After a years general use I debated a winter removal of the engine to strip off all the remaining black paint that had been applied in the past - by an owner with shares in black paint sprays ………..my garage is unheated and the thought of grubbing around in the cold did not appeal until a week before our universal C19 “lockdown”. The weather in the South West this winter was pretty miserable in its unrelenting combination of drizzle, grey skies and chill but March usually produced a few weeks sunshine and more early evening light - more conducive to DIY mechanics. The forecast was getting warmer – So Mr Haynes was consulted and I started to remove all the bits necessary to extract the engine. I have plenty of garage rafters to hang straps and ratchets for lifting and support plus a couple of standard car jacks to take the weight of the engine before lifting off the frame + front end – I found my mobile workmate most useful to support the back of the frame once the swing arm/ rear wheel was removed.(see picture) The engine came out without too much trauma but I made my first mistake of failing to record exactly where every screw etc came from – thinking that keeping all similar components together would mean I could remember how to put it all back together – WRONG !! I was intending to remove both main engine cases , belts, starter motor, etc - to facilitate professional bead or sand blasting but then………….. Change of plan C19 lockdown was imposed a few days later so the professional route was out unless I was prepared to wait until who knows when. I work from home anyway so no change there. I removed everything that is attached to the engine but does not require specialist ducati tools ( I have virtually none) and left the engine intact, given that the re-paint would now be brush applied and I should not have to worry too much about beads/sand getting into the internals. POR de-greaser, metal prep and aluminium paint was ordered and the seeming endless task of getting all the black paint off the engine started. I discovered there are endless nooks and crannies in an air cooled engine – the black paint tended to have welded itself to the inaccessible areas but flaked off many others without effort on my part. Second mistake was leaving the engine at floor level to attack the paint removal – this screwed up my lower back after 10 days of evening and weekend very patient scrapping, wire brushing ( mechanical and manual) . Eventually I woke up and, with wife assisted muscle power, we used sons old skate board to push engine into the garden and then lifted it onto my workmate (see picture). The weather had improved immensely down here with four or five days of light winds, sunshine and no rain arriving. I re-painted the covers to the valve cams to see if I could get an acceptable finish – (see picture), these looked ok. Another couple of days were used to get rid of the last of the black paint, degrease, wash, metal prep, wash and dry the engine unit see picture of work-in-progress) – look my mind off my screwed up lower back muscles ( though the pills also helped) and the boring lockdown – at least I couldn’t miss riding this particular bike or any bike at present! The paint was then applied over three or four days in sections – mostly one coat per instructions on tin. A thicker consistency than normal gloss paint – not dissimilar to smooth “Hammerite” but brush cleaned off in white spirit / brush restorer unlike “Hammerite”. A spray application would have given a better finish but I could not source POR engine paint in a spray. The advantage of the brush application is a lot less mess and control. (see pictures for finished job) – the cases were not corroded except the starter motor case – in an ideal world I wanted to remove the starter motor but this requires pullers to remove the left hand engine/clutch case – to access all the fixing screws for the motor. I can revisit this at a later date if the new paint surface of the motor doesn’t last well – it does sit in line for collecting all road crud. The engine paint takes a week to harden off in ideal temperatures and seems reasonably resistant to bumps and knocks as I reassembled the bike. We lifted the engine back into the garage on the Workmate, then onto the jack, surrounded by other word blocks to keep the engine level. I found an old zimmer frame by the bins which made an ideal platform for the rear of the frame (see picture !)– allowing us to wheel the frame back around the engine – I wondered if I should leave the zimmer instead of a rear wheel but cornering might have been an issue ………..Most annoying moment so far has been the discovery of a fourth swing arm shim washer after I had reattached all the rear end …………. when I removed the spindle I carefully left the washers on the spindle shaft but this one must have dropped off the spindle in storage, then “hid” under other bits. It seems the number of shim washers varies – my bike now has two on either end of the swing arm spindle, one very slim and the other “normal” washer dimensions. Second annoying moments have been trying to remember which engine casing screws went where – some are obvious, some not so clear. I have one missing now so I will have to annoy the local bolt supplier when they re-open. In removing the engine several other issues surfaced – the crankcase breather valve fell into two pieces as I unscrewed it and turns out it must have happened before, one of the valve “flaps” was broken off inside and had been replaced with a similar shaped piece of tin. I have scrapped off the black paint which coated the exterior of the valve housing, re-glued the valve case together and am waiting to some thread sealant to arrive so I can seal and screw valve back into engine casing. It was working fine before but I will replace if there is oil seepage. I thought it would be a good idea to remove and clean the sump oil filter but found it impossible to extract the same – the cover plug unscrewed from the engine case without trauma but the filter would not budge – even after some major force on the 14mm allen key. There is no evidence of anything nasty in the old engine oil but I will get the Ducati man to check the filter when he changes the belts – I had visions of the filter part disintegrating in situ if I applied any more force. I imagine the filter should normally be just over “finger tight” Various unconnected pieces of wire have come to light, some obviously left from the unknown past and one piece ending in a connector and which is a mystery at present – if it all works the wire must be redundant! I have no memory of dis-connecting this particular wire from anything…………. Bearing in mind this bike arrived with me in a pretty tatty state and, when all is said and done, is “only” a 750ss ie, a pristine restoration was never contemplated or remotely cost effective –plus I ride it regularly come rain or shine ………. more a DIY project keeping outside help to a minimum. We will see how the new engine finish holds up. Start up time approaches, the new oil is settling down, the exhaust silencers need to go on and check for all bolts/screws adequately tightened before I press the button. Will it still all work? Ladies and Gentlemen, place your bets.
I’m in the same pickle with the lock down, whole bike striped can’t really get on as I’m at a point where there not a lot I can do with out outside help. I’m just glad I hadn’t sent the wheels off to be blasted, there would have been no guarantee that I would have got them back with the chance that slot of business could go under. Bike looks good well done!!
Cracking job, you used POR engine paint? Their products are good. I have a 900 Senna, love this colour scheme.
Thanks for comments Found where the "spare/loose" wire goes - Gearbox neutral light attached to sensor at back of engine block !!...... All electrics ok when ignition turned on - will press starter tomorrow, fingers crossed. I might be able to justify my weekly shopping trip to get the engine up to temp.
It worked @@?@!!!!! Fired up first time and now needs a good run out to see how many oil leaks develop once everything is up to temperature - there was some seepage from garage tickover test - was probably one of the valve covers, but needs a serious road test, cool off and tighten up everything as necessary. The sun is shining and the roads are empty, temptation...
