Rolling Restoration - 750ss Ie

The story so far -

Bike acquired late last autumn from the lowlands of Scotland - bought
unseen as it a very long way from sunny Devon ............... decided to
flog the 1100 evo monster and delve back in time. The bike was in need
of TLC but I was assured it all worked - about 20k on the clock.

It seems to have started life as a dark model but I noted the twin front disk setup which I do not think was ever standard for a "dark" ? Had OE seat and Corbin seat + Silmotor pipes so I figured there was a few quid in them
if needed.

Bike couriered down and, not surprisingly, the dark paintwork was pretty tired and a previous keeper was obviously a Stones fan - "paint it black" ... cheap black paint on everything but happily not the wheels, fairings, tank or frame.
What to do ?
After some cogitation decided on a senna scheme which best suited the frame as I didn't want to rip it all to pieces. The wheels were tired but paintable without shot blasting. Peripheral mechanics needed sorting but first a cosmetic tidy up.
Wheels, fairings, tank all came off and down to the paint shop. I was concerned the brake disc bolts would be pigs to remove and so it proved. Rear wheel bolts easy - not chromed and deeper than front disc bolts. All the front ones came off with "persuasion" except one ! Murphys law. The local engineering shop extracted this and helicoiled so paint could go ahead.
Exhaust all off and cleaned up with brass brush drill bit and elbow grease.

Started to removed black paint from all ali. foot hangers, headstock and engine cases. Started to remove the cases to facilitate this but the fins and barrels are pretty horrible and engine removal really needed to clean off all the black paint properly - this will be stage 2 next winter. Left the engine cases and got off as much of the black stuff as I could. I will polish this regularly when I am bored .....

Most of the ali came back to life - I reckon the bike has been parked outside for some of its life and one side only had surface tarnish underneath the paint but the other side was worse.

The swing arm was cleaned up but will need to come off next year, be shot blasted and repainted. The original silver paint has been damaged to the metal by contact with the edge of the silmotor pipes before those pipes were packed out from their hangers.

The paint shop helpfully advised they could fix slight cracku=ing around the mirror fixing points but were not happy with the inside of the fuel tank. Some rust apparent and worse deterioration around the inside lower adges

 

cont .. they welded up the edges and I took the tank home for a po5 (?) treatment. What a great job that was ! A mornings work putting in and getting out the various nasty chemicals but I was pleased with the end result and could see why the paint shop were not keen on spending the time doing it! The foam tank pad was in poor condition so we agreed the fixing "bump" would be removed and a carbon pad put in its place.
Picked up all the painted bits a few days before christmas and then started to put everything back again - as usual trying to recall how bearings, spacers and washers all went together. The exhaust headers had been bodged back on in a previous life but after much annoyance ( particularly the vertical cylinder) I think I have re attached them per the somewhat incomplete Haynes manual. Why did Ducati adopt such a strange system with the collets ?
Most bolts and fixings showed some signs of copper grease and the wheel spindles were well lubed. however the front light/instrument frame was quite rusty in places and the instrument dials were loose - turns out the holders were both cracked at the fixings - possible overtightened or knocked. The foam surround had horrible faux carbon half stuck on it but this pulled off ok and the glue bits also came away without chunks of the foam. The frame has been wire brushed and painted with smooth satin hammerite, the holders re glued back together - I may splash out on decent second hand bits for all this at stage 2.
The forks and rear shock were cleaned, serviced and reinstalled, before I dismantled everything the belts were replaced plus I cleaned and checked the front brake pads. The bike arrived with a virtually non functioning rear brake. The pads were dead and bleed nipple seized. After changing the pads and re bleeding I had an effective brake but now their was a slight binding problem. There seemed to be no cylinder service kit available but a new master cylinder is not too pricey and has sorted this out.
The bike also arrived with a clutch action only at the lever fully pulled in - tried bleeding this but not much different - resolved with a new master cylinder assembly - surprisingly available as a new part and not stupidly costly.
The steering head bearing was loose on delivery - tried to tighten but not happy under reasonably enthusiastic braking so some new bearings have gone in.
Whilst the wheels were in bits I carefully resprayed the gold brake disc inners . The chain and sprockets were completely cleaned, then the rear sprocket resprayed silver. I removed the belt covers, took off the glorious black paint and respayed these properly.
The standard handlebar position seems extreme - I am getting ancient - but a pair of slightly raised ali bars from china ( £23 ???!!) have gone on ok and the brake/clutch reservoirs just clear the fairings. The position is now bearable around town. I changed the grips and bar ends at the same time.
Black paint was removed from the front brake lever to match the new silver clutch lever that came with the new master cylinder.
The tacho needle is a bit wobbly - like the damping is faulty - but I imagine the only cure is to replace the whole thing - it is accurate enough to endure at present
In using the bike over the last couple of months there is a hiccough around 4000 rpm but not always. The TPS connector has just been cleaned up and has reduced the occurrence but not entirely. I have a california works TPS replacement standing by. I have also fitted exact start leads for the battery and have the starter motor ones to do - the bike has no issues with starting, the gearbox feels loose in a good way and I can actually find neutral most of he time at a junction - unlike the monster 1100evo ..... so much for progress. The battery has held a charge ok.
I suspect the clutch may need some attention as energetic pullaways induce some judder at higher rpm - recommends please for sensible spring/plate prices please ?
After debate I decided to resell the Silmotor "silencers" and bought some decent nick OE ones instead. the weight/bulk penalty is offset by a neighbour friendly noise reduction and better fitment - at 7000 rpm it is quite loud enough for me. The corbin seat is staying as it allows more rearward movement at decent speed - though certainly no more comfortable per se and weighs a stupid amount .............. I will keep an eye out for a second hand sargent version.
I'm trying an MRA touring screen but probably not much different on this particular bike/my size. Fitted easily in 10 minutes.
Now to put on some miles and enjoy an unstressed engine and sufficient road performance to keep up with the traffic ! I reckon cost to date has been on a par with buying the same model in good nick with full service history - the plus to me has been the (mostly) enjoyable process of recovering a somewhat neglected machine and the fact I am now very familiar with it.

