Part out to fund my next project or not? DUCATI???
 

Before I ever owned a Miata I was a big Ducati guy. I sold all my Ducati stuff, and all I had was a truck and my Willys CJ. I needed a car project or another bike, so I ended up buying the miata I have now, but I also bought a '78 Triumph Bonneville 750. I chopped the triumph and did some painting on it, and how it sits, stashed away in my downstairs bar room. The Miata took up a lot of my time and finances. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun. Yesterday at work though, something changed.
This guy I worked with for years had a 1995 Ducati 916 Mono, and I had a 1997 916 SPS. Since I no longer own any Ducati products, I ran into this old co-worker and asked him if he still has his 916. He said he does, but it's in a thousand pieces. He said he was thinking about building it up and doing a stroker setup, but last week he bought a brand new Ducati 1196.
I asked him what he's going to do with his bike project now, and he said "sell it". He tells me he might put it on craigslist, and I'm like, "are you crazy"? Then he lays this on me: "Come over to my house and get every last part of it out of my garage, and give me $1000." I'm flipping out...$1,000 for a Ducati 916 project bike??!!!???
Then it comes to this:
Do I put the car back to stock? Well almost stock. RB header, CAI, and there will be no CATS or resonators.
I'd sell the MS and the whole turbo setup and I/C.
WHAT DO I DO?

for a 95 916 i think i'd give a kidney... or two.

Since it will have the p8 computer, you can do just about anything you want with the engine as those ecu's are so easy to burn chips for.

I say drop a 1098 engine in it. its all the power that chassis never had. yes, it will take it, and beg for more.

Get the Ducati, build it, sell the Triumph continue with the miata project at a later date. It's summer you need a bike.

Hold on to your other kidney.... you might need it when you take it in for service or fixing.


This will end up costing more than a mint 999 or 848 and be a whole can of worms.

Probably not worth it. It is hard to find parts for the old ones. If you can't build the engine by yourself it would cost a lot more than it would be worth.

fixing ducs is what i do ;)

no can of worms, built a few, run great.

the 916 chassis is nicer than the 1098 one, the whole bike is nicer. the newer 999 and 1098 series are too japanese in their assembly. too many plastic pieces held with clips, push pins, screws, etc.

call me old fashioned but i like the fact that the 916 series bikes have 6 dzus fasteners and a couple of plastic pins holding the body work on.

i can haz turbo kit and MS?

Actually, yes. I've seen ducati's with turbos and microsquirts on them.

I absolutely loved my '02 S4 monster. That 916 engine rocked. Only had to bring it in for a leakey cylinder gasket once in 10k miles. Sold it once warrantee was up, it had electrical gremlins, but man when it ran it was soooo sweeeettttt. shit I need another vtwin.

I say get that bike for sure! Those bikes are still sexonwheels when i see them.

While that sounds amazing and I really REALLY love those bikes, I don't think its the best idea right now. Seriously look around at what it will cost you and make sure you can fund it, or else you'll have a pile of Ducati parts for a while.

Plus, if its in pieces in the garage who knows what you may actually be missing. Then look at the cost of engines, or rebuilds. I have a feeling sourcing an engine or building one will be a 2 or 3K dollar affair so keep this in mind as well.

Also would you rather be driving your turbo Miata, or building a bike all summer?

This is coming from a guy who has a motorcycle project too. I have a 05 buell xb12 in pieces in my garage atm, and even doing the top end myself the engine build is going to come in at $1200. And thats with my ancient HD Vtwin which anyone can build.

This thread lacks pics. /drool
http://www.nationalsuperbike.com/wp-...916-carbon.jpg

My wife says I should buy the Ducati, but I shouldn't part out the car. She says if I take the turbo off my car I won't like driving it anymore. She's probably right, but I'm the unsure one.
This is a pic of my first Ducati. It was a 1999 Monster 750. I laid it down in a ditch a few months after I had it cause the front tire lost tire pressure due to a crack in the wheel. I rebuilt the bike the way I wanted it and I loved it.
Before...
Attachment 20537
and after...
Attachment 20538

Whats wrong with the bike? Why is it in a thousand pieces?

I loved that monster, but I really wanted a 916. I found this 1997 at a Chevy dealer near my house. Somebody traded it for a Jeep Wrangler. It had Termignoni carbon mufflers, Marchesini 5 spoke wheels, a Fast by Feracci carbon air box and stage 2 chip. I think it had cams too. It made like 127 whp? I had the cowl painted about 1/2 way through the ownership of it, so some pics may have the unpainted cowl in it. I also moved the license plate mount.
Here are some pics of it to druel over.
Attachment 20539
Attachment 20540
Attachment 20541
Attachment 20544
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The dude told me he wanted to build a 955 stroker out of it. It's not really in a thousand pieces. It's a rolling frame with the wiring and body work still intact, but the engine is out of it, and the heads and cylinders are off.

Oh yeah, it was also originally a monoposto, but he converted it to a biposto. He had to change the rear subframe, but he has the original monoposto subframe to go with it. I talked to him tonight, and sounds like Saturday it's happening. The dude lives like 20 minutes away from me, what kind of shit luck is that?

You found a Ducati that needs it's engine put back together and put into the bike for $1000. Wish I had that kinda shit luck.

Well, when I had my '97, I snapped a timing belt. It cost me $1000 in parts for 2 intake valves, guides, a timing belt, and and idler pulley. My guess is, I'll have $5,000 into it just to get it driveable.

(used) Parts should be cheaper now.

If you look at the pics of my monster before and after, you should notice the mufflers. In the second photo they are black and shorter. There is a trick that Ducati dealers don't want you to know about. I took the mufflers off and laid them in a band saw. I cut the ends off by about 1/2". I ground off the spot welds for the reducer tips. There are I think 3 chambers plus glass packing inside the mufflers. I cut the mufflers down to 2 chambers, and removed the glass packing. I put the newly modified end caps without the reducers back on and used SS pop rivets to fasten them. I taped off the canisters and sprayed them flat black with grill paint. It looked bad assed and it was loud as Hell. Like if a harley pulled up next to me at a light and I left the light and cracked it open, you would not hear the harley. I had to re-jet the carbs of course. I also cut the top of the airbox lid off which is also a free mod. After doing the re-jet and the muffler and airbox mod, it was like bolting another cylinder onto the motor. It woke it up like adding 5psi of boost to a miata. Jet kit cost me $90?

I just got home from looking at this 1995 916.
I am all messed up with making this decision or not.
I thought the motor was taken out and the cylinders were off and that was it. I thought the dude took it apart to stroke it to 955. I was wrong. The whole entire bike is apart. The only thing on the bike frame is the forks with the front tire, and the rear swingarm with the back tire. The engine has the front cylinder taken off and the connecting rod is bent. The front cylinder head's valves open and close when I turn the cam gears, but there is a line on the intake valves from where the piston hit them. They're not bent though, which is really hard to understand.
Pretty much, I don't think I'd waste my time reassembling it. I'm thinking of doing some more research and buying it just to dismantle fully, and sell for parts.
One valueable thing it does have, is a title. There is no damage to the body, tank, or frame. I'm just wondering how much money I could get selling it piece by piece.