Eelco's Darmah

By a circuitous route I have found an NCR tank seat unit and fairing at a great price but I have to go to Norfolk to collect it. Luckily I'm near Donington today so it looks like a long trip home via bandit country! The only thing is, is that this eats up a big chunk of my 'In case I need a new ignition' money - ah well....
 
fairing_zps91f999c7.jpg

From a very nice man called Brian in Kings Lynn. He also has a race 2 into 1 and some Bevel ss bits like a headlamp and footrests.
Evidently this came off a MHR that was put on the track but blew up. I just liked the shape of the tank-seat and the patina/stickers.
 
Good news: The replacement sprocket arrived
Bad news: It's for a Pantah

I'm going to stop trying to save money and call Mdina. Yes, I know it's what I should have done in the first place.
Anybody want an 15-tooth 80-84 Pantah sprocket? (If indeed, that is what it is!)
 
I will need one but had better check the number of teeth I will need as I am changing the wheel dia so will also have to change the sprocket sizes to suit.
 
derek, 239 Desmo and chicken thingy will be delighted to hear that I visited 'Los cuervas Aladdinos di Mdina' this morning and bought the correct sprocket! That he gave me an 'UpNorth' 10% off was the icing on a cake. Just talking about my bike to him made me feel like it had suddenly become his responsibility to resurrect it, not just mine. What a nice bloke.
 
I got some 8mm 'Bundy' tubing from Thorite in Bradford and have about 2.9metres left after replacing the copper feed pipe to the oil filter housing. I remembered the lock-nut this time and then set about putting in the bottom bevels and their support plate. Next I slipped on the stator and cover. I think that I'll spend some quality time now with the manual looking for those things that I've forgotten to fit.
 
As I was sorting through all the margarine tubs of bits I moved an engine case aside and found a 15-tooth sprocket that must have been in the box of bits from the back of Eelco's garage. Damn this memory of mine. Whilst reading the manual I also realised that it was entirely possible that I put the alternator rotor on backwards. Also at the bottom of a box was the oil-filter and cover so I thought that I'd pop that in, only to find that the central oil post is not actually central so the cover fits to one side. I know that V2 used to make billet oil-filter tops that were more rigid and had a better seal but unless I can persuade MMT to turn me one up I need to find another way of stiffening the bottom lip (maybe with a ring of steel slipped over it) and an arrangement of sealing washers to let me offset the mounting hole.
 
Last edited:
Every manual and picture I see mentions that the Alternator rotor should go 'flat face out' That is indeed how mine came out. The 'none flat' face had a large steel washer that fitted in a recess in the face. Please somebody tell me that this is correct so I don't have to take it all apart just to check - I've knocked over the tab washer for goodness sake!
 
I have 2 manuals both of which I've mislaid right now :o but page 69 of Stephen Eke's 'Ducati Tuning' under the workshop procedures section shows the rotor being removed and it is definitely flat side out - but it's a round case motor. Probably the same but I couldn't be sure.
However here is screen shot from the 860/900 GTS manual;
View attachment 8928
and it definitely says "fit the rotor with the opening inward."
 
I know that my brain is prone to play tricks on me but I have been been waking in the middle of the night thinking about the oil pipe where it comes out of the pump. In the end I gave in and took the casing off and everything else back to the pump. When I touched the gland nut the whole fitting turned. It had stripped out the thread that I cut in the pumpcasing, the remnants of which were sitting inside the pump just waiting to destroy my new crank. Phew. I'm going to look for a fitting with a bigger thread and re-drill the hole to suit, then be a lot more careful with the re-assembly.
 
I re-read all the stuff on the net about the full-flow modification and went back up the threads to find that most mentioned the need to drill out the hole in the bottom of the filter housing where it goes into the oil drillings. Since that would mean taking the cases apart again I had a good check inside mine and can't see what the need for drilling is. Mine looks a bit like a drain gulley with a big (relatively) sweeping radius in each direction. In tha absence of intelligent intervention from on here or the steely gaze of MMT I'm going to leave well alone. When I can get the picture from my phone I'll stick it here.
oildrain_zps121e2cd2.jpg
I know that's a difficult photo but you can see the (relatively) great big channelcrossing from right to left (normally full of nappies and such)
I sent off to Mdina for some tab washers for the pump gear and alternator now that I've had them out twice. The price hurt my Yorkshire heart but they were on the shelf and with me next day so that made me feel a little better.
 
Last edited:
specialtool_zpsd46f8e32.jpg


MMT made me this from an old socket we bought at Rufforth. It sounds like he may be redundant from Monday so it'll be the last special bit he makes me until he can get set-up with some machines. He's already had offers of work but wants to take some time off to decide what he really feels like doing with the rest of his life. He's only 52 but has never worked anywhere else so there's a bit of grieving to happen, I guess.
 
I got a 1/4 BSP fitting to replace the stripped 1/8 BSP one, drilled out a bigger hole and tapped it. All was going well, except the fitting was a little longer so the pipe needed to be shorter. In the process of taking teh pump off and on a couple of times I got the oil pressure relief spring caught between the body and the cases, crushing it. I immediately looked at Mdina italia but they are showing out of stock so that's a phone call for Monday. I am considering doing away with the relief valve altogether as some race-engine builders suggest, especially since I have a feeling that forcing the oil the other way around the filter might cause the valve to open early. i'm open to informed opiniion.
 
I have both 8mm and 10mm Bundy pipe and am going to use 8mm inside diameter 7mm Bundy and 8mm to 1/4" BSP fittings. I have spare 8mm Bundy if you need it as I had to buy 3.2 metres and only needed the .2m. The 10mm fittings where just too big.

Best, Paul.
 
Thanks, but like you I have a spare few meteres of Bundy! I am using 8mm and 1/4 fittings now. What do you think about doing away with the relief valve?
 
Fortunately that nice man 'vacant posession' is sending a spare spring back to Mdina so they can get it reproduced locally. He also sent me some German guy's results of testing bevel oil flows. They measured huge oil pressures between the pump and filter when starting from cold after the full-flow conversion (which would adversely affect the pump gears that run on shafts only supported at one end - I can't afford one of those twin bearing super-pumps) so I'm going to retain the relief valve just for those moments.
 
After fitting the selector mechanism I realsied that the kick start ratchet was clicking all the time the gearbox shaft was turning and it felt like I could only selecr neatral and two gears so I decided to split the cases again. I got them open about 15-20mm but no further. This is either a gears or a kickstart thing but I did remember to rotate the kikstrat through 45 degress as I opened the cases. Any ideas?
 
Hoorah! I think that the coating on the selector forks was stopping them sliding easily on their shafts so they were stopping things moving enough to come apart. A lot of wiggling and jiggling, together with large doses of coffee and radio 4 and I'm back where I started. At least now I can fit oil restrictors without worrying about swarf stuck in the cases.
 
I maybe added too much! I think that the layshaft is slightly too firmly located in the bearing so it doesn't move enough to let everything wiggle and jiggle and slide-out as it might normally do. You might think that the forces all going in one direction, ie apart, should make that idea nonsense but I have a feeling that the wear stacks up and things only need a bit of side-play to start sticking when they 'cockle' I was perhaps also being a little too 'delicate' with the rubber hammer, which is very unusual - perhaps I'm going down with manflu again.
 
MartinW said:
Fortunately that nice man 'vacant posession' is sending a spare spring back to Mdina so they can get it reproduced locally. He also sent me some German guy's results of testing bevel oil flows. They measured huge oil pressures between the pump and filter when starting from cold after the full-flow conversion (which would adversely affect the pump gears that run on shafts only supported at one end - I can't afford one of those twin bearing super-pumps) so I'm going to retain the relief valve just for those moments.
Click to expand...
Hmmm... I wish life was so simple. I *did* order one from Andrew and it has arrived. However I can't find it ATM :-( Back to Classics have sold out. :banghead:. Bottoms.

However I have ordered 5 from Domiracer and you can have one when they arrive; I am hoping that will be in about a week. I had to buy 5 as Domiracer have a $25 minimum order. Lacey have the oil pressure relief valve balls, BTW.
 
Last edited:
But Lacey's boiler has just exploded! I felt really sorry for Edina last night when she emailed me to let me know why my gasket might be delayed. I don't need the ball, thanks. Since I am in Milan next week I have been looking for Ducati shops over there, since occasionally I get a couple of hours off in the day. I'll track them down when I get there because I think there must be one, somewhere.
thanks again,
Martin
 
haha! No, that's about the only thing I haven't taken off the cases. It's a centre case gasket as I've split them again. I spent a few hours when I should have been packing, assembling the gears again into cases without the crank in so I can mess about with them. I shimmed both shafts from the bottom up, lining all the gears up into a central relationship with each other. I am a little puzzled that fifth gear, which was the one with half a tooth broken off, appears to have only half engagement, which might have been the reason for the damage. I'm going to let MMT have a look when I get back. I got a coupl of gudgeon-pin clips from Nigel at Lacey's at the same time, once we had identified my 86.6 mm pistons. That is all it said on their crowns, there was no makers name, and a ring of holes under the oil ring so unfortunately I don't think that they are forged ones, but maybe Borgos. At least I now know that I have a 'big bore'.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom