cont.
So with the two halves reconnected, and the bike back on two wheels, I could set about reconnecting all the wiring and other gubbins I'd had to remove... and took the opportunity to reroute some of the wiring and tidy it up with zip-ties etc.
I also took off the belt covers to inspect the belts that had come on the replacement engine - didn't want to start the thing and find a belt had snapped, or worse, they weren't even fitted!
Fortunately they looked to be in really good condition - although I'll be replacing them as soon as I can before doing many miles on the bike.
I also took time to clean up the swing arm and exhaust, and generally inspect everything:
So late Friday afternoon, I checked everything was connected, refitted the tank and thought I'd give it a go...
And blow me if it didn't fire up!!!
Unfortunately, during the reassembly, I noticed that my throttle cable had frayed and would need replacing before I could test everything properly... not wanting to wait a number of days to order one in from my usual dealer (Moto Rapido, of course...) I gave Ducati Aylesbury a call and they had one in stock - result!
Of course once I got it next to the old one, I remembered that when I first bought my Monster back in 2002, I had the dealer fit higher bars as part of the deal, and recall they had to get the throttle cable extended (a new one made by Venhill actually) and a longer clutch hose too... and it turns out the stock cable is still slightly too short for my bike with the new Renthal Trials Fatbars on... but a bit of creative re-routing and all is well.
So I guess the only thing left was to refit the bodywork, hook up the gear lever, and go for a test ride!
Fortunately today dried up after rain overnight - although I still took the precaution of spinning up the rear wheel to try and burn as much of the oil off the rear tyre as I could...
And I can confirm that what the engine seller said was true! - the engine is a peach, all the gears work smoothly and the clutch feels strong. It also seems to run a lot cooler than my old engine, although that may well be due to the fact I've left the belly pan off for now - that S4 Challenge pan I have together with the under engine exhaust does make things rather toasty in there!
So, once the belts are done, I'm looking forward to getting a few more miles on Smeegal before the end of the year!
Toot toot for now!
Jenny xx