Movin’ On Up

Lots of pictures for this update I reckon, as they always seem to be popular. (I’m not surprised, given the quality of the words). Construction of the 750 engine has been coming on apace, and I’ve been going through that hugely enjoyable phase of just pulling bits out of boxes, cleaning them up, and bolting them on. I’ve had to spend a few pounds on new oil seals and o-rings here and there, but really, nothing to write home about. As we left things last time, I’d just dropped the crankcases together around the gearbox and crank, and everything fell into place just nicely. I walked away from things for a few days at this point, so I could get on with life and finish off a few other chores that needed doing. Oh, and I also repatriated the teeny-Morini and went out for a couple of rides. I genuinely do love that bike more than is healthy or necessary, and really need to write more about it. But for now, let’s carry on with the 750 Sport.

Engine then. Now that the cases were together, it was time to look at the bits that bolt on the sides. The cam drive gear slipped over the end of the cam drive, located in place with a woodruff key. Of course, the manual tells you to replace this every seventeen seconds or whatever. To my eye it looked about right, so I wodged it all back together and torqued the nut on the end. A quick hit with the hammer to bend over the locking washer, and that was the first bit done. Over to the other side of the engine now, so I could put the pulleys on the other end of the shaft and get on with the oil pump and primary drive:

Again, the cam pulleys needed to be slipped over some keys, and then that awful socket affair needed tightening. Why do manufacturers do this? I mean, a big 22mm or so nut would have done just fine. But no, Ducati have to go and make something that needs a special Ducati tool to tighten or loosen. I took the sweary route and attacked an old socket with a slitting disc to make something that just about worked. Well, it worked well enough to tighten it up to the correct torque, and that’s good enough for me. The oil pump was measured up, and then fitted with new o-rings, and that’s really about it for this side of the engine. Next step is to refit the cover, and although I’ve fitted the necessary seals:

I still need to buy the gasket, and that’s going to have to wait for next months exciting budget instalment. Right then, so that’s the right side of the engine about as far as I can go, so let’s spin the thing around, and have a look at the alternator side. First things first, plop the crank support bearing into the cover:

That was easy enough – again, pop the case in the oven for 30 mins and the bearing in the freezer, and it pretty much drops in with just a light twatting with the hammer. Next step, therefore, would normally be to fit the stator into the case, but here we hit the first major stumbling block with the rebuild:

That’s given me a couple of options. Somewhat surprisingly, these stators seem to still be available. However, there seems to be a bit of a changeover in design happening at around this time in the Ducati factory and so while a unit is advertised as fitting a 1990 750 Sport, when I look at the pictures, it’s completely different. However, a quick note to Westcountry Windings (I’m not sure how Essex counts as the West country, unless you live in Lowestoft) elicited a very quick response that yes, they could rewind this one, with better quality materials, for less than the cost of a replacement. That’s that sorted then. But again, as with the previous gasket, this needs to wait for the next instalment of pocket money. Right then, what else can I do on this side of the motor? Or course, the rotor and flywheel:

Oh, and of course, the gear linkage and ignition pickups. The gear linkage fitted easily, and a few quick tweaks while I grappled with the input shaft had it running up and down the gearbox with no problems at all. The ignition pickups needed re-insulating. The old insulation was frayed and nasty, and so it was a simple task to re-wrap it all in Tesa tape, and heatshrink the bits that needed it. You can see the result in the above photo, but here’s what it looked like to start with:

And again, I can’t pop the case on yet as I need a gasket. I know that I *could* just put both cases on with a smear of ThreeBond (heck if it’s good enough for the crankcase centreline it should be good enough for the outer cases) but as I’m resigned to having to take them off a few times I’ll be fitting a proper gasket with a bit of grease to make it easier to separate the covers when the time comes.

That, then, marks the end of the work I can do on the bottom end of the engine. Time to move on up to the barrels and heads then, and have a look and see what we have. I think I’ve already shown a picture of one of the heads, and so it will come as no surprise that the heads, then, need a lot of work to make them look nice again:

And irritatingly, a snapped stud to deal with:

That’s not the end of the world though, and I reckon there’s enough left there to be able to weld a nut on the end of it and wind it out. Hopefully it won’t cause too much trouble. I’m actually in half a mind to take both heads down to Cambridge Motorcycles to let Spike do his magic on them, as there’s no way of knowing just how buried in there they are. And I’m 100 times more likely to snap another one than Spike is, as he’s done this many times more than me! Dunno. Anyhow, the heads, then, need work. The barrels?

