Technical Update

I was waiting to receive some aluminium plate through the post as I want to make some reed spacers for the 350 , before attacking the 500, as I don't want the bits all over the place in the garage. I received my 8mm and 10mm plate, with new spark plugs for the Ducati (Champion L86C) these are non resistor type plugs to go with the non-resistor type plug caps I have installed - should make for more noise on people's tellies, but more spark, and better running - at least that's the hope. I swapped the old ones out NGK B7HS they were very light, so either I need to jet up or use a different heat range for the plugs!

I think the new ones are compatible with the B6HS so I just need to revise whether 6 is hotter or cooler and what that means - I always get confused when looking at these numbers!

So, using the aluminium plate, I used a gasket as a template and then cut the plate into appropriate size bits, rounded off the corners, and then drilled out the middle, then milled off the insides to bring the hole out to the correct size.

It takes an age to remove material with the miller, I don't know whether I am being too delicate or if I should cut more off at each sweep, anyway I am nearly finished with one, and will start the next one next week.

In the mean time, the Daytona sprang a leak from the radiator, you can't see it in the photo, but when it was hot it was heavily dripping, lucky it didn't happen in the Isle Of Man! I found a workshop in Fontaine which repairs radiators, so I removed it from the bike, and took it in this morning. The guy put the rad. under pressure, and in a water bath and you could see the problem straight away, I think I could have had a go myself, but anyway I suppose 50 Euros for a professional job is OK in this day and age, all the same expensive for a bit of solder! I will post a photo of the professional job tomorrow!

I have had to order two new carbon disks for the RG, along with the rivets and some thinner gaskets to avoid anything touching, Franco has also trimmed the disks down so their diameter is slightly smaller, to avoid any possibility of touching the exterior of the crankcase. Should be receiving these soon, but as mentioned above I still need to finish the 350 before completely stripping the 500 engine.