Topic: The Ducati Ebay Special

[jag767]

That looks pretty good mate, well done. I'm tall (6'4") but my Honda VTR1000's seat cowl is still pretty high for me to throw a leg over so I bought a lowering kit for it, which consisted of an adjustable turnbuckle that goes from the shocks linkage to the frame, so it can be dropped 3 inches. I had to buy an adjustable side stand as well, and of course I haven't installed it as I scored my RC51 and forgot about the VTR. You can buy a similar kit for your Duck, so maybe that's the solution? Cheers, Terry.

Thanks Terry, i still have to fully finish it with all the grindIng and sanding, but i'm confident that'll end up being a pretty setup when im done with all that. It's also quite lovely how the bike doesnt blow one's ears off quite so much with the 2 cones. It still sounds lIke a small block chey made sweet love to a vintage harley, be at decibel levels that are much more acceptable.

As far as the suspension, while that would absolutely be helpful, and I am going to look into, there's a few other things that I'd want to change that would require major surgery. Also, beng the mish mash swing arm it has, i doubt there is an off the shelf solution, but i cold likey make a solution now that i know where to look.

It pretty much all falls into how chunky the bike is. The seat, tank, wheels, it all feels like Im riding a tank, where as my 350f for example felt like I was riding a scalpel. I'm very aware that's comparing apples and oranges, but I feel like I should be able to get it somewhere in the middle at least.

[jag767]

Jag, what does an Italian mutt, being of various bikes, not a single model year or even model, sell for?  Send me a PM, since even if you were to be willing to share that number, I doubt you would want it public knowledge.
I think I personally would have opted for the 16" Cone Engr mufflers.  A long baffled can before the reverse cone  would change the exhaust note and quieten it down.  I had used a Dynamax Super Turbo muffler under the passenger compartment of an old  4 cylinder street rod I had, it had uprated motor and was already light and additional lightening and suspension mods made it very entertaining, not expected.  Anyway, back on point, that was a 2" exhaust on a normally 1.5-1.75" exhaust in stock...the short free flowing muffler gave it a very deep and throaty exhaust and the increase in pipesize allowed the motor to pump more air out easier without dropping backpressure too much.  Many thought it a v8 with its overlap on the cam giving it the typical v8 rumble.
Point is the placement of that muffler made the interior of the car resonate like a big bass drum and at 65-70 mph highway speeds it was intolerable  as the muffler was beneath the rear seat area right at the rear axle allowing that resonating to occur both inside and out.  To solve this I had two options, move the muffler further back below the trunk or insert a
 16" glasspack muffler a few feet ahead of that muffler.  I did the later and it changed the frequency of the exhaust to kill the resonating but inside the car would never be very quiet, the car was too old and it would have required a few thousand in sound deadening mastic panels all over the interior and the outer skin accessible where the rear seat side panels opened up into the quarter panels behind the doors.  This car was from the 60 s.

So what?  I think your exhaust could be easier on the ears if you put a pair of glass packs below the motor and then tied into your exhaust work.
 Nice work by the way.  I wish I had those skills.
Changing your cones to 16 inch versions would really quieten it further without removing the snarl and it would still have that meaty high strung italian charm.
I know, too late now for this...
You could sell the cone rev megaphones here if you were to say fit them with an extension that would give them a nice line for a 550 with the Delvevic ?spelling.?  Header or another of the popular headers.

I need to have a set of 4 individual 550 header pipes be paired up to mate into a pair of Kerker 550 open megaphones I picked up a while back.  I think they would sound nice...  not sure if the muffler guys at a custom shop could do it, they are very good but I never see them do collector work welding pipes together after cutting them to join...  beyond their typical work.  You have that skill.  They will be a back burner project until those intermediate pipes are fabricated.

I think Terry's suggestion is the way to go installing a lowering kit to get the bike to a comfortable height.  I have seen very petite women ride Goldwings, that is a huge and heavy machine.  Part of it is going to be psychological and experience.  But, gravity and physics will take over from the psychological and smack you upside the head...so see if a lowering kit would be affordable and determine if this fiesty Italian will keep your interest while not breaking your bank account or marriage...or kill you.

It is pretty, the monster and scrambler are the two Ducati models I like and might consider buying.  Finding a former one that isn't flogged or beaten to death might be a challenge if I am in the market for one.  They tend to be well exercised.

