The Craftmans Shop > PowerSports
Refurbishing the Duke (again).
Artie:
Many many years ago Ibought an old Ducati. It had hit a flock of sheep at speed and teh rider had been seriously injured and after he recovered he seemed quite scared of the bike and wanted to sell.
I had a look and it was a mess, frame bent, all plastic destroyed, forks bent, alloy wheels bent, tenk dented etc etc ... completely written off..... but..... I gave him $1500 and loaded this onto a trailer...
The 4 pipes that end at the head stem should be straight.... not like shown as curved here...
This is what it originally looked like...
More to follow....
Rob T
Artie:
I dont have any pics of the original resto, it was a long long time ago, but basically I got it ready to register for just over $3200 which includes the $1500 to purchase the wreck...
I sourced the panels from ebay but couldnt find a tank to save me so I had the orginal panel beaten straight... that was as expensive as having the frame re-aligned and rewelded...and that also included re rolling and crack testing the rims... I still cant figure that out and that was over 10 years ago....
The machine was a Mike Hailwood painted 1983 600SL Pantah, as it was a wreck recovery I didnt see the need to stay absolutley original. in fact the colour and fairing left me a little underwhelmed... so I digressed... Red or Black? I had that thought for months and it ended black, I also used an SS style fairing for it... I trimmed the low hanging rear shock covers and didnt refit the side covers.. and I ended up with this....
Before decals and clear coat
Finished
Thats was in early 1992 and today, well she is a little tired...so rather than renew the rego this year, I pulled her apart...Cheers
Rob T
Artie:
Just an aside to the original resto, I retained a couple of things to 'remind' me of how dangerous road riding is... this...
The top of the (still functional) tacho... and the top of the fork nut... just reminders...
.
I alos had a major stuff up when I first got it going...
I went for its first ride and it went like stink..much much quicker than I thought it would... much quicker than my mates 900 SS (1983) who was riding with me... I was really curious and took it easy for approx 20km's and then gave it a bit of stick as it was running well...
Then the smoke came out the back and it started missing... oops.... back to the shop...
Stripped the front cylinder and it had melted a hole through the piston.... obviously running lean... that would explain the power.. eventually found a small piece of vegetation in the main jet. Not enought to block it, just enough to lean it out.... not surprised really, it had been in pieces for years... such is life...
Ok, buy a new piston for her... but... these are Borgo pistons and at that time they couldnt be had for love of money (seen several since though) .... I was about to have a pair made when I found a big bore kit for her, NEW! $700! Done! And so she became a 680cc Duke (with a 6mm bore increase to 86mm). I had to make compression reduction plates for the barrels as these were track parts, not for road use etc etc ... yeah whatever..
I later sold on the orginal barrels and pistons for ....... $700..... so that little stuff up cost me time and aggrevation... luckily not much more.... it now has a heap of torque and as I havent ridden it with standard power I can only speculate that its a better machine for it...
Next instalment...the current freshen up.....
Cheers
Rob T
Artie:
Ok, earlier I mentioned that I had a new tank for the Duke and that I had procrastinated on Red or Black when I originally built her. That hasnt changed and I have over the years acquired another set of panels, including a tank... and she is red OR back depending upon my moods.... spare set sitting on floor.... Im refurbishing teh black set... I was right all that time ago...its prettier black... the red set hardly ever gets put on...
The new tank has been prepped and awaiting colour as has the rear tail and cowl....
Here it has an undercoat applied... you can see the shape of teh new tank compared to the old unit.. much 'sportier'.... if thats a word...
And here she is with her first 'top coat'... I like it....
New filler cap ready to install once paint is finished....
Thats about where she sits, once its had a couple more coats Ill start prepping the fairing, its pretty good and only wants one or two coats...
Ive just received the decals in gold colour and once the paint is sorted I ll detail the entire bike and polish a few bits. I cant praise stainless fittings enough... these are over 10 years old and look like new, the entire bike has had the stainless treatment...
Cheers
Rob T
Brass_Machine:
Aaaah Ducati. :bow: Yours is looking very nice. More pictures?
Thinking of finding me an air cooled Duc engine for a project.
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