1000ssie Ds/900sl Hybrid

I’ve mentioned my current project quite a lot on the forum and now I’ve ensured it will work to my satisfaction I thought I’d best stick some progress up.

Last summer I picked up a 2003 1000SSie DS for a very good price and spent a bit of time getting it to start and run correctly.
I brought it mainly because the engine is in my opinion a peach, and is the ultimate development of the Classic 2 Valve Aircooled Ducati V Twin. I have a 5 page Ducati pdf which details the technical differences between the 992CC engine and it’s 904cc predecessor.
It’s also fitted as standard with an Ohlins rear shock, Showa front forks, and really nice 5 spoke wheels, so has the making of something really nice to play with.

I took the horrid Cheap carbon cans off and put the OEM ones on it came with, threw some Exactfit cables on, sorted out the non-functioning idiot lights, then brought some leads and downloaded the software to reset the TPS – Thanks ChrisW.
I then enjoyed riding it, and it rides lovely.
In fact I’ve had a big guilt trip that I’ve chosen to ride it a bit more than my beloved 1997 Carbie M900.

But I always had a plan, because let’s face it, it’s not as pretty as it’s predecessors.



My plan was to fit a complete set of 900 Superlight Bodywork to it, as in my opinion that would be the best of all worlds as far as this generation of Supersport goes.

I also had all the bodywork in stock already, so it hasn’t cost me a great deal, apart from time.

I set myself a goal of doing it all without any modification to the standard parts, especially the frame, as I’d like to be able to offer it for sale at some stage with all the original parts so it can be put back to standard. Despite being an unloved model it is after all quite rare.

No longer working Fridays, not being able to go to the Gym, and currently not having access to my boat as the yard is in lockdown has really helped move the project on.

This was a mock up stage with a lot of parts loosely fitted to see how they sat.



I'm setting it up with the standard headlight and front/top fairing, and will probably MOT it like that, but have in stock a race fairing section with no headlight aperture, and a single small round projector with Dip and main beam that I will eventually fit off to one side.

 

As mentioned the bike came to me fitted with a horrid pair of Cheap and Nasty Carbon Exhaust cans, which sounded horrible.
But when I picked it up the previous owner gave me the original Standard exhausts, and I ran it about with them on for a while.

I then picked up a pair of Ducati Performance Oval Remus Exhaust cans from Ebay that had been fitted to a 900SSie.
I knew these would look and sound good as I have exactly the same fitted to my M900.

They didn't however fit, the hangers, being about an inch too far back to work, but as I really wasn't impressed with the look or quality of the standard DP hangers I decided to make my own. The OEM DP straps also connect the silencers direct to the frame with no rubber mounts.

I used a pair of aftermarket Superlight frame mounts I had from a previous build, then flattened them out so I could make up some simple triangular Aluminium plates that bolt to the silencers, and used a pair of Standard SS rubber bobbins between the two.

 

At the same time as the exhausts I sorted out the rear mudguard etc as the bike came to me fitted with more horrible tat.
A Red Fibreglass undertray with rusty numberplate and indicator mount. The original undertray/tooltray was in place above the Fibreglass one, but had been cut to fit the tat over the top.
There was also no Numberplate light at all.

It all looks OKish in this image, but was awful, and the numberplate has a nice rub mark at the bottom where the tyre had touched it.



I managed to find a standard undertray and mudguard/numberplate mount on ebay for almost nothing as they also fit the 900/750SSie, and so many people are breaking them or turning them into unfinished projects.

I fitted a pair of later Ducati indicators which I had in stock, plus another pair at the front to replace the again horrid, tacky, cheap arrow shaped ones fitted.
It seams odd to go with standard OEM rear guards etc, but they do look so much better and add to the illusion of it being a 900SL.

 

My eventual plan for the exhausts is Spaghetti type headers to go with the Remus DP cans.

Not wanting to pay the asking price from the usual sources I've done my research on where to put the balance pipe and want to try making my own by cutting up a set of 900SSie standard headers to remove the cruciform and adding in bends and a link pipe cut from a couple of rough sets of M900 and 900SS headers I have. I've been collecting images of various Spaghetti headers, and honing my TIG skills with my new gear before giving it a go.
It's not that I think the likes of Madasl charge too much, I just don't want to pay almost what I paid for the bike for a set of headers.

I did come across a set of Sport classic headers on Ebay local to me and brought them on a whim thinking they'd be easier to modify.
But when I collected them I realised they are double skinned so would be difficult to add a proper full sized link pipe to.



They are now back up on Ebay.

When I fitted the exhaust cans I also dropped in a K&N Air filter, and it did appear to run a bit better at higher revs, but when it's back on the road I'm going to get it on a dyno and fine tuned.

 

The other thing I've added, just for a bit of bling really, is a DP Clutch Pressure plate and open cover of unknown origin.
I had them hanging around having taken them off my last 900SS project.



I had a bit of trouble with the clutch when I brought the bike, it made some odd noises, and when I stripped it down was found to have lots of metal plates and no where near enough friction plates, despite the recent invoice that came with the bike from a dealership for replacing the clutch basket.

