Lucky Phil

Pretty much docc. The first Daytona engines didn't have the Carrillo rods and had different pistons a slightly heavier crank and the P8 ecu. Then all the Centauros and the later Daytonas, including the RS's had the Carrillos, later pistons and the 16M ecu. The only difference between the the Centauros and later NON Singapore, Swiss and US versions was different hotter cams. The Centauro's and Swiss,US and Singapore Datyona RS's were identical spec. Ciao

Its just be aware that there are a few mechanical issues you need to address with the Centauro engine that are costly and need to be done to save it from total destruction at some point. So the oil pump needs to be replaced and the alloy cam and oil pump gears are must do items. The gears have a nasty habit of failing and the oil pump stops and then the big ends fail. The oil pump was never fitted with a proper bushing for the gear shaft and wears badly. The V11 pump and chain drive are the most economical option. The Joe Caruso steel gears and oil pump are the "gold standard" fix. As a guide if I was buying a 50,000klm old Centi I'd be budgeting on needing to spend a minimum of around $2000 USD on the engine in parts if its still stock standard and has been well maintained. It will still be running fine but as I said the oil pump and cam drive need to be updated and the lifters will all be failing at that mileage and they are around $230usd each. My total engine rebuild doing all the work myself has probably cost around 8 to $10,000 USD in new parts collected over a 10 year period. That's the reality of it. Ciao

So here's another trap for the rookie, OR the experienced that gets led in a particular direction and doesn't do his due diligence.The cam support on the R/H cylinder has had a tiny,tiny annoying leak since I put it together. The sort of leak thats just a minor annoyance to be honest but seeing I had the tank off replacing the throttle bodies I thought I might as well look at it. Its a PITA on this bike as the engine needs to be supported and the front subframe unbolted and swung forward and the r/h header pipe removed to get the belt cover off. Then loosen the cam belt and remove the cam pulley and then remove the cam support. Anyway I had a suspicion I had used the incorrect oring on one side, I thought I may have used the fractionally smaller rocker cover plug hole oring so I got the support off and measured the installed oring ID against a spare I had and yes it looked to be under sized. Great I thought that's the issue. I did my usual cursory look at the associated parts as usual but not hard enough I suspect. Anyway all back together but still have this tiny leak. Very frustrating. So lets get out the 2 spares I have and do a dye pen check. Results below. Moral of the story................. look beyond the obvious and check EVERYTHING. Seems porosity isn't unheard of on these supports and right in the oring groove. Ciao

The best, read "sweetest" version of the 2 valve rubber driven Ducati twins was the 600 Pantah. It revved safely to 12000 rpm was silky smooth and didn't stress its engine cases. It was the perfect balance for that particular design. It won multiple F2 world Championships with very little modifications. Pistons and barrels, cams, 42mm Delortos, valves, and porting and you have a stone reliable race motor that won world titles. Even the rods were standard items, polished, on the factory engines. Ciao

Well the upside to that is its cheap and easy for you to scratch that itch:) Ciao

The thing I like the most docc is the way the carbs hang down off the cylinder heads like some piece of ripe fruit ready to fall off I don't have any particular aversion to the bike itself, its just another backyard hack job on an old bike that produced a backyard hack job outcome. Have we all lost sight of the fact that just about every English Rocker/ Cafe racer back in the 60's did this sort of thing to his Triumph,BSA,Norton in the front room of some old bed sit in Liverpool or Birmingham. The only thing that's changed is now people seem to think its worth making a video about and others are "amazed" buy it's" awesomness". Seems we have regressed somehow, today we are amazed and awed by what was routine and everyday back in the 60's. Ciao

I cant even imagine the time,skill and energy involved in building a complete aeroplane Chuck, I mean honestly. Ciao

Got deep pockets have you? Ciao

I dont see what the fuss is about, hardly a thing of any consequence has been done to it . Seeing video's like this makes me think half my workshop life has been worth documenting on video and putting on Youtube. I mean who the hell cant pull something half to bits throw it away, rattle can an assembled engine and throw it back together. The bars set pretty low these days, Deus ex Machina style. Ciao

