Dirty Dead Diesels Done Dirt Cheap

Posts : 74 Join date : 2017-10-18

So, even though most on here will have hoped to escape my ramblings, this is my current "big" project.

In case you missed it, as a quick recap the idea was to turn this

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Into this

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So in essence a Ducati 750 Sport from 1989. In case you missed it (or have being trying to forget it) in was a Cagiva era parts bin special conceived with no budget by the B Team, whilst the A team worked on the 851. It was the replacement for the 750F1 which was amazing but to expensive to build profitably and it's most endearing feature are the comedy 16" wheels front and back. These really were the dark days at Ducati.

But then, a plan B was floated my way in the form of a post on the Ducati Paso Forum, which led to this

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Proper sized wheels (which means a choice of tyres), with properly adjustable shock/forks, proper brakes, 900SS engine with six speed box for proper performance.

Oh god, the horns of a dilemma Laughing

Posts : 16 Join date : 2017-10-20 Age : 60

That looks real nice.

Would you change the engine though?

Posts : 74 Join date : 2017-10-18

Steve63 wrote:: That looks real nice.

Would you change the engine though?

I would for a bit more go. The 750 two valve is pretty steady even in a light bike like this. More tuning potential in the 900 as well.
It will squeeze into the frame as right up to the 1198 they were all just Pantah engines!!

Posts : 40 Join date : 2017-10-22

looks sweet that, get a 1198 engine in it !

Admin Posts : 390 Join date : 2017-10-17 Age : 61

Looks great! I was having a good drool at an 851 at squires a few weeks ago... i honestly think they are better looking than the 916 that most duke fans rave about...

Posts : 74 Join date : 2017-10-18

I sometimes think that projects like these can stall for the smallest thing. This is one issue I had

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This is the ring nut that tensions the steering head bearings and as you can see mine is cracked. A quick Google revealed that A) they all do that sir & B) They are NLA from Ducati.

They also seemed to be completely absent from the well known auction site and any other sources. I was about to press the button on having it CAD drawn and remanufactured by a CNC company at work, when bizarrely two appeared on eBay at the same time. One was in the US (cheap, but expensive postage) and one in Germany (expensive, but cheaper postage). In a fit of impatience, I ended up buying both of them, but at least it was one off the list.

So last night was finally the start of the assembly phase. I know it's a bit previous, as the parts prep isn't finished yet, I haven't even properly looked at the engine yet and the bodywork is a long way off being done. But as we all know, Motorcycles in bits take up a lot more room than those in one piece and you (well me anyway, probably because I'm not organised enough) never actually know what is missing until you start the build. And anyway, I'm impatient and want to feel like I'm make some progress Wink

First up was assembling the forks, now that the two missing spacers have arrived.

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It's times like this that I wish I was better at the "before" pictures as the forks looked barely saveable when I first got the bike. New bushes, new seals, rechromed by Dynasurf and the lowers powder coated by LSN has left them looking so much better. I had to have a proper go at the fork caps as it looked like someone had been at them with a hammer!

Next was the bearings and the bottom yoke

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I pressed the bottom bearing onto the yoke with the press at work. It took an hour to machine up a tool to press the inner race without crushing the cage with the rollers in, all for a minute on the press and then I'll never need it again!

Then get the forks in and secured to the bottom yoke, with the top yoke loosely fitted to give the positioning.

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So as I said, not a tah dah moment, but it feels like a turning point

Posts : 74 Join date : 2017-10-18

Rob62 wrote:: Looks great! I was having a good drool at an 851 at squires a few weeks ago... i honestly think they are better looking than the 916 that most duke fans rave about...

I'm with you Rob.
My best friend had an SP3 back in the day and my first Ducati was a used 851 Strada in about '98.
I say mine, in reality I had it on time share with Baines Racing, as they had it as much as I did to try and cure the multitude of electrical issues.
The final straw was when I did an oil change before the riding season started and found quite a lot of metal fragments in the oil.
I promptly traded it in for a new ZX9R!!

» another cheap shed build