Cheers Paul.......although the '96 ones are for a 750, I am wary of used carbs because they could be as bad as mine and as they are not 'Buy it Now' prices, they could end up going for more than the spares I need......... The Dellortos would need different manifolds I think and the others, despite the seller saying the will fit a variety of models, the emulsion tubes and needles are definitely different on a 750 to those of a 900.....and that is where some of the cost is involved..... So as Gillan has found me a 'scrap' pair which I can rob the throttle guides from, I shall still have to fit new tubes and needles I reckon...... Interestingly, it seems someone previous to me has attempted to do something with the emulsion tubes (hence the damage to the throttle guide) I wonder how many miles it takes for the emulsion tubes to end up the condition mine are in....29K on the clock. AL
Al for furture reference mate you dont need to unbolt the starter solenoid, it just pops out of the rubber holder... and if you think its bad taking the airbox off to get at the carbs...ha ha ha wait till you have to put it back on :biggrin: If you still have the plastic cross bracing across the top of the airbox for the filter to sit on then as you put your hands between this bracing to get the inlet rubbers seated in the holes at the bottom of the airbox, you will slice your hands to shreds! The worst thing is that you will have forgotten something and need to take the airbox on and off about three times... as I did when I fitted my Keihins... my hands looked like I had been locked in a cage with a Puma during a slapping contest!
Me too, and with the FCRs you have to fit the rubbers to the carbs first and the try to pursuade the airbox back into the rubbers. I think every finger was bleeding ..... and then, as it was Saturday, I made a curry. Ever tried chopping chillies with lacerated hands?
1) The starter solenoid appears to have been replaced on mine.....it has a bracket already fixed to it's case which was bolted directly to the base of the airbox (no rubber present).......fortunately I have got a spare proper OEM complete bracket and working solenoid to replace it with. 2) Yep already spotted that.... Still, I could always take the grid off first.... 3) Don't worry, I won't forget anything....I'm not getting in that hole again......Do you know, I once had an Alfa Romeo 2600 which had three Weber 45 DCOE lookalike carbs (Solex) on it and the engine was filthy, but I had them off in about 20 minutes and on the bench ready for stripping....getting the carbs off the Ducati reminded me of changing the speedo cable on an original Mini, only much more difficult (actually the best way to do the Mini job was to do it from underneath). AL.
I know you wear glasses mate but I must admit I didnt think that you would miss a ruddy great chunk of rubber around the starter solenoid! I cut the grid bits off because the K&N filters on mine and the Czech chick's bikes are more rigid than the OEM paper jobbies! Never changed a mini speedo cable.. and dont intend to but your tip is noted just in case!
What a pity Ducati didn't taper the top part of the 'airbox to carb rubbers' sealing ring, so that you could fit the rubbers to the inlet manifolds, and then push the airbox down onto the tapered part....... Mind you I'm glad I have had mine off now, because one of the previous twonks hadn't got them in the airbox properly anyway.....and I suspect a few rubber shavings went through the carbs... I have to find another rubber union for the airbox drain tube (from the left front side) 'cos that has been nibbled away by something.....although I suppose a blob of silicone mastic will do the trick. Anyway the airbox has had a bath so I don't look like a coalman after two minutes of handling it......and the carbs are cleaned ready for repair. Now I have to clean up all the pipes and cr*p in the 'engine bay'........that will be fun. Still, I now know what the two triangular boxes on the left side (that are connected to the carbs by pipes) are for.........apparently...... .......an ex-Ducati guru mate of mine (who would have been press-ganged into assisting if he lived any closer) tells me they were for the US market regulations. Whether it applies solely to Ducatis, I don't know, but in the event of the carbs spitting back as they appear to be prone to doing; as the throttle slides could well be shut when the spit back occurs, there is a risk of fire and damage. The boxes are connected to each carb from just below the diapraghm and they allow the 'blast' to dissipate via the reinforced tubes with the one way valves in them. There you go..........well it does seem to make sense I suppose.... AL
Update briefly........It's amazing what you find when you look a bit harder.... .....now I always thought the bike ran OK, but was occassionally erratic at slow speeds, but not unbearable.... ....I haven't as yet worked out the implications of what the pic below shows, but I suspect it might have something to do with it and maybe why it got worse (albeit when I measured the float heights, I got four different measurements across the two float assemblies)......take a close look at the gasket where the red arrow points to. AL
if that's all that's left of the gasket then you would struggle to get engine to run right at all AL. There's supposed to be a one-piece rubber gasket - seems a few people refer to this as an 'O' ring gasket, well I suppose it is a group of 'O' rings! Anyway they usually behave very well in colder climes and are often re-useable having lost little of their 'bounce' or resilience (unlike the float bowl equiv that sometimes need 'sealing assistance' as you know). Worth remembering that the (std) brass screw that holds that jetholder in place (accompanied by a brass sleeve) is a bit under-par for the job so careful on tightening when assembling - sometimes it's worth examining where the fixing screw thread ends as they can be part fractured already and may even 'ping' just on normal tightening.
Hi Chris......yes, I was a bit surprised to see that gasket.......I can only assume it ran fairly well for a good long in spite of the other faults, because there was loads of caked on petrol residue across the broken bit.....it is right where those retaining tags are situated and I guess someone was a bit over enthusiastic fitting them. Thanks for the warning on the nut thingys......I was cautious when taking them off because I have seen their like before....mind you I may have some spares soon. Can you throw any light on my post in Technical - 'Dynojet Identification'? AL
'Gasket' / 'O-ring'....what-evva.........(everyone mentions measuring from the 'gasket' face when setting the fuel height....not the 'O-ring' face)......Nope, they haven't dissolved, but there is a substantial amount of petrol residue etc stuck to them.......but the one in question has a definite break 0.5mm - 1.0mm wide. I suppose when it was compressed, the gap would be a lot less and it got filled with the residue cr*p.....so maybe leakage wasn't too bad for a while. AL.
No wonder the seal was 'broken'......... ......at first I though it was a blob of solder.......but it is a blob in the casting of the block.... AL
Carbs nearly back together.....In the absence of any hard and fast information, set the float height at 14mm, using the original floats (can't see any wear on the float needles at all) Clamped the carbs in the vice at the right angle and used a squeezy bottle and a tube to fill the float bowls......got pressure when full, so the valves were sealing....no leaks anywhere. Then squeezed the bottle really hard and managed a sort of 'pop' and got them overflowing a bit.....I thought I would check and see what sort of pressure was required to overcome the float buoyancy, so...... ....removed the bottle and added a footpump to the tube.....the valves give way at 10 -12 psi, so I reckon they could well be OK, seeing as how the SS pump probably runs at a max of 6psi and there is a return flow as well. AL
My god...they way you are going on, you would think you know what your doing...well done by the way...get them back in..I say.
Yeah Ian...and he better start now...as you know how the Olde fella is....very slow ......took him two hours just to get them out...how many cuppas in between Al?
I'm waiting for the effin replacement Dynojet needles!!!!..........did you know they do a free exchange service for worn DJ needles? .....and that the 900 and 750 DJ needles are the same?.......(Ian, yours were worn worse than mine).......and I now know why the emulsion tubes wear so quickly (F-me they are expensive!) And when I get them back on, I bet the bl**dy float valves leak or I have set the fuel height wrong..... And it will be fun doing the pilot screws with the oil cooler right in the way........Stupid place to put a pair of carbs. AL.
That doesn't surprise me at all Al, as you know these were the original carbs on the bike when I bought her back in 2001 :wink: And by the time you've buggered about you could have got a set of FCR's !
I wasn't moaning about them.....I expected mine to be cr*p, but they weren't in comparison. Nah.....waste of money on a 750. AL