They look just fine to me! So they’re going straight back on there. I will, at some point, replace the static tensioner pulleys. Before I do that though, I’d at least like to check that the thing runs, as they’re not that cheap, and they’ll be just fine for the first few test runs. Just for fun, I thought I’d throw the heads on there too, just to see what the motor will look like when fully built up:

Holy carp, it’s a properly big unit, and no mistake. I reckon that’s going to need two people to move it around the garage, and it makes the TRX850 motor look positively tiny. I suspect it weighs a bit more than the TRX too. Last thing to check on the top end(s) were the pistons, and it’s not all great news:

There’s a corresponding mark on the barrel too – but it’s not so deep as to be a scratch, just a mark. I’ll get the barrel re-honed I think, and the piston, I’ll clean it all up and see how I feel about it further down the line. For now I don’t think that it’s serious enough to worry about too much. Besides, remember what I said earlier about budget? I think that new pistons will require about six months worth of saving. I don’t want to even think about that right now, as one of the upcoming episodes will feature the clutch rebuild, and that’s looking like another non-trivial expense.

And that’s everything right up to date really. Once I get the remaining gaskets and the stator rewound, I’ll be able to finish off the bottom end properly. The heads obviously need work. I did think about getting them blasted and recoated professionally, but I don’t think that I really need to go to all that trouble, nice as the result would be. No, rather, I’ll spend a few hours with a selection of bristle discs to clean things up as best I can, and give it a once over with some high-temperature paint. Hopefully that’ll work out OK. We’ll see. And then once the heads are on, it’s time to fit the belts and turn the whole lot over. Gulp. All in all though, I’m dead happy with the way that things are turning out so far. I don’t think it’s going to be *that* long before I can fit the engine into the frame. And then I need to have a proper re-think about where I’m working on this lot as there’s no way I can fit it into the garage in its current state.

Reelin’ In The Gears

I guess it’s time for an update – I’ve been a bit lazy about writing anything for a few weeks, purely because I’ve been doing what exactly what I said I was going to be doing. Making time to enjoy myself, and catching up with old friends. And it’s been utterly lovely to do so. I mentioned as part of the Morini rebuild series that I’d been struggling a bit (well, a lot, if I’m really honest with myself) with the part of me that wanted to plan for the future rather than enjoy the present. And although it’s taken a conscious effort for me to do so, I’ve now got to a place in life where I’m a lot happier than I was six months ago purely by dint of the fact that I’m getting out more, seeing more friends, and taking time to enjoy that.

As we left things last I’d been delving into the 750 engine, and getting everything ready for reassembly. The bearings were ordered, and there was a bit of a tease about another new arrival in the garage. I’ll get the new arrival out of the way first, as it is rather exciting:

It is, of course, a Ducati 748. I’ve lusted after one since I first rode one (a beautifully prepared 748R, at Brands Hatch), and having ridden a few since then, that desire never went away. Only they were always just out of reach financially. Close, but no cigar. But then the planets aligned, and Good Things Happened, and the 748 above was delivered to my garage a couple of weeks ago. It’s beautiful, of course. One owner from new (thanks for looking after it so well Alan!) and meticulously cared for. The only thing I needed to do was replace the belts just as a matter of course. Which I did a couple of days ago, so some time this week if I can get the time off work I’ll be phoning up for an MOT slot and realising a 20yr ambition to ride a bright red Ducati. Well, not just a bright red Ducati, *my* bright red Ducati. I’m not a person who gets carried away with material possessions, but crikey, I’m very much enjoying having this in the garage. (Which is, of course, secured and alarmed – just in case anyone gets any ideas).

Right then, that’s the new arrival out of the way, so let’s get back to the 750 Sport project. The aforementioned bearings turned up as expected and were quickly pressed into the cases:

This required a baking of the cases in the oven for a good 30 mins at 150C, and wodging the bearings into the freezer. This was remarkably easy in fact, the bearings went in with a little tappity-tap-tap from the small hammer, and once the cases had cooled (which took far longer than I’d anticipated as my burned forearms will bear testimony to) everything was checked for free movement, and given a slathering in engine oil to keep it all nicely lubricated while I slotted the shafts into place:

This was also surprisingly straightforward. I was expecting there to be all sorts of cursing and swearing as I got everything lined up just so, and it all went to cock when I lowered the other case on, but that just never happened. I think the most complex bit was getting the shift forks to fit just so into the gearshafts but even that took no more than about five minutes. The more I work on this motor, the more I understand why people just like Ducatis. It really is a beautifully designed piece of work, and everything just slots together nicely and easily. I think the only other thing of note was that I used the original 750 gearbox input shaft rather than the one from the 600SS gearbox as it just looked to be in better shape. Then, with a whiff of ThreeBond on the mating surfaces, the cases slipped together with a lovely satisfying ‘thwop’ kind of noise:

Bolts were torqued, everything turned freely, endfloat was measured again just to be sure, but I think that this is it. The bottom end is back together for keeps. Well, until it throws a rod, at any rate. Since that photo was taken, the cam drive pulleys and gear, oil pump, and starter idler gear have all been fitted – this involved the purchase of some new oil seals but as they cost about fifteen quid all in I’m just calling that part of the ongoing price of keeping me occupied, rather than a large lump in the rebuild budget.

Talking of budget, I think it’s worthwhile to talk about plans for this bike, and how the rebuild is being approached. This is a rare bike – something like 1300 were produced. That’s it. And I have no clue how many survived, but I’ve never seen one on the road. As such I think it’s worth taking the time to do this properly. However – I also want to *use* this bike, and the 16″ wheels limit tyre choice so much as to make that almost impossible. I can find one manufacturer of tyres to fit (Shinko) and I have no clue how good they are. Far more sensible then to fit some 17″ wheels from a 750SS – and if I’m going to do that, I’ll also fit some forks from the same bike. My forks are in need of a lot of restoration, and for the price I can pick up a set of 750SS forks which will a) make it easier to mount the 17″ wheel, but also b) just be a lot better. I’m going to keep the original parts, and any modifications I make will be reversible. But this is going to be a bike to use rather than look at, so I feel this is the right course of action.

But all of that is a long way away yet. The engine still needs a lot of work. Firstly, the clutch needs sorting out. This is going to be a challenge due to the integrated case/slave cylinder arrangement. The piston has rusted beyond salvation so I’ll be looking to replace that which will be a couple of months away due to the cost. The stator needs rewiring, or more likely, replacing. And the clutch pack itself seems to be missing a few plates and the ones that are there look to be quite badly worn. A quick bit of mental arithmetic then makes that about £500 to get the bottom end back together from here. And then we get to the barrels and heads:

Looking on the bright side, the valve gear all looks to be just fine and my preliminary investigations would tend to show that the valve clearances are inexplicably just about bob-on. I can only think that someone had just had this lot shimmed up before it was taken off the road, or I’ve just got lucky. I may be buying a lottery ticket this weekend though, to firstly make the most of this run of luck but also to try to pay for the aforementioned bottom end rebuild. But it’s safe to say that there’s a lot of work to go into the barrels and heads before they get refitted, and that’s just not going to get started until I get the bottom end fully back together.

If all this sounds like me just moaning that there’s a lot of work to do, let me be absolutely clear on this: I couldn’t be happier. I’m still pinching myself to remind me that this is the second Ducati in the garage, and more than that, it was a gift. But also, I love this kind of work. It’s therapeutic, and remember what I said at the start about enjoying the present rather than worrying about the future? Well, it’s also crucial to have plans and ambitions. So while I’m enjoying myself hugely pottering around in the garage with feeler gauges and torque wrenches, I’m also having a brilliant time chatting with friends about the choice to run 17″ wheels, or what journeys we can take, or just when we’re going to meet up again. Thanks to everyone who has been a part of these conversations or just got in touch to see how I am – you’ve truly helped me more than I can explain here.