1949 Ducati Cucciolo T2 - A little progress...

[peteGS]

good stuff pete!....Do you have a bicycle you plan on mounting it to yet?

Not yet... and I haven't even started looking yet...
 
Priority budget wise is a wideband tuner and then I can think about a frame and getting the cases etc. wet blasted... the way it's going so far waiting for budget isn't going to slow me down much, there's a lot of cleaning to be done!
 

General Tsao's!!!

Asia Canteen for me 

[peteGS]

Ok, I must apologise for slackness in updates, not that alot has been done mind you...
 
I'm redoing the coil and Dynatek connections on the 450 due to an intermittent firing on one issue, so I haven't focussed time on keeping this thread up to date... anyway...
 
I got the clutch out... and yes there's more rollers!
 

 

 
Then I made a first go at an engine stand:
 

 

 
Didn't really work too well as it didn't hold the engine stable at all...
 
But it held up enough for me to get the head off:
 

 
Tiny valves and a tiny piston!
 

 

 
I also ended up with these rollers from the timing gear:
 

 
I was a bit worried as the workshop manual says there's 26 but I only have 19... so I put them in to check:
 

 
Phew!
 
And when I talk about the workshop manual, it's not a factory manual or anything like that, it's all been compiled primarily by one guy on the mailing list with contributions from a few others.
 
That means some of the info isn't relevant to my T2, and it also means there's a lot of missing info.
 
Hopefully as I find things like the number of bearings here I can pass it back for them to gather more info on them.

And the other thing I did was revision 2 of the engine stand which is still not ideal but a lot more stable:
 

 

 
So once I've got my 450 back together this weekend I can get back into it.
 
And my dad picked me up a drill press as a present and dropped it over yesterday which will let me drill out the clutch rod hole accurately and get it sleeved. The drill has an issue apparently but I haven't fired it up or got pic's yet... soon!

[peteGS]

Took two plugs out of the motor last night. One allows you to make some sort of adjustment to the gear changing mechanism (not sure what yet) and the other is a spring loaded bolt that holds a ball bearing against the gear shift shaft for positive gear shifts:
 

 
Then off came the idle gear as the cover for that was already loose:
 

 
Reminds me of my GS' starter clutch...
 
Drive sprocket is quite grungy:
 

 
And of course disgusting behind there, and there's what appears to be a metal spacer or seal in two parts but it doesn't look like it's broken, so I suspect it's supposed to be that way:
 

 
And I wonder how hard it will be to get a new one of these?
 

[peteGS]

Had to do something a little positive after finding my 450's going to be off the road for at least a few days today, so did some more cleanup.
 
The countershaft sprocket is all cleaned up and safely in a container of its own:
 

 
Then I got the piston off and it looks to be in pretty good shape, just need to clean all the carbon off it:
 

 
Then I got what they call the inferior arms out, which are what actuate the valves via the pullrods and superior arms:
 

 

 
This nearly gets me into the gearchange mechanism, but I really need to get the crank out first so I can get some better photos of how the gearchange mechanism goes together.
 

 
One guy on the mailing list has requested shots of the gearchange mechanism in all three positions (low, neutral, high) so he can get his back together, so I really need to get as much space around it as possible.
 
Getting the side plate off the main crank bearing is the challenge though as it doesn't want to budge (it's on the left):
 

[Cafe Redneck]

Lookin good Pete. I know it been mention before, but that would look sweet in board track racer build. Hell I'd just like an old engine like that to display in the man cave. Anyway you go, it'll be sweet!!!

[peteGS]

Hahaha yeah... it's one of those things that will work in so many ways...
 
I got the pull rods and gearbox out last night.
 
I'd really like to get the crankshaft out but I need to get a puller to remove the plate that's locking the crankshaft bearing in place.
 
Anyway, I found a way to use the drain plug hole to get the pull rods out:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
And here's the various gearbox components...
 

 
There are six ball bearings that are used to lock each sprocket into place in turn for low and high gear, and they are released for neutral.
 
Look at the mechanism inside the shifting shaft and you'll see a rod with a large end that forces the ball bearings out when they sit in the holes.
 
Low gear:
 

 
Neutral, no bearings locked:
 

 
High gear:
 

 
I nearly have an empty crank case and then it can get a big clean to remove that sludge from the bottom...

[peteGS]

No more progress yet but I picked up a two jaw sprocket puller today so I can finally pull the crank... then I'll have a nice empty crankcase

[andycafe]

great detail on this project, definitely a favourite 

[Hoosier Daddy]

Seeing your mits in there gives us an idea of how small that thing actually is, WOW!
 Looks like you are coming along well. I noticed you keep calling the database you are getting your info from a "mailing list" does that mean it's not a forum but a listing of e-mail addy's for other guys who share info? Mabe you should start hosting a forum... call it "Ducklings" or such LOL

[peteGS]

great detail on this project, definitely a favourite 

Cheers Andy, I'm trying to capture as much as possible to make sure I can put it back together the right way!
 

Seeing your mits in there gives us an idea of how small that thing actually is, WOW!
 Looks like you are coming along well. I noticed you keep calling the database you are getting your info from a "mailing list" does that mean it's not a forum but a listing of e-mail addy's for other guys who share info? Mabe you should start hosting a forum... call it "Ducklings" or such LOL

Yeah it's tiny... hard to get people to understand how small sometimes but you've just gotta remember it's designed to strap under a bicycle pedal crank...
 
The list is actually a Yahoo Group, so it's got a gallery, calendar, member list, etc. but at its core it's a mailing list.
 
A forum would be nice (Ducklings... hahahaahha) but no way would I have time to start something like that. I can barely keep up with the GSR and here these days!

[peteGS]

I did get the plate off the left crankshaft bearing last night too, but buggered if I know how to proceed from there...
 
I suspect I need to use the puller again on the sprocket and maybe the bearing but I'm not real sure so I'll have to post a message on the aforementioned Ducati list to find out.
 

 

 

 
The manual talks about using a bolt to get the right side bearing off the crankshaft, but they don't list the bolt size either, and I'm assuming it's via this hole on the right side, but again I will need to enquire further...
 

[Swapmeet Louie]

sweet...

[peteGS]

sweet...

Haha thanks mate...

[Swapmeet Louie]

serious! man, take your time on this one. It's all kinds of crazy cool.

[peteGS]

Will definitely do so Louie! It's not gonna be easy to find spares if I break something, so I'm being careful with it while stripping it down and will be cleaning every little part as I go. The only dodgy part I know for sure so far is the ignition coil and everything else seems to be ok.



I did get the valves out tonight too and while they're not so different from the Suzuki valves in terms of removal, they're a lot smaller and therefore a lot more fiddly...


I used a pair of pliers as a compression too for the valve spring:








The reason there are no photos of me removing the valve keepers there is that immediately after taking the second photo the head fell to the left and the valve spring, one keeper, and the plate on top sprung out... I was a tad stressed for about 2 minutes until I found all three pieces... disaster averted!


I was more careful with the exhaust valve and instead of pushing down with the head of the pliers I gripped the sides instead and was able to do it a lot more steady that way.


Exhaust on the left, inlet on the right:





The faces look to be in reasonable shape but as per usual the exhaust is quite  a bit more carbonated than the inlet and looks like it's had a harder life. I suspect however that a quick blast and face by a head shop will get them much cleaner.


And the head as it stands now in need of a good cleaning: