Back with a M900 series I

[Albie]

Finished it tonight

Looking pretty fine now..





Obviously not but got somewhere at least cracking some bolts off and cleaning them up before putting them back. Most of the brake disc ones are new bar 3 of them so they must have been butchered with corrosion.








Got my swapsie tail light today and seeing about getting seat cowl painted asap.






Hoping can get bike to Al @ proteam this week and waiting a reply back.

Forks are in decent condition and very few light scratches only but faded out sadly but no corrosion anywhere at all and seals are new.



The horn has very little corrosion either and still had a clear plastic film on the front. I may repaint it again though but not sure if would be black ?




Wiring at the front needs just re-taping on a small area of kill switch cable but I have to fit that new rubber boot on so may put new pvc sheath on to match.

More cleaning from the parts bin slowly, honestly there is more in ther now from last time



Nothing major happening but will start from the back the same tomorrow and maybe next week I will be able to get engine out if all becomes obvious.

Some pics

[Darkness]

Originally Posted by Albie

Finished it tonight

Looking pretty fine now..





Obviously not

Indeed: you wouldn't want to leave the exhaust pipes dirty brown like that......

[Albie]

As I said last night will be working from the back end from now and tonight was the turn of the rear axle and brakes etc.

It actually started when I moved my bikes about as I wanted more room to do things and also wanted to hear it running outside in the open. Sadly it wouldn't start presuming the battery was getting tired. I know she will go but in the meantime its time to clean stuff up.


Removed the axle nuts which are good enough to use and only the righthand side one shows more wear than the other. Cleaned up ok though. The chain adjuster plates were quite grubby but look really good now and no bad marks or gouges to be seen.

The adjuster bolts which are about 100mm long were removed and covered in grime inside and once I wire wheeled and ran an M8 die down it they are good as new. The gold backplates were cleaned and the left hand one is the worst but not bad considering its age. Just a few scars but the colour is al good.

I will wait and do the axle and brake guide plate when the bike gets stripped down but I did the brake rotor bolts and they all look great condition as do the brake caliper bolts too after a brush down.

I could take the suspension hoop mount bolts out without the wheel coming out so again will wait but did the outside nuts.

I took the left hand hanger off to clean the rest of the bolts up and I need one or possibly two rubber inserts as one has split in two. Whilst off the chain swingarm guide was removed for cleaning and again the 3 dome bolts were good to come out and cleaned and prepped. The sprocket cover was then removed and same again and whilst removed I checked the front sprocket locking washer for getting the 2 bolts out. Yes results with no problem at all.

Whilst there I removed the 4 rubber plugs from the frame engine mounts. Full of grease which may have been when this frame was changed by a dealer years ago and someone had the hindsight to grease the bolts for the future removal instead of them corroding inside the engine casings. They both undid easily and nipped back up. I thought the would have been hexagon bolts but were allen head bolts.

It looks like the exhaust studs will also be easy as there is copperslip on them too but left them alone for now.

Whilst inspecting the swingarm there is damage which tbh I always expect on these alloy ones as they always seem to suffer exhaust mount bolts causing scrapes up the side where the bolts on the hangers seem to flex too much or they are possibly too long. I will dress it up as much as possible when I remove it.

I drilled out a broken bolt from one of the hugger mounts on the chain side. I re tapped it M6 and refitted the hugger with the cleaned up bolts to give it a good clean in place. It looks much better now but I still have to try and clean up some scrapes in the plastic on the right hand side if I can without ruining the overall finish.

Given a it a good clean as I go and is becoming tidy already prior to getting totally stripped and refinished.

Oh and I now realise how I broke that hanger bolt. It had a 12mm nut on the rear not really visible clamping an earth to the frame DOH !

So I have this odd bolt with an m8 thread with large allen key hole. It will work but its the only one that's odd. I also need one or two hanger rubber that go in the holes if anyone has any spare.

[Albie]

Originally Posted by Darkness

Indeed: you wouldn't want to leave the exhaust pipes dirty brown like that......

Indeed.

A couples of things I would like to know again.

Seat cowl graphic placement from back of cowl to nearest point of the decal with picture if possible ?

The correct colour for the clutch cover and how does it compare to belt covers ?

Is the horn colour black ?

Bar ends. They were black but are the weighted ?

[Pedro]

Originally Posted by Albie

Indeed.

A couples of things I would like to know again.

Seat cowl graphic placement from back of cowl to nearest point of the decal with picture if possible ?

The correct colour for the clutch cover and how does it compare to belt covers ?

Is the horn colour black ?

Bar ends. They were black but are the weighted ?

The clutch cover should silver as per the crank cases, belt covers should be black, the horn on mine is silver.

Bar ends are weighted, the correct ones have a cross head screw head.

[Albie]

Pics

[Albie]

Tonight I did some more and think basically now is a standstill until I get advise or engine fully checked out.
It may be good news that I have found a few things wrong that could mean things could be alright when fixed but I really don't know for sure.

I was cleaning the last of the bolts accessible to me like all around the engine cases and brackets and cleaned up the key lock metalwork and blow me the 2 tiny screws that hole the latch to the lock came out without any problem in fact they were loose. The cables good and wont be wasting good money on a new one but will lacquer over the cleaned fittings. The rest all came apart and is in the plating bucket.
The part that refuses absolutely to budge is the steering lock adjuster on the left side which although has been soaking for 48hrs in a bath of release agaent and even when heat applied it will not exit. Key is still strong but don't want to mess it up whilst on bike so when I get forks stripped I may get better purchase or buy a new one.

So this clutch which has been bugging me. I believed it was not correct on sight and wondered if the knocking may have been it.
I removed the springs and collars and armed with the Haynes book of lies measured the springs and should be 36.5mm long and all 6 are 40mm so are a 600 or 750 engine it seems.
I cleaned them up and the caps and bolts anyhow and then removed the clutch plates.
OH DEAR they are almost flat to the plate and measure around 2.81mm to best 2.83mm .
They are deemed to the project trophy pile and new ones are being sourced.

Then checking the pressure plate it does have a new bearing as was told by the last owner. Then I was looking at the locking nut. It looks tight but there is play to and fro when you pull the clutch drum and I can get a feeler gauge of 0.2mm in between the washer and nut washer. Is that the problem. ???? :confused




Oh dear me




Gap


No Gap




I spray painted the clutch cover silver to see what it will look like and get a engine colour comparison. Looks better already and I managed to removed the last piece of belt cover plastic from the bike.

[Albie]

Alternator side all the bolts were removed one by one and cleaned and put back and did find one that may be stripped thread in the casing.
Removed the inspection cover and removed the paint and cleaned and file dressed the slotted screws to good as new.


Made some aluminium surrounds for around the cowl mountings and araldited them on and will just require some minor filling in the top tomorrow and be neater than before and look better once sprayed. It means the bolts or plactic cannot break out ever and be stronger.

[NattyBoy]

Sorry late joiner ! looking mega mate - no surprise there though.

had a cowl you could have had for a donation to riders for health but see you're sorted mate.

so what's my old tricolore up to these days. Miss that bike !

[Albie]

Originally Posted by NattyBoy

Sorry late joiner ! looking mega mate - no surprise there though.

had a cowl you could have had for a donation to riders for health but see you're sorted mate.

so what's my old tricolore up to these days. Miss that bike !

If the cowl is ready painted red and with correct decal would still be interested mate. I don't know about tricky as the owner declined to get back so abandoned that idea. She may still have or may have moved it on.

Tons of work to do though as this is almost preparatory work. Look out for some good stock exhausts chamfered or not is ok but need cheap as little money.

So tonight after a plan to try and gently sand blast this 2 pack gloss metallic with gold fleck lexus painted cambelt covers which sort of failed I went down the route of getting a satin black finish paint from Halfords along with some gold for the brakes and a primer for the bare metal.
The reason I wanted rid of paint was purely to get to the plastic and just keep them clean but I actually think they look good now but how will they last is the question.

I keyed them back and the one that took the blasting I had to flatten right back to plastic but I could not do that to the rest as too many shapes and nooks and crannies.
They have had about 3-4 light coats and can have a long time curing as no need for them for months so will be stowed away safely.





Headlight bowl was an odd colour too and had a few scratches that looked like painted over. So a rub down and rust preventer primer a couple of coats and then the same satin black for a couple of coats. Looks good now with no dents either. That also can get put away a cure for some months.









Next the job which tbh I wasn't looking forward too of masking the brake discs to repaint as good as possible.
Cleaned them as good a I could and so far have only masked the one as ran out of masking tape. Surprising how much one disc asks for. The basic masking is simple enough but its the having to cut around the rivets with a knife as close to the disc as possible without stopping the painting hitting the disc.





I got this as the best match I could find. I will not remove masking until I think its good enough colour match but looks alright against another painted disc.



Hope to get cracking with the discs tomorrow with a good result fingers crossed.

[Albie]

Well I have been busy and getting stuff done slowly and patiently and although I couldn't get her going again to do the oil pressure test at home I decided what the hell its coming out and will be on its way via Proteam Ducati to his mate Simon who is a ex Moto GP engine builder for Kevin Schwantz so he knows about engines. Scott also used him too so is recommended.

Well a catch up is the brake discs are still in tape but gold but not sure if colour I desire as I see them with a little more yellow in the gold. Don't get me wrong they are shiney and the picture doesn't do justice.




The suspension hoop also has had another can of colour this time Fiat Broom Yellow and at first it looked lighter but then went more deeper and warmer and its still nothing like the Ohlins which is seeming to almost be orange in reality. I am leaving it there and see later. It needs 2 stainless rose joints to be ordered.

Rover yellow

Fiat yellow


Rear wheel came out and axle was cleaned up nicely to be plated.



I also have one odd old exhaust. Hard to tell as Ducati logos are old school but one is made by Sil Motor and one by Lafranchi. If anyone has a swap let me know.





But most of the scuffs are gone but still got to dress up the aluminium and make them look good. A set of Termis will still be on the cards later as that's allowed in my book as long as I have stock too.



Last night after the epic non start fail I started the undoing of the rest of the components and exhaust came off in minutes and headers are clean and polished. I saw there is no clamp on the rear so need one of them.
The loom was removed as far as I could go and was left ready for tonights big drop.

[Albie]

So after dropping off oil pressure gauge to Al he lent me the engine trolley to help drop it out and it helps him to pick it up to get to his guy Simon.



Drained the oil as best I could but someone has mullered and rounded the sump plug so drained as best I could via the filter plug and found some interesting looking copper glitter which I guess shows some damage.




Removed the swingarm along with the rear shock and lowered bike down onto trolley.



And then the 2 bolts removed to drop an 1" or so and then I could remove the front end from the frame.







So to sum up.
All is good and carbs look dirty grubby and grimey but all good. The front forks are faded but no damage , I need a 14 mm key to undo axle and clean that up still.
The steering stop adjuster has stripped the thread in the bottom yoke so will either get both thread inserted or look at getting 2 at 10mm in size and re tap them.
The frame I will get repainted professionly not powdercoated and was thinking about doing it myself with RS paints mix as also the wheels as they are already powdercoated silver and decent to go over. save me faffing with cush joint removal too.

Just have to get all the bolts plated on the engine before it goes away so they will all be off on Monday morning with the hoses and brackets.

Oh and another down side ... I received my log book tonight . NOT a 93 but a 94 of February 1994. Slightly disappointed but still an L reg.

Fantastic reading Albie, keep the updates coming

[Darkness]

Originally Posted by Albie

But most of the scuffs are gone but still got to dress up the aluminium and make them look good. A set of Termis will still be on the cards later as that's allowed in my book as long as I have stock too.

It may have the chamfer Albie, but it's still a pretty early exhaust can as it doesn't mention the m600 in its text about type approval.

[Albie]

As I had a wedding of my stepdaughter time was limited to yesterday morning only and this afternoon as was raining.

Mostly cleaning and stuff but made a copy of tank prop tonight thanks to Darkness for sizes. It will work and needs plating and will have heat shrink on the end not the PVC cable cover. I just need the rubber end for it.



Bottom yoke tank stop was removed and hope I get Big Oz to ally weld a plug or fill loose stripped hole with weld and re=tap it. The stud is salvageable and allen key hole good and thread had an M8 die ran up it.
Just will need naturalising again as the top yoke.




Forks are in great order except pale anodise and will bring back the lowers to finish this week. All components are not damaged and seals new. Will change fork oil on refitting.




Air box was cleaned inside and out and air filter looks very new serviceable part. Probs get a K&N later. I do need a replacement long hose as the ends short and damaged so if anyone has dumped a filter box can I purchase a decent one.







Front wheel was rubbed down and masked yesterday and sprayed a base coat satin black this afternoon. Will get more paint tomorrow and mask the rear and do that one too. The rear tyre has been plugged and when I can afford tyres I may well get both powdercoated but budgeting at the moment.





Ohlins is in very good order except a slight tear in the pvc clear sleeve but is ok.