Freshly delivered to Seattle from Santa Fe, this 1978 Ducati Darmah will be parting with its motor (6500 original miles) to accommodate my precious little beast below, a/k/a Darmola, which lost the ability to engage first gear last summer. Other than some crust-n-dust, the entire machine is in very good original condition.
My plan is to drop the 'new' Darmah motor into the Darmola, drop a 1982 Darmah motor (approx. 10600 original miles) into the 'new' Darmah, clean it up real nice, get her running just as nicely and sell to recoup some of the $$$ spent for both the '82 motor and the '78 complete bike.
I purchased the '82 motor this past January thinking that it would install into my frame without hassle. While it was in route from upstate New York, I realized the later 900SD series only had the electric starter, and no kick start. My legs are strong and so is my disdain for how the electric start primary cover looks. Well, I couldn't settle with this, leading me to buy a complete early Darmah for the sole purpose of getting my paws on a low-mileage kickstart squarecase motor.
However, being relatively new to the realm of bevel drive Ducati twins, I thought buying a complete '78 Darmah with a low-mileage engine would solve all my problems with not being on the road. What do you know!!!? I discovered that the starter gear would have to be removed before a SS primary cover could be fit. Also, my previous motor was ported, flowed and dual-plugged with use of 40mm Dellorto pumper carburetors. The 'new' motor is stock with 32mm Dellortos for which I will have to rebuild and install flip choke levers.
Spring is here and as usual, I must be patient, learn a great deal more about bevel drive twins, get the correct tools for the job, drop a bunch of cash and smile once the carbs are synched and I'm riding with the road flying below my feet.
Cheers - Chris
Barn Beauty - Recently Acquired
The Receiver
'82 Darmah Motor (Left), Rebuild Candidate (Right)