I rebuilt the 'stack' correctly using spare friction plates and normal dry clutch clattery noises have been resumed.

Note the Exactfit cable seen in the image which I fitted despite having the tooling to crimp my own battery cables.
When I worked out what I needed to spend on cable and fittings etc, and being in a rush to get it to start the Exactfit cables were worth trying.
I didn't however piggyback them, I removed the old cables and remade the ends of the smaller cables that fit to the battery instead.

 

Moving on to the tank.
I did consider leaving the 1000SSie Tank in place but decided it would look too odd even if I removed the ugly tank pad from the rear.

I was lucky to pick up a Carbie SS tank a few years ago for a reasonable price, and even more lucky when it arrived that it isn't rusted out at the bottom. The external paint is very good indeed.
I did however spend some uncomfortable time with my hand through the hole getting rid of as much internal surface rust and loose paint/sealant as possible before converting the rust with KURUST from Hammerite.

Mechanically it's very easy to fit to the later 1000 frame as the positioning of the rear hinge mount and front pads are exactly the same despite the intervening years.

It's best to describe this with diagrams stolen from the Stien Dinse website than with actual images.









The rear hinge mount on both tanks is interchangeable, the only difference being the 1000 one only has two holes to mount to the frame and the 900 one has 3.
But the 2 rear most holes in the 900 bracket do match exactly the 2 holes in the 1000 frame.

At the front the 1000 frame has two rubber mounts bolted to it whereas on the 900 the rubber mounts are bolted under the tank.
If the mounts are removed from the 1000 frame, the 900 rubber mounts sit perfectly on the frame, which was excellent news.

At the front the 900 has a mechanical over centre latch to clamp the tank down to a hook on the frame.
On the 1000 its a simple rubber strap that clips over a pin on the frame and then stretches over a 'Nipple' on the tank. See above.

I wanted to use the 900 style fixing. so simply made a new strap for the 900 latch using a length of 2.4mm Dia Stainless rod which locates over the pin on the frame.

 

Having the tank in place on the frame isn't any good if you can't get the fuel from it to the injectors.

The 1000SSie DS tank and 900SS Carbie tank are actually set up really similarly inside.

The only real difference is that the 900 tank has 3 outlet/inlets:




And the 1000 has 4:



But two of the 1000 tank connections are both breathers, and connect to a 'T' Piece in the breather pipe just a couple of inches from the tank.
So pipework wise I used the single breather pipe from the 900 tank, connected the high pressure pipe for the injectors to the 900 fuel tap, and the HP fuel return line from the injectors to the 900 return pipe.
The only thing that remains to be seen is if the 900 fuel tap can handle the injection pressure long term, but it's been OK so far.

The 1000SS Fuel level sender uses exactly the same thread as the 900SS one, so simply screws into position ready to connect to the 1000SS loom and also supply power to the Fuel pump inside the tank.

The Rubber sleeve inside the tank that the fuel pump sits in is the same part number for both the 1000 and 900, so getting the proper HP pump in the tank is again a simple case of removing the 900 one and snapping the 1000 one into the clips. I did however have to shorten the flexible pipe between the fuel filter and the internal hard pipe by @10mm. But that's the only modification needed to fit all the 1000SS injection tank internals into the 900 Carbie tank.

I'd even picked up a complete set of internal parts from a 1000SS being broken a couple of weeks ago, so didn't have to remove or modify anything from the 1000SS tank.

It was nice when all this that had seemed too easy was proven to work and the bike started and ran from the new(old) tank.

 

I should say at this point that probably all of what I've done is applicable to convert the 900/750SSie as well as my 1000SSie and I assume the 800SSie

There are many differences between the 900/750SSie and 1000/800SSie ranges, but apart from the many mechanical changes to the engine they are mainly electronic.
The use of the later ECU range for example, and the ECU and clocks being dependant on each other with regard to the Immobiliser, unless you get the ECU re-flashed by somebody who's able to disarm the immobiliser.

I was going to get this done and use a set of 900SS instruments, but at the moment I'd rather get the bike on the road and consider that later.

The 1000SS tacho being run from the ECU, and the Speedo again going through the ECU and driven from a rear wheel sensor means a combination of using electronic clocks in the 900 dash or perhaps dropping a mechanical speedo drive in the front end.
At the moment I'm happy with the look of the 1000SS dash, but might decide to change it later.

 

And the SL style seat unit.

I had left over from a previous build a Carbon Fibre Superlight Single seat unit that I wanted to use on this bike.

The main issue with using it on a 750/900/800/1000SSie frame is these two sticky up brackets that prevent the SL seat unit going down as low as it can to the frame.



My strict rule of not modifying the frame was nearly broken here, but in the end I stuck to my guns and decided to measure carefully and put up with the seat being around 20mm higher than it would be relative to the tank on a genuine Superlight, but actually at the standard height for a 1000SS. I raised the back almost the same amount and it looks OK.

