Ducati and others

So quick news on the Ducati Darmah. Eventually made a paper tool from some diagrams I scrounged off the internet. Fixed the pickups and still exactly the same.

Chris had the brilliant idea to swap the wires back to the way they were (badly). Swapped them back and it started first kick!

Trying to work through the logic of what is going on!

Also got a Honda Transalp in for an oil change and some damage repairs. That all went fine although the footrest hanger was impossible to bend!

Also have another XR400 Honda in, this one bogs down when really hot (dessert), from internet searches, this model runs too rich so will be cleaning out and refurbishing the carb with smaller jets. And also changing the small (deceleration) diaphragm shown below.

Ducati Pickup adjustment

So the Ducati needs a special tool to align the ignition pickups, costing nearly 200 quid. So I thought I would use plasticine pushed onto the pickup faces, then replace the cover, turn the engine over and then see what's what with the plasticine. And it worked (to some extent). Obviously this doesn't check the angular position, but should enable me to get the distances right. You can see on the photo where the rotor has scraped the plasticine, the thickness of the plasticine will give the gap and as can be seen on the RH pickup, it also shows the angle of this pickup is not parallel to the rotor. I adjusted the RH pickup (which was the cylinder not firing) to be square to the rotor.

The second photo also shows that the rotor has also (at some point) come into contact with the clutch gear.

Triumph/Ducati contd.

The bushing tool worked really well so it was a doddle to screw them into position, I did have to adjust the diameter of the tool slightly, but now it works really well.

I now have to push in the bearing pieces, which is another challenge!

With a fully charged battery on the Ducati, I now am getting a spark on the rear cylinder but not on the front, swapping around the pickup connectore I can get the front to spark so the problem is coming from the front cylinder pickup wiring/adjustment/other. The resistance from both pickups is within spec. about 210 ohms, so the wiring etc.. would appear good, I need to now check to see if the pickup moved when I was messing about in there. OK off with the cover again tomorrow!

Ducati/Triumph

Went to try and start the Ducati this morning but the battery was dead. Some prat had left the ignition switch on Park!

So I put the battery on charge and then worked on the Triumph swinging arm, came to the conclusion I really need a press to remove the bushes and install the news ones, but I don't yet have one (it's on the list), so it was down to fabricating a tool to force the bushes out with a sledge hammer.

It was hard work, but eventually got them all out without any damage. I made another tool to pull the new ones into position, having thought that banging the new ones wasn't the best way to succeed. Have put the bushes in the freezer tonight and will try my tool tomorrow!

Ducati Darmah

Things have moved along a little with the DucatiThe clutch cover is off ! I ended up removing the starter motor chain (quick link) to allow the starter gear to remain in the engine and the started motor to come away with the cover.

I have been racking my brains as to how I can test the position of the pickups which are fixed to the engine cover and yet are positioned relative to the rotor on the end of the crank, the best solution is to use the Ducati tool, but at $200 a throw, I am not going to buy one, Brancato does one in the UK for about the same price, and there are some diagrams on the web on how to make one although I think it is beyond my capacities, or at least it would probably take me a week to make the tool....

Anyway I wanted to test the resistance of the pickups and my voltmeter was reading all sorts so I stripped the wires back and discovered a couple of things :-
firstly two wires were switched positions! And secondly the wire insulation had got so hot/crispy that it had cracked in a couple of places.

Nothing for it but to cut off the (already replaced) wires and install some new stuff.

Interestingly, I think the swapped wire is going to solve the problem, the sympton of messing up the configuration of the wires is that the particluar cylinder you are working on will go onto full advance, and this fits with the description of the problem i.e. kicks back and stubborn to start when warm, at least that's what I am thinking for the moment. It's difficult to see from the photos but the green and blue wires were reveresed.

Ducati Darmah difficulty starting when hot!

I have a nice Ducati Darmah in the garage at the moment, with starting and kick back issues.

The agreed upon plan is to test the ignition advance, the pickups and basically all the ignition components, plus change the oil, filter and brake fluid!

Removing the left hand engine cover was complicated by haynes "just loosen all the hex bolts" and the real Ducati manual saying you have to remove the starter motor chain before pulling the cover off! Also the real manual says you are supposed to NOT remove one the hex bolts as it holds the pickups in place!

Oh well it can only go better from here.

Hornet 25k service

25k service on a Hornet, I was quite surprised to find that you are supposed to check the valve clearances, for shim under bucket, this doesn't seem to be much - the Triumph Daytona is 40k and mine have never moved in over 100k. Anyway, removed all the miriad of tubes and pipes on top of the cam cover, and loosened the radiator to be able to squeeze the feeler gauge in. What do you know, 2 inlet and one exhaust valve out of spec. (Too small), shit and of course I need to remove the cams to get at them. Oh well you win some and you lose some. The specs say inlet=0.2 +/- 0.03 and exhaust=0.28+/-0.03 where do they get these sizes from, who has a feeler gauge of 0.28 mms anyway? Perhaps they are given in inches originally?

The rest is pretty straight forward except the ABS gubbins goes right under the steering column so impossible to use my front end stand to lift the wheel off the ground, so it will have to be a block of wood jacked under the exhaust headers or maybe I can get to the sump which has to be stronger - right?

Atelier entre 2 temps

That's the proposed name for the company that I will be creating in Feb. Next year. I will be working from the garage. So it will all be legal in Feb. At the moment I have had 2 additional bikes in the garage.

A neighbours Honda XR400, which has been rebored, valves reground manually and then put back together.

The second is a 600 hornet, which is in for a 25k service. All fluids forks etc...

I will be getting a Ducati Darmah in tomorrow with pickup issues, and then maybe a Moto Guzzi with an oil leak..... We'll  see!

RG500 and RD350 base gaskets

Sad to say I had another thrust washer break! So, I have replaced the crank with one that has the thrust washers on the crank and am reboring No. 4, It will get a 57 mm piston kit and new small end bearing. I have cleaned up the rotary disk covers, and will be using a long open phase carbon rotary disk, the clearance is 0,3 mms. Will order a standard rotary disk.

Performance on the 350 was down due to raising the barrels with additional gaskets, so I am going to use thinner gasket material and hopefully find a compromise between breaking pistons and performance.

Daytona and T140

Getting really pissed off with the company doing the epoxy on the Triumph frame still not finished (or started for that matter).

The Daytona got a puncture rear wheel on a 1000km tyre so attempted to repair, which didn't take so got the shop down the road to put a plug in from the inside.

Took the 900ss out for a ride and although the battery was flat (on charge for 18 hours), it took about 10 kicks to start. Once started it ticked over nicely, and I had a nice couple of hour run out.

As well as the T140 , I now have an XR 400 Honda in the shop, it's a neighbours desert bike, that's been using a lot of oil. He wants me to strip the top end and rebore it for a new piston. Once I got the barrel off I don't think the piston or cylinder are worn, but I am awaiting a bore measuring tool, to measure the middle of the cylinder to be sure. At the moment I am thinking new rings and valve seals and away it goes! The photos are of the cylinder head.

Should be doing the RG500 meeting at Ales this coming weekend although for the moment the weather is dodgy so I haven't signed up yet!

Long time no post

Quick news on what has been happening this summer.

The T140 (yes I am sure), is having it's new paint job as we speak, epoxy black for the frame and a tasteful red metal and white for the tank. Chroming various bits is just soooo expensive I can get them cheaper new so a big order went into LP Williams which was picked up from my parents whilst I was over in the UK, I also visited Reg Allen's in Ealing to get the front wheel bearing cover off. Of course as suspected the bloody thing was a normal thread! DOH......

Patrick's bike came in for a much overdue complete service and start, which all happened unfortunately I managed to drop his bike so had to get the tank repaired which quickly used up most of my labour charge for the job so basically did that for free.

Went away on the Daytona and Street to the Dolomites, I was a bit concerned about my bike but with standard cartography and a new fuel level sensor things seem to be back in order. The USB port was crap though, not providing enough charge to use the GPS on the phone all day, so we used both phones each day to find our way, which worked out fine, had a great ride back although weather whilst we were there was far from dry!

Middle of August saw me with LPP at Ledenon for first track outing, I used the 500 and 350 although the very last session on the second day the 350 lost power and after further investigation it turned out to be another cracked piston! I honed out the cylinder and a new piston kit went in, with new bushes on the RHS power valve. I also reduced float height on the carbs by 1mm as they still overflow a bit.

At the end of August went with PL to Ledenon and Libby came! Used the FZR which went like a dream for the 2 days despite intensive usage by both of us as the 500 lost a silencer at the end of day one, we found the silencer and I have done a better weld to secure it to the tube, so it won't happen again, also downloaded an App to give lap times and it was good so purchased the Pro version (4 euros). This enable us to share lap times and top speeds, just for info I think my top speed is about 181 km/h and a fastest lap of 1:45, still slow compared to the quick guys but enjoyable just the same.

Had an Aprilia scooter in the shop for a restart. The carb needed a good clean - pilot jets completely blocked, but another happy customer!

There are a million photos but I'll just share one - see if you spot the join!

Triumph T120

I needed to make a tool in order to remove the bearing covers from the front wheel. But it didn't work! To release the axle and hence get access to the bearings you need to turn the cover (according to the manual this is a clockwise to loosen thread), and you turn it using the 4 small holes in the hub as shown on the photo. Well I've heated it, oiled it to death and it still won't give way! They don't teach about this in school!

BTW I got my results of my exams and I am far too modest to post them publically but suffice to say I passed with flying colours! Next step to opening my own workshop is to start going through the French admin!

Triumph T120

Got my TIG welder back yesterday so I spent this morning making up a couple of brackets that were broken and rewelding a weld that had cracked (piccies 3&4). The frame is now ready to be sand blasted and epoxied. I have borrowed the neighbours compressor to get my sand blaster going but it's just not powerful enough, I need a constant 5 bar feed, hey ho will have to invest!

Triumph throttle body balancing, BMWR850R and Triumph

I had the tank off the Daytona in to change the fuel sender so I thought I'd have another go at balancing the throttle bodies. I had bought some T pieces as the Daytona has air bleed screws which are adjusted at idle so you need to have the IAVC hoses hooked up at the same time as the vacuum gauges. I reset the TPS and setup TuneEcu on the PC so that I could set the idle to between 30-34 steps. The adjustment went OK after I noticed that the hoses for 2 and 3 had been reversed! , With the tank of I also spliced in my USB charger to the front loom. I tried to use what looked like an accessory plug, but I couldn't find 12v so I gave up and used the left hand low beam wire.

Philippe's BMW came in with what I thought was charging issues, but which I am now sure is a starter motor issue! It seems to just suck all power out of the battery as soon as you action the button. In fact I had started troubleshooting the alternator, and couldn't find much wrong so after thinking again came to the conclusion of looking at the starter motor. It's a Valeo car Unit, so not expensive so an eBay order has been made!

Finally got the neighbours compressor and connected up the sandblaster to have a go at the Triumph tank and frame, unfortunately the compressor was not really able to keep up so will have to have another go tomorrow. My welder turned up again today so hopefully I will be able to weld up the bracketry on the frame!

Triumph T120 and counting

Olivier just gave me the registration document and it's a T120, registered in January 1974, this was just at the period when the Triumph employees went on strike (sit in) and virtually zero motorcycles were produced in 1974, so this one is probably a US export version from 1973, and finally bought back through Switzerland where Olivier purchased it.

Apparently there are no colour codes as such for Triumph paint, and differences in design point to the liberty of each painter to change (within reason) the different designs of paint, we have decided to go with the Cherokee red paint and cold white scallops. As there are no codes we will try and match the colours from photos and to be honest as long as the job is a good one I don't care (and neither does my customer). The engine is out now exit left side, although it will be a challenge to get it back in without scratching something. I will probably protect the frame rails with tube insulation or something similar.

The frame has a couple of broken brackets which I will need to weld before it goes off to get painted, unfortunately the welder just broke so I am waiting for it to come back. I am going to setup the sand blaster in the kids house in the garden to blast the tank and frame in preparation.

Triumph T140

Getting there! The rear wheel, chain guard, and swinging arm came off today, with an ever increasing lists of parts to buy and the pile of stuff to get stove enamelled is getting bigger aswell.

Plastic welding Ducati

One of the inner fairing covers on the 888 was cracked so having had some success with superglue I whipped it off, but unfortunately there were bits missing so I thought I would have a go at plastic welding with a tie wrap and soldering iron (look it up on YouTube!). It actually works pretty well as long as you melt the base aswell as the tie wrap, I built up a reasonable thickness of plastic and then ground it down with the Dremel. The result is not perfect, although maybe spending more time with fine grain emery would help, but it does become functional again.
I was also visited by a 750ss at the weekend a lovely bike that has been lovingly restored.

100k Service Daytona

So back from Paris after 1100 kms aller retour! Bike seems to be surging a little and pinking quite a lot, hopefully finishing the service will resolve this.

So yesterday, tank off, airbox off, valve cover off, to check the valves, all perfect! I suppose  I ought to happy otherwise it's cams out, but you know a lot of work for nothing but peace of mind! Still good to know that after 100K kms, no valve clearances have moved - I have never changed a shim on this bike!

I spent about an hour cleaning up the rubber gasket and cover and then liberal use of silicon sealer and on it goes, and believe it or not it didn't leak!
The trick is to stick the rubber gasket to the cover and then put in the left side first and then the RHS, can't say I didn't get sealant everywhere but it eventually went on.

New plugs and then to balance the throttle bodies, now I am sure I have done this before, but I couldn't find my post so had to read the book a bit.

