The Ducati Ebay Special

Well, picked up this Mish mash today, and I'm not sure what to do with it. Runs good, operates well, needs a better exhaust, and I don't know what else to do with it yet. I'm open to idears! FYI it's a 2002 monster 750 with a 748 front clip and rear end. So do I call it the 749?

Re: The Ducati I don't know what to call it

Don't call it that, it is better looking than the Ducati 749




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Re: The Ducati I don't know what to call it

What up with that exhaust? Got any other pics? I have never seen anything like that.



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Re: The Ducati I don't know what to call it

Rusnak_322 said:

Don't call it that, it is better looking than the Ducati 749

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Lol!I didn't know that was a bike. Come up with a name. It's actually nicely done, someone put good work into it at some point.

Re: The Ducati I don't know what to call it

Rusnak_322 said:

What up with that exhaust? Got any other pics? I have never seen anything like that.



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It's straight pipe and loud as all hell. I was looking for cops the entire ride home makes me nervous I don't like it. I'll take some for you on Monday.

Re: The Ducati I don't know what to call it

When you've replaced the pipe, plus done something about that headlight and screen, just ride the wheels off it!

Likes like a bundle of fun.

As for the Ducati number 'system', it's beyond mere mortals.

Crazy

Re: The Ducati I don't know what to call it

stroker crazy said:

When you've replaced the pipe, plus done something about that headlight and screen, just ride the wheels off it!

Likes like a bundle of fun.

As for the Ducati number 'system', it's beyond mere mortals.

Crazy

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Yeah, the screen, light, the bars, and grips need to be swapped out. There's nothing wrong with the vortex bars, I just want woodcraft. Also the forks are too low in the clamps. That motor though, man its sweet. I had a hard time finding neutral, but I was told that last time it went in for service they used a thinner oil and before that it was fine. Could be bs but I have some 20w 50 here, I will change it and see. I didn't exactly like the idle, I feel like it's a tad low, will work on that. Also they on gauges are gone, replaced with a vapor trailtech. No mph hooked up, just recs. I'm not a fan.

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Yup, bought a mini basketcase. Spent a couple of hours sorting out the hacked up wiring and stillhave more to go. I also took a gander where the monoshock work was done. Semi hack job. The welds look ok, and it works, but shit its ugly. Gonna have to grind it all down and repowder the frame. Im kinda annoyed, its nothing i cant fix, but now i literally have to check the entire bike nut by nut since i see the caliber of "mechanic" that played with it.

Re: The Ducati I don't know what to call it

jag767 said:

I had a hard time finding neutral, but I was told that last time it went in for service they used a thinner oil and before that it was fine.

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Try putting it into neutral before you stop rolling. You'll get a feel for it, it's a common complaint from people who haven't ridden them much before.

Re: The Ducati I don't know what to call it

DesmoDog said:

Try putting it into neutral before you stop rolling. You'll get a feel for it, it's a common complaint from people who haven't ridden them much before.

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Will do. Finally made some sense of the wiring. I didn't make it perfect, just cleaned up the birds nest that existed behind the headlight, and labeled it all. I also found a replacent header for the exhaust, since the half assed unit on there was made from a set of kooks headers haha, it even says kooks on it still!

I think I am just going to make this rideable for the summer, then I will do a full teardown come next winter. With that in mind the list of to do's is as follows:

Headlight mounts (ordered)
headlight (ordered)
Header (ordered)
high mount exhaust (will probably fabricate to save money)
undertail plate bracket (will probably make as well)
belts, plugs, oil, etc

Re: The Ducati I don't know what to call it

unusual for a 750 to have a draggy clutch. i doubt it has anything to do with the oil. i wouldn't run a 20w50 in them personally.

i'd look at the lever to make sure there's not a heap of wear in the pivot or the lever pushrod pivot or just general freeplay.

Re: The Ducati I don't know what to call it

Doesn't the Monster have a dry clutch or am I misinformed?

Re: The Ducati I don't know what to call it

coyote13 said:

Doesn't the Monster have a dry clutch or am I misinformed?

