move the battery?

Stock battery: no. It's a brick of a thing and the OEM location is about the only option that makes sense. Is there an aftermarket battery, and can it be moved?

After checking for matching / exceeding voltage, AHr rating, CCA, it turns out that Shorei make something. Model LFX 18 A1-BS12 MC, size 148 x 105 x 56 mm, can be placed in any orientation including upside down. It is roughly half the volume of the stock battery. Pricey but supposed to last long enough that it's actually cheaper in the long run. Well regarded brand too.

The first idea I had was to put a tray under the seat, in the current location of the crankcase valve's resonance boxes. These could be rebuilt in the new airbox. I modelled the Shorei up with cardboard, then tried a few variations on various designs for the tray.

It turned out that it's too constrained. The seat has a couple of forks at the front which latch into the frame. These set a maximum width, leaving very little room for vibration absorbing foam. The shock also runs too close to the front bottom corner of the tray's box. There's also a chance that the box could foul the hugger, if the rear shock takes a big hit and comes near to bottoming out. Finally, there was a flow to the design lines as the bike was, even on the underside - this box spoils it. No good, never mind, what about the rear light's mounting box?

First I tried up front and wide. No good, cable access to the rear was blocked, and the seat would have hit the battery tray - there wasn't enough vertical clearance. Then I tried to the rear, running lengthwise and flat. Success, there's room for wiring to the rear loom and the battery itself, there's space spare at the front, and I can put vibration isolators on the box corners and still have vertical clearance.

Check out our website www.shorai.co.nz for tech and tips too. The US site is www.shoraipower.com

The bigger twins need at least the 18's and one battery gaining popularity is the 19A4 which is, off the top of my head, 148 x 88 x 89. I can confirm that though.

Your build is certainly interesting!

[Edbear]

You could put out a call to Ed about Shorai batteries but then the thread will be ruined as a useful resource.

I can always be reached through the website. Hopefully the members have enough respect for the OP to keep it nice.

[OddDuck]

I'll have to completely mock up the airbox, intake snorkels, ram snorkels, filter mounts, revised coil and CDI mounting, electronics placement etc before I make the go call on buying the battery - it'll be a while yet. With this kind of work, all it takes is one clash that can't be solved, like a throttle cable fouling on something, and that's it. Design won't work, start again. So I want to be sure.

In the meantime, quick update on the engine bearings, here's the SKF list:

16005 x 1
6005 x 1
6004-2RSC3 x 1
6305 x 2
2NUC3E0 x 2 (haven't pulled these yet, lettering difficult to read, OD 40, ID 22, thk 12, single row cylindrical roller bearing)
35x47x7TC x 1 (seal)
25x52x7TC x 1 (seal)
(3 x camshaft seals needed, will update when I know)

Main Bearings
7207 BEP x 1
7307 BEP x 1

Swingarm Bearings
HK2016 x 4
4 x seals, Ducati 93041271A

The swingarm pivot seals turned out to be specialty items and difficult to get aftermarket in NZ, due to the requirement that they handle engine case heat. Most equivalent seals are nitrile coated and they break down above 85 C. The proper metal-shelled OEM seals turned out to be $5 otc ea and in stock at the dealer, just walk up and buy them. Now this is what I like to see.

Tooling needed is the slide puller and then a bearing driver set, plus a half-decent hammer.

A quick note from today: if you're buying something in a plastic case set, insist on opening it up at the counter and seeing what's inside. I did because I wanted to see what the driver plates were made from (CNC-turned aluminium), but then found that the factory had forgotten to include the driver. Could've caused some problems.

[Ocean1]

2NUC3E0 x 2 (haven't pulled these yet, lettering difficult to read, OD 40, ID 22, thk 12, single row cylindrical roller bearing)

My SKF equivalents book from about that era don't recognize that.

Maybe 2nuO3EC? In which case it may be the number for just the outer...

[OddDuck]

My SKF equivalents book from about that era don't recognize that.

Maybe 2nuO3EC? In which case it may be the number for just the outer...

The code did have nu in lowercase, and there's no inner race. The rollers run directly on the gear shaft. The lettering is a bit patchy, it could be 2nuO3EC. Pic to follow, thanks for looking for me.

[eldog]

My SKF equivalents book from about that era don't recognize that.

Maybe 2nuO3EC? In which case it may be the number for just the outer...

Looks like you might be right, but be careful.

The old FAG book I have here () shows the internal diameter WITHOUT an inner race as 22.9
where as the
SKF is 22.1

SKF no: NU 203 ECP - check what cage material it is.
EC = Optimised internal design incorporating more and/or larger rollers and with modified roller/end flange contact (maybe why the inner race od is different between the old FAG book and the newer SKF)
P= Injection moulded cage of glass fibre reinforced polyamide 6,6 roller centered

std is 17 id x 40 od x 12 thk

carry on the good work

[Ocean1]

The old FAG book I have here ()

Don't make me break out my extremely thick Timkin book...

[eldog]

Don't make me break out my extremely thick Timkin book...

Just spent well over 60 grand on 4 Timken bearings.
worth it though.

yeah, they didn't fit the mbike.....

[OddDuck]

And here's that photo, of something much smaller...

[eldog]

Almost C3 clearance? Can't make it out from the image.

[OddDuck]

While I was at the dealer's I thought I'd have a look at how ram air snorkels are set up on modern bikes.

I had already been around the shops with an idea of finding and buying some flexible air ducting hose - years ago I'd seen a couple of older Japanese sportbikes which used the stuff. The bikes were set up with the ducting running between intake at headlamp fairing and airbox inside fuel tank, bridging above the clip-ons. It was completely exposed. I'd had the idea that maybe I could sneak some of this stuff between fork legs and headstock, or to the side or something... It was going to be tricky finding flange adaptors. Anyway, a look at some current bikes knocked this idea on the head.

Ducting hose is nowhere to be seen. It's all dedicated, moulded components, which may or may not be integral parts of the frame. A Triumph Speed Triple had the ram intake coupled straight in through the very large headstock. Everything else seemed to use a pair of curved runners starting beside or below the headlights, then running outside the swing arc of the triple clamps into the flanks of the airbox. It's become very popular, virtually everything for fast street and track seems to use it. Even the cheaper bikes like the 300's have fake ram intakes moulded into the nose fairings, if you look close enough.

So I got the bike frame, tank, airbox, and front subframe onto the table and had a look. My first idea, of two parallel channels running inside the gap between fork legs, triple clamp plates and headstock, then feeding in through various frame triangles, is just too tight to work. There's too much cabling and wiring that has to go in that area. Also, the ram intake itself: where?

The two faux intakes (with the perf metal shields on them) are just about right. Size: 98mm long x 18mm high each. That's an area of 1,700 mm2, roughly equivalent to a pipe 46mm in diameter. I'd worked out a while ago that a ram snorkel of roughly 45mm minimum was needed. It's not perfect, to get the full benefit of the ram, the snorkel has to be big enough that incoming air almost stops. But this is as good as I get without cutting more intakes. So that's a good start point for the snorkel, now how to route it?

Going around the sides of the fork legs, inside the existing fairings, gets pretty tight. It's difficult to get the snorkel into the airbox past the frame's reinforcing triangles. Do-able, just not easy. The real problem is the section changes that will have to be done. The channels will have to go from wide horizontal to wide vertical, then change shape again at the 90 degree bend into the airbox. Very difficult to mock up and then fabricate, and anyway, it's going to make smooth air flow unlikely.

An alternative was to run the snorkel in the gap between mudguard and triple clamp base plate, between the fork legs, and then up into the front base of the airbox. I checked clearances and it looks good. There's 40mm left between mudguard and triple clamp base plate, allowing for shocks having bottomed out. There's roughly 140mm sideways between fork legs, even with the steering at full lock. There's only the breather hose from the tank running through that area, and with split snorkels I can run the hose between them. Brake lines can be re-routed and individually bracketed, and the speedo cable can run on the outside of the fork leg.

[Ocean1]

Looks like 2nuO3EC. Check that shaft dia and call Rob at Mana bearings, give him the dimensions and the number and he'll track one down.

What's that face immediately behind the rollers? Case bore back wall or bearing surface? I'd be looking at Ducati tech sites to see if there's any advice that it may be a special too, although if that was the case it'd likely have extra bits on the engraved ID.

[OddDuck]

Almost C3 clearance? Can't make it out from the image.

Yeah, it's a pain. I'll try and take a better look at the other (matching) bearing in the other split case half, maybe a spot of degreaser and a rag will help.

[Ocean1]

Yeah, it's a pain. I'll try and take a better look at the other (matching) bearing in the other split case half, maybe a spot of degreaser and a rag will help.

If the gold coloured stuff is just oil varnish then a razor blade will take it off.

[OddDuck]

Last spot for a bit... something a bit more trivial. I had to replace the screen a year or two ago and ever since, it's been a bit of a push to get the nose fairing on and off. Tonight I finally noticed why: the new screen is interfering with the mounting brackets.

Quick spot of work with a file and voila, things fit together as they should. Aftermarket parts don't always fit perfectly despite claims.