 

thanks

Sourced a £23 set of raised (fixed) bars from China off fleabay -
they turned up within a week or so , posted from Germany !!?/@@
I took a punt but for £23 it really didn't matter too much. The
only fitting issue is that the master cylinder reservoirs on both sides
just foul slightly on the mouldings where the bars meet the fork clamp mouldings - because the clamp mouldings are thicker than the OE handlebar clamps. Sorted by putting some small spring washers
between the brake and clutch lever clamps so that they still fix securely
to the bars but don't foul anymore - if you blow up the picture of the handlebars you can see a silver washer on the clamps.
After fitting them I was pleasantly surprised that the reservoirs just clear the fairings.
One note of caution re china ..... a couple of weeks after buying the bars my credit card was deducted two payments from china for shoes I did not order...
refunded OK by cc company and card changed but someone had got hold of my cc details and the only correct purchase from china I had made was the bars ... possibly a co-incidence ?

Noted re clutch stuff.

 

Paint shop did all the decals -Art Attack Designs here in sunny Plymouth

 

Continuation of restoration - sorting out running issue

I imagined I would quickly resolve the running issue previously noted ...
ha, ha. - then enjoy a summers riding before stage 2 cosmetic upgrade
over this winter.

But we are talking Ducati and she is never that simple.

Brief re-cap, bike started fine but developed persistent "cough" around 4000 revs and higher rpm. It still went and didn't quite cut out but needed sorting to enjoy the ride, the issue was also potentially dangerous pulling onto roundabouts or away from lights due to the sudden loss of power as the engine "coughed".

My usual independent small business mechanic didn't have the diagnostic gear to interrogate the system and hopefully diagnose the problem, so it was off to the main dealer to seek help. They test rode the bike and agreed the symptoms, kept the bike to investigate. Their diag.gear advised the temp plug on the front cylinder not functioning and ECU not right. Gulp. New plug fine but new ECU out of question on cost so asked Durham Ducs who sent down second hand one. Dealer then advised original ECU was OK (!! ?@)............. said TPS was ok but bike definitely running very lean on one cylinder, Suggested possible air leak somewhere, valve clearances not right ?? Didn't really have time to resolve issues without me agreeing to mega expense.

Since I reckoned the valve clearances should be looked at anyway as they are so often neglected due to hassle of access the bike went back to the independent mechanic. Most of the clearances were indeed "out" and at the same time he checked all rubber seals through airbox to engine and removed, tested and cleaned injectors as they are all accessible once airbox comes out and were a potential source of deficient fueling. The injectors were working but worked better after the cleanup. Unfortunately the "coughing" was now worse and much lower in the rev range !

Reasoning that, if there were no air leaks the issue must be lack of fuel, back in garage chez moi I dismantled the airbox, wondered if the fuel pressure flow might be the issue and replaced the fuel pressure regulator just in case. The housing was pretty mucky when I extracted the original
and I hoped this may cure all. I also checked the air hoses in the fuel tank and tried to see if there were any leaks in the fuel pipes in the tank. Seemed Ok and pump functioned fine on start up.

All back together and still not running properly ... Mr Frustration.

Enter Louigi Moto. Not on my doorstep or even that close - 120 miles - but Richard (owner) seemed interested in fixing problem and thought they would be able to resolve same, so bike sent up to them.

It seemed I was on the right track but not altogether surprisingly, I doubt I would have fixed the several issues at root. The main problem turned out to be a faulty fuel pump - this pressured up the system correctly but then failed to maintain the pressure - hence the reliable starting but poor running. The TPS was indeed functioning ok but set up incorrectly. The throttle bodies were out of balance. Last, and entirely my fault, a piece of fuel tubing I had replaced from the filter to the outlet was leaking - this is all inside the fuel tank and very hard to detect without doing a pressure check after every thing else works properly.

Collected bike last week and battled the gale force winds back to SW Devon
without any running issues - Hurrah !

Lessons learned ?

Main dealers are super busy and somewhat costly - probably better at sorting out niggly issues when they are in quiet periods. Happily Durham Ducs were quite OK to swap back the ECU thet sent me for some other cosmetic bits I wanted.

Don't assume the fuel pump is working ok because it is functioning - a relatively cheap pressure test gauge would have diagnosed the principle issue with my bike fault.

Worth running a ducati problem past Louigi Moto if you are reasonably close to them as they
race and fix lots of belt drive dukes.

 

Thanks for kind comments
winter plans are to;

Remove swing arm, remove old finish and repaint. There is some damage and rusty patches to the original finish where the ill -fitted replacement silencers were biffed by the swing arm.

Possible replace the front forks with re-worked items from ST2 or ST4. The current ones are agricultural in operation and virtually nonadjustable.I am advised these are straight swaps ?

Carry on scraping off the horrid black paint on the cylinders, etc - this is a very slow process and I really ought to drop the engine out but I'm not
ready for that hassle. The scraping approach is quite therapeutic and allows use of the bike at the same time !

In the meantime, I will enjoy the benefits of reasonably old fashioned biking with no electronic gizmos in sight.