[ducatiman]

Yup, that time o' year again for the inevitable forward thinking. Anyone? Myself, basic winterization, battery removal to indoors, covering , oil/fuel prep on all 3 o' mine. Thats about it here.

 

[yorkie]

more or less the same. plus the gen 1 exhaust to mod oil and filter. must start thinking about a new rear tyre for gen 1. been on 6years and getting a bit hard in the rubber dep't could be interesting 16in wheels are getting rarer to find.

 

[FlipFlop]

Going to get paint on my lower fairing, and get it mounted after servicing the bike.

 

[CaptBanana]

EX500: Absolutely nothing planned. It gets ridden whenever it's above freezing and the roads are dry.

KTM: Pull battery, top up coolant, drain fuel, MAYBE bring it to my friend's house for winter storage.

V-Strom: Pull and properly sync throttle bodies, properly sync idle air screws, drain fuel, replace and missing/damaged bolts and pins. Richen up the low end via homemade Yosh box if I don't get around to it before winter.

Edit: Knocked a couple items off the list early 😁

 

[mangosmoothie]

Depending on how this upcoming track day goes, may be looking for a Daytona 675 to make a track rig.

 

[mangosmoothie]

Can’t help myself. Ordered some TT600 cams and a micron bolt on (slip on essentiallyexhaust for the speed four I’m picking up.

the speed four has cams designed for more mid range than the TT600. However, unlike the Daytona 955 vs Speedy 955, rest of the engine is identical.
I can’t find anyone that’s done a direct comparison between a S4 and TT600. One old magazine said they strapped both bikes on a dyno and the speed four has a very slight advantage form 3500-4750 and a brief 4 gt lb gain at 7500 rpm but otherwise followed the TT600 closely until the top where the speed four made 88.5 hp and the TT made 96.7.

so my thoughts are check valve clearances (likely needs an adjustment) add the exhaust, swap the cams while I’m in there, and toss a tt600 map developed for an after market exhaust (there are no maps available for a speed four with aftermarket exhaust).

if I want big torque, that’s what I have the speed triple for. I can’t find my dyno sheets but my speed triple made mid 90s hp on the dyno. Will be awesome to have both bikes make same power but in different ways.

depending on what else I find or feel like doing, might do fork oil and seals as well.

 

[ducatiman]

Realized the 900 Duc due for cam drive belts next year....I'll simplify by coordinating, doing the 800 as well. I'll get 'em ordered over winter... adding some oil filters too. Can't have too many spares, can we?

 

[ducatiman]

Belts here already!

Currently working on a neighbors home genset. Some fine tuning on the Briggs motor (valve adjust, carb strip/clean/setup, spark plug refresh (via sodablast), 100% fuel purge for fresh has transformed this thing from requiring 10-15 pulls down to 1st pull every time.
Valves were loose....book calls for .004-.006"on both intake & exhaust......I readjusted intake to .005" and exhaust to .006" Perfect! Down to just an oil change to complete it.

 

[mangosmoothie]

The cam swap was not a good time. First, one of the Allen cam cover bolts rounded out. I tried hammering in a larger size torx, cutting a slot and using an impact screw, using a punch and hammer to “push” the bolt, nothing worked. So I ground the head off. Got into the valve cover a little but it won’t be a problem or noticeable once touched up.
then the valve cover just would not fit out of the frame. It’s a known problem on some bikes. No amount of bending or twisting would get it over the cam sprockets and under the frame. I fought with it for an hour until I decided it was just easier to drop the engine. Really wasn’t hard at all. Loosen chain, Remove the cyl head mounts, remove top bolt on the rear, loosen bottom bolt and she swings down with ease.

 

[mangosmoothie]

OH! And then the valve cover gasket and the valve cover bolt was backordered. Found a NOS gasket on eBay and a set of bolts finally.

while I wait for those, I’ll swap the cams and set clearances. Also needs a new rear chain so I’ll get on that too

 

[ducatiman]

good work, mangs. With valve cover removal difficulties....must wonder how many have never had valve adjustments out there in the general population. Scary stuff, eh?

 

[ducatiman]

genset done, returned. Neighbor/owner brings over a Craftsman 24" Briggs powered snow blower, looks like new but has an occasional miss. I believe fuel system/carb related. Planning the same procedure as genset....set valves, carb internal inspection, spark plug blast/clean, fuel drain/purge. We'll see how it works out, no rush.

Edit: success, after mentioned efforts....persistent miss is totally gone, running smooth now...ioil changed as well. I'll return to owner tomorrow. I believe carb was slightly dirty (in just the wrong places). Valves were ok.

 

[mangosmoothie]

Cams are in. Rotated 3 times. Everything in time. Time to measure clearances now

 

[mangosmoothie]

Intake spec is 15-25. 7/8 are 15, one is 10.
Exhaust spec is 20-30. Most are 22, one is 18. I’m going to shim all the intakes for more clearance. Undecided on exhaust. Whatchu think dman?

 

[ducatiman]

IMHO middle spec on intakes, max on exhausts. Same as EX.

 

[Davenay67]

Project #1 - Make 1 bike from 2.

Take the working engine (only 595 miles!) from the bike with no title....

....and put it in the bike with a title and a duff engine (removed and shoved in a corner of the garage to sulk).

 

[Davenay67]

Project #2 - Put poor old Humpty back together again.

About dang time to rebuild the VFR.

 

[ducatiman]

better you than me, bro.

 

[mangosmoothie]

Even after all I’ve learned over the years…. Working on a VFR scares me too much to own one

 

[Davenay67]

Project #3 - a bit o' cosmetic surgery.

Restore the beauty to a Street Triple that got punched in the face by a car.