The Frame, Suspension and Wheels
The Frame, one step forward, ten steps back, a few steps forward.....
I decided that I would get the frame powder coated. First step was to get the frame ready for sand blasting. I removed the swingarm and the triple clamp bearing races, then to the local car wash for a serious bath to remove years of oil and dirt. A local hardware store supplied tapered corks which worked really well in protecting the swing arm bearings, lower triple clamp faces and the hole where the swing arm shaft goes through. I protected the shock attach threads with the old acorn nuts.
After sand blasting I took the frame home and spent a lot of time cleaning the everything, in spite of the corks there was still a lot of sand inside the frame. The powder coating cost CDN$100.00 with tax, about the same as getting it professionally painted. The frame was red and beautiful, it reminded me of a Calder and I left it in the living room for a while to admire it. Many thanks to ACS Coating Systems Inc.
I replaced the press in
swing arm grease
nipples
with threaded nipples and locktited them into place. I had to
remove
some of the finish so that the swing arm would fit as powder coating is
thicker than paint. Be sure to prefit the swing arm to see if you
need to shim. I had to use one 0.1 mm shim (Phil has them) to get
rid of some lateral play in the swing arm. Grease the swing arm
shaft
and the bushings and drive the shaft home using a hammer and a wooden
block.
After getting all of this work done, I tried to get the seat to fit. I finally realized that the seat just didn't work with the shock brace of the scrambler and I sold the frame.
I found another frame
from a Monza and
began
prepping
it for powder coating and I ran into a different kind of problem.
I got locked into a restoration funk as I didn't have an idea of what
the
bike would look like. So I spent a lot of time looking at
pictures
of restored singles on the net and basically made a picture library of
what I liked and didn't like. As I didn't have a real Mach 1 or a
Diana, I didn't feel that it was worth it to restore to original. I
had thought I was going to make the bike resemble a Mach I but I found
a picture of an F3
replica
on Phil's site that blew me away. The Monza frame got sand
blasted
and powder coated. When I went to the powder coater, I looked at
a number of coupons to pick the correct silver. The coupons were
smaller than I expected and I thought I would see what color I was
getting.
This was a huge mistake. When I picked up the frame, my jaw
dropped.
The frame was silver but it was metal flake. Not small flakes but
big flakes like on those ugly fiberglass dune buggies from the
70's.
The small finish coupon just didn't show the flakes.
I found a 1966 250GT that was running and had a really good engine. I decided to use the GT frame as removing the metal flake coating would take a lot of time and money and besides, I had a frame. Here we go again. Prepped the frame and away it went to the powder coater. Came back and it was exactly what I wanted. The seat fitted right on and I started to fit the tank. Disaster. It appears that the frame is bent! Sitting on the seat with the tank on shows the tank leaning off the the left. I could of sworn that the frame was straight! When I bought the GT I spent a lot of time making sure that the bike had never been dropped. All of the ends of the foot pegs were unscratched and new looking. The control levers and the ends of the handle bars were clean and no dents in the gas tank. The shock mount acorn nuts were clean as well. There were no signs of the bike being dropped. I had heard rumors of the heat required to cure powder coating (350 F to 375 F) could in fact stress relieve a frame. I wonder if I am seeing that?
I am in limbo now with the frame. Keep tuned.
Long story short, got a new frame and did it all again........
The Suspension
After pulling the forks off of the bike, I dumped the water/oil/crud emulsion out, washed out the guts with varsol and refilled with a lot of cheap oil, pumped them a few times and put the tubes aside. The local auto supply store has real cheap bulk oil which has been invaluable in flushing both the forks and the engine. We also have a great depot for getting rid of old oil and dirty varsol. The front forks looked like they are in good condition but when I finally started to disassemble them I found out that in spite of washing them out they were still filled with all kinds of horrible black crud!
How to disassemble the forks.
Get new fork seals, if you are going to go through all this trouble you will have to replace the seals in any case. Get 2-0170.37.494 gaskets, these are the gaskets that seal the lower screws that hold the damper rod. You might need to get 0460.37.295 gaskets, these are hard to get and they go between the metal washer and the fork seal. If you are lucky the lower screws will come out but as usual one came out easily and the other just spun the damper rod. I modified a 7/32-3/8 drive socket by grinding the outer diameter to around .345" and filed a groove about .135 wide and .200 deep. You are going to need around 16 " of extension to get the socket into the end of the damper. Insert the socket and hang on as you spin the lower bolt out.