Ask FunJimmy about his 916 or 919, forget which he has, it been eating very expensive crackers since last winter...I think all the parts made it to the Ducati mechanics/shop this week.  The repair bill is more than a MC for how I would typically buy them...
I think part of this bike is going to be it will not be "perfect" and if you can accept its character, then you will get along with it.  I have seen guys learn how to rebuild plastic body work and there are good how-to s on youtube and out on the web if you choose to do that for the front flyscreen plastics.  Sanding back that screen I would pick up a good quality random orbit sander w/ dust collection to help speed things along and use one where you can usewet dry paper and rig a slow drip feed for a couple jets attached to keep the screen and paper wet.  A small screw shutoff valve (maybe an air shutoff valve from an aquarium) could be used to throttle the flow of water in small tubes hot glued to the sander to apply the water while you work.  Plastic needs to be sanded or buffed at slow speeds, less that 1500and probably more like 500-800 so, using a drill powered buffer is going to be better than trying to use a traditional buffer.  Keep your heat down on the plastic or you will get deformation you may and probably will not be able to remove.  Distortions fromleaving the buffing or sanding block/sander in one spot is another thing to avoid with plastics.

Buy high quality sandpaper that does not load up or fracture away, cheaper in the long run.  Do not use below 600 and I would see what 800 would do...  you are going to have to go through many steps from 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000.  For better results you will need to go to 2500 and 3000.  3M makes some expensive film based abrasives, call 3M's auto distributor or specialists, ask a paint supply for autobody for a regional rep #.  They can guide you on what is going to be best for this (acrylic most likely) windscreen.  Weigh the cost of materials against the cost of an aftermarket windscreen.

Novus and Meguiars make good plastic polishes once you get it sanded back to start returning to clear...  Novus makes a deep scratch remover that you should probably use one you have the screen sanded to 2000 level....

I know plastic modelers who go to 4000 and 6000 when doing clear plastics.  Technique is important and you will be Daniel-san level of wax on and wax off from Mr Miyagi ?spelling?  for car and painting techniques.
Expect 15-20 hours if it does not go well and maybe if it does, that is a lot of time.
Time is the one resource which is limited for us all.
David

Sent you a pm. The cones actually do a fair job from the open pipes it had. It's still loud, but it's a good loud vs an unbearable loud. Ill get a video up shortly. And the blasted screen I actually enjoy haha. I like how the gauge illuminates it at night, and it'll look even better with the new gauge I just ordered. For $110 to get a new one, I wouldn't go through the trouble of getting it back to clear, this was a budget friendly alternative which I happen to quite like

[Terry in Australia]

That looks pretty good mate, well done. I'm tall (6'4") but my Honda VTR1000's seat cowl is still pretty high for me to throw a leg over so I bought a lowering kit for it, which consisted of an adjustable turnbuckle that goes from the shocks linkage to the frame, so it can be dropped 3 inches. I had to buy an adjustable side stand as well, and of course I haven't installed it as I scored my RC51 and forgot about the VTR. You can buy a similar kit for your Duck, so maybe that's the solution? Cheers, Terry.

Thanks Terry, i still have to fully finish it with all the grindIng and sanding, but i'm confident that'll end up being a pretty setup when im done with all that. It's also quite lovely how the bike doesnt blow one's ears off quite so much with the 2 cones. It still sounds lIke a small block chey made sweet love to a vintage harley, be at decibel levels that are much more acceptable.

As far as the suspension, while that would absolutely be helpful, and I am going to look into, there's a few other things that I'd want to change that would require major surgery. Also, beng the mish mash swing arm it has, i doubt there is an off the shelf solution, but i cold likey make a solution now that i know where to look.

It pretty much all falls into how chunky the bike is. The seat, tank, wheels, it all feels like Im riding a tank, where as my 350f for example felt like I was riding a scalpel. I'm very aware that's comparing apples and oranges, but I feel like I should be able to get it somewhere in the middle at least.

No worries mate, and I think you may have inspired me to build an exhaust, you make it look easy! You could probably make your own lowering kit for a lot less than the one I bought, I think most of the parts would be available from an engineers supply store. Cheers, Terry.

[jag767]

That looks pretty good mate, well done. I'm tall (6'4") but my Honda VTR1000's seat cowl is still pretty high for me to throw a leg over so I bought a lowering kit for it, which consisted of an adjustable turnbuckle that goes from the shocks linkage to the frame, so it can be dropped 3 inches. I had to buy an adjustable side stand as well, and of course I haven't installed it as I scored my RC51 and forgot about the VTR. You can buy a similar kit for your Duck, so maybe that's the solution? Cheers, Terry.

Thanks Terry, i still have to fully finish it with all the grindIng and sanding, but i'm confident that'll end up being a pretty setup when im done with all that. It's also quite lovely how the bike doesnt blow one's ears off quite so much with the 2 cones. It still sounds lIke a small block chey made sweet love to a vintage harley, be at decibel levels that are much more acceptable.

As far as the suspension, while that would absolutely be helpful, and I am going to look into, there's a few other things that I'd want to change that would require major surgery. Also, beng the mish mash swing arm it has, i doubt there is an off the shelf solution, but i cold likey make a solution now that i know where to look.

It pretty much all falls into how chunky the bike is. The seat, tank, wheels, it all feels like Im riding a tank, where as my 350f for example felt like I was riding a scalpel. I'm very aware that's comparing apples and oranges, but I feel like I should be able to get it somewhere in the middle at least.

No worries mate, and I think you may have inspired me to build an exhaust, you make it look easy! You could probably make your own lowering kit for a lot less than the one I bought, I think most of the parts would be available from an engineers supply store. Cheers, Terry.

Haha it took me about 8 hours to make that exhaust, but I need another 8 to make it pretty. It's actually easy to do, I duct tape it together, then tack it, and move on to the neXT piece. Between both pipes it was 15 pieces I think.

[jag767]

I adjusted the exhuast into a much more pleasing position after taking it off to grind for a while. I really need to invest in a tig welder!

[jag767]

Here's a good shot of her.

[Terry in Australia]

Nice! I love those single sided swingarms too! Here's one I saw a couple of months ago outside a pub in Canberra, I think it actually looked better in the flesh, but to be honest, it was at a pub, and I was drinking................ 

[jag767]

Nice! I love those single sided swingarms too! Here's one I saw a couple of months ago outside a pub in Canberra, I think it actually looked better in the flesh, but to be honest, it was at a pub, and I was drinking................ 

Lol! I wish I knew what tank that is, I want to swap mine but I don't know enough about dukes to know what will fit.

[Terry in Australia]

I think it was a handmade tank mate, this bike had a lot of really nice aftermarket parts attached.

[jag767]

I think it was a handmade tank mate, this bike had a lot of really nice aftermarket parts attached.

I'm pretty sure that's a stock ducati tank, or at least it was made to be a copy of one. there's so many models to Google through but I bet I can find it 

[Terry in Australia]

No worries, it looked custom to me, but it might be just a modded stocker? Cheers, Terry.

[Stev-o]

Here's a good shot of her.

Looks good!  Hows it running?

[jag767]

Here's a good shot of her.

Looks good!  Hows it running?

Runs fantastic, actually better with the new exhaust. I changed the gauge last night, have a gps speedo now. Pics to follow.

[Stev-o]

Here's a good shot of her.

Looks good!  Hows it running?

Runs fantastic, actually better with the new exhaust. I changed the gauge last night, have a gps speedo now. Pics to follow.

Pics of the GPS speedo pegged at 150? Ha....

[jag767]

Here's a good shot of her.

Looks good!  Hows it running?

Runs fantastic, actually better with the new exhaust. I changed the gauge last night, have a gps speedo now. Pics to follow.

Pics of the GPS speedo pegged at 150? Ha....

Lol, at best I'm putting 75hp to the wheel, don't think I'd make it!

[Terry in Australia]

Hey don't sell yourself short mate, with the right gearing and a nice long downhill run, you could get there!

[jag767]

Hey don't sell yourself short mate, with the right gearing and a nice long downhill run, you could get there!

Lol. You guys are a bad influence. FYI it bangs past 100 effortlessly 

[jag767]

So far 6 hours into sanding the front pipe. It's starting to look like something, I figure another 5 to 6 hours sanding, then the polishing process can begin. It won't be perfect since it was mig welded, but I think I can get 90%. With a good polish it will be so shiny no one will ever notice, it it's going to look far better than the rest of the bike lol.

[Terry in Australia]

Wow, how do you keep the momentum to sand something for 12 hours mate? I'm looking forward to seeing some pics! Cheers, Terry.

[jag767]

Wow, how do you keep the momentum to sand something for 12 hours mate? I'm looking forward to seeing some pics! Cheers, Terry.

Breaks every 2 hours. And beer, lots of beer 

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, I remember polishing my first CB750 valve cover over several evenings in front of the TV. I've owned many CB750's since, and have never done that again..........

[jag767]

I normally don't do photos mid process but this is after 8 hours of sanding

[Terry in Australia]

Nice! Is it mild steel or stainless mate? ; D

[jag767]

Nice! Is it mild steel or stainless mate? ; D

All 304 stanless

[calj737]

If you haven't, try a can of Bar Keepers Friend. It really does a magnificent job on polishing stainless.