Ducati 450 Resto

[Jeff Eelkema]

All sounds good Peter. I have heard of Barry but haven't had any personal dealings but he has been around a while and I don't recall any negative comment. I have owned and restored a number of old Dukes over the last few decades and been a past president and sec of the owners club up here so have heard of most of the older guys around. Its still a fairly small community but interesting old bikes still pop up like yours so its good to see it bieng revived. I bought a large collection of wide case single bikes/parts some years ago so let me know if you need anything. Given the original state of the bike I suspect every thing needed should be available.

[MrUpwey]

Jeff, thanks for your advice and support.
I reckon one thing I will need is a new/replacement headlight as the chrome on ours is badly corroded.
(Edit: and also the chromed cover for the horn/high beam switch)

An update on progress thus far.

It's now all apart and ready to be sorted into those bits for zinc plating, bead/water blasting, chroming and painting.
Barry Jones gave me a hand for a few hours today to remove the motