....well..........I knew Ducatis were a bit awkward to work on......... .....but I can't believe how much I have had to remove just to be able to take the carbs off..........F-me.........Worse than any bike or car I have ever had to work on! ......and dirty, or what?........Now I have finally got out of the hole they are kept in, if it was night-time you wouldn't see me unless I grinned.....but it was such a pig of a job, I'm hardly likely to be grinning for a while. On my Le Mans it was remove one bolt for the petrol union and slacken one jubilee clip to pull the carb off the manifold rubber. Anyway.......question, please....... Not having worked on Mikunis before I wouldn't know an OEM one from something else...........have the OEM ones got flat slides? Because these have. AL.
Hi Al, Come on, it's not that bad, I have had to stip down a couple of times, it's about a hours work...mind you it is a pain when you have to do a stip down like that just to change the throttle cable. Have you a picture of the carbs? do they look like the below ones?
About an hour............you are 'avin' a larff......................nearer to two, the state of it in there.... Yes, they look the same as your pic.....but the slides are flat. I can see one thing that you didn't have to do......unbolt the oil cooler (I had to) to get at the front airbox bolts which seized as were the starter solenoid bolts. To cap it all (although I was expecting it) the eight bolts that hold the two float bowls on were also made of plasticine, so only three moved with a screwdriver........the others are now out and in the bin. I need two float sets, float bowl gaskets and emulsion tubes / needles, by the look of things......got to get the emulsion tubes out to see what size they are......they may not be standard, because I have a feeling this bike has been Dynojetted. AL.
No a hour for sure...you only have to take out the air box, why disconnect the starter solenoid bolts, no need? Yes my oil cooler on both the 750 and 900 is low mounted.....I had the same problem with the float bowl bolts..needed a impact driver to shift them, replaced with hex head allen stainless bolts. So you found the problem...what was wrong with the floats...just old and tired?
My starter solenoid was bolted to the back / bottom of the airbox.......maybe I should have disconnected the wires instead......what? more wires? Well.......not much cr*p in the float bowls.....very fine red powder normally found in most carbs But the float valve rubbery tips have a very slight line round them, although on one it is not quite all round the tip....Should be changed I reckon. Emulsion tubes are standard, but more than oval (one is 'three sided' oval if there is such a thing)..need changing with new needles. One of the plastic throttle slide guides appears to have been damaged at sometime ( I reckon someone might have messed up changing the emulsion tubes in the past and has b*ggered the plastic where the tube sits.....it makes one tube sit a bit lower...and it is loose....hence a three sided oval, I reckon). Diaphragms appear to be OK, but oddly, one of the needles has an extra washer on top of the circlip......so all that would do is add a tiny amount of spring pressure....why on one only? I guess all the above would make it run a bit rough..... So while I'm having to count pennies, I would consider a half decent pair of OEM carbs....might be cheaper than buying the new parts I need.....or maybe even a pair that I can rob bits from. AL.
Dynojet kits only replace needles and jets (mains ) from memory not emulsion tubes on these. However the emulsions are probably goosed as they are a known wear point on these carbs and lead to crap running under 3k rpm or thereabouts. Ps think the mikuni BSTs are flat side but they aren't nowt fancy as they are still CV carbs not like FCRs which fix all these problems in one fell swoop apparently.
Well as you have got this far...you might as well replace all the bits n' pieces, I can't imagine it costing too much...most of the cost as you have found out, would be labour. It seems someone was at them before for sure, washer on top of circlip, no make sense to me, maybe a mistake, oh I have this washer left over where shall I put it.
Yes, as I edited my last post above........"So while I'm having to count pennies, I would consider a half decent pair of OEM carbs....might be cheaper than buying the new parts I need.....or maybe even a pair that I can rob bits from"..... ...the throttle slide guide is a bit expensive as are the emulsion tubes and needles.......in fact all the bits are expensive.....and I'm going to get murdered if I fork out for that lot...... AL
Understand....have a look on Ebay.com maybe something knocking about in the states second hand, maybe even worth pricing the parts in the states, items that small you will get in the post without have to pay any duty. It's a bu**er, always money needed to be spent, right at the time you can't afford to spend it....I feel for you fella, I do. any improvement?
I have improved slightly and have tried to work, but I can't maintain a steady hand for the fine work (it's the steroids) so I can't meet the deadlines because I'm far too slow....and any physical exertion has me flaked out after a few hours. AL.
Hi Al. Hope I`m not trying to tell granny how to suck eggs but I`d hate to not say anything that might be useful to you. I`m no expert but apparently Yam tdm 850`s have the same carbs, might widen the search a bit for you. tdm 850 carbs | eBay No emulsion tubes I`m afraid but there is a set of second hand carbs and some rebuild kits.
Al, I have an old set of carbs you can have. The bodies are knacked (mixture screws seized in) but all the internals are there, can't guarantee everything is in perfect condition but it might save you a few quid. PM me you address again, I'll try and find them in amongst all the boxes of sh**e over the weekend and I'll stick them in the post to you on monday
Might be worth a bell to a couple of indies who see a lot of the older bikes - Baines Racing and LouigiMoto. Edit: sorry, posted at same time as Gillan.
Thanks Pierre.....I was aware of the Yam TDM use of these carbs, but it seems a bit hit and miss as to which kit to get (they are probably all the same), but looking at some of the prices, the usual supplier isn't that far adrift.........Second hand carbs might be the way to go.....but you never know what condition they are in. AL
I shall send you a PM, Ian............Thanks.......one of the main things is a throttle slide guide, so hopefully yours will be OK. AL.
Al, A quick search has found these ? DUCATI 600/750/900SS & MONSTER MIKUNI 38mm CARBURETTORS | eBay Ducati MHR/SS 40mm carburettors 'dellorto' | eBay eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace They may be a good bet?? But they are out there
