I am taking on a full rebuild of my dad's 1998 748 biposto. The bike has been taken apart by my dad, carted over to my place where I am going to attempt to rebuild it. Having given the bits a good look over, I think it would make sense to give everything a good clean before re-assembling. The project therefore is more a restoration and rebuild than a rebuild! So, here we go. Started today with the bike and had a good look at what we have. This is the space where I am working. Engine needs a good clean/paint The old brembos looks a little mucky. Good ol Gunk and brake cleaner, came out great. Random ally bits all cleaned up. Note the 996 SPS Rear frame, sadly I don't think this will fit. Its considerably lighter that the 748 version. Next step is get the prices for the various engine gaskets that will need to be replaced due to the removal of parts for painting. Pro-Bolt do a bolt kit for the engine for £100 which is incredibly tempting. Progress likely to be slow at the start owning to pricing things up, getting paints etc etc, but I will post any more updates here.
Buy a stainless steel kit for the engine, unless that's what you mean, better still don't waste money on pre made kits but measure each bolt and then just order them via eBay etc. I convert all my bikes that I rebuild to allen head bolts and it's quite cheap overall. The subframe will fit but you will need a longer mono rear loom. It can be lengthened but it is a lot of work as there are about 20 wires to increase in length and get a bad connection on one and it could cause problems. On the whole from the photos it's not a lot more than rebuilding an average used stock biposto. These bikes are getting old now and if one has been used daily in all weathers then the condition is roughly par for the course.
Stainless kits are much better value. Thanks for the tip. I would like to remove measure and buy as I go but think for the sake of ease I'll go with a kit (£40). If I'm feeling particularly helpful I'll post all the sizes in this thread to help others. Just waiting to hear back from ducati Re the gaskets. Found all the screws today, freshly electroplated, all in one bag though.. Any tips for working out what screw goes where! Also, I've some 748R forks, can someone enlighten me regarding the brake caliper and disc matching, from memory, having to fork out for new front discs is a costly exercise. Jamie
What forks are they? Showa or Ohlins. Showa uses stock discs the same as other 748's, Ohlins have a different offset on the discs. There are some specialist bolts situated throughout the bike and also some that have smaller heads compared to stock. It's impossible to list them. Maybe a photo of them spread out might help as I or others would them be able to recognise where they go. All my bikes have stainless bolts throughout apart from any special bolts that have no alternative.
Additionally just noticed the mono subframe is for an 9** SPS and will only take the P8 ECU, the 16M on the stock biposto will not fit without modification.
The forks are Showa, they have a TiN plating and have a slightly wider mounting bracket for the calipers. Believed to be off a 916,996 or 748... They are not currently with me so i cannot provide measurements, photos etc. Annoyingly! The subframe, I may have fettled (presume just mounting points) to fit, as it does look lovely.
Stock forks in that case but with later 65mm bolt spacing for caliper fixing. Any non Ohlins fork discs will fit from a 748 onwards. Mounting points for ECU can be modified but it's a bit of a job but by no means impossible. You will need to make up brackets and have them welded in to match the biposto ECU position
Some more progress today, still no actual assembling but some engine painting. I did start to mask off the areas for spraying but I was having a bit of a nightmare so decided to paint the engine by hand. Massively impressed with the results. This is what i used. This is how it came out like. I just now need to decide what colour to paint the green parts. I'm thinking gold, unless someone tells me i'm mad, otherwise i'll go for black I think. Thoughts?
My son has powdercoated gold cases on his race bike and I have black side casings on one bike. Either looks good but nicely finished green\bronze cases do make a bike look very original. This is what black cases look like when it's all together, My 748R engined 748S which doubles as my track bike.
If you take a sliver of the case paint to RS Bike Paints they'll be able to match it. That's what I did with the fuglystrada engine.
Thanks for the replies. I'm going for black. It will be cheaper and the coverage of the flaking bronze will be much easier. Think I may treat myself to a carbon clutch cover (non open) to finish it off.
I went for black in the end, and very pleased that I did. The pictures don't show it in its best light but you get the idea. Alt and clutch covers next.
Clutch and side cover done last night. Considering it was done in situ I think it came out very well. Will replace the bolts and gasket once fully dried.