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I thought so, but I wasn't sure looking at the clutch cover. I hAvent gotten around to it yet still fixing other issues. I figure I can adjust it because like everything else on this bike it probably needs to be redone properly.

Re: The Ducati I don't know what to call it

Unless someone has done some major work on the engine, it'll be running a wet clutch (on the early air cooled Monsters it was only the 900 that ran a dry clutch).

As far as the dragging goes, a simple oil change might help if the previous owner used the wrong grade (or it's been in there too long) but otherwise I'd be prepared to check the clutch/ drive plates for wear and contamination and give the clutch slave cylinder a thorough going over - those units were notorious for wearing quickly and ruining the clutch's action.

Re: The Ducati I don't know what to call it

Learn something new every day. I will start with oil then.

Well after my mass wiring repair and tidy up, I can't get her to start. Cranks over just fine, so I need to determine what hell I did. Someone feel free to contradict me, but I'm pretty sure even if I messed something up, turn signal, headlight, and wires of the like wouldn't cause this. I'm thinking i'll retrace all the connectors, maybe I reversed one giving power to a coil. The mystery mechanic really did a number though, I finally figured out how he got the bike to run with out the original gauges. For anyone who has a modern Ducati you'll already know this part, but I'll fill in the rest of you.

Ducati marries the ecu, gauge cluster, and keys together from the factory. There's 2 keys, a red one and a black one. The red one allows you to do other things in the computer, such as override the immobilizer. Now, if the gauges aren't plugged in, the bike won't start, it's that simple. This bike, for all appearances only has a vapor trail tech. So how does it work?

Digging through the wiring I came across a connection with a substantial wire bundle going to a 'black box' which was literally a zip lock covered in black tape. This was zip tied inside the frame where the air box once was. I cut said black box open. Low and behind, a circuit board that lights up, with the same pattern as the gauge cluster. The fucking guy took the board out of the cluster and stuffed it in duct tape in the frame! Wow!

Anywho, being able to identify this helped, since now I know the immobilizer isn't turned on (the orange light goes off). The only other option is I'm not getting fuel. I did take the tank off, and there's a chance I reversed the fuel lines. I don't have manual, but I don't think it matters either way, since I'm 99% confident one goes to each throttle body.

Im going to trickle charge the battery to eliminate that as the issue, even though it cranked strong. I'll also chevk for good spark, then i'll simply take the air filters off and spray starter fluid while I crank it. One of these will give me an answer.

Re: The Ducati I don't know what to call it

One of the wires in the headlight bucket is very likely the kill switch, which you probably disconnected. Get a wiring diagram and track that down first.

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Found it. I reversed the fuel lines. I knew i did the wiring right, you should see how i labeled everything, kinda made my own diagram lol. I had no idea theres a return line for the fuel, but it was the only thing that made sense.

Now I am on pause til parts get here. Also theres more to the neutral issue. If the bike is cold and you put it in geahert stalls. Sounds like the clutch isnt fully disengaging the trans, but i dont know enough about the motor to know where to go with that just yet

Re: The Ducati I don't know what to call it

If it's stalling when the engine's cold, apart from the obvious stuff like fluid level and contamination of the clutch plates, it might be worth also checking the piston inside the slave cylinder and the pressure plate on the clutch (when that comes apart) as both are prone to fusing with the pushrod which makes engaging first gear a really crunchy experience.

Re: The Ducati I don't know what to call it

ManxKat said:

If it's stalling when the engine's cold, apart from the obvious stuff like fluid level and contamination of the clutch plates, it might be worth also checking the piston inside the slave cylinder and the pressure plate on the clutch (when that comes apart) as both are prone to fusing with the pushrod which makes engaging first gear a really crunchy experience.

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Thats it though, every engages fine, through all gears no issues. And when it's warm it's fine. I wonder if the oil is too thick a grade and it's making things bind til they warm up? That would be consistent with what the previous owner told me. Finding neutral with the motor running is impossible

Re: The Ducati I don't know what to call it

So the clutch not fully disengaging and finding neutral are unrelated. Turns out adjusting the clutch level allowed the piston to move more and solved the first issue. As for neutral, I didn't ride yet but sitting still it was very hard to find which I hear is a common thing.