Engine and Frame

Continued assembling the engine today. First I had to set the piston ring end gap. Here I'm using the piston to square the rings in the bore to measure the end gap, and the file is to widen the gap to the appropriate specs.











The wrist pin came installed in the piston and it was a very tight fit, so into the oven it goes. I have to admit, I'm starting to enjoy engine assembly in the kitchen. Everything is within reach - the oven for heating parts, the coffee maker, fridge, pizza oven....











Even heated, the wrist pin was a REALLY tight fit, so I had to fabricate a wrist pin installation tool, in addition to keeping the piston hot with the propane torch.














A bit blurry, but the engine with the cylinder installed.














While I was installing the piston and cylinder I was also heating the garage. With the engine nearing completion I had a bit of work to do on the frame before the engine could be installed. First I had to disassemble the bike down to the bare frame.

Someone decided to cut off the bottom of the battery tray and drill a big hole for a toggle switch, so that needed to be corrected. The rear fender mount was originally attached to the bottom battery tray, so that needed correcting, too.

Here the lower tray is fabricated and welded into place...

And here the hole for the toggle switch is filled, and the mounts for the rear fender and battery strap are installed, too. And yes, it's painted, too.

I also straightened the bent footpeg mounts and installed an upper spring mount and bumber for the center stand I'm installing.

Bevel Gears, Again

Yes, this is the same pic I left off with last post, and this is where I started again today. The more I thought about where I left the bevel gears the less I was happy with it. So...I went back and pulled the lower bevel gear, reshimmed, and reassembled. After about 6 hours of doing that over and over I finally figured it out and got it set correctly - the factory grind marks align perfectly with no backlash and no tight spots! Now I can sleep well and move onto the next thing...

...which was rewire the stator. All new wires and a little different configuration from the factory that I learned online. If you're into Ducati singles and not a member at http://www.motoscrubs.com/forum, then you really need to join.

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The stator installed, wiring routed, and gland nut installed.

From here it's pretty much just basic assembly of the primary drive - clean, oil, install....

Here the rotor and drive gear are installed, along with the kickstart gears.

And the clutch hub after it received two new bearings. I still need to purchase new clutch springs, so this is about as far as I can take the primary side for now.

I did get to test the awsome goodness of one of my new Christmas presents - a cordless impact wrench. I was able to remove the camshaft nut without having to fabricate the special Ducati tool - SWEET!