Thanks, she had a long battle with Cancer and finally succumbed. She was very stoic and accepting and still lived a full life up until the last few months. One of my oldest and closest friends is battling away with it as well, very hard and lots of pain,sigh. Yes My son in law is like the dream son in law, born in France and moved here at 14 so speaks perfect French, handsome rooster:) super fit part time personal trainer and IT guy and lovely bloke as well. He even rides a motorcycle. Hopefully he's the generation that steers the Vic Police away from the silly space they occupy at the moment at the senior leadership level. Ciao

I know that Lang Lang checkpoint, just on the southern side of the round about. Was in Lang Lang last week for my Mother in laws funeral. My son in law has just got the call up for training in the Vic Police. He's 30 and a really nice bloke, hope he stays that way. Ciao

Just checked the Ducati 1000ss and although it's the same basic design docc it's different to the V11. It has a different style pivot bolt for the lever although I'm sure the V11 lever will still work and it has much smaller brake light switch which is mounted differently and also a bleed nipple in an additional casting directly above the banjo bolt. The bleed nipple would be a nice to have addition. Looks like I've never done a full brake bleed on the 1000. Oh and the stamped number is different except it also has a 16 so I'm guessing tha'ts the piston dia which rings a bell for 4 piston caliper bikes and the non radial M/C.The 1198 radial M/C uses an 18mm. Ciao

Had it out again yesterday docc after re fitting the rebuilt throttle bodies. Needed a full re set of the balance and airscrews etc. Its going nicely now and no more click,clicking from the r/h throttle body shaft or fuel dripping. I also re torqued the heads and did the valve clearances after. Ciao

Back in the 1980's I owned a Bimota DB1. Riding it one day it struck me that when riding this quite tiny bike there was actually no part of the bike visible to the rider even peripherally. You had to actually tilt your head down quite a way to get any part of the bike into you visual range (I'm 6'2" in the old money) It was rather like flying along 2.5 feet off the ground in a crouch position. Ciao

Did you unbolt the M/C off the bars docc with the cap off and rotate it upwards ( so the lever is higher than the banjo bolt and gently actuate the lever slightly? This will break free any bubbles at the banjo bolt joint which will now be the low and not the high point and you will see the bubbles appear in the reservoir. Air in the system will give you a spongy lever but not generally a "creeping" lever. Ciao

Its the same as the unit on my 2003 Ducati 1000ss dual plug docc and my old ST2 although the ST2 was Black not gold. My V11 one has 9L12 16 stamped on it which I would guess makes it a 16mm piston although I think they measure up at 15.85 or something. Ciao

Its a 16mm isnt it docc? I have a nasty feeling you can't buy kits for these particular M/Cylinders. Hope I'm wrong. Ciao

Ciao

Yes Chuck, time to move on.......onto the Lucky Phil "Eazy Glide" manual fuel tap mod for the USA members. I mean you have nothing else on do you Chuck? I had the tank off my bike again the other day and the shear pleasure to be had from reaching in there and turning the tap off and it seal perfectly without any effort or the use of pliers etc was very rewarding. I'm so easily pleased it seems. Ciao

Where's the social distancing? That BMW might pass on something quite nasty:) Ciao

There's a specific peg lowering kit for the V11's isn't there? Also I believe there's been info in the past here about converting to standard triple mounted bars which doesn't seem much of a stretch, pun intended. I'm getting a feeling that the OP really just wants a different bike, might be wrong its just a feeling in my water:) Ciao

I always have trouble with these youtube experts when they are going along with a reasonable explanation about stuff albeit basic and then they make a total howler of a mistake or omission. I take the attitude that there is generally something to learn even if you go through 49min and only learn 1 thing. I stopped at 18min after he added up all the spring pressures and got a big number about how much power it took to drive the cam. The reality is it takes a lot less power to drive a cam than people imagine because you're compressing springs. Springs store energy and the energy needs to go somewhere so the spring gives back the energy that's used to compress it. Its not obviously the same amount because everything has losses but it's not the massive loss you might think. I think this needs explaining however he gets caught up in a "big number" for dramatic effect scenario which I find annoying and a bit misleading. Ciao

I'm not too sure about the validity of all this DNA testing. My Father in law had it done twice and there were significant differences in both tests and when he enquired as to why the testing people said that the more testing that's done the more refined their identifications are. I dont really know how this works out in practice and it seems a little odd to me but if any of you are disappointed at your results, it seems you can give it a few years or more and get a more or maybe less desirable result. Hell Scud may end up a Homo Sapien Ciao