Ducati Monster Forum

I've been semi-active on this board since I bought my Monster back in May, and now that the summer months have ended here in Toronto I won't be using it for commuting anymore, and decided to do an overhaul on it, giving it the much needed love it needed after 5 years of commuted duties (previous owner used it the same).

Here's what it looked like when I bought it.  Mis-matched mirrors, large paint patch missing from 2 parts of the tank, torn grips, and generally well used.
(http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f118/dwardle/Ducati-oldownersphoto-1.jpg)

I put about 4000miles on it this summer, and with having a new job and a new baby the Monster got neglected and wasn't cleaned once...

So that's where I'm starting from.  Now onto the fun part.

First I got new mirrors and chopped the tail off, combined with integrated tail light signals

(http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f118/dwardle/ECE25AD5-AB1C-4FCF-B897-492A2D55E865-3812-00000517E6DB03A4.jpg)

(http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f118/dwardle/E7B82167-DC0D-4348-B9CC-52058E15CA2D-3812-00000517DFB8B3CD.jpg)

 Now that I've moved into our house with a 2.5 car garage I'm able to get down into the details for the winter.

Right now I'm focusing on striping it down, cleaning it up from the grime, and while it's apart get the tank re-painted gloss black and work on my modifications.

First off, getting rid of the side pipes and going to ceramic coat the stock headers black, combined with small baffled tips.  Eventually i'll have a custom exhaust built or find an ExBox likely.

(http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f118/dwardle/IMG_0621.jpg)

(http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f118/dwardle/IMG_0623.jpg)

While I'm at it I want to paint my handle bar black, flip/rotate downwards and see how I like that vs. buying some clip-ons.  I have some 3M black wrap as well that I'm going to cover the headlight trim.  Going for pretty much blacked out, but polish the front forks for now and leave silver.
I've also ordered Ducabike rearsets to clean up the rear, LED front signals, and a rear cowl painted gloss black to match the tank.

Any suggestions on where to relocate the coil from behind my side plates?  I really would rather not put them back on...

More updates in the next few weeks as parts roll-in and paint occurs.

One other thing, how the heck to you clean off the discoloration from the engine?  PO said he had some oil leak issues that have been corrected by the heads and other parts are CAKED and wire brush does nothing.  I was thinking of a dremel to bring it down to the metal again?

PS - look i'm going for is something like this :)
(http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbj8h7OwJr1rwscqto3_1280.jpg)

I think I am busting out the Dremel on my engine as well.
PO did not clean up after addressing a bad seal.
Disgusting.

Good luck.