darmah with 40mm dellortos is it worth it?

faceache · Post by **faceache** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 7:09 pm

i bought my ssd with 40mm carbs on it and contis .Does this bike prefer smaller carbs for the midrange as im thinking big carbs work at big revs and with hotted cams etc. I spend the majority of my time not on full throttle, would i be better off with 36 32s. Are the cams on the darmah the same as ss. Any advice , experience , ideas?

wdietz186 · Post by **wdietz186** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 8:28 pm

I've yet to see a Darmah or SS Idle very well with 40's The 32's are much more tractable at lower speeds and the chokes improve cold starting and running. If you have the 32's I'd install them and see if you like them. It's my understanding they are getting kind of hard to find. The 36's will work ok but you might have to change the manifolds as the new 36's are spigot mount instead of clamp mount. Unless you can find some carbs off an Alazzura I think they will fit right on. I'm pretty sure the cams are the same,if the paint marks on the end are blue/ black.

MartinMille BANNED · Post by **MartinMille BANNED** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 1:45 pm

Didn't the SSD's have the same heads as an SS ? and std SD head had a smaller intake ports as narrower inlet manifold studs to suit the 32 and 36 carbs. as far as cranks go the SD is milder than the SSD and SS's .
For all round 36's would be the go but here in OZ there is only one carb to have

cafe*racer · Post by **cafe*racer** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 4:01 pm

I never seem to hear anyone mention 34's?

Kickaha · Post by **Kickaha** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 11:44 pm

Martin Mille / SSD wrote: For all round 36's would be the go but here in OZ there is only one carb to have

Mikuni?

MartinMille BANNED · Post by **MartinMille BANNED** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 12:23 am

Nah its gata be delortos you wont find jap carbs on my bike

Here is one for you these are 40mm carbs taken out to 42mm , the bell is bolted into place and plugs have been added where the screw hole used to be ,the intake has also been taken out to 42mm, the carb and bell were then spun on a lathe you can not see the fine line in the pic's but it is there you can not feel the change over from bell to intake same with the bolt plugs
check the spring difference and the slide diameter over a std 40mm slide

We took the engine apart to fix an oil gallery leak and found it had a 3.5k crank and rods in it , I didnt get the chance to take a good look at the heads, but I would say that they have been ported as well , still finding out what cams are in the beast
It turns out that this engine is a race engine that has had major work done to it

Sorry Faceache for high jacking your post

Your SSD will run fine on 36's or 40's

cheers

Vince · Post by **Vince** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 2:43 am

Gowanlocks used to sell Delordo carbs badged as Malosi that were 41mm
or 41.5mm cannot remember,I supose the same crowd who made the airfuilters.

garryc · Post by **garryc** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 8:09 am

As soon as Phil @ R & R sends me a 32mm inlet manifold my darmah will have the 32's back on. Standard Darmah with 58 mm stud spacing cannot vouch for the originality of this though. With the 40 mm's idles like a pig hates to be ridden in town great, no choke Looking forward to trying the 32's next week

wdietz186 · Post by **wdietz186** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 7:16 pm

Martin, Those carbs are Malossi modified Dellortos. They were pretty common on modified bevels and early beltdrives. Most of the ones I've seen were 41mm. They work very well but aren't too good for street use. But the polished bellmouths are pure moto porn!

Kickaha · Post by **Kickaha** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 10:12 pm

Martin Mille / SSD wrote:Nah its gata be delortos you wont find jap carbs on my bike

A guy here ran Mikunis on his 900, he said once they were set up properly they were far better than the orignal Dellortos, it started better, it idled better, it was more economical and made more power

I'm not a purist I'll use what works best regardless of country of origin and I'm told I can get good results with 41mm Keihin FCRs

I had 40mm Dellorto on my Darmah and always intended changing to something smaller, it idled ok, but was always a bastard to start and with stock heads I doubted there was any real benefit and it'd only run about 140km to a tank before reserve when thrashed

sevicke · Post by **sevicke** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 12:18 am

yip 38 mikuni flatslides on mine goes well the old 32 or what ever they were were worn so thats what i did bout 18 years ago but no more problems in that departmentsince then seems to go good. Pistons and rods are V2 gear there good too

sevicke · Post by **sevicke** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 12:26 am

the flatslides apparently produce more torque certainly better than b4 on my sd900 never thougth they were too big not so keen on the K@N filters that relaced the airbox. The main problem with my old carbs was the wear
plus I was a boy back then and wanted to go fast.

machten · Post by **machten** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 7:47 am

I think it depends what you want to ride. I look at Bill's earlier comment and i have to agree. As an owner of 3 darmahs and having messed around a lot over 30 years of ownership, I've come to the conclusion that the 32mm doesn't give away much, and starts better, idles better and is far more city tractable than a 40mm setup.

Kev

Pescara · Post by **Pescara** » Fri May 01, 2009 9:17 am

My '80 900SS has 40-mm carbs and idles consistently after a couple of minutes warm up. In comparison with a Darmah I had for several years, with 32-mm carbs, there is no difference in idle performance. The engine with 32-mm carbs felt crisper on partial throttle, but made considerably less power. Its a trade-off, and I imagine that 36-mm carbs on the manifolds intended for the 32's would be a reasonable compromise if you ran across a set... Buy a ratty Cagiva Alazzurra and swap the carbs :-)

If you want a gentlemanly bevel Ducati, try a 750GT with 30-mm carbs and mild, original cams. When set up properly their refinement reminds me of a 60s BMW, only smoother and with (slightly) more power. I think a lot of people have forgotten that the first Italian twins were not intended to be fire breathers, examples being the 750 GT, Guzzi V7, and early Laverda 750. Any of the three (especially the Laverda) will idle at ridiculously low speeds.

A Darmah engine has the same cams as an SS, unless the SS is fitted with the so-called Imola race cams. Neglecting the different side cover and electric start, the principal differences between the Darmah and SS engines are the quality of the con-rods and the manifold stud spacing, but during the course of Darmah production those differences went away and it morphed into an SS-spec engine with electric start. It made no sense to produce two slightly different variations of essentially the same desmo engine.

MartinMille BANNED · Post by **MartinMille BANNED** » Fri May 01, 2009 2:14 pm

True the SD engine is much the same base engine , but the SD never had the polished Rod's that all SS had from the beginning , and apart from the weight and length of the bike that is about where the similarities stop
The SS is just more refined if you will ....Can of worms anyone