Ducati Monster Forum

Just finished with the customer exhaust, time to do something for me :)

Got the speedcell batt in.  No charger/maintenance needed either, so no trickle charger lead!
I used some closed cell foam from an Xbox warranty return to make sure it wasn't going anywhere.  I'm retarded, I actually weighed different kinds of foam to find the lightest :)

After that, I turned my attention to the fuel lines.  The testa is tightly packed.  Both the pump and reg are inside the tank, so in/out orientation doesn't matter.  Pulled the airbox, flipped the lines around on the injector (so they were facing left now).  Fished them inbetween the battery and the ecu (TIGHT).  Had to make them bend around the right side similar to stock to get them to the tank.  I tried about 10 different ways, and that was the best (only) way so that the tank may be raised/lowered without any special handling.

The lines touch the valve cover for about 2-3", so I ran down to summit racing and picked up some DEI fire sleeve.  Rated to 500 deg continuous exposure....if my valve cover gets half that hot I've got bigger problems anyway (bike on fire!).

Anyway, here are the pics:

(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/TheoAftonomos/Fabrication/fuellinereroute.jpg)
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y54/TheoAftonomos/Fabrication/speedcell.jpg)

Do you have the details for that battery? Thorsten Dubahn has three types.

240 cold cranking amps
Unaffected by cold weather above 35deg
Looses 3% of it's total capacity per year, WITHOUT being on a tender
No need to feed it.
Rated to 1000 starts
1lb 6.2 ounces

Starts my s4rs up just as quick/quicker than the stock fresh battery in the bike.

The speedcell has been sitting in my garage for 2 months now, waiting for me to get to it.  It's not been on a charger of any kind, and it's been in the 40's for the past 3 weeks.

Price upon request, ordering a few on Monday :) [thumbsup]

I know very little about batteries.  Can this be charged/tendered with a typical charger?  Also, would different sized Monsters require a different battery?  For example, I have a 620, but I'm thinking about upgrading to a 900.  Would I need to buy a different battery? 

Generally speaking, no.  There is a lighter 9 ounce battery available, but with only 120cca's, I wouldn't recommend it for a street bike.  Besides, 1lb 6 ounces is plenty light enough :) (7lbs saved vs/ a typical "light" battery.

Once the bike is started, the battery does very little to actually run the electronics. 

Race only applications, the 120cca battery would be fine, and will run a total loss electrical system for ~40mins with a typical fuel injection system draw on the batt.


YES, you can charge it no problem, but there really isn't a need to.  Thats another one of the great things about the new battery technology that is coming to the market. 

Speedcell advertises that you can put a fully charged battery on the shelf, and it will only loose 3% of it's total charge PER YEAR...without being on a tender. [clap]

God, that battery is crazy small!!

Nice job Theo!!  But where is the carbon fiber/titanium battery tray??!!   ;D

That battery is CRAZY small!!   [thumbsup]

CAUTION.   My fuel line quick disconnects leaked and sprayed my leg with gas.  They arn't properly locking on the cap, and something will have to be done.

I was able to get a short video, but I'm having some trouble uploading it to youtube (never done that before).

Bad/misaligned o-ring?

TA, You probably already know this but I would shorten up your fire sleeve. Also, do those quick releases have o,rings? On the quick disconnects I use they have a small o'rings and tare very easily. Which caused gas to spray when the pump primes.

It's not leaking a bit, it BLOWS the fitting off when the pump pressurizes.  The plastic clip isn't engaging the catch properly.

Sleeve shortened as well. 

What is the life expectancy of these smaller batteries?

Rated to 1000 starts, will loose 3% of max charge per year.

Ought to last quite a long time IMHO.  I'd guess 3-5 years isn't unreasonable at all.  Perhaps a bunch longer depending on how often you ride.

Update on the fuel line connection.  Got it to "stay" for now.  Not going to ride until I either put the lines back on the right side (un-reloacte?) or go with plan B.

Plan B involves pulling the pump out of the tank.  Welding up the plate.  Drilling/tapping the holes for metal quick disconnects, and using those.

Probably go with plan B at this point.  Seeing how weak and crappy those connections are right above the exhaust pipe has really pissed me off. 

make the beast with two backs it, plan B just became plan A.

I have disconnected the fuel lines on my 06 S2R1000 and had no problems with them reconnecting...

Dunno what to say.  It appears that the clip is deformed from pulling it off, and thus doesn't fully lock down.

Doesn't matter anyway, the thought of a fire under my ass at speed isn't something I ever want to have to wonder about. [bang]

After searching on ducati.ms for awhile, and seeing a few pics of burned hunks of metal/plastic/carbon that used to be ducati's, it's clear that plastic isn't an ideal solution for a fuel line connection.  Thus, I will remidy ducati's shortcomings with something I don't have to worry about :)  [thumbsup]

Colin Edwards knows what a fire under his ass is like at speed - there is a pic floating around here somewhere of his Aprilia Cube after it sprung a leak...  He immediately bailed and the bike kept going for a while until it crashed and burned.  The skid along the asphalt ate a hole in the seat of his leathers - yikes - I don't think you have time to stop and get off gracefully without getting 3rd degree burns in areas that should never be burned.

I'll be interested to know how you solve this problem.  Ducati needs to offer a "DP" version of their fuel connectors for the street.  Maybe I'll get new oem hose connectors on order and replace them every so often until a suitable upgrade is found.

Yeah, burning my junk is not my idea of a good motorcycle ride. 

First step will be to pull the assembly off the tank, take some measurements, and see (possibly) if I could tap the existing piece on there for a metal QD.  If not, welding it up and tapping will certainly work.  This will all but eliminate a fuel leak from happening in the future.  The metal QD's have a positive lock/unlock to them, not this plastic crap that might crack after it gets old that the bike came with.

Granted, it's my screwing with the fuel line reroute on this particularly tightly packaged bike that has lead to this trouble.  But I'm not going back to the origional routing, and I'm not going to cobble together some brass 90's or swivel fittings to make it work with those plastic plugs.

I would like to do this too but (don't tell anyone) I never learned how to weld.  Hmmm  Is that metal sturdy enough to be tapped?  I'll be looking for a spare fuel pump on ebay to experiment with after reading about your gas leak along with seeing a slight amount of fuel leaking past the seal on my bike even though my clips seem to be holding so far. 

Not sure, I'll have to pull it apart first and see how thick it is.  Worse case I can weld a bung to the plate, and then screw the fitting into the bung :) 

I think I've got something working.   The hoses come around under the battery on the left side, then they make an "S" so that they head to the right side and then double back to connect to the fuel pump from the same direction as stock.  It is cleaner than it sounds - and it doesn't put a lot of stress on the disconnects when the tank is raised and lowered.  I have one of the hoses in the channel that the crank breather hose used to use, but I think I could have put them both under the battery (instead of just one).  Sorry for the crappy pics. 
(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc190/stankbone/DSC00570.jpg)
(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc190/stankbone/DSC00571.jpg)
(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc190/stankbone/DSC00572.jpg)
(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc190/stankbone/DSC00576.jpg)
In the last pic you can see the relocated overflow tank zip tied behind the head stock.