Life after the Slow Monster Rebuild

[Darren69]

I was gonna mention Alan Seeley and actually as coincidence would have it there is a Morini installment in this months Practical Sportbikes, it's being going on for a long time now and only appears every so often so I don't know if there is a consolidated article somewhere on a website somewhere?

[350TSS]

It being cold in the garage I can only spend a couple of hours a day in there and also feeling less than 100% since getting my Covid jab, I cannot get stuck into the Monster so the 3 1/2 is getting all the attention at the moment.
The strip down continues but was waiting for delivery of a jack to sit beneath the frame rails so I can get the forks out. Ebay delivered today and it seems to work well.
The footrests, centre stand, side stand, exhaust hanger brackets have now all been wire wheeled back to bare metal and given a coat of phosphoric acid to get rid of any residual tin worm. Just the rear light carrier and the front mudguard struts to do now and they can all get coat of etch primer.
Two unforseen problems arose during the strip down, first the swinging arm bearings have a tad too much side play and second the frame appears to have been bent in the region of the side stand bracket.

The wheels are in line in two axes so it is not too much to worry about. It looks to me as though at some time during its history a car has reversed into the other side whilst the bike was on its side stand which then dug in and twisted the frame. Since all the paint is coming off anyway I may try to use my brazing torch to see if I can get it hot and see if the frame returns naturally to the right shape.
Back in 1972 I had a mate who raced a 750 Norton in a Manx frame which he fell off, breaking his wrist and bending the frame when the front wheel hit an armco barrier. the front wheel was touching the two front down tubes. We all thought it was scrap but he wrote to Ken Sprayson at Renolds who said bring it up and he would see what he could do, no promises.
When we got to Birmingham he was called from his office, he was obviously the Works Manager in suit and tie. He took us down to the shop floor to a room at the far end of the works with a huge surface plate c12' x 10' with clamping channels machined into it. He took off his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves and after the frame was clamped down took an oxy acetylene torch to the frame, starting by heating around the swinging arm pivot point and slowly working his way forward.
Ever so slowly you could watch the frame take on its original shape after about an hour or so he checked the alignment of the steering head with a mandrel through the bearing tube. At no stage was any force used just the oxy acetylene torch. The man was an artist and would not accept any payment although we popped back later with a couple of bottles of good whiskey

[350TSS]

In about 4 x 2 hour stints I managed a bit more progress this week (extremely cold and 2 x 2kw fan heaters are overwhelmed)
The strip down continues with a minor setback in that a carburettor to air filter rubber got torn, fortunately they are still available but £25 each. I originally intended to strip the front forks down first as the fork tubes need to be sent away for re-chroming/regrinding (c£145 for the pair) but I was lacking some eyebolts to secure the rear of the bike down so I just got on with the back end first.


The stainless bolts arrived in dribs and drabs and I spent some time getting them to the right length.
If you buy the bolts to the measured length of the old bolt it arrives with 25mm threaded and for example in a rear shock mounting bolt the threaded part then extends inside the inner frame drilled mounting plate and into the bushing in the shock eye which I do not like. I try to buy the bolts such that the unthreaded shank is what bears on the shock bushing and on both sides of the frame mounting point and the tightening is taken up by a plain and a spring washer with the thread just protruding through a nylock nut. It is not always possible, but with stainless bolts at least you do not have to worry about loss of plating where such bolts are shortened. It does take some time to shorten
24 or so bolts but it just feels the right thing to do.

I also managed to machine up an aluminium rear wheel spacer to take the place of the rusty boat anchor that sat between the SA and the brake plate.

The plain unfinished aluminium on the engine castings is quite heavily pitted so will need quite a bit of rubbing down to achieve a surface finish that will be capable of being buffed and polished. I decided that I needed an engine stand so I could do all of this with the engine out without having to chase it round the bench. I knocked this up out of an old bed frame and an old bit of some gym equipment.
pnc bank in my area

Finally I got 2 coats of etch primer on all the anciliary hardware that I had previously treated with phosphoric acid. In the extreme cold of the garage it took ages to dry but at least they will not flash rust.


I am going to have a go at home nickel plating those parts like the rear wheel adjusters, ends of the front and rear wheel spindles. I have been following this NZealander on youtube doing a restoration of a Land Rover and he makes it look dead easy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-PtnwtOR24

Next jobs are swinging arm out, engine out and forks stripped off the frame and the stripped down so the legs can go for re-chroming

[350TSS]

A small problem encountered last week, the 25mm flatslides were seized in the carburetor bodies (Dellorto). I have to get the carbs off to get the engine out. The carbs are clamp mounted on little stubs held into the head with a triangular flat face, you cannot undo the 3 x 5mm bolts which hold the triangular plate without the carbs being off. The carbs themselves were corroded onto the stubs and I could not get the slides out of the carburetor bodies so I could try to wangle the engine out with the carbs still on.

Three days of dosing the slides with acetone/diesel eventually got the slides out and the carb bodies off the stubs.
I wish I had taken pictures of the inside of the carb float bowls, about half filled with a waxy/resinous goo with the consistency of bees wax.
After dosing with carb cleaner (do not get it into cuts on your hands) and scraping out with a screwdriver and about 10 x 20 minute cycles in the ultrasonic cleaner the carbs and the jets were all clean, all exdept the pilot jet on the RH carb which was missing altogether. That inlet tract was horribly black and sooty, not surprising as the pilot jet was effectively a 6mm threaded hole.

The Dellorto flatslide VHB25 is a very rare carburettor, probably only fitted to Morinis, new jets or needles do not seem to be available anywhere so I shall smooth out the ridges on the needles with 600 wet and dry and drop the needle a notch to compensate for the slightly slimmer profile and see if I can make a pilot jet from some 8mm hex brass and the right sized drill.

[Darren69]

Have you tried Allens Performance and Ducati Paddy? It looks like Eurocarb has a lot of VHB parts:-

https://www.dellorto.co.uk/product-c...bz-vhbt-parts/

[Dukedesmo]

Originally Posted by Darren69

Have you tried Allens Performance and Ducati Paddy? It looks like Eurocarb has a lot of VHB parts:-

https://www.dellorto.co.uk/product-c...bz-vhbt-parts/

I'll second both Allens and Eurocarb, both have been very helpful in sourcing Dellorto and Keihin parts.

[slob]

According to my little book of everything, it's a VHB25BS and you're looking for:
E17 Needle
260 Needle Jet
112 Main Jet
50 Pilot Jet

[350TSS]

Thanks guys I had already tried both.
Allens was my first port of call and next I tried Eurocarb via their website but nothing available at either.
I bought the bike in 1989 because I saw it rusting away in a garden in North London. I got it cheap (£50) and had nowhere to store it so I parked in my late dad's shed in Acton. He got enthusiastic about it and did a pretty good job of restoring it as a retirement project 1990/91. I rode it for about 6 months but it was always the third bike, GS400 as a commuter, and 750SS for holidays and trips, although before I got the 750SS I did a 3 week tour of Italy (2 up) on the GS400 (hard work). In 1994 I moved to Bromley and the Morini found itself again in my dad's shed. It stayed there until 2010 and suffered badly as my father became ill with leukemia he did not have the energy or enthusiasm to repair the shed and rainwater and Italian metal are not good bedfellows.
I have had it stored where I am now for the past 10 years knowing that one day I would get round to it. The missing jet is a real puzzle as it rode nicely when I last rode it 1993/4 and I am pretty sure my dad knew enough about carburetors to put back what he took out, having always messed about with motorcycles (Velocette MSS) and running a JAP powered Morgan 3 wheeler for about 6 years.

[Dukedesmo]

Any good? https://www.ducatipaddy.com/page48.html

[350TSS]

Dukedesmo - you are a star - thanks

[Darren69]

Originally Posted by 350TSS

Dukedesmo - you are a star - thanks

I did suggest Ducati Paddy website if Allens and Eurocarb didn't have what you needed!
He's good for Brembo parts too.

[350TSS]

Small update on progress with the bambino.
Got the swinging arm out relatively easily and fortunately, I think the play I found in the SA bearings was excessive side float rather than wear in the bushes. The bushes are sintered steel running on the 20mm through frame SA shaft. The shaft has no more than witness marks to show where the bushes run on it. The SA was stripped back to bare metal and treated to some phosphoric acid (1970s Italian steel has rust in it already) and has now been etched primed and grey undercoated.


The rear wheel sprocket carrier required a new oil seal and a couple of new bearings as one had obviously suffered ingress of water and corrosion. Good old Simply Bearings delivered within 24 hours 2 new bearings and a new seal for less than £14 which were put in the freezer for 24 hours and are now fitted.

Interestingly the sprocket retaining bolts (and the kick starter clamp bolt) are 7mm which means I will nickel plate them rather than replacing with SS as I do not think I will get any SS 7mm hex head bolts easily.

The end of the rear wheel spindle had obviously been down the road at some point in the bike's life so I popped it in the lathe to clean the gouges off and inspired by Allem Millyard's Hailwood tribute Honda 6 I machined a bit of weight off at the same time.

rudolph desktop background
Link to spindle mod inspiration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrFOKwcNLMc

[350TSS]

Good progress today given I had to retire after 3 hours as it was bitterly cold in the garage. The postman delivered these, stainless bodies with a chrome spring matched to my and the weight of the bike all for £206. They look well made and nicely finished, apart from the stickers which look a bit cheap.


The first task today was to disentangle the fuse box, the regulator rectifier, and the wiring loom from the engine so that it could be removed. I made a diagram of the 26 connection points on the fuse box and numbered each wire as it came off with masking tape and a sharpy. This took about an hour. The bike is part Ducati as marked up on the back of the regulator rectifier.

A bit of a struggle on my own but the engine came out relatively easily, I will put it back with the heads and barrels off as otherwise, the frame paint will suffer too badly.
The old rusty petrol that came out of the tank was pressed into degreasing duties once I had modified my engine stand slightly so that the engine would fit into it. It was truly evil-smelling.
I thought I would then have a go at the kink on the frame near the side stand bracket but my MAP gas bottle was empty, probably just as well with all the vapour in the garage. I used a nylon faced hammer to try to knock out the kink, after about half an hour I had got more than half the kink out but where the bracket is welded to the frame the metal thickness with the weld meant that it was not yielding to the gentle persuasion. The frame tube material is remarkably soft as I had to be careful not to dent the tube even with the nylon faced hammer
Finally, I got the forks out, the headraces are separate balls in two races and I think I may have lost one or two when the bottom yoke dropped and they were bouncing off the bench and around the floor.
Here is the state of play when I retired to warm up.

[Mr Gazza]

When I had my Morini I was told that Ducati Elettrotecnica was a completely different company and nothing to do with the Ducati we know.. I don't know if that's right or not?

[Kato]

Mr G you are correct

DUCATI Energia as its now known was down to the Ducati brothers who as we know established DUCATI company in 1926;
22 years later, DUCATI was split into two companies, DUCATI Elettrotecnica and DUCATI Meccanica (today DUCATI Motor Holdings).

DUCATI Energia was founded in 1985 with the merger of DUCATI Elettrotecnica and Zanussi Elettromeccanica

DUCATI Energia main business are: capacitors, power factor correction and power electronics, wind power generators, alternators and ignition systems, electrical vehicles and charging stations, energy analysers, electric network tele-control systems, railway signalling systems, ticket issuing and transport automation systems amongst other things

Notably they produce ignition / reg/rec systems for many brands so no surprise to find that unit on a Morini, you'll also see them on all piaggio scooters, vespas, Lambretta etc