Once the damper rod is free you should be able to pull the inner tube out of the outer tube. I could not as there was too much crud inside the tube. I had to flush the tubes with varsol again and used a long thin rod to gently tap the damper out of the inner tube. I found 2-3/16 dia balls inside one of the forks (steering head bearings?, the fork damper had all of its balls), how they got there I will never understand. Everything was really filthy and I spent about a week just soaking and cleaning everything with varsol. The bore of the damper rods was difficult to clean until I found a .30 cal gun brass bore brush that fit perfectly and did an excellent job of scrubbing the damper rod and also removed some of the burrs that were left over from when the damper rod holes were drilled. I used different round brushes for the inner and outer fork bores.
How to assemble the forks.
When I built the forks for the first time, I didn't like the way they felt when I pumped them. So I tore them apart and decided to build a long narrow tank so that I could totally immerse the fork tubes in fresh varsol. I dipped the previously cleaned and scrubbed forks in the tanks and found a surprising amount of gunk! Assembly went much better the second time. Make sure to use gasket goop on the lower retaining screws and make sure to use anti seize compound on the dust cover threads. I used 10 wt fork oil and measured the oil (110 ml) with a 60 ml syringe that I bought from a local hospital supply.
Shocks
For shocks I picked
RedWings from ProFlo,
installed with new acorn nuts from Road
and Race
I rebuilt an old pair of covered Marzocchi's.
With some great instructions from Richard Kennedy I was able to
successfully
rebuild
the shocks. I think the restored
Marzocchi's
look really great and once the bike gets sorted out I will try the
restored
shocks out.
If I can find one, I
will replace the
top
triple clamp with a blank one to go with clip ons. Flash!
I got one from Phil's latest haul. The lower triple clamp is
going
to get Ti bolts and nuts from Indigo.
The Wheels
The old rims and tires were trash so I just cut all the spokes with a bolt cutter and dumped everything except the hubs. The old bearings were punched out (just move the distance piece sideways and you can get a punch in there to punch out the bearings)
Note: I got a new distance piece with collars for the front hub. If you install that distance piece you wont be able to move the distance piece sideways to punch out the bearing and you will have to use a puller. I made a new distance piece with no collars.
The hubs were polished at The Chrome Pit and they look pretty good. I found the FAG bearing site on the web and the numbers for the bearings (4-6202.2RSR.C3 and 1-6004.2RSR.C3) are still in use and common. I purchased new sealed bearings from the local dealer. Make sure you get the sealed bearings as you wont have to deal with all the weird metal bearing seals and felt dust seals. Throw the bearings in plastic bag and then into a freezer and preheat the hubs to about 150, I used a press to get the bearings in and don't forget that distance piece.
I ask a lot of questions and spent a lot of time deciding what kind of tires to use and what width of alloy rims would be needed. My scrambler had Pirelli 3.50x19 (steel WM2) on the front with a Pirelli 4.00x19 (steel WM3) on the back. With a lot of help from Phil at Road and Race I now have set of Pirelli MT65, 2.75 x18 front and 3.00x18 rear. The tubes are IRC and the rim protectors are Kenda both of which came from Dennis Kirk.
The rims are Excel WM2 alloys with stainless spokes which came from Buchanan Spoke and Rim, Inc. They drill the rims specifically for the Ducati hub and are the masters of spokes and rims! The wheels went to Wildwood Yamaha for truing and balancing. The spoke weights came from Dual Star. An excellent article on how to lace a wheel can be found here.
The Brakes
The hubs and brakes went
to Vintage
Brake for turning and new linings. I talked to Mike Murphy
about
what I was going to use the bike for and he recommended a 2520V type
lining.
His work is really, really excellent. I hated the fake air scoops
on the brakes and decided to try and make them work. After a lot
of work with a drill press and files I managed to open up the slots and
then realized that they were way too small and fragile so I hogged out
the whole opening. I also opened up the inside of the hubs to
allow
good airflow. I needed some perforated metal to close up the
holes,
Rick Woods (thanks!) came to the rescue and the brakes look
great!
Poor mans Fontana's!
Rear Wheel
I got a new rear sprocket from Syd's. It looks great and it saves a bunch of weight, 549 gms or 19 oz! I am using a 46 tooth rear sprocket with a 16 front sprocket giving me a ratio of 2.88. I replaced the bearings in the rear hub (same type as the front) and have a new drive cushion as well. The chain came from Dennis Kirk and is a DID 428. I got the longest chain as I wasn't sure about what length to get. When the chain was fitted I had the usual problem of the chain being too long and if I removed another link it would be too short! I think I am going to install the chain too long and when it stretches into place, cut out the extra link.
