It's time for another Ducati, after selling my S4R I decided on a 916, I figure it's the logical choice to pair with my M900. After looking for a short while a good friend and fellow Ducati fan asked if I'd like to buy his, he already has a few projects on the go and was happy to enable my addiction. It has 80,000 on the clock and hasn't been on the road for over 10 years but looks complete and was stored inside for the whole time. I'll probably try and restore it back to original at some point but first job is to get it running.
A good choice, and good luck with the restoration. Also, as you no doubt know, best to check the condition of the belts before running the engine. Tom.
Great project! A 916, the second most iconic Ducati after the Monster too. Plus with 80K it will be worth revamping the motor so who knows what you may end up doing to it? Have fun!
I I have to admit I have temporarily run bikes on old belts but this one has been sitting since 2018ish and they might have been old then so it will be new belts before the start button is pressed.
The state of the engine is pretty much unknown, I did rock it in gear and it did turn and gave what felt like compression but we will see.
Ok, so the first task is to figure out the current state of things. The first obvious thing was the fine layer of dirt covering everything, not a big deal, it was stored in a dry area at least so there is no corrosion other than where the usual Ducati paint flaking is. Next up, check the oil. It wasn't bad, a little dirty but no idea how old it was. Some minor sludge on the oil drain and the strainer came out clear. The filter was a Ducati part so perhaps it had some dealer servicing? The air ducts and filters have seen better days. I'm going to try some PP/PE specific glue and see if the screw pockets can be fixed, it's only one side at least. The airbox is probably in the worst state, I'm not sure how many pieces I'll have after taking it out The classic clutch slave cylinder The front cowl, side panels and seat unit are all aftermarket fibreglass reproductions. The seat and cowl seem ok but the side panels aren't the best fit, the left side hits the radiator long before it meets the radiator/oil cooler panel. Not a big deal at the moment, once I get the rest of the bike tidy I'll look for a replacement set. I'm sure there is more to come but I'm still happy with it's general condition and looking forward to getting stuck in.
I spotted some coolant drips on the ground, traced it to a split in a hose, easy enough to replace with a good used one. I have been wanting to get stuck into the tank as the old gas is smelling out the garage. Peeling back some suspicious electrical tape revealed this mess. No biggie, new plug on order and onto the next bit. I didn't get any pics removing the pump plate as dealing with the melted hoses was a bit of a mess so they were relegated to the bin and I changed gloves before carrying on. Mostly cleaned up, I need to order a couple seals and a new pump intake filter (thankfully the pump was clean inside and spun up nice when 12v was applied briefly).
Re the fairing panels hitting the radiator Is the radiator original? I have read in the past that people having purchased cheap Chinese radiators find the left side side panel doesn't fit
Good info there, I assume there will be a part number on it if it is a factory item. I'll take it off and have a look, the system is still empty at the moment.
While I am still waiting for some of the tank parts to arrive I fixed up the wiring. The insulation was hard and cracking so I took it right back to where it comes out of the epoxy. New wires soldered on with heatshrink and a bit of high temp silicone around the base of the wires for some added protection. I cleaned out the remnants of the goo from inside the tank, was happy to find it is in really nice condition
I may have figured out the fairing/radiator interference issue I asked about in the tech section. It appears the radiator is slightly the wrong shape along with the fibreglass fairings. It's hard to photograph but it is a bit trapezoidal in shape now, there are signs of it being hit. I have a replacement on the way already as I am keen to fire it up asap.
I've forgotten the order of what I have done lately so some of this may be a bit disjointed. At some point I had a look at the clutch, I didn't recognize the pressure plate but saw the name. I haven't pulled it apart yet as I needed to fix the slave cylinder. I was keen to keep the original one so cleaned up the bore with some 600, 800, 1200, 2500 wet and dry and some autosol then threw in some new seals. The master was clean so I bled it up, fingers crossed no leaks so far.
I pulled the front cowl off to check out the state of things. Just some minor things found like two broken clock mounts, a wiring mishap, foggy headlight and a broken bulb clip. The headlight cleaned up nice, above is the before pic, wasn't terrible but an improvement was noticeable. Someone has decided the brake light switch wires needed to be connected to the wires feeding the right indicator. Here are the clock rubber mounts reglued back on. I tried some Shoe Goo as I had a tube handy, I figure it would stick to the rubber better, time will tell. I like finding the old labels
My new radiator arrived and fitted up nicely. You can see the the difference in position of the old (silver) vs new (black). One job I like doing is remaking starter cables, I keep a stock of 16mm2 cable, heatshrink and terminals. The originals looked like they could do with being replaced. Another easy job ticked off was cleaning the throttle bodies and injectors and replacing the hoses.
As the bike had no history, new belts were needed. I ordered new bearings for the idlers and tensioners too as I figured they probably need doing as well. I finally bought a cam holder for the vertical cylinder, definitely a bit easier putting the new belt on now The old belts seemed ok as they always do but it's better to know they are ok. The idler and tensioner bearings weren't showing any play but felt like they had lost some grease so it was good to change them out. Pressing old out Cleaned up and new bearings ready Pressed in Ready to go back on New belts on Tensioned up (anticlockwise ) Then reassembled whilst enjoying all the little elephants
