Hey all Had my 1995 748 for around 6 months and loved every minute of riding it throughout the summer. Now it's got bloody cold she will be hibernating in the garage soon and I'm thinking of removing the engine to strip and rebuild it. She has a few oil leaks and could generally do with a bit of love here and there. I'm am reasonably compitent with cars but this is my first bike, with a Haynes manual and workshop manual is this beyond the skill of a home enthusiast? Thought about paying someone to do it but would love to learn about the bike and fancy the challenge. Will I be wishing I hadn't started it or is it just a case of being methodical and taking my time? All advice welcome. Cheers Dave
I must admit when it comes to building engines I would get a pro to do it I've taken um out and fitted loads by the actual engine il leave to experts. to much to go wrong to just have ago. If it's apart go 853 it's a great conversion.
Thanks cookster, good advice. So is dropping the engine out relatively simple in comparison? I suppose dropping it out myself would reduce the costs and would allow me to sort all of the other bits out whilst the engine is being sorted!
If your going to do that I would suggest getting the engine coated as ducati attempts at coatings are abysmal to say the best... I would suggest xylan as a coating... Heres my 525 supermoto engine before and after... Not cheap but it's everything proof. Xylan is used on oil rig applications to its very hard wearing...
Bear in mind the swing arm pivot pin can be a bastard to remove on bikes that haven't been looked after well.
Engine parts are expensive, it cost me £900 in parts alone to rebuild my 748R engine. An expert eye really is required to strip and rebuild one of these engines and if you have no experience of building them you could easily miss something on the strip down. It's also important to set the end float in the cases for the crank so you will need things like a dial gauge and shims as well as certain other tools if you want to tackle it yourself. The primary gear is also often very difficult to pull off and not only requires the special puller (£300 for a genuine one) but also some skill in using it properly without damaging the gear. Personally unless you are well qualified in things mechanical and have the full range of special tools at your disposal then I would leave it to a professional. I can recommend Ducati John, as he did my engine for a decent price and it needed a lot of work as many parts were worn or damaged. Ducati John
+100 on that I think my 525 rebuild cost 1200 in the end... Half of that was the coating and the labour to do it but, it was worth it in the end as last year I deliberately rode it through January in all weather's (including salted Roads) and left it to go crusty. Took about a half hour to get back to the pic above. If and when the hypers engine needs to come out it'll be getting the same treatment. Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk
This place did.... Shot Peening & Specialist Xylan Coatings | Sandwell UK The lad that did it has a sidecar outfit so loves it when he gets bike stuff to do.... Bulk of the cost was for masking off. My mate had a katana engine done and it cost a bit less as the engine was simpler... Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
Thanks, don't mean to highjack the thread but I've got a brand new set of 748 cases that have suffered from being on a damp pallet. Andy
You won't go wrong.... He's a real stickler for perfection.... They'll come back looking like new. In fact while mine was being rebuilt people were coming into my mates workshop asking how he'd got hold of a brand new 10 year old engine... Yeah... Sorry about that op.... It really is worth doing especially with ducs.... Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
I had a partially build ( bottom end ) engine that was already done by hacketts coventry .I decided to take the engine with the rest of the loose parts to louigi moto in Bristol after a recommendation from someone on here who has had 2 race engines built by them Lovely helpful owner,found several parts were more suited to race spec so changed those over ,and managed to supply lots of small missing parts too,as the engine has been in bits for 6 years! Came back ready to slot back into the frame and i know its ready to go once the rest of the bike is back together
Yep. Rich is brilliant (louigi). I try to go over if I've got an excuse to (live about 15 mins away) Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk
