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Canuck , is your headlight an Aprilia Jod Duplo or a Cev ?
Canuck,That is a pretty good looking example you've got, all things considered. If you go through it very carefully it will run well but they are "when" engines, not "if". Ducati made too many compromises to meet the price required at the time and they were still expensive. Last one I found had piston skirt in the transmission gear teeth. Had to let that one go, sadly. They are fascinating engines and I'm sure you will enjoy tearing it down and rebuilding it. You are going to rebuild it, right?Hunter
Its going to get stripped down and rebuilt, I will probably send the motor out to a specialist for evaluation and machine work, Setting up a bevel drive is way beyond my capability!
I think you'd be amazed at how straightforward the whole thing is in relation to rumors from people who have never actually touched one.
That sounds to me recipe for cost and disappointment, and based on your other posts this is well inside your capability. My suggestion would be to look the thing over externally, if all looks OK try to get it running. The GT engine is non desmo and the heads are simple so you might pull the heads and cylinders (really easy- no head gaskets, no chains, no pushrods) and take a look at the top end first, value guides tend to wear. I wouldn't recommend splitting the cases for no known reason. If you were to disassemble the bottom end for some reason, its actually not particularly hard to work on but takes some patience. The crank and transmission shafts are shimmed in the cases like a lot of other older bikes, nothing too difficult if you keep the case gasket and compare thickness with the new one for reference. Best to use the same thickness gasket if you can. There's likely no need to mess with the bevel gear shimming but if you do decide to take a look at that for some reason, it's not rocket science on a square case engine. I think you'd be amazed at how straightforward the whole thing is in relation to rumors from people who have never actually touched one. The sole really challenging part is the crank and rods assembly: if you need to address the rod bearings the crank is pressed apart, pin, rods and bearings are replaced with a new kit, and then the assembly is pressed together and aligned. I did that myself but it's arguably better to give the crank assembly and a new rod/bearing kit to somebody who is familiar with built up crank alignment. It's similar to 1970s Japanese fours or two strokes, but the parts and press fits are bigger and heavier.
I do like the cam adjuster on the swing arm pivot for tensioning the chain, not sure how practical it was in use?
apparently the Conti's are not stock,
No, but you *will* like them.. There may be a better sounding motorcycle than a bevel Duck with Contis, but I haven't heard it.
My friend Nick came over to look over the 860. he has two 860GTE and a 900GTS, he gave it the thumbs up, apparently the Conti's are not stock, the idiot light bezel is off a Honda and both L and R switch gear are Japanese as is the master cylinder, other than the missing air boxes the rest is stock. Instruments are stock but obviously missing the plastic bezel. Mileage is under 12,000 km, maybe stock judging by the shape of the bike. I need to change the oil , fit some new plugs and try see if it starts, Kicking the starter takes some effort and according to Nick the 'feel' is good.
If you start the engine bear in mind that it does not have a full flow oil filter, so anything being scraped off the cylinder bores can make its way through the engine. After you run it, I'd do an oil change or two at short intervals. Ideally you might have a look at the bores before running it - the cylinder sleeves are uncoated steel, Ducati did not go to Nikasil on the bevel engines until the '84 Mille, by which point the engine also had one piece crankshaft, plain bearing rods and a full flow oil filter.
I don't suppose the previous owner said whether he had put any form of protectant in the cylinders Jim?
It is also too ugly to put a Vincent motor into, wait until the 750 GT arrives, then you will have another engine to section.
Jod Duplo
Well if you're not a stickler for originality take out the Jod Duplo, put in a Wipac Quadoptic (£25 in UK) and sell the Jod Duplo to a rivet counting bevel restorer. That'll put $1000 or more in your pocket!