Bad news from the motor shop

Post your general FAQs, comments & questions regarding all Ducati engine & transmission restoration here. [Specific engine FAQs should go in the 'BevelHeaven Garage' section.]
Post Reply
mizike77
860 GT / GTS
Posts: 272
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 9:37 am

Bad news from the motor shop

Post by mizike77 »

My darmah, wich has been an ongoing project, is down and out. I did a top end, new pistons, bored over, lapped the valves, blah blah. The bike never seemed up to par. It always felt low on power. The front cylinder was getting oild fouled and the rear cylinder has low compresion. I finnaly got tired of looking at it in its poor state so I pulled the engine and brought it to my mechanic for evaluation. He said one of the guides in the front head was ovaled,,,,kind of what I thought he would find. But, both cylinders are in bad shape. Seems both cylinders are worn down low in the stroke. As if something is coming up from the bottom and getting in there. I draind the oil and didnt find any metal in the oil or the strainer, but he has yet to pull the oil filter and look in there. At this point he recommends splitting the cases and doing a thorough investigation. I do not have the funds for that, or a crank rebuild at this point. The side to side freeplay in the rods checks out fine. At this point Im thinking of either parting her out or slapping it back together and selling as a running project. It breaks my heart to think of selling !
79 Darmah
78 900 GTS
86 F1B
80 SSD
02 Harley FXD
72 H2 750 triple
08 KTM 300XC
there has yet to be a motorcycle line made that is as satisfying to ride, hear and look at as the ducati bevels
Grover
Diana
Posts: 69
Joined: Wed Jun 21, 2006 3:50 am
Location: Grafton NSW Australia

Post by Grover »

If you don't want to sell it, push it into a corner of the shed and cover her up untill you can afford to rebuild her, its not costing you anything to store her!!!!
The older we get, the more toys we collect!!!
wdietz186
Cagiva Alazzura
Posts: 707
Joined: Sun Sep 10, 2006 5:40 pm

Post by wdietz186 »

Is this the one you put the Wiseco 87's in? It seems a bit early for the bores to be worn unless they either weren't cleaned properly after boring/hone or they were set up too tight and you ran it too hard and they partially siezed. The squarecase engines are a bit hard on the pistons due to the shorter rods compared to the roundcases but you have to really hammer them to notice it.Was the engine beadblasted? If not cleaned thoroughly it can ingest beads and make a mess of things.
mizike77
860 GT / GTS
Posts: 272
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 9:37 am

Post by mizike77 »

wdietz186 wrote:Is this the one you put the Wiseco 87's in? It seems a bit early for the bores to be worn unless they either weren't cleaned properly after boring/hone or they were set up too tight and you ran it too hard and they partially siezed. The squarecase engines are a bit hard on the pistons due to the shorter rods compared to the roundcases but you have to really hammer them to notice it.Was the engine beadblasted? If not cleaned thoroughly it can ingest beads and make a mess of things.
The cylinders were bead blasted but the bores were clean. Maybe the oil wys werent? I would think the cams and such would show wear also if that were the case but all seems fine up top. Maybe a poor break in? I may have been a bit ham fisted during break in.Thats all I can come up with.
79 Darmah
78 900 GTS
86 F1B
80 SSD
02 Harley FXD
72 H2 750 triple
08 KTM 300XC
there has yet to be a motorcycle line made that is as satisfying to ride, hear and look at as the ducati bevels
Post Reply

Return to “Engine & Transmission Shop”