750GT Rolling Basket Challange

[geodoc]

Heh Joe,

Not so much anymore. Worked on aircraft in Gen Av sheet metal mostly until '81 then at Boeing for a year in 767 flight test instrumentation, then more instrumentation for small aircraft mfg. and Gen Av stuff until '89 then started flying floatplanes in Alaska. Did that all over the place (SE Alaska, Maldives, Dubai, Seattle, BC) until 2011 then bowed out. Still do a ferry job or a trip for a private float plane owner once in a while and 4-5 annuals a year, but mostly retired and overhauling old Rolls & Bentley engines and Italian bike restorations / maintenance.

I went to Atlanta Area Tech for the A&P course. Is that where you went or does it still even exist? BTW, I grew up near Ashford-Dunwoody & 285 / Chamblee High School. Atlanta? Can't stand it now, though I have to admit NOWHERE has better BBQ. Then there's Savannah - cracked crab and hush puppies!

You may have heard of a Ducati guy that had a shop some years back in Athens GA - John Hoffman / Cycle Specialties. He was the guy that got me interested in motorcycles way back when he had a gas station / Volvo repair up the hill from the VA hospital in Decatur. You have a Ducati?

They are. I had been over there once to talk about working in avionics after I finished the avionics program at a local tech school. They didn't have any spots available at the time, so I eventually got hired in with Delta working on ground support equipment (still in the same shop to this day). I have finished an Airframe and Powerplant curriculum at the local tech school and need to go test for my certifications. Are you still in the aviation field?

[joepagejr]

I went to Atlanta Area Tech for the A&P course. Is that where you went or does it still even exist?

That would be my aforementioned "local tech school." It's still there for now, has caused me many headaches due to the administration. Technical school shouldn't be that hard to deal with. I'm waiting for the FAA to come in and pull the plug.

Atlanta? Can't stand it now, though I have to admit NOWHERE has better BBQ. Then there's Savannah - cracked crab and hush puppies!

I'm waiting patiently for the right opportunity to leave Atlanta myself. I've been here long enough.

You may have heard of a Ducati guy that had a shop some years back in Athens GA - John Hoffman / Cycle Specialties. He was the guy that got me interested in motorcycles way back when he had a gas station / Volvo repair up the hill from the VA hospital in Decatur. You have a Ducati?

I've heard the name I believe. I have a 1975 860 GT which I bought from Dr. Desmo in 2012. My brother used to work for him and got me set up with the bike.

[Spagjet]

looks like repaired crash damage on the front of the sump and the engine bolt bit. I think a peice of fin has been replaced on the sump. The cases commonly crack around the engine bolts in crashes as the engine is a stressed member. Often if a chain breaks and jams (and breaks out a peice of the crankcase) the resultant unexpected wheel lock up results in a crash. Good chance all the repairs are from the same incident.

I have made welded areas on cast surfaces look cast again by gently tapping away at the area with a small peice of 1/4" mild steel bar that the end has been made intentionally very rough on with punches and chisels and then scrubbing the area with a new bit of scotchbrite to tone the result down to the surrounding surface. Works perfect with patience.

[geodoc]

Yeah, at least one crash & perhaps the one of them was from the chain being thrown. The forks and rear sub-frame were bent too. Who knows what abuse the old unit endured. The cases were vapor blasted and that seems to have evened out the finish well enough so the welded places on the sump are almost undetectable.

looks like repaired crash damage on the front of the sump and the engine bolt bit. I think a peice of fin has been replaced on the sump. The cases commonly crack around the engine bolts in crashes as the engine is a stressed member. Often if a chain breaks and jams (and breaks out a peice of the crankcase) the resultant unexpected wheel lock up results in a crash. Good chance all the repairs are from the same incident.

I have made welded areas on cast surfaces look cast again by gently tapping away at the area with a small peice of 1/4" mild steel bar that the end has been made intentionally very rough on with punches and chisels and then scrubbing the area with a new bit of scotchbrite to tone the result down to the surrounding surface. Works perfect with patience.

[geodoc]

Spent the weekend fussing with getting the wiring hooked up. All done except for the tail light wiring that will be inside the fender.

I installed a replacement voltage regulator. Noticed that after about 3 weeks of sitting, the battery had gone down to about 12.3 volts. Measured for evidence of a paracitic draw and found that there was .02A from the regulator. Inquired with Regulatorrectifier.com and was told this was not normal. sent to him and it was found defective & he sent a replacement under warranty.

Have to stop by the British car shop tomorrow and get some more spark plus lead ends to install the faux original red pattern lead from Lowbrow Customs (WAY less expensive that the reproduction stuff fro Aus.)









