Project Sie

[Mr Gazza]

Well I've been kind of fully occupied since the Monster came home, so it's taking a while to get to know her, but she's beginning to feel a bit more like mine now.

I was quite alarmed at the amount of dismantling that it had undergone just to investigate a suspected injector fault, and also at how grubby it had gotten during a year in bits in a garage. The thing is, I had already agreed a price and travelled 250 miles with the intention of collecting it, so re-negotiation was not realistic...I would probably have given it a miss if I had only gone 10 miles to see it....But hey, it's still a 900Sie and seemed to be complete if not together.

Apart from the minor issue of it not running and the leaky petrol tank I also found a weeping fork seal a dead battery and bald back tyre, but the chain and sprockets don't look too bad now I have cleaned and lubed them.
She is cleaning up not too badly, but you can tell she is 14 years old and there will be some repainting and polishing needed to get her how I imagine she should be.
But for now all I want to do is get her running and on the road for the last couple of months of the Summer.
So far the injectors have gone to be ultra sound cleaned and the tank is being brazed, hopefully ready for the weekend, by which time I should also have new battery, spark plugs, oil and fuel filters...So we will see if I can get any noise out of her..

Nice one, getting there.

You can change your profile now too, 'other, not a Ducati' not applicable

Have to say I'm happer with my Monster now I've been over it a few times. Taking some of the larger lumps of to clean it and check it over has deffo helped with bonding with the bike and trusting it. Full service has also helped and I'm now happy to start adding a few bit's and bobs to tidy it up and make it mine.

[cactus]

All the best gazza with your new bike, keep the forum updated with your progress towards roadworthiness and ultimately the bikes return to beauty.

[Mr Gazza]

Thanks for reminding me Dirty..Profile changed and chest inflated a little.

Yes Blues, you have to give it a good personal PDI before It's really yours.

Goodies arrived today, and I need to ease the battery tray a little to get the Motobatt in. Also looks like I need to protect it from contact with the relay bracket.

The new fuel filter seems much lighter than the old, so I may open the old un up to see how much cak is in there.

Fuel filter is a Mahle KL 145 by the way, and is listed as a BMW replacment part. Cheapest I found was from Opie Oils.....I got a free air freshener with it too.! Perhaps I will but it in the airbox.

Originally Posted by Mr Gazza

. Cheapest I found was from Opie Oils.....I got a free air freshener with it too.! Perhaps I will but it in the airbox.

Ha ha brilliant. Perhaps put it next to the ashtray!

[gary tompkins]

I think you get an air freshener with any purchase from Opie

[Mr Gazza]

I collected the tank from Mustard City Racing after work on Saturday morning. They have done a very neat and quick job. They are opposite Tinklers on Northumberland road. 01603 623428, really nice bunch of blokes.
The injectors were collected as part of an evening out, my pal cleaned them beautifuly for free and treated my family to a chip supper too..What a guy.!

Sunday morning soon had the tank cleaned inside, pump and new filter installed and repair painted over.
The injectors and all the other gubbins went back on...Petrol in and fire up..
..As predicted she was only firing on one, the front pot.
so out it all came, injectors swapped and try again...Still only the front pot.
Oh forgot to mention, i had a major fuel leak from an injector before the second try. It turned out that i had not got the injector cap properly screwed down due to the threads being very clogged. As luck would have it, the only tap that I own is an m5, so I cleaned the treads very carefully indeed, and got the injectors down nice and tight.

So two working injectors, two plugs sparking and no bangs from the vertical pot.!

I had continuity from injector plugs to ECU plug, and the same meter readings from both injector plugs when the ignition was turned on and when cranking.

I can feel petrol hitting my finger on the front pot when I crank with my finger down the open throttle body. But not the rear.

Messages are coming out of the rear plug and I know the injector works, so only one thing it can be...
...I carefully worked a scalpel blade into the plug terminals and then gave them a squirt of clutch and brake cleaner and instantly felt petrol hit my finger at the first crank...Ha ha.!

The spark plugs went back in pretty quick and away she went on two...Bingo!!!

The plug must be really bad because it won't work when it dries out and needs another squirt of cleaner to make the contact again....So thats it. Bike fixed for a three quid plug.!

I ordered a pack of four for £12 and I have to wait till tomorrow to get them, so tonite I will probably warm her up, drop the oil out and change the filter.

Tee hee.....MOT at the weekend is a distinct possibilty.

So relieved. I thought I might be saving it for pancake day to sqeeze over my pancakes,...

[gary tompkins]

Well done on getting it running and glad it was a simple fix

I've just replaced the fuel injector on my front cylinder. Running much better now.

[StevieL]

That's a result Gazza pretty sure I heard the cries of relief up here in Cromer, who do you use for mots? atb Steve

[Mr Gazza]

Thanks Gary, glad your 900 is running better.

Cheers Stevie. Yes I bet you heard me in Cromer, but I eventually regained my composure after a very strange little dance and found actual tears on my cheek...

For many many years I took my bikes to Nicholsons in Stalham (In Sutton really).
Somtimes I would relay up to 5 bikes in one day for my mates in the AJS&Matchless owners club. I liked going there because it gave me a 25 mile shake down run and because they were very sensible about the MOT and were always complimentry about my bikes.

For the last MOT I had, I went to JB Superbikes in Reepham...Only 2 miles down the lane.! Not quite the same, but it's only an hour off work.

[Mr Gazza]

Well, she's on the road, the MOT was a formality even if the rear tyre was somewhat wanting for tread.

The ride home was interesting as a brake started to bind and eventually stopped all motion, I assumed it was the front brake. anyway I managed to get home in short hops when it was cool enough to roll. Then it started to come onto one cylinder intermitently, so I spluttered along with the brakes groaning..!!!

It turned out to be the back brake, which I had adjusted with too little free play in the lever....Easy fix, and thankfully no damage. The misfire was only a loose LT connector on the front coil which I must have displaced whilst wrestling the harness into shape....Another easy fix.

Well me and my Monster are freinds again now after a stonking 20 mile ride...Can't wait to get some new tyres on her.!

I changed the high level Remus cans for standard ones, but they are too quiet and do nothing to cover the infernal racket of the open clutch, so one of the first things I want to change is the clutch cover...Any one want to swap a standard steel one for my abreviated Carbon one ..?? Have a look at the picture and give me a call if you can help..I want a very nice steel one mind..

She is looking a bit plain at the moment but I am looking forward to a couple of months of riding before I alter her looks...I mean, red resevior tops and blue fork adjusters...This will not do..!

I am hoping to swap quite a bit of the bling without involving the vulgarity of money, so watch this space.

[Mr Gazza]

I can't believe the bonus weather this weekend (The last in September).

For someone who was only going to use the bike for little 10 mile hops every now and then, I managed to cover 160 down Norfolks winding byways this weekend.
Monster not missing a beat all the way and handling impecably in perfect comfort.

I went to Wing Commander Ken Wallis's send off do at New Buckenham on Sunday, it was a lovely relaxed and respectful occasion with countless Planes, Autogyros, boats, cars and Bikes on show. It was a fitting tribute to such a great man, with so many interests....And a beautiful end to the Summer too.

As far as the Monster goes, it has tidied up pretty well over a couple of months considering that it came home in quite a few cardboard boxes.
I have to thank all the guys on here who have helped me out paticulaly GT, Slob, Capo, Blues, Darren and Mark.

She is looking a little plain still, as all I have really done is remove all the disparate bling and unwittingly covert it back to fairly standard looking. I am still a little bit at odds with all the carbon fibre, I think it makes the bike look a bit dull, somtimes the CF even looks a bit brownish.
I am carefully considering where I can add some more colour without making it garish, but whether or not I do any spraying this winter will remain to be seen, as I have major plans for extra workshop building....I suspect the cosmetics will elolve over time and culminate with a major rebuild when I know what the finished artical is going to look like.

Any way here she is complete with Chrome clutch cover, carbon plate carrier and cored and polished lafranconis, in the dying embers of the day...

[Darren69]

That clutch cover is looking very shiney Gazza, you didn't say if you needed the gasket as well, so maybe the bolts you had were too long or if you want to make it quieter still? Maybe you need to polish them pipes up to match? Glad you didn't stick with the original and very heavy cans, the hi level ones are the ones to go for as I think you get a bit more midrange with the extra length and look sexier. But is coming on nicely. I never understood why the 900S got the ohlins and fancy rear brake setup and the s4 didn't

[Mr Gazza]

Cheers Darren..Yep the cover made all the difference to the looks and put a bit of much needed sparkle on her.

I already had the gasket which came from Capo with a painted clutch cover. I was going to get that chromed at some point, but along came yours, all shiney and new..

As soon as they start pulling Sugar Beet or putting salt on the roads I will whip that exhaust off and show it the mop..!! Been too nice to stop riding so far though.

I derived a lot of satisfaction from polishing the pipes on my 750ss and the last M900, but they wern't as brown as this one.!! Why do people let them get so bad? So easy to keep nice once they are polished.

I'm not a fan of high level cans myself, in fact I took off a pair of Remus Grand Prix high level alloys. I like to see the fresh air between the wheel and the seat.
The Lafranconis come from an earlier model I should think. I think Remus must have taken over supplying the silencers to Ducati, from Lafranconi in the late 90s.
They are about 50mm shorter than the OEM Remus ones and as you say, a good bit lighter.
These ones have been cleverly cored so I can adjust the amount of wadding.

Regarding the suspension, I thought that the "S" in the model designation signified the fancy suspension package....fairly sure that the S4 demonstrator that i rode in about 2002 had the high spec suspenders...It most certainly had improved brakes from my '98 model, which still had the coffin type resevoirs.
All to do with a 16mm master cylinder I believe, but I'm not sure if the calipers were new also.