Hi All After making a kit car and pickup truck i decided a bike was needing my attention next. I've always loved Ducati's after my first Superlight III so it had to be an Italian Stallion again. I've got an 848 that i keep on buying carbon for but a whole bike to fiddle with seemed a more challenging prospect. It started with a 'project' 750ss off ebay. It was the fuel injected one as i had numerous problems with a Honda VFR400RR with clogging up carbs that put me off carbs for life. The 750ss was miles off so i had it transported to my house, that's when the headaches started. The clocks, cans, link pipes, headlight and numerous small parts were missing. The wiring loom had been cut through with a pair of tin snips near the headlight with all the wires left exposed . The thing ran really bad when revved, the horizontal cylinder was leaking oil onto the front pipe. The rear frame had been cut down by about 2 foot to allow a single handmade metal seat unit to be fitted. Most of the panels, frame, swing arm, wheels, calipers, tank had all been hand brushed matt black. Other than that it was a good purchase lol. These are the pics of how it first came in Aug 2020.
First thing to do was to strip it all down and get the engine out. After looking at numerous posts it seems to be common problem with base gasket (or lack of) leaking. I built a wooden frame to hold the engine in as i stripped both the cylinders off and sort out the leaks. I started to strip all the paint off the crank cases and repainted the barrels / heads whilst i was it.
After working out what bits i needed from Ducati i got the engine back together. Bit of a pain putting the gudgeon pin back in with the threebond sealant around the top of the crankcases. I nearly crapped myself a few times with the circlip pinging all around the garage . Next bit was to chop the dodgy bits of rear chassis off under the seat and make the length of the tubes the same as stock. This is the frame as done by the last owner.
This is the frame after i cut new lengths of tube and tacked it in. My mate Roy is luckily a plater / welder / fabricator
I took frame to a local powder coaters with the idea of gunmetal grey, but ended up with 'antracite' instead. The previous owner took off some of the plastic mounts. The pleastics on the ie model arent to my taste i've gone for a 748,926,996,998 seat unit. There will be no fairing and tank will be remodeled slightly.
Seat unit needed a bit of modification to match the tank profile, but unfortunately it still didn't fit that well so i had to re shape the back of the tank. Fibre glass filler is very good for large areas of filling. I never liked the foam 'bumper' either, so i removed it and found a dimple sticking out. Luckily the dimple doesn't protrude into the tank so it can be ground off and filled.
The 748 seat unit sits higher off the frame than the orig seat so i had to make up a mounting for the front. I always prefer over engineering.
I love the 750s fuel injected 'bones' but never liked the design of the plastics and tank after 1999 model. This is best of the bits i like - lovely seat unit, all fairing and plastics removed, upside down forks etc
After waiting 6+ weeks for bits to rebuild the top end of the engine and a couple of weeks re assembling the 750s, it is now 'finished' MOT'd and on the road