Ordered some metal tank badges from a guy who advertises them on eBay. I was expecting brass from their gold-ish color in the photo. Turns out they are most likely zinc - very soft & just painted. One was bent a bit from poor packaging, but was able to get it straight again. The finish was a bit rough in the areas where they would be polished. A couple hours with files and finer & finer emery paper then polishing compound for them ready to take to the plating shop for electroless nickel - if you can apply it straight on to zinc that is.

[geodoc]

Choke & throttle cables made, plug leads, clutch cable's almost done, badges on the side covers, though have to add a couple #4 screws under the stickers to get it to lay flat against the curved side cover surface,

Fuel taps in & will be making the hoses and testing for leaks tomorrow.





Otherwise, waiting for the (hopefully) last of the parts.

As an aside. Spoke to a place in Rhode Island that restores on dashes and after seeing a picture of the old, peeling plastic tank badges, they say they can restore them to like new - $150 US. If the nickel plating of the zinc badges doesn't work out, then this may be the way I go.

http://www.instrument-specialties.com/

[geodoc]

All cables and wiring ........... done. well, except for the tail light wiring that routes under the rear fender. That gets made after the rear fender is installed.

[joepagejr]

Choke & throttle cables made,

Where did you get the materials for your cables?

[geodoc]

Where did you get the materials for your cables?

Hi Joe,

I get all my cable making stuff from Flanders:

http://www.flandersco.com/FlanCableSearch.html

[geodoc]

The headers and cross over arrived. One would of course hope that the whole thing would would fit together like it was made for it. But, as I was warned by Wolfgang in Nakusp, it was not to be quite so easy. It took extensive grinding inside the cross-over spigots and grinding off the chrome from the headers where they fit into the spigots to get a fit. The LH (vert. cyl.) header was actually a fairly reasonable fit otherwise - no end trimming necessary. The RH (horiz. cyl.) header had to be shortened by about 50-60mm.





Discovered that there is damn little room between having muffle clearance for the kick starter and clearance for the RH end of the rear axle for its up-swing under 'bump'. I made a couple spacers to get both to a reasonable amount.







The side stand took a fair amount of tweaking with the torch and trimming the foot, to get it to fit between the header and the filter bolt head and have the foot clear the sump.



Decided to bush the clutch arm to get rid of slop. It was modified by Guy to be longer then stock, but not as long as the extended ones available out there that cause the cable to ride the cylinder fins. Off it goes to the plater today & at the same tie pick up my tank badges from the polisher and plate them as well.


My vintage racing friend showed me the old hot-rodder trick of putting a spring inside the breather tube. Oil / air mixture condenses as it passes across the coils and runs down hill back into the crankcase. Look at pictures of 60's MV's and XR 750 HD's. Will install a K&N filter too, but hope that the oil is pretty much gone from the breather pressure by the time it makes it out the end.

[geodoc]

Finally got some time to work on the bike. Learned a little something about mounting the front fender with the wire braces. They were installed with large area washers, but going back together, it became obvious that this wouldn't do - the braces would keep slipping backward when the nuts were tightened down. I looked on the Classic Ducati parts page photos and discovered that the original installation uses and steel tab with a short 90 deg. flange. I didn't have them, so made some approximations from extruded 1/16 thick aluminum. You can install without a screwdriver (always a nervous operation with slitted screws next to brand-new paint. Just tape the screws in place with green "frog" masking tape and they will stay in place well enough until the countersink starts to grip the hole edges when the nut is being tightened down. Screws are too short for nylocks so blue locktite will do here.





Later ....................

After a conversation with Guy in Montreal about break-in procedure, it was time to fire it up. His recommended drill: 3 squirts, choke full on, 1/8 throttle. a half kick and it lit! What a sound!

Guy's recommended break-in is 5 sessions of: start, hold at 2000 RPM and shut down, let completely cool & repeat. After that, 4500 max for 20 min. with no lugging an enough speed to adequately cool. Next, 5500 RPM limit, then 6500, then ride it like you stole it!

Here are some shots for my BC Collector plate application:





Just used some putty to stick the old tank emblems for the photos. The metal ones are being air-brush painted for the lettering and then clear coated & should be done next week. Retro-style round chrome mirror to. Just in time for a stretch of forecast nice weather to get the shake-down done.


.

[Vince]

There was one with a similar colour at the Sydney Ducati Concourse a couple of years back,it was the best looking bike there that day.Stunning colour

[geodoc]

There was one with a similar colour at the Sydney Ducati Concourse a couple of years back,it was the best looking bike there that day.Stunning colour

Yeah, my favorite too. Like the painted fenders too, even though it was for later years & not the '73.

[herbg]

Beautiful job!

I'm curious about your RaceTech fork update.

Do the completed, installed forks have an OEM, stock appearance?

Cheers,
Herb...

[geodoc]

Beautiful job!

I'm curious about your RaceTech fork update.

Do the completed, installed forks have an OEM, stock appearance?

Cheers,
Herb...

Heh Herb,

Yes, the modifications are all internal.

GD