Thanks Although the first one I found was quite interesting albeit a bit distracting whilst on the road.
Took the frame in to my mates factory today to fully weld it… its easier on the big bench, and his gas is a 10th of the cost of my small bottle at home! I noticed the cracks on the underside of the cross over frame tubes, both sides! really glad that I braced it now. I don’t feel its the best designed frame…
well I dye pen tested all the welds on the frame today, all OK apart from the obvious ones... been stripping the wheels tonight, first I had problems getting the front bearings out as the inner spacer tube is a tight fit and I could not get on edge of the bearing to knock it out, ended up grinding a piece of flat with a tang on... this soon had it our. MUCH harder were the cush rubbers... I simply could not get to the back of them to get them out. I made a split collet in the end and pulled them out with a big socket!
Bit of a departure from bike building just for a change... thought I would share a couple of other projects I have done recently... One bike related... a table lamp for my study made from a scrap 1000DS piston and barrel. Not bike related, a fire pit come BBQ that I made Stainless Steel. I had the dish spun out of a 750mm diameter blank of 6mm stainless 316. its an interesting process! Initially it was going to be just one grill, but my wife said she wanted a separate veggie grill... hence the two! Bonus brownie points! its been used a lot over the summer, when the BBQ is done, the grills come off, and we throw a few logs on and it becomes a fire pit!
I did the tappets… pleased to say they were all in tolerance! I also took the cams out to check the rockers, they were pretty near perfect, which was a relief! Took the frame to the powder coaters… but he called me today to say there were marks on one of the frame and he was not happy to coat over them… they must have been under the original paint with filler in them! I took it back home and just touched them with a sharp drill and TIG welded them up and sanded them down. I have also Etch primed the engine ready for a coat of 2K silver tomorrow. It took a lot of hours to remove the paint. I was lucky to find 5 LTR of old stock paint stripper which should keep me going a long time. the modern stuff is next to useless. I masked the engine off, a tip i picked up when I was an apprentice in a Bentley dealership for making gaskets was to tap around the gasket material with a plastic hammer... I do the same masking off.. put the tape on and go around the edge with a small plastic hammer. you get a perfect edge!
I've made gaskets that way hundreds of times when I couldn't afford to buy the proper ones but never thought of doing it to masking tape - good tip
Hi, where did you get the valve adjustment check/record sheet from please? I could do with one of those, it'd be neater than my hand written sheet of A4. TIA
I see a lot of builds spoilt by detail, and have been guilty of it myself in the past, in particular withe old plated parts... One thing I gave been meaning to do for a long time is have a go at DIY plating. Well I did some today and I have to say I am quite pleased with the results! I have used the blue passivate but there is a yellow gold one in the kit.
Parts all plated! Start of putting the engine back together! I know its a risk but I have decided to go open belts, I just love the look... If anyone notices the weld on the engine stand, well I am truly ashamed... I have no excuse other than i was really down on gas, and had the wrong tip in the MIG welder. A poor workman always blames his tools so they say!
Sure, I used the £55 zinc kit from the company below. the only addition is I used an old fish tank pump to agitate the water. they are quite cheap on Ebay. Remember to keep the lid on chemicals when not in use, some are highly corrosive in the atmosphere! https://www.gaterosplating.co.uk/
the frame and wheels are back from the shot blasters... another superb job by Redditch Shotblasters! he really is a meticulous guy! he does a nice Ducati Red, and a matt gold very close to the original!
Thanks! well the engine is all back together… there wont be any updates for a while as I have to divert my attention to making a jewellery box for my wife for Christmas!
Is the shape still as per this post? Ducati St4s Custom Build My S4 special was originally slated to have an adapted 999 tank but it ended up with a 916 item for the simple reason that I had one in my shed. My project hasn’t been done to anything like this level of detail though. I only wish I had the facilities, space and much more importantly, the skill, to do a ground up rebuild and redesign like this. Looking forward to the updates
yes Zhed46, its the same... I am using a 999 tank Finished off the clamps and top yoke... and gave everything a polish... Polishing is a long, dirty, and quite dangerous job! I try to do everything at once as it makes a mess in the workshop!
