Cool that you are getting stuck into it. Be there one day myself on the ST I guess as I will never sell it and have owned for 10 years so far. Following with interest.
Cool that you are getting stuck into it. Be there one day myself on the ST I guess as I will never sell it and have owned for 10 years so far. Following with interest.
Colour match should be easy enough. You may need to take a engine case or similar to a specialist colour shop.
Only the truly anal will spot the difference but then they will tell you you are not running factory tyres either.
PS - don't forget to drain the oil
Oil drained, did it before the engine got chocked and the frame lifted off.
Paint - weighing up what to do. Pre paint prep, what's involved? Durability of the paint itself? Rattlecan OK? Or bite the bullet and get the compressor and the spray bottle?
There's a very good shop selling goodies for auto body repair - English wheel in the window, specialist sanding blocks etc etc - and they have a paint mixing facility. Colour match won't be a problem and they can do custom pots and rattlecans.
Quick note, before I forget again... found an earth on the front subframe, presumably grounding instruments and possibly the headlight.
If that's so then no wonder the headlight's not too good. The subframe's basically floating, electrically speaking. It's bolted to the main frame in four points, but that's through layers of paint and then rust. There's no properly defined electrical contact, it's more just done through the idea that a bolt will cut through paint when tightened. Bit rough really.
I'll be putting in a dedicated earth line on the rebuild.
Chain tool arrived in less than 24 hours - thanks Cycletreads - and I opened the chain and then washed it and the swingarm. Kerosene first, then water soluble degreaser.
One of the links back from the joiner is stiff as hell, the rest of the chain seems OK, but the rust on the pin plus the wear doesn't look good. Chain's been with me since I bought the bike (at 36,000 miles), so I guess it doesn't owe me anything. I'd gone to wax recently, after seeing this I'll revert to oil chain lube.
Looks like the swingarm isn't original, either - it's stamped with a date, 5-03, presumably a replacement for the alloy original, which was notorious for cracking.
Vertical head's off. I'd read that the O-rings connecting the head to the cylinder, for the oil return lines, will set under compression and heat and then leak... looks like it has happened here.
There's no head gasket, just a spigot - makes putting the head back on fairly easy.
Loads of carbon fouling in the head and on the piston crown. The Nikasil cylinder lining looked OK, but there was barely any oil on it.
The photos show the motor inverted for head removal - I did this so that any small stones caught in the gap between cylinder and head would fall down, away from the engine.
Bumped imto my mate toady, he of due Ducati. More than happy for me to pass his number on. Having said that, he has not started on swapping the motors. It won't be express delivery.
Manopausal.
I've got a Superlight and did a lot of research before buying it as had a 600 then a 900ss.
this is a good forum for info.
http://www.ducati.ms/forums/57-supersport/
I think there is a sludge trap that is worth cleaning and updating the plug on the crank.
I found California Cycle Works good to http://ca-cycleworks.com/
Got belts off them.
My 900ss ie had rust issues in the tank from water, might be good to look inside tank and replace all the pump pipes too.
My mate is building a 750 F1 replica replica and has dealt with NZ places and there is one in the lower SI that he would never deal with
again.
Keep us posted
DeMyer's Laws - an argument that consists primarily of rambling quotes isn't worth bothering with.
Thanks - I've been on the ducati.ms forums quite a bit for info over the years, some good stuff floating around there. I've heard the crank plug mentioned several times but never seen it... still deciding if I want to go the whole hog with this motor and split the main cases. Next step is to get both heads and barrels off and test play in the big end bearings, if not good then the split's going to happen.
California Cycleworks used to be 5-star awesome, the guy who started it and runs the place has a long history with the Dukes and knows his stuff inside out. Unfortunately they've really restricted their catalogue lately. Crying damn shame. They'd had the best FCR41 kit on the market, at least for the SS bikes.
Tank's up for work - want to replace the fuel level sensor. It crapped out about a year ago and I've been using the tripmeter ever since, mostly because of the ridiculous prices that local dealers want for the part. First Stein Dinse order is being put together (apologies George, some things you want brand new, can't afford bits like camshafts though so have to test what I've got and make a call...)
I know the outfit you mention and have to say that I've been moving away from being a customer of his, for some time now. He's let me down with a couple of pricey components before, also sold me some used parts were somewhat 'ahem' optimistically described. I wanted to keep him sweet in case I needed something fast, or if a bit came up that I needed, so didn't push it. Been fired as a customer before, don't want it to happen again. Very common Kiwi story unfortunately.
If anyone in the trade is reading this - it's not the complaints that you need to listen to. It's the silence.
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