It must be spring! the madness is starting again... I am now buying 851 bits and bobs, including expenseeeeeeeve magnesium goodies for a bike I dont even own....yet!
my wife thinks im mental the best thing is to keep me and my collection down the bottom of the garden in the garage
What another one? That is what happens if hour of labour by mechanic is about 15 one builds his own bikes.
No its not that Luca, I just see a bike and I want it... the problem is the current ongoing build, my F1 rep and the next bike I want... the precursor to the 851, the very first 748 (which raced at Bol d'or in '86 before Luchinelli rode the very first 851 No: 618 to victory at the BOTT in '87) are not available to buy... so I have to build my own! At least you can buy lots of aftermarket and some original bits for the TT1/F1 bikes.... you cant get any original bodywork bits including the tank for the 748 Bol d'or bike! Luckily being of the 851/888 family, the running gear frame and other major bits are still available to buy every now and then! I have been putting off getting bits for this bike becuase I was going to buy an 851 (with lots of original Ducati unobtainium parts on it) which has a race prepped 900SS engine in it! I was waiting till my house and garage have been built and thats taking so long that the owner is now having second thoughts about selling it! The next question though is will a 748 Engine fit in an 851 or 888 frame? and can I modify an original Verlicchi 900SS swing to fit the 851 rising rate rear suspension?..which would be a massive modification and I dont know if the 900SS swingarm is long enough!
+1 The cases would be the same? There's no such thing as "doesnt fit", however there is such a thing as "doesnt fit YET".
Few pics etc George, The 748 engine is very different around the swingarm pivot point hence why 851/888 0wners fit ST4 engines instead of 748 916 996's etc But nothing is impossible, st4 crankcases .
Cheers Chaps... I have just spoken with my Ducati Guru and he says its probably possible to fit the 748 either... remove the bearings form the 748 swingarm point and weld loads of ally in their, machine to fit the 888/monster swing bearings pivot pin etc..... or possibly even utilise early monster cases, but he isnt sure about the cylinder bolts he has a monster lower end and 748 barrles heads etc he will compare them for me tommorrow.... Steve we didnt consider ST4 must speak with him again! Cheers for the pics Steve but thats not the one I want to build...this is!
Nice new project mate! I know what you mean about buying parts for a bike you don't own yet, you should see my pile of F1 rep parts! ;-)
My garage and loft are full of odds and sods for bikes I dont have anymore, or never had in the first place!
The only real difference is the swingarm mounting point for the 916 variants, the engine mount bolts are the same. I bought an ST2 engine last year as a 'cam donor' (it's gone now to a chap for an M900 repair) but the bottom end was basically the same as my M900 and other than the swingarm mounts the same as my 916 - I kept a few parts that are compatible with one or both. As an aside I bought a braced 851/888 swingarm similar to the one in the above pics for my Monster.
cheers for the info mate separate point, you couldnt tell me the axle centreline to pivot pin centreline dimension of your 888/Monster swingarm could you? I too have a braced 888 swing but its away getting the bracing realigned because the chain wouldnt fit...doh!
Just measured from centre of swingarm pivot to centre of rear axle is 500mm with the wheel in approx mid adjustment (as per the pic). Measurement from pivot to axle slot is 465mm front edge of slot and 525mm to the rear edge. A couple of points to note with ref to Monster/SS engines vs. ST/S4/916 etc; The water cooled engines have a different shaft for the belt pulley drive as they have a water pump drive on the LH side so the end of the shaft is longer - you can use an engine like this with air-cooled cylinders by cutting off the end of the shaft (or it should be OK to leave it as it sits inside the cover?) but an aircooled base would need the longer shaft to drive a water pump if using water cooled cylinders. The ignition pickups are different on carby and injected engines but all crankcases have both fittings so can be easily adapted and of course they have different stroke crankshafts, many of which are interchangeable plus the watercooled cylinders need longer cylinder studs due to the bigger heads but there is generally a great deal of interchangeability between engines of that era.
Thanks very much...now I know that I can butcher an 88-89 SS verlicchi swingarm and turn it into a rising rate suspension jobbie! Well I wont personally me doesnt have the welding skills! I will probably go with Steve Imola's suggestion and use an ST4 crankcase with 748 heads and internals!... theres a 748 Engine for sale in Bavaria (not all that far from me) for under 500 notes.... so I might be driving there this weekend :biggrin:
