Valve adjustments

One picture tells more than a thousand words, right? So here we go:

That's my notes of measuring, adjusting and measuring and probably not very useful for anyone else than me. So I made a sheet that's divided on horizontal intake, horizontal exhaust, vertical intake, vertical exhaust and those are divided in chain side (left) and belt side (right) and again divided in closer and opener. There are ready made templates all around on the internet but I used my own which took only couple minutes to draw with google docs.

The valves weren't way off, depending which spec you follow. Vertical intake left closer was .008 inch and that was the biggest clearance there was. I still did some fine tuning and even ended up changing couple bits but that's all. I decided I'll follow LT Snyder's specs and not to worry too much for less than .001 differences except when the gap is smaller than LT or Ducati spec. More experienced guys always tell they used to fine tune by sanding shims down to get exactly when they were young but stopped worrying too much when they gained some experience. So I guess the settings I got as a result are decent:

Left opener
.0055
(no adjustment)

Right opener
.004
(tight, sanded down a bit)

Left opener
.007
(a bit tight, no adjustment)

Right opener
.007
(was .004, changed shim)

Left closer
.004
(was ~ .0025)

Right closer
.0045
(was .003)

Left closer
.004
(bit tight, but was .003)

Right closer
.004
(was .003)

Left opener
.0045
(no adjustment)

Right opener
.004
(sanded down, was .0035)

Left opener
.0065
(no adjustment)

Right opener
.006
(was .0055, sanded down)

Left closer
.005
(was .008, changed shim)

Right closer
.005
(no adjustment)

Left closer
.0045
(bit loose, no adjustment)

Right closer
.004
(no adjustment)

LT's specs are bit tighter at some places and in some places they fit in Ducati's spec. LT says:

Intake opener: .004
Intake closer: .004

Exhaust opener: .006
Exhaust closer: .004

The Ducati spec in the LT's book isn't the same as in my Workshop manuals so I didn't write down those here, but the basic idea is that too small clearance is as bad as too big. There has to be clearance or the surfaces won't get lubricated. I would guess that big clearance on intake opener side could cause backfire but generally it's probably to avoid hammering the shim/valve with rocker arm.

The job is quite easy when you have the heads on the table. However pressing the rocker arm to get loaded gap is tricky with traditional way (pushing with screwdriver or small socket) so I took couple old screwdrivers and bent them so I was able to close the closer gap from between the back side of the rocker arm and the clinder head:

Those MotionPro tappet feeler gauges are really must have as it's so much easier to measure than with traditional ones. There are couple sizes missing. I'd like to have .007, .010 and perhaps .011 or so. Of course one could use .008 and .002 together and so on since I have two sets, but it's a bit tricky to get accurate measurement that way.

Once I got the inspection covers cleaned and all the bolts tightened, I realized it would have been handy to clean the valves while they are unlocked. Of course I realized it afterwards so I guess I have to remove every valve once again. Well, still don't have the shim for the crank so I nothing else to do meanwhile :)

Not dead yet, crank shimming measurement

The project has been on hibernate since it looked like I won't be able to make it on the last season. I've been doing other stuff on the winter so this one had to wait but now the sun starts to shine again, but luckily it's not too warm yet so maybe I won't get too late start for the season. I have other bikes too but I really really would like to start it with this one.

So continuing from where I left on the fall. I had new bearings in the cases and I needed to determine the required shimms for the crankshaft to obtain the desired preload. The shims were 2,25 mm on the chain(LH) side and 2,15 mm on the clutch(RH) side. But the mains went bad so it made me wonder what's wrong. I actually measured the end float on the fall and came in to conclusion that the preload was actually correct. But I still decided to take a second look now as I'm continuing the project. Found out something new I hadn't noticed before: crankshaft's oilway plug was loose and its thread prevents crankshaft's shimm to align nicely. It actually causes inequal load to the bearing so this could actually be the reason why the main bearing looked like it did. Here is a picture:

I went through my older photos and noticed it's loose in there too. I swear I didn't untighten it and the photos confirm that. The plug even had some scratch marks on it. The shim itself was just polished compared to the one on the other side. Anyway the plug should have thread locker and it should be tightened to fully home. It didn't seem to have anything extra in the thread. It's tight now and thread locked so probably not an issue anymore.

Next the actual measurement. There are two methods in the Workshop manual: the first one is to measure the depth of both cases and the thickness of the crank from web to web and add the preload. I had my doubts because while this should be perfectly good method to measure it requires more precise tools that are on my disposal. So I decided to try out what kind of numbers I'll get using a level and a digital caliper:

The crank isn't any issue since it gives quite consistent readings. The case is a different story. The level is pretty much the best straight item I have but doesn't seem to be good enough. The idea is to measure the distance between the contact surface on the case and the bearing. The readings I got varied for about 0,15mm to 0,20mm so that's way too inaccurate. I didn't even threw out the notes of the measurements but at least I know I can't do it this way. There's one thing this method revealed though: LH side is a little bit wider than the RH side. That may be the reason why the original shims aren't equal size.

The easier way is to get thinnest shims there is and put the crankshaft in and close the cases and tightened the screws to specified torque. So I got a pair of 1,90 mm ones (damn 25€ each) and measured the end float with dial gauge:

Even with this setup the numbers aren't obvious to me. They probably are for someone who has more experience but there's always the first time. So I had the dial gauge at the end of the crankshaft. Then I rotated the crank for a few rounds and the dial still pointed zero, so all good. The book says to use a screwdriver to level the crank up but I found the readings to have more variation that way so I just grabbed the crank with hands from the top and pushed from the botton, and got pretty much only 0,01 mm differences. I came in to conclusion the end float with 1,90 mm shims is 0,25 mm.

I have two versions of Workshop manuals: 2001 and 2002. The newer one suggests a preload of 0,30 mm and the older one 0,15 mm ± 0,20 mm. I think I'm gonna trust a bit more to the newer one of 0,30 mm. It also fits to the older specification which goes up to 0,35 mm preload. So my case:

1,90 mm + 1,90 mm + 0,30 mm (preload) + 0,25 mm (measured end float) = 4,35mm

So I need 4,35 mm of total shimming. What I had was 2,25 mm + 2,15 mm = 4,40 mm. This means a preload of 0,35 mm which may or may not be a bit too tight. It's in older spec but I kind of would like to avoid the limits of the range so I ended up ordering one 2,20mm shim for the LH side. While I wait for the shim to arrive, I can do the valves.

New bearings installed

Was time to put the new bearings in to freezer and crank case halves to owen. The bearings spent abot a day in the freezer and the crank case halves were cooked for about an hour at 150 degrees in the owen. The workshop manual suggested 100C for removing the bearings but I thought the warmer the case is, the easier it is to get the bearings in. Besides there wasn't anything that could be damaged with that heat.

Main bearings and lay shaft bearings were the easiest as the bearing being at -18C and crank case half being at 150C the bearing went in without any interference. As a matter fact there was even a small clearance for a few seconds which disappeared rather quickly and the bearing didn't come off anymore. At least those should be straight as they literally hit the bottom.

Gearbox main shaft and timing shaft bearings were much harder and I actually had to tap the outer ring with a socket to get them in. They were also in the freezer but they are so small that the case heats them up so quickly. Tapping still requires probably much less force than just having both in room temperature.

Swingarm bearings and seals are still on the table. Those also seemed to be pretty tight but heat gun and cold spray should do. After that I get to real business measuring the crank shaft end float and required shimms. First I need to find the smallest ones since I'm a bit afraid I don't get any float with the original onces.

Bearings off

The last time I got the crankshaft removed so what was left, was removing the bearings and stud bolts. I would have left the stud bolts in place if my owen was big enough but unfortunately it isn't. Anyway it turned out to be a good choise since when heating the crank half in the owen the bearings came out almost by themselves. Much more convenient than with heat gun which takes ages to heat up.

Once I got the bearings removed I took the halves to a local machinery shop for washing. A quick way to get them clean even though the result could have been better. I think the only way to make it look like a new would be to boil them in sodium hydroxide. I didn't have facilities for doing that though and besides would rather practise with something cheaper since sodium hydroxide corrodes aluminium and therefor there's a possibility to ruin the cases. Well, they now look much better than earlier.

Currently there's no Ducati's importer in Finland as the previous one got fired or quit after 20 years, don't know the details, but it makes getting parts locally a bit hard. I would have liked to know the price at least even though I probably had ended up ordering the parts from Germany or Italy since they usually are pretty expensive here. I decided to change all the bearings except for heads and water pump, all the gaskets, seals and o-rings and belts. The total price was a bit over 700 euros including postage fees etc. Just the mains would have been ~150 euros total but wasn't up for saving here since the engine was already in pieces. Even though the price might sound high, if you take your Ducati for 20k km service (belts, valves, etc) the price is somewhere above 1000 euros in here. So yeah, you get most of the downstairs renewed cheaper. Own spare time is free of course :)

Removing the crankshaft

It's been a while since the last update since there wasn't too much progress before I got removing of the primary drive gear removed which I couldn't do myself. Well, now pretty much everything is apart.

gearbox main shaft

gearbox lay shaft and selector drum

The gearbox comes out in a few different pieces. Started by removing the fork guide shafts and once they are off the fork drum comes off. When it's off, there's enough room to pull out the forks and finally the main shaft and the lay shaft can be taken out in one piece. At least for now I didn't separate the gears since the bike didn't have much mileage on it and the gears show no worn. Still need to make sure they are well cleaned and oiled before reassembly.

Gearbox removed

Primary drive grear removed

As I mentioned, I don't have the tool to remove the primary drive gear which I've heard, pretty much requires the OEM tool for the job since it's pretty damn tight. There were ones on eBay for about 140£ which is about 160€. I wouldn't have been in a bankruptcy because of that but for a one time job didn't sound like it's worth it. Besides my usual part supplier guy mentioned about his friend who has the tool and is willing to help so I paid a visit and it was really worth the drive even though he doesn't live exactly the next door. He has been working with Ducati engines since eighties, been racing with Ducatis and at some point even servicing the bikes as a sub-contractor for the local shop. He really was very helpful and got tons of invaluable tips for the rebuild so I ended up spending couple hours there even though the job itself didn't take even half an hour.

Obviously the gear didn't get off just by talking. Turned the puller with impact gun for a while and nothing happened. This wasn't even my cheap one but his professional tool. So applied some good heat with electrical heat gun and tried again. Still took a while, but finally popped off, yay.

I still had the timing belt drive shaft in place as my self made tool didn't work too well and didn't have time to fine tune it yet. Well, got the belt gears off on the same trip. Finally asked some opinions about the crank preload and he suggested using a dial gauge and thinnest possible shims to measure the crank play and then calculate the correct shims. That's the alternative method described in the workshop manual. Measuring crank and the cases is quite tricky according to him but I still think I try that just out of curiosity and see how close readings I get. I think I still count on the "alternative" method if the readings aren't too close.

Worth mentioning that the timing belt drive shaft has one symmetric woodruff key and one offset one so I took a picture of it to remember that on reassembly. So the timing on horizontal cylinder doesn't seem to be exactly the same as the vertical. The difference isn't really big but I suppose the key has offset for a purpose.

Cases split

Today I started with removing the right side cover. Wasn't really hard to remove - just unscrew the bolts and that's it. The sealant didn't hold the cover too tight but it took a while though. Would have been hander if I had removed it while the engine was in the frame as there's the primary drive gear nut underneath the cover and it's pretty tight and now I didn't have anything to hold the gear against. But again, the cheap pneumatic impact gun saved the day and the nut was easy to remove after all.

RH side engine cover

Under the RH side cover

Primary drive gear nut off

I took the pistons off before undoing the nut to avoid damaging them if the gear slips out from hand for some reason. Lost one piston locking ring though but maybe I'll find it later, or then just get a new one.

Alternator cover puller helps splitting the cases

Cases split!

The factory manual suggested using the alternator cover and it's puller for splitting the cases so I put two blocks of wood under the engine and turned it sideways and tried what happens when turning the puller's bolt, after unscrewing all the engine retaining bolts from both sides of course. There didn't seem to be anything holding the cases too tight together so turning the bolt slowly and a few pretty gentle taps with a rubber hammer to gearbox transmission shaft did the job.

Inner race of the LH side main bearing. Doesn't look healthy.

I thought before I wouldn't find anything interesting on the flywheel side since the original noise sounded like it was coming from the right side of the engine. Though it's hard to tell for sure and the source of the sound waves perhaps can't be located accurately just by listening. I'm sort of happy of what I found since it indicates that there's definately something wrong with the bearings. The inner race seems to be toasted but only about half of the race. Also the same half of the inner side of the ring looks like polished but couldn't get a clear picture of it with my cellphone camera and I don't have anything better for the photos. Would this be an indication of too tight crank? If it is, the bearing on the RH side should probably look pretty much the same. Going to find out soonish but first I need to get the primary drive gear off.

I still have the timing belt pulleys on since didn't find suitable tool for the job so need to figure something out for it. For the primary drive gear I know a guy who has the puller, just need to pay a visit there.

Heads off

Finally on a holiday! Even though most of the spare time was booked before I started the poject, managed to give the baby a little attention.

Gears from the left side removed

Timing belt rollers, tensioners and protection plates removed

Gears on the left side were very co-operative coming out and didn't have any issues there. The starter motor tried to put some drama to the table however since the first bolt I tried to open snapped without any losening. Great. Luckily it was the only one so I got the starter motor off. I measured the depth of the threads on the starter motor and it seems that the depth plus the thickness of the engine pretty much equals the length of the bolt. So the snapped bolt is stuck to the bottom of the starter motor's hole. Sounds a bit scary since if the bolt is too long, it may not be possible to tighten the bolt enough. So I need to check if shorter ones are necessary.

Poor man's engine stand (packing foam) works well enough

Cylinder head

The piston was not taken off with the cylinder

Headnut tool

The head nuts were pretty damn tight. Looked like the baby wanted to keep her heads, but me and Mr. WD-40 disagreed. Still too tight to turn with open-ended wrench as it might break the nut or maybe I'm just a bit overly cautious, but the box-end side was too thick. Luckily my father had made a special tool for removing the heads for valve adjustments so that one came in handy. There's an OEM tool as well, but my father wasn't the kind of man who would buy one if you can make one by yourself even if it was a cheap one :)

The horizontal head came out easily and the cylinder stayed on it's place but the other head was so tight that the cylinder came out with the head and also managed to slip the piston out from the cylinder. No biggie, was asking for advice from the forums whether to take the pistons out or not and thought I'm gonna leave them inside. Well, now I just need to get piston ring compressors which are affordable.

Finally managed to separate the vertical head from the cylinder, but it was pretty damn tight. I cut the liquid gasket with a piece of a sharpened soft plastic but didn't help. There are small guide rings that apparently are there to prevent any vertical play between the cylinder and the head and one of them was stuck in both sides but finally the head side gave up and came out. Seemed to be a bit corroded so maybe the sealing wasn't as good as it could be last time the heads were off. I'm sure I at least try to be much more careful.

Next I'll continue with removing the right side cover. Hopefully today.