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1997 Ducati Monster 750 Dark, not a restoration, just a fixer upper...

philosopheriam

philosopheriam

Forum Mentor
Past Site Supporter
Now that my 1978 GS1000 is done (http://www.thegsresources.com/_foru...-1978-GS1000E-Restoration-Performance-Rebuild), I decided to finally get the Ducati running. She's been sitting in my garage for 2 years, picked her up for $500 from a friend.
IMG_1067 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

The engine ran at one time, and the bike has been sitting since 2010. Carbs are literally glued shut from varnish.

Last week, I yanked the carbs and began a full disassembly - had to soak each body for a week just to get the throttle shafts to move. These are Mikuni BDST carbs - I found a supplier in Thailand (http://www.litetek.co) that provides a complete oring and gasket kit for them
IMG_2517 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_2531 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

The carb dip ate the zinc off the throttle parts, so, I will need to re-plate them this weekend.

Also, I got around to swapping the bars back to originals - the previous owner had installed a set of clip-ons (see first photo) that didn't allow the fork legs to sit at the correct height and the lines from the master cylinder and clutch slave were too long and sitting at weird angles. Fixed.
IMG_2532 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

This weekend, I plan to get the carbs completely back together. More to follow...
 
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I have always liked the Monster's. Interested in how you find it to work on.
 
I really like the looks of those. They have a similar simple muscular look as the older bikes that I like. Good luck with getting it back on the road.
 
Vmass said:
I have always liked the Monster's. Interested in how you find it to work on.
Click to expand...

Not bad - I was able to locate the parts manual and service manual online. Sourcing parts has been interesting - I have been finding things like fork seals in England, carb kits in Thailand, and the rest of the stuff I need used on eBay. OEM Ducati parts will put you in the poor house :D

PS: Migrated the thread photos to Flickr this morning...
 
7/8, Progress

Reassembled and installed the carbs, reinstalled the lights and gauge cluster, made an elegant *cough* temporary battery holder, installed some new spark plugs, checked all of the electrics, and adjusted the tension on the timing belts. All appears to be working properly - the light setup is aftermarket, and it interferes with the speedo cable (the cable hits the left-side light and it puts the cable at an akward angle). So, I had some 5/16" aluminum spacers lying around and they just happened to be the perfect height, so, I raised the entire gauge cluster by around 3/4" (see photos)
IMG_2547 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_2550 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_2551 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_2552 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_2553 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_2554 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Once I attached my temporary fuel tank, I discovered that the original vacuum fuel valve wasn't working - no biggie, at over $100 OEM, it's getting replaced with a manual inline fuel valve. I have a rebuild kit for the vacuum fuel pump sitting on my bench.

Long story short, I put the choke on, let the fuel bowls fill, and cranked her over - she fired right up within 5 sec ;) Fork rebuild to be next week's project!
 
7/15, Progress

Pulled the forks today - the seals were so bad that there was very little oil left in each leg. Cleaned the tubes with kerosene, flushed with ATF, let drain for 30min, and then refilled with 10w Fuchs Silkolene. Reused the stock springs and bushings as they were in decent shape. These Marzocchi forks were stupid easy to take apart and even easier to remove/replace the seals. I installed new dust wipers and oil seals.
IMG_2555 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_2556 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_2559 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

While I had the front end apart, I decided to check the steering head bearings - glad I did. The bearings were in decent shape, but they needed a good cleaning and repacking.
IMG_2561 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_2560 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_2562 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Done, no more leaks :D
IMG_2563 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
 
My friend had one of those. I didn't care to ride it much (but I was still a fairly new rider back then). I'd like to try again. Nice for a project though!
 
Progress over the past few weeks:

Painted the brake and clutch M/C caps, cleaned the calipers and installed new brake pads, flushed/bled all of the goo from the system,replaced the leaky brake M/C reservoir house with a piece of Tygon 2375 (withstands glycol), cleaned all of the previously-leaked brake fluid from the lever/pivot and polished the handle (clearcoat was destroyed).
IMG_2595 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_2597 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_2596 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Figured out a way to secure the brake lines and prevent them from rubbing on the forks or fender
IMG_2598 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_2599 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Cleaned the headlight lenses and repaired the bulb sockets
IMG_2600 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Rebuilt the fuel pump
IMG_2611 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
 
philosopheriam said:
More progress:

Tail chop and frame straightening
IMG_2612 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_2613 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_2614 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_2615 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Frame straightening jig (the R/R of the tail got tweaked downward when the bike went down)
IMG_2616 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_2617 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Unbent!
IMG_2618 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
Click to expand...

Anthony, that's a very ingenious way to straighten a sub frame.

I really struggled with my GS650E to find a suitable and safe way to do the same, ended up using a 6ft bar and 2 people to hold the bike.

I figured mine may have been damaged by a flat bed tow truck driver, as they seem to always prefer to put the bike on the side stand and then place a few tie downs on the bars and then put a strap across the back of the seat and tighten it down, which if really cranked down can bend the sub frame on the right side.

I had this happen on a BMW 1150GS but managed to stop the guy before he did any damage.

Nice job on this bike, the plating on the carb bits looks excellent as usual.

David
 
So, this project was on the backburner for awhile until I got some other projects and work stuff out of the way.

However, nice weather has returned and it's time to get cracking again!

Today's progress:

Got 90% of the back end put back together today: Removed the swingarm to inspect the pivot bearings - in Ducati's infinite wisdom, they decided to make the bearings impossible to remove with the engine cases together (the bearings are driven from the inside to the outside of each case half). Luckily, they were in good shape with no grittyness, so, I just cleaned and regreased them. While the swingarm was off, I soaked the chain in kerosene and cleaned years of crud off it. I removed all of the goo from the chain area of the engine cases and swingarm - a good portion of the day was spent de-crudding all of the parts going back together. The rear shock was had a basic rebuild done by RaceTech - it had zero nitrogen charge left and the elastomeric bumper and seal head were garbage.
IMG_2804 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_2806 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Several months ago, I repaired the RT side exhaust can. When the previous owner went down with the bike, the outside edge of the can (near the inlet pipe) scraped across the ground and destroyed the rivet band and peeled the edge of the stainless can. I bent back the edge of the can and had it welded, then I fabricated a new stainless band from a small sheet of 304 stainless. I sourced a new rear tire hugger from ebay and installed it, too. I cleaned the rear caliper and replaced the pads, then flushed/bled the system several times until it ran clean. exhaust repair by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr
IMG_2808 by Anthony Monteleone, on Flickr

Next week: reinstall the airbox and tidy up the tail end with a custom tail/turn mount and license plate holder.
 
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