Anybody knowledgeable on Ducatis? Update, with photos!!!

Yoniboi · Post by **Yoniboi** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 4:15 pm

My next door neighbour's asked me to get his early 1970s Ducati single cylinder Desmo350 running.

Apparently it died one day, cause unknown, and has sat since then in various garages for many many years until now.

My first question is:
Can anyone recommend a good Ducati forum?

Other questions:
a) It doesn't have a battery, I'm guessing it's 6 volt. Am I right?
b) Amal carbs. Anything particularly tricky about them?
c) Where can I order spares (eg. gaskets etc)
d) Tank's got rust in it. I'm not going to go into coating the inside etc, but what's the best way of getting it clean?
e) Any other general advice, other than 'Give it back to him and go riding!'

Cheers guys.

ps. this isn't it, but it's the same model
http://cgi.ebay.at/Ducati-350-Scrambler ... dZViewItem

sickle44 · Post by **sickle44** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 5:29 pm

Can't answer much other than this John, definitely give it the Kreme treatment which has everything for you to clean it out and coat it up, it's not very expensive at all but stinks like hell. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Fuel-Tan ... 0060004206 that's what it looks like and costs about

There is a dude on eBay that's strictly Italian stuff especially Duc stuff, if I can remember the name, I'll get it to you. Sorry that's all I got.

dragracer1951 · Post by **dragracer1951** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:06 pm

I have a couple of elder Ducs John
I have a 77 900ss and a 64 250 Diana. Your 350 should have a Del Orto, not an Amal. It's not a Spanish Amal is it???
Most of the Amal carbs I have encountered over the years have needed to have the slide resleeved.
They are stone ax simple though.
There are no old Duc forums that I am aware of though. You might try the Thumper list.
Let me look at some reciepts and i can get you some sources for parts. Such as they are...
Could well be 6v. Is it a 350 Scrambler?? Might not have a battery. I used a 42 mf capacitor on one of my SR500's for a battery. Worked a treat.
On the tank...I have a wheel I have on a motor that I can lash up a tank to ahd fill it woth nuts and bolts and let it spin for a couple of days. That'll knock off most of the crap in there and then POR-15 it.
I'm going to bet it has a couple of stuck rings. Were it mine...I'd tear it down to the crank and put it together properly.
I got stuff WAY older and more difficult to find parts for than that Duc. You ought to try finding flathead Ariel parts....

Yoniboi · Post by **Yoniboi** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 8:51 am

Thanks Jim. It is a scrambler, but it does have a battery 'box' and two wires dangling down...
Calling it a scrambler seems odd though. Compared to my first 'scrambler', a 1979 KX125, this old duc looks like a relic from the first world war!
Still, it's enjoyed 30 years of what used to be the Spanish climate, and is in very very good nick all considered.
John

dragracer1951 · Post by **dragracer1951** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 8:36 am

See John...That's why I was wondering if that was a Spanish Amal on there. The original was about a 34mm Del Orto. Pretty stone ax simple to work on.

Yoniboi · Post by **Yoniboi** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 1:27 pm

Just a bit of an update on the Scrambler front.
Most of my time these last couple of months has gone on the Spondon and the FZR, the former because it needed loose ends tidying up to finally get it on the road and having some fun, and the EXUP because I couldn't figure out why it was running so shite. (turned out to be the EXUP servo after I'd rebuilt the carbs 6 times... mind, i'm not scared of carbs anymore, gotta look on the bright side!)

Back to the Duck anyway.
After cleaning up the electrics with lots of new wires, new connectors, and heat shrink plastic tube (whatdaya call that stuff in English?) things looked better than they did when I started:

So when the wiring was 'clean' and there was life at the coil but still no spark it was time to borrow a plug from the EXUP and Voila! life, Jim, but only on the top of the cam cover. A new plug was bought, screwed in and some friends called to help!

And when it finally backfired into life for the first time in more than 20 years it was time for the comedy photo:

Note the vehicle road-worthiness approved petrol tank and dangling electrics. I think I got up to about 20km/h before shitting my pants! The brake and the gears are on the opposite sides to 'normal' and the box is one up four down!!!

It only ran with the choke out, so when I stop typing I'm off to strip and clean the Amal carb, (you see... no fear!) and make some new gaskets out of a Cornflake packet; and the last thing to do will be the ignition advance... which we set by guessing! I need to invent some kind of degreeing wheel (which I've been told you can do with a CD and some imagination).
Then it's off to the paint shop. Thinking of blue tins and blue tank with big crome 'patches' on the sides.

John

Post by **FZRDude** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 1:59 pm

John wrote:heat shrink plastic tube (whatdaya call that stuff in English?)

Heat shrink tubing

Yoniboi · Post by **Yoniboi** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 2:08 pm

Alright ya smart arse, you Tim!!!

I still don't know what you call the front and back plastic 'cases' of a mobile phone. You know, on some phones you can change them for different colours/patterns etc. They weren't invented when I left Blighty.
And I know the names of spices in English and in Spanish, but I can't translate them! And don't ask about sea-food!!!!

John

Post by **FZRDude** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 2:15 pm

John wrote:....what you call the front and back plastic 'cases' of a mobile phone?.......

Faceplates.

sickle44 · Post by **sickle44** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 2:28 pm

sea-food??
LOl, Tim, had beat me to it, cause as soon as I read it I was going to reply, heat shrink plastic tubing, which is what we call it too for real!!

Did you ever find the dude on eBay with the duc parts John, and please tell me that you did Kreme the tank?

Yoniboi · Post by **Yoniboi** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:45 pm

Did you ever find the dude on eBay with the duc parts

No I didn't, but I found a guy on Spain's equivalent of Craigslist who has a pretty good stock of parts, and just doing the odd non-specific search of eBay turns up some stuff. eg. I just bought two new (old stock) petrol taps for a Guzzi or Laverda that look to be the same thread (one of the originals is missing).

and please tell me that you did Kreme the tank?

A guy in the UK who advertises stuff for classics sells some kind of sealant kit that I ordered last week, but which hasn't arrived yet. I'm planning on simply jet-washing the inside first to get rid of any loose rust as I can't be arsed to fab up one of Jim's hurdy-gurdies to tumble the tank with bolts in (although he's not the only one to suggest it). I'll make sure it's dry before I coat it of course!!!

John

sickle44 · Post by **sickle44** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 7:41 pm

I didn't use bolts but I did use rocks which helped an incredible amount. I only did so as the Kreme kit suggested I do so, it's really quite amazing the amount of crap that comes out of a tank as well.

hotcam · Post by **hotcam** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 6:02 am

make some new gaskets out of a Cornflake packet

Don't use a cornflake packet, you can get a "roll of gasket paper" from the
auto shop that is cheap and much more resistant to leaking and/or
burning. Costs about the same as 2 loaves of bread, comes in different
thicknesses too.

I use it with a bit of "ThreeBond" gasket sealant (or any good brand).
It's good for everything that uses a cardboard/paper-type gasket.

Yoniboi · Post by **Yoniboi** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 6:52 am

Maybe in your auto shop you can. Here in Spain autoshops sell... neon black lights, sponges to clean your windscreen and engine oil. Bugger all useful really. I'm buying exhaust packing from the UK. (In part because, although I'm sure there'll be a Spanish copany doing steel wool etc they're just not internet or mail-order savvy).

John

sickle44 · Post by **sickle44** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 1:54 am

Hey John,

Here's that Duc parts guy on eBay I was thinking of,

http://gothamcycles.com/

Hope that helps

Yoniboi · Post by **Yoniboi** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 9:29 am

Cheers Mike,

You know I've only just twigged as to your ID, Sickle!!! I thought you were on about a Scythe type Sickle, wondered if you were a farmer or something.

John

Post by **FZRDude** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 11:03 am

Yoniboi wrote:Cheers Mike,

You know I've only just twigged as to your ID, Sickle!!! I thought you were on about a Scythe type Sickle, wondered if you were a farmer or something.

John

Motor-sickle Yoni?

Yoniboi · Post by **Yoniboi** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 2:50 pm

Yeah, I know, now

Dope.

John