Basically you disconnect the air pipes from the IACV (little device that controls air input during startup and then control idle) - you are supposed to put in T pieces so you can connect the vacuum gauges and IACV at the same time, but I stuck the vacuum hoses directly in the pipes effectively disabling the IACV.

To start the bike you need to hold a steady (just open throttle) and not let it drop as the idle is no longer controlled. The balance is then done on each cylinder (no reference) with a type of air screw between each throttle body. They don't seem to have any impact on the butterfly valves.... hmmm.... As a consequence it didn't seem to have any impact on the vacuum at all whether I shifted clockwise or anti clockwise. This can not be right!

After much fiddling I think I need to buy some T pieces and try again, although I have no recollection of doing this in the past.....

Anyway, new filter and then back together and all is well. I still have a problem with the fuel level sender so I think the tank will be off again soon, as I will need to find a solution to that - the bodges on the Triumph forum don't appear to have worked!

amazing what you can do with a mobile phone take pictures where you eyes can not see!

Throttle balancing screws

Nothing better than a ice cream stick to clean old silicon out of the cover

Valves all good!

100k service

Well if you didn't see my post on Facebook, I hit the 100k Kms on my Daytona last week, so big service time! Basically everything needs doing, I have ordered everything from silverperformance.eu and an Pipercross air filter from eBay. I have so far busied myself with changing all the fluids, oil and filter, coolant, brake fluid (front& back) today I got some 10 weight fork oil. The forks hold 589ccs in each leg with an air gap of 76mms, I managed to get in 580 in each leg taking it up to 76mms, first time I've used Ipone fork oil we'll see what it's worth.

I am travelling to Paris tomorrow, so I will do the remaining stuff when I get back - valves, air filter and plugs and I'll have a look at the rear suspension linkages as they are prone to rust up.

Rd350 first start

Happy the 350 started 4th kick! I even checked the gears up to second and all seems to be in order. I checked the float height on both carbs and they were both the same at 24mms, so I will just have to see if it starts to leak fuel again. The right hand piepe was full of petrol and both crankcases were well full, so fuel had obviously leaked its way past the Reed valves and into the bottom end. I'll keep an eye on it. The attached picture is of base gaskets that I cut out of gasket paper, coz the ones that came from Norbo were too thin, this has an impact on the squish setting so you can't afford to mess with losing 0.2 mms!

The Triumph is slowly coming apart, the shopping list and chrome and paint list are getting longer.....

Triumph T140

Well I proposed to customer Nr1. To come back and have a complete restore on his T140 Triumph Bonneville. He had stored the bike in a garage but it was covered in bird shit, so a good clean was the first task, I have found a guy that will stove enamel the frame, and a potentiel chromer for the shiny bits so I am starting the strip down and the shopping list, of course the wiring is a worry as I don't have a diagram and despite taking many photos it is going to be a challenge getting it back working, I am planning on using LP Williams for parts as they were great the first time round, although they don't have silencers for it so will have to source them elsewhere.

RD350 gearbox

The 350 was jumping out of second at the end of the season, so I decided it was time to get in there. I had bought a second hand main and secondary shaft which was in pretty good nick, although no selectors forks (which I thought would be the problem!), Anyway no problems removing the engine although I did have to improvise a little to get the clutch out as I removed the chain a bit early, however all as expected.

The second gear on the output shaft was pretty worn and the selector forks looked perdendicular to the shaft so they were left alone. However I separated out multiple gears where the dogs were looking a bit worn or as like the second gear the teeth were actually worn.

All went back in and I could've finished today however I broke one of the base gaskets and I didn't have a spare, so I have ordered one from Norbo (RDLC Crazy).

Kawa finished

OK I am pretty sure the Kawasaki is as far along as I can get it. It starts, rides, pops and farts a little, but can't seem to get it any better. Anyway I need the space so it's going back soon!

I haven't done much on the 888 except clean stuff, which is good as this is just what it needs. The new oil has picked up some of the moisture in the old oil, so I am trying to take a decision as to whether I swap it out again - I think we all know the answer to that one! Still waiting for the registration document to get it insured.

I had Philippe's BMW in the workshop the other day, as it refused to start. It turns out the "newish" ignition switch electrics had fallen out and therefore you could turn the key but nothing really happened. So with that sorted and new brake fluid it's back to Philippe.

After my mistake when installing my USB port on the Daytona it appears that the rectifier blew! I have found a second hand one but still waiting for the deal to be done, so it is off the road! I would have liked to swap it out for a MOSFET reg/rec but over 100 euros so I will make do with a second hand one for the time being.

It's my last week at MotoLabo this week and one more week in Paris - can't wait!