S4 Crash Cont...

[DevilBoy]

Hello all

I attach pictures of my poor baby in a state of dishevelment.

The first one - 01-TankBang - shows the damage to the tank (Duh!). two dents and a scratch.

The second and third ones, 02radiator + 03radiator2 - show how the radiator has come off its fixings, and moved up to touch the frame! This has caused a scratch on the frame. 03 allso shows the bent upper fixing, which is still attached to the frame.

The fourth one, 04radiator3 - shows how the lower radiator bracket has completely come away from the engine block. It looks like a fixing is missing here too...

The fifth one, 05Snappedrearset - shows just that - the snapped right rearset!

And the final one is of the lush new replacement handlebars that i put on, and managed to screw up all the wiring on! All you S4 owners will notice that the braded hoses etc. usually go on the left and right of the s4 badge!


Ok - now the hard part.
I wanna know, from the radiator pictures, does it look like i need a new one? or can i just bend the bracket back a little, and replace all the lost fixings?

Next - does the tank damage look like it could be repaired well by a professional?

Finally - Does it matter that ive got the wiring all over the place on the front? It is a little cramped behind the headlight... but will it stop anything from working?

Cheers all - Sorry for the lame questions - im new to this ducati malarky. Ive happily lived with a simple as muck bandit for years!

:twisted:

[DevilBoy]

heres the last picture

[Dave Pearson]

Ouch......
First off, I have just checked out the lower bracket and I don't think you have anything missing, it appears to slip over the peg just behind it on the engine and acts as a steady, rather than a fixing.

As to whether the rads any good, that's a difficult one to judge. There isn't a lot of protection across the top of the rad.
The trouble is you don't know what's gone on inside, and if you run it and drag some foreign matter into the engines cooling system, then you could be looking at an engine strip down later on, which would cost a lot more.............. :eek:

All I can say is that if it was me I would be looking for a replacement radiator. I know it's probably going to be V expensive, but a replacement engine would cost a lot more............

Best of luck.

Dave

[A Yerbury]

tank looks too bad I'm afraid, I had a smaller dent like the lower one and was advised to get another. got a breakers one then had resprayed about 200 in total. mind u that was an old carb 600 tank and there are quite a few about. Are you doing owt insurance wise?

[DevilBoy]

nope.

I only got third party F&T insurance!
And the crash was mostly my fault. my mate braked going round a blind bend and i nearly ran into him - so i planted on the anchors, and lost the front end...

Its all gonna be paid for by me sellin my bandit.

So you reckon the tank is gone then?

Thats not such a big neccesity, as i can find a new tank in my own time...

but if anyone has an S4 tank lying around - lemme know!!

[DevilBoy]

theres a company near me that does radiator pressure testing. So when i get it back on the road - thats gonna be tested...

When my arm gets better - im gonna take the radiator off and see if theres any obvious damage before straightening the brackets.

[A Yerbury]

If I see one I'll let yer know but it looks like a gonner,even if it could be salvaged all that pulling/filling then repainting would set you back a fair amount too, plus having compromised the tank already even a small knock may result in lots of flammable stuff all over the proverbial shop (why a "shop"?)
AY

[br1an]

Daytona were selling a new black S4 tank on eBay a couple of weeks ago that never sold.
The radiator appears to be the same as on a Ducati ST4/s if you see some one on ebay selling other bits from one of these then email them and ask if they've got a radiator cheap.
Also there was a guy on here a few months ago selling a new senna grey tank that didn't seem to sell.
I'm going to be selling a yellow S4 tank as soon as I get my other one back from the painters were it's being Corsered up in red. :D

Bry... :rolleyes:

[DevilBoy]

Can you remember what the guy selling the senna grey tanks name was?

Whats daytona?

[br1an]

Have a look at this post from February:-

http://www.ukmonster.co.uk/monster/showthread.php?t=5213&highlight=tank

A 620 tank should fit your bike and he had the right hand foot hangers!!!!!!

And here's the other thread:-

http://www.ukmonster.co.uk/monster/showthread.php?t=5438

Bry... ;)

[sidrat]

1/ The tank is easily repairable, had one just as bad and the dent was mostly knocked out/filled and repaired.
2/ The radiator needs to be reverse flushed (ie flushed from the opposite direction to the flow), you should also do this to the motor, this will get any bits out of it, then you can either get it presure tested or just use it, get the bike really warm and see if it leaks, there should be no problems with any harm to the motor.
3/Make sure the fans on the back of the radiator are ok
4/You should be able to bend the top lug back, just apply a little heat when you do it (electric paint stripper gun work well), if it does fracture, you can have it braised back on.
5/The botton lug is only a stabiliser (just looked on mine S4R) and will pop back on.
6/You could have the footrests ali welded??

Not a lot of damage considering how much is on show!!

[DevilBoy]

Cheers sidrat.

thats what i want - a rosier outlook on things!!

The radiator is the only thing im worried about at the moment, as it stops me riding when i get better (broken wrist). But when I get my plaster off, and all the other bits are sorted, im gonna take it down to my local Duke garage and get them to give the radiator/engine a once over (£1500 then!)

I have some money from my health insurance, so im just gonna get some nice new rearsets for her.

Ive had quotes for the tank to be repaired. But im still in the market for a new one...


If anyone has any more advice, please let me know.

I realise that its not that much of a bad accident... but ive only had her a few weeks, and its my dream bike!
Oh how i cried.

Anyways, cheers all. ;)