Closing the Crankcase

I had been dreading this for quite some time, but it turned out that it wasn't bad at all. Over the last few nights I worked on cleaning and inspecting the the transmission, and everything was perfect. So tonight I installed the crank and the mainshaft in one half of the crankcase. I installed the mainshaft so I would have something to tap on with the mallet to separate the crankcase halves after they were torqued together.

I needed to shim the crankshaft so there was zero endfloat while it still spun freely. The crankcase gasket needed to be accounted for, but I didn't want to set up the cases with the actual gasket in case I damaged it somehow and would need to buy a new one. The gasket was .010 inches thick, so I spent a bit of time micing every sheet of paper around the house to find something compatible. I was surprised how thin most paper was, but eventually I found some manilla folders that were exactly .010" thick. I cut them into strips to serve as the gaskets during mock-up. The pic is a bit blurry, but you get the idea...

I then installed the other half of the crankcase and torqued the fasteners. Surprisingly, on the first try I got zero end float with a free-rotating crank. Of course, it was the same thickness shim as was installed before the crank rebuild, so I probably wasn't that lucky.

I then re-separated the crankcases and installed the transmission in one half, along with the crankshaft. I shifted through all the gears to make sure everything worked smoothly. Yes, I'm doing this on the kitchen stove, as it's REALLY cold in the garage. And yes, Tami is out of town.

The other side of the crankcase got the lower bevel gear installed.

Once the crankcases were put together I again shifted through all five gears to make sure everything was kosher. I then spent a little over an hour trying several different shim sets to set the final gear mesh/lash on the lower bevel. I finally settled on the same shims that I removed when I disassembled the motor. These shims allowed a little bit of backlash, but they didn't cause any sticking through many rotations, and they resulted in the factory grind marks to align perfectly, so I left it at that.

Wheels Finished

Got the front wheel trued and installed today. Like the rear, the bead wouldn't seat, so I figured I'd just come back to them when it's warmer. The garage only gets to about 50 degrees, so the tires might just be too cold. I still need to balance both wheels, too.

With both wheels installed, I put on the gas tank and front fender. I wasn't sure I'd like the scrambler tank, but I think its a good shape for a cafe racer. The shiney wheels and fender make the rest of the bike look like crap, though. It's definately getting a coat of paint this winter.








Here's another from the front. There's not a lot of room in the garage, so the camera angles aren't that great.

New Wheels and Tires

My original intent was to make the bike mechanically sound and ride it without too much concern for the cosmetics, but the rims and spokes were horrible. Do get by inexpensively, I bought a set of reproduction CB350 spokes and spent many months waiting for appropriate alloy rims to appear on eBay. I finally found two rims decribed as "straight and no cracks" and bought both of them, only to discover that both WERE cracked, one horribly so (I hate eGay, sometimes).




Not willing to wait another six months only to receive more broken crap, I ponied up and bought myself a set of new Excel rims for Christmas. Since I was spending that kind of cash, I figured I'd splurge and get Buchanan's stainless spokes, too. Pricey, but they are very nice! Coupled with a set of Avon Roadrunner tires, I now had almost as much into the wheels as I had paid for the bike.




It just wouldn't be right to run a ratty bike on such nice wheels, so I spent about six hours this last week sanding out a few deep scratchs on the rear hub, followed by another couple hours of polishing. The hub flanges are now very shiney, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend any more time on the inside ribs, especially since that area gets filthy and is hard to reach on the bike, anyway.

For some reason, a lot of people are afraid of building wheels, but I rather enjoy it. The truing can take a bit of patience, but I find it relaxing and quite satisfying once the process is finished. Lacing a wheel is pretty straightforward - simply replace the spokes as they were originally installed, keeping in mind that inner and outer spokes are a little different shape.

Ducati casserole, anyone? While I was truing the rear wheel on the bike I also worked to replace all the bearings in the engine cases. Today was a good day, since Tami was off teaching and I could commandeer both the oven and the kitchen counter. The bearing are supposed to "fall out" at 200 degress, but of course that didn't happen. Most of the bearings are accessible from from the both sides and can be driven out, except for one. Fortunately, I found a product called Freeze-Out. I froze the bearing after heating the cases and it worked pretty well.

Oh yeah, I left the bearings in the freezer overnight with the peas. With the cases hot they dropped right in.

Nicely cleaned engine cases with all new bearings. They're all set to shim the crankshaft.












No matter what I tried, I could not get the bead to seat on the new Avon tire, so I finally gave up and simply inflated the tire so I could install the wheel, turn the bike around on the table, and start working on the front wheel. All that new shineyness makes the rest of the bike look pathetic.










Keba is supervising the lacing of the front wheel - he needs to be involved in everything. The wheel is actually laced wrong in this pic. Apparently the old 19" wheel was laced differently than the 18" I'm replacing it with. I laid the spokes the same as the old wheel, but it wouldn't lace. I had to alter the pattern to make it work with the new rim.






I got the front wheel laced, and hopefully tomorrow I'll get it trued and installed.

Keba the happy helper cat says "Merry Christmas!"

Ducati's Return

Fall got away from me work-wise, and I never did send off the crankshaft to Syd's Cycles for rebuild. When November rolled around, however, I decided to just drive the crank and cylinder down to St. Petersburg, Florida, and then do some cave diving while I waited.

I departed Madison the first week in November, and 23 hours later I arrived at Syd's door. Malcom welcomed me in and gave me a tour of the place before we settled down to discussing my parts. I had never seen an intact Ducati single outside of photos, so the place was like a museum - a Monza, Mach 1, Mark 3, and several others were around the shop. A couple motors were in the process of being rebuilt, and I asked a lot of questions and soaked in as much information as possible.

Two weeks later I returned to pick up my newly rebuilt crank with a new connecting rod assembly, a cylinder bored .020 over with a new forged piston, as well as all new bearings, gaskets, and seals. I forgot to take a pic of the shop.

I haven't accomplished much since my return. I had to hone the crank journals with emory cloth in order to get a nice fit on the main bearings, I've rebuilt and shimmed the lower bevel housing, and I've cleaned up the engine cases. I did order new wheels, spokes, and tires, so more updates should be coming soon.







The bearings shields will be removed before the bearings are installed in the cases.