Project 999

A small amount of progress yesterday and today.

The Multistrada radiator fans turned up from Matt the other day, thanks, and of course the mounting frames didn't fit the 999 rad, but it's easily put right.

They have exactly the same Superseal two pin connectors on the cables as the originals, and when hooked up to a spare battery they spin the same way.
There is a huge difference in the amount of air they appear to shift compared to the originals, so I set to modifying their frames to fit.

I drilled out the spot welds holding some of the arms to the centres, made up some new arms from strip mild steel I had in the garage and plug welded them to the centre.

This image shows what I've done better than my description:


I then painted them with Smooth Black Hammerite, and whilst it was drying I reassembled the cooling system using the Samco hoses I'd brought along with the replacement Aluminium Thermostat housing.
I'd been waiting to do this as the replacement seal I'd ordered for between the housing and the block had taken longer to arrive than expected.




I'd only loosely fitted the Radiator as the fans still needed to be fitted.

The fans are now on the Rad, and the assembly is looking far better than the crusty originals:


I started preparing to refit the battery box etc, but remembered one of the mounting bobbins for the ECU had been replaced with a cobbled together collection of incorrect spacers, so spent 10mins on my lathe turning up a replacement.

I didn't get an image of it I'm afraid, but will make sure I do tomorrow.

 

Thanks Matt

Perhaps when I've finished this one we can talk.

 

As mentioned I'd found one of the double ended spacers that mount the ECU to the Battery box was missing, so I copied the other one using a bit of scrap Aluminium in my lathe, and turned down a couple of long Stainless Allen Cap heads to go with them.
Original spacer on the Right pre being cleaned up.

 

I've also now managed to get the Radiator assembly fitted back in the bike and I'm really pleased in a slightly sad way with how it looks:

 

In more preparation for refitting the battery box etc I've started making new battery and starter cables, so though it would be an ideal opportunity to show just how easy it is.
It's one of the first things I do on any Ducati I buy.
During lockdown I brought a set from a well known Ex-member on here for my 1000SS because I couldn't get hold of any terminals at the time, and although they are reasonably good money considering the materials and research, there really is no substitute for making them to fit the bike in front of you.

I'm lucky that because of my other hobby of mucking about with powerboats I've always got battery cable hanging around, and I always use pre tinned marine grade cable even on bikes as it prevents moisture from damaging the conductor if it manages to wick up under the insulation.

This is my kit for doing it:
Oceanflex 16mm2 Pre-tinned Red and Black cable, which is just right for Bike starter circuits.
A selection of crimp on terminals.
My Hammer powered Crimp tool. These are only @£20, and this one has saved me many times that over the years.

 

Simply choose a terminal:


Strip the insulation back:


Push the cable in the terminal and fit it in the tool:




Then a couple of whacks with a big hammer and it's done.
I always put it on the garage floor to do this bit, and in this case the terminal sleeve is long enough to have two bites at it.


I always then finish off with some adhesive lined heatshrink to help keep the moisture out, but again that's a hang-over from mainly making them for outboard engines on boats.

 

Ducati always seam to use right angle terminals to the battery which have both the starter cables and smaller feeds attached:


My strategy is to carefully cut away the original starter cables and piggyback a new terminal.

I start with these undrilled long blade terminals:


Drill them:


Then bend them:


So they can piggyback like this:

 

What a crap idea the concept of this battery box is.
Mount various sensitive components neatly behind a complicated plastic moulding, bundle all the cables, connectors etc to them in a tight space, cover them with a thin sheet of Aluminium heat shield and then screw it up tight and close to hot engine and coolant system components.

I spent a very frustrating time trying different ways to package the cables, connectors etc between the Plastic box and Aluminium plate then eventually got the cover screwed on and mounted the box to the frame.

In this image I've not finished off the -ve cable to the Engine as I wanted everything in place before setting the angle of the terminal.




But I'm not happy as the box is sitting too far out, and will hold the fairing out before it touches the rubber buffer attached to the Oil cooler.

I'm convinced it's the big connectors to the Reg/Rec that are causing the problem, jammed between the plastic moulding and the Aluminium cover they are in the wrong place and stopping the Aluminium going in far enough, which in turn is touching the Thermostat housing too early and holding the whole assembly out too far.

I'll need to strip it off again and try a different way of bundling the cables and connectors.
Perhaps I'll have a trawl through the workshop manual to see if any illustrations help.

I gave up for today, but I understand there is an Aluminium version of the Box, possibly for the RS variant, which I'll research and possibly copy as an alternative.

 

I've just found an old post by the ever helpful ChrisW that included this image:


So hopefully I'll be able to work closer to this.

It would be nice to get the whole loom off the bike as shown above, so might give that a try.

 

Thanks Sev

Yep, there is already Oil in the alternator connector.
I've flushed it out, but am just going to see how it goes.

I put my previous post up then took the dog out for a walk.
The crisp clear evening put a perspective on things and I've decided I'm only going to get it right by stripping the loom off the bike and building the box assembly up on the bench.

Luckily I have a few spare rubber cable ties around as none of the originals are in place.

 

Thanks Charles, but unfortunately despite being Semi-retired the whole having to go to work thing still gets in the way of doing the fun stuff.
As unfortunately does also being mid project on a few things around the house.

 

However I am working from home most of the time and curiosity about the loom shown in the image above originally from ChrisW got the better of me this morning so I've just had a quick look.

The loom on my bike differs from that in Chris's image in some ways, for example it connects into the large Circular connector shown in my images strapped to the main frame rail above the battery box, which I'm assuming has substituted the big rectangular connector shown Top Left in Chris's image.
But the principle is the same, and I'll gat a result I'm far more satisfied with if I remove the loom from the bike to attach it to the back of the box.

There are lots of 2 and 3-way Superseal connectors on the far end of the loom which connect to engine sensors etc on the other side of the engine, so I'll need to make sure I label them carefully as I disconnect them.

 

I meant to post this image the other day.

Surely this can't be the correct routing for the fuel pipe?
It's basically supporting the back of the fuel tank, even when the seat is bolted to the back of the tank, and it's pinched by all 3 Cam cover nuts. Particularly the two aft ones.
I looks like it's been there for a long time, and I'm probably going to have to replace the fuel pipe because it's been damaged by the nuts.