At the front I used a pair of spare Carbie Tank rubbers and fibreglassed in a platform for them to bolt to.
Note they are sat on 20mm high spacers, so if I do decide to remove the frame brackets I can also drop the seat.



The front of the seat unit bolts down to a bracket I've added which connects to the frame using the tank mount bolts, and the seat unit through the front two standard mounting holes:



When I'm happy with everything I'll drill out the captive nuts on the rear of the bracket and insert a pair of standard rubber mounts.
the other two mid-position standard seat unit mounting holes will be filled with dummy bolts and cup washers as I'm securing it right at the back, something Ducati should have done in my opinion.

The holes mentioned above can be seen and made sense of here:



The rear was a bit tougher to achieve how I wanted it, especially as I wanted to use a pair of very small but still legal LED rear lights.

So I reverted to my knowledge of classic MkII Z1000s, where the rear of the seat unit is slid on to two pins which pass through holes in the seat unit with Grommets in them.
The bulkhead I glassed in, and grommeted holes can be seen in the image above of the underside of the seat unit.

So I then needed a bracket to support not only the rear of the seat unit on two pins, but also my chosen small lights, and it must retain the standard undertray and mudguard/plate bracket.

I came up with this:



So that was the seat unit and lights in place.
I wired the lights using standard Superseal connectors to the standard loom.

 

I tried the SL Fairings on the 1000 with the 1000 front subframe in place, thinking it would be easy to buy a 900/750SSie subframe and adapt it to fit the 900 bodywork, headlight etc.
However it became obvious quickly that it would be simpler to modify a 900 subframe to fit the 1000 frame.

Luckily the geometry of the mounting points for the two subframes is identical, except the two headstock mounting points on the 1000 frame are wider.
Not centre to centre, but the tubes welded to the headstock are longer and longer bolts are used - hope that makes sense.

This side on view of the 1000 sub frame shows the mounting points:



The frame mounting points have the same geometry, but the fairing and headlight mounts would be difficult to modify.

So I dug out yet another spare from my stash, a rough 900SS subframe, and created a 1000SS/900SS hybrid.
I cut the headstock mount down the middle, splayed it out, and welded a plate in to hold it apart. See below.

I then fabricated copies of the mounting brackets for the various 1000SS electrical items and welded them to the frame.
Main loom plug and socket
Air temp sensor
One of the ignition coils
Instrument cluster

Then gave it a lick of Matt Black paint.



It fitted the 1000SS frame easily enough, and I transferred all the electrical items and loom over:



I started her up again and everything worked.
the only thing to sort out is that the 1000SS pilot light bulb holder is too big a diameter to fit the 900SS headlamp hole, but that's easily sorted with a file when it comes off again.

 

Strangely I discovered that the bottom fairing stays needed to be a little wider for the 900 fairing, and in trying to unscrew the old ones the longer Left hand side one snapped at the top of the thread.
Being Aluminium it was really easy to drill out and re-tap the thread in the cylinder fins, and I made a couple of 10mm longer stays out of some 10mm Aluminium Bar, a couple of Stainless 1/2 nuts and some 16mm Nylon Rod.
The rubber bungs are a really loose fit on the originals and I've heard people lose them easily, perhaps the bars aren't long enough????

So I drilled out the Nylon Rod to 9.8mm, pressed it on to the 10mm Aluminium bar, then turned it down to 14mm.
I don't know what I'd do without my Lathe/Mill, it's nothing special but is so useful.

 

As you've probably guessed the 1000SS upper fairing brackets on the frame don't line up at all with the holes in the 900SS Fairings.
So the next job was to knock up some adaptor brackets.




Shaping them like this is a far better mechanical solution than simple flat straps on the end of the 1000SS spacers, as the shape has the effect of pulling the fairing panels up and In.






As you can see, with the fairing fitted they are not that noticeable, and it's a far nicer solution to look at from the outside than drilling new holes in the fairing panels.

I've put some rubber bungs on the ends of the spacers to stop them rubbing on the insides of the panels.

 

Despite the cold and damp I managed to get 4 coats of Red paint, and 3 coats of clear lacquer on the seat unit, so it's looking far better than it did.

It's not an exact match, I brought the Red from a seller on Ebay, but it will be good enough for this year as I'm hoping to get all the panels painted professionally over next Winter.
As it was too cold to paint in my unheated garage really, I kept the rattle cans in the house until I needed them each time, and blew the seat unit over with a hair dryer before applying each coat of paint.

 

I cut some number boards from White Vinyl and added a Black line by hand using 3mm lining tape.
Just to see what it would look like.

I think I'm going to have to mask it and spray them with a slightly yellow or grey off-white, as the Vinyl is too White for my taste.





And that’s it up to date at the moment.

Nasher

 

Thanks all for the nice comments.

I agree the Black line needs to be wider, and matching the fairing Logo is a good idea.

I also now have some early style Black, Silver and White Tank decals to match the Fairing decals as it looks a bit odd at the moment.
The tank is late 90s so has the later Gold outlined decals.

Nasher.