2000 900ie rebuild.......... a year in the life of a mechanical retard.

[pitbull]

When mid March hit, I began to put thing back together. I had bagged and tagged everthing and taken a lot of micro pics of each area, which was very helpful. The information I received here saved my  several times and I also had my 2001 900ie to look at, which was incredibly helpful. I did the fork seals and oil, which went fairly smooth and then began to simply put the puzzle back together.

I didn't take any pics along the way, so I guess I'll just post the finished product, which was mostly done last week.



Last tuesday I finally got the place where it was time to hit the start button. I waited till nobody was around as I didn't want to embarrass myself. I filled and bled the clutch and brake fluids filled the engine with oil, and the tank 1/4 full with gas. With a belly full of butterflies i hit the start button................nothing.  I swapped the plugs, checked the ground wires, checked the kickstand switch (may have been the problem), checked every other connection, threw the batter on the charger over night and the next morning tried again.............with the GF sitting in the house unaware that I was about to give it a try.  I  hit the button and broom, broom, broom. I sat and reved the thing for a good 5 minutes with the biggest, dumbest grin on my face

[Speeddog]

Congrats, man, that rocks! 

Point that headlight down a bit and ride it!

[pitbull]

I've had it out for 3 rides so far......a couple of 20 minute rides and then a 2 hour ride yesterday. It rides just like my 2001 900ie. In fact it seems to have a little more go than my 2001. My 2001 has 60k miles on it compared to 10k, so I'm guessing the engine on the 2000 might just be a little fresher and tighter. It's nice to ride a bike for the first time and it feels new, but at the same time, very familiar.

I still have a couple things left to do. I have to figure some type of rear signals. I may go integrated at some point, but I'm out of funds at this point.  The GF did not want a tail chop and I couldn't afford to pick up a new beer tray yet, so I dremmeled, sanded and painted the old beer tray. It looks pretty good, but there's no place to affix turn signals.

I also screwed up the tach wiring. The speedo and all the lightst work, but I have to go back in and fix the tach wiring.

Other than that, she's ready to go. I will get her safetied and plated this week and we should be riding together next weekend. I'm on holiday's this week so I will get it out for a few more shake-down rides before I let my girl on it. I want to make sure it's gone over and over before she throws a leg over. In fact I might even have her ride mine for the first few weeks until I'm sure I haven't f***ed something up.

[pitbull]

Congrats, man, that rocks! 

Point that headlight down a bit and ride it!

yeah.........did that after I took the pic...........actually after I put it next to mine and realized it was pointed high.

[pitbull]

this is the only other pic I have so far.................. the two together.

my girl wants to get out and do some pics with her on the bike. She's a very good amateur photographer, so we should get some nice shots.

Oh yeah.............the finally tally is $4300 for the rebuild. I will probably look for an aftermarket, used exhaust over the next few months, so the finally tally will likely bump up to $5000 ish.

All in all I'm really happy with that. I probably could have bought one across the border, in the US for that price and saved myself the time and hastle, but I really enjoyed most every minute. In fact, My bike needs to be freshened up and I now have the confidence to tear it down in the fall and have the frame and other items PC'd over the winter and put it together in the spring.

Again, thank you very much to everyone who gave me advice throughout. I know it can get a little tedious when people ask seemingly simple questions, but I really appreciate all the help.

[Speeddog]

What color is it?

Hard to tell from the pics, first pic seems to have some green, second looks gray.

[uglyducky]

By now the reality had set in....................this was not going to be a 'replace a few thing, paint the tank, spit and polish and put on the road in a month' deal.

I began to feel overwhelmed, I think I may have had a anxiety attack, I'm sure I wet my pants and I know I lay in a ball on the garage floor and sucked my thumb for some time. My GF stepped through the garage door and asked me what I was doing and if I could fix it. As I wiped the tears from my eyes (blaming the leaking gas fumes) and pulled myself out of the fetal position, extracted the thumb from my mouth and threw my pants under the work bench, I heard the words come out of my mouth, but I'm still unsure of where they came from.......... yeah baby.....everythings cool......no worries.

by the next day I had the bike to this point, but still no plan.


oh yeah, the swingarm was badly bent, although the rear brake caliper and rotor were good as were one of the front calipers and rotors.

ahahahahahahhahahhahhhahahahahahaha, killin me man. you should charge for people to read this sh*t!!! ahahhahahahaha

[uglyducky]

well done man.  this was a blast - thx for postin it!

[RAT900]

 

Great post/series.

I completely appreciate that feeling you get when you kick the thing over for the first time and it fires up.

I used to do ground-up resto's on old Brit road bikes and remember that "moment of truth" when you turn the ignition on and the engine comes on-line

and the broad grin that you get with it....you have resurrected the dead...there's a primordial magic in that

there is almost nothing like it 

[pitbull]

What color is it?

Hard to tell from the pics, first pic seems to have some green, second looks gray.

The colour is a Honda product (or maybe Toyota). It's called 'Phantom Grey. My GF saw it on a car in the mall parking lot and said that was the colour she wanted. I have a couple of reproduction aluminum ducati wing tank badges I'm trying to figure out how to mount. I've bent them to fit the curve of the tank, now I have to decide how to affix them.

[pitbull]

Great post/series.

I completely appreciate that feeling you get when you kick the thing over for the first time and it fires up.

I used to do ground-up resto's on old Brit road bikes and remember that "moment of truth" when you turn the ignition on and the engine comes on-line

and the broad grin that you get with it....you have resurrected the dead...there's a primordial magic in that

there is almost nothing like it 

"resurrecting the dead" was exactly the feeling. It was a good feeling to have salvaged something that would have been scrapped and bring it back to being a machine that, at this point, goes and performs really well. It was also satisfying to have done it with limited mechanical skills. I'm good with tools and good with my hands I've just never had any mechanical experience. Now to be honest, if the engine was in any worse shape than it was, I would have likely taken it to a ducati guy about an hour from me, who does really good work for a fraction of the dealership price. A lot of guys go to him with old rebuilds as well as newer ducatis. I would have given it a shot, but if I got in over my head, off the expert I would have gone.    So I did have a little luck go my way.

[mookieo2]

Great write up. I really enjoyed it. Excellent job you should be proud.

[Markus]

Yeah, great writeup and nice job! Well done getting it back on the road.
 

[pitbull]

thanks for all the kind words

[uglyducky]

thanks for all the kind words

ok, now do another one.  we'll wait.