1969 Ducati Monza 250 after 45 year sleep

[chuck peterson]

I’ll tweak fiddle and futz to bring this back.

Story first..

I’m parking my 1970 R5 YaMAha at the local market 4 blocks down the street.

This guy goes crazy talking to me, but the earplugs are in.

The first I hear is, “I’ve got an old Ducati in the garage…”

On the way there…i say to myself, if its all there, relatively unmolested, no matter which model, I’d probably pay $1k…





He says, “$950….”

Thanks Phil!

[chuck peterson]

[cliffrod]

This will be fun, Chuck.  I've done the same thing with these bikes many, many times.  I'll be watching.  I have looked but not found any fenders here.

The only thing I'll suggest relates to the "1969" part- maybe a typo(?) or maybe how the bike was represented or titled.  This bike is a late narrowcase engine and produced in 1966-67 considered a Square (bodywork) bike vs the 1965 & earlier Round (bodywork) narrowcase bikes.  In 1968, the widecase engine was introduced and the narrowcase bikes went out of production.  The Monza name was also dropped for 1968 as equivalent non-desmo Italian 250 street bikes were just called a Mark 3. Lots of leftover bikes were titled as a later model year.  While chasing parts, you'll produce better results referencing the 1966-67 model timeframe.

[chuck peterson]

Thanks for that Cliffrod, good info..

I’m doing some background info on the model and found this little beauty…a race version preproduction…from bevelheaven I believe




how to check monitor size


Clean shot of the same model for inspiration




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Can you steer me towards a points, cables, wiring, charging system troubleshooting resource? Thanks

The 1960s chrome is cleaning up beautifully

I’m slathering 3m stainless steel metal cleaner and polish everywhere

[cliffrod]

Motoscrubs.com has a lot of good info.   I've only lurked, but they cover a lot of ground typically related to these bikes. 

the 6v alternator street bikes can charge fine, but the battery is hopelessly jailed behind those bolted-on tool boxes. Swapping on a magneto rotor from a 250 narrowcase scrambler or 160 Monza Jr makes it a bike of convenience.  The big snag is removing the rotor requires a special puller.  Years ago, I got a recitifier from Syd's Cycles in FL to convert the system to 12V. 

IIRC, the manual usually has basic cable adjustment, timing specs plus a wiring diagram in the back- does yours?   Mick Walker's Ducati Singles book has some of that info as well, but is like all "I know everything"  & "they all came with ..." sources and misses the mark sometimes.   The wiring and connectors often need thorough cleaning.  The Clymer Ducati 160-450 Singles manual is worth having.

Re your bike's paint- A friend came over yesterday on his just-finished Taco minibike.  He bought a Simplex Spitfire from me in 20.  Much like your bike, it was too original to strip and repaint.  He refreshed the original paint with linseed oil and it looked pretty good.  He showed us pics yesterday of the Spitfire after using No-Touch Tire cleaner. WOW- it looked fantastic.  It didn't corrupt the original tank decals, either.

More info on your email

[chuck peterson]

As usual I’m doing last things first..new shoes and clean, clean, clean







Fresh 6volt battery and charger…things are waking up …

Headlight works!
Taillight works! No brake light, hmmmmm

Turns out the brake light not working leaves the ignition OFF…

The beautiful horn ($175) is rusted and broken…if the horn doesn’t work the brake light won’t work….i  t h i n k…never been much of an electrician

The headlight ring has a stripped screw holding it on….probably will have drill that out to get into the headlight

Purchased:
3m Stainless polish and cleaner
6 volt 13 amp battery
Battery Tender 6 v 1.25 amp
Points
Kickstart rubber
Two trials tires w knooblies, cuz i just wanted to say, “Knooblies..”

I’ll walk into the garage and pick a spot to futz.

Light oil into the cylinder, fresh oil in the motor and i just keep kicking it over w the plug out to spread it around, hopefully making the rings loose

Great fun

[Chuck in Indiana]

Man, what a nice project. It looks pretty complete to the untrained eye, and that is the sort of thing I really like. 

[chuck peterson]

Mr Mullendore, thanks! Linked to a VAPE Co that makes replacement electronic charging and ignition systems..w a solution for this model

https://www.vape.eu/en/ducati-100-250-orig-rotor-117mm

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Mr Mullendore, thanks! Linked to a VAPE Co that makes replacement electronic charging and ignition systems..w a solution for this model

https://www.vape.eu/en/ducati-100-250-orig-rotor-117mm

You're welcome. 

[chuck peterson]

My one goal for today was to drill out the stuck headlight screw to peek inside the 50 yr old headlight…w/o exceeding the limit on scratch marks on an irreplaceable unobtainable headlight ring.

Success! Not bad for an amateur..i can live w that

Lots of thingees to fix inside, corrosion to kill, continuity to be found

Now if I’m smart I’ll stop here for the day, but based on previous experiences I’ll keep going until I break, strip, or mangle something

[Muzz]

Nice Chuck.  They are still in my mind one of the prettiest bikes ever made.

Wise move on the electrics.  i heard that they tended to fade quicker than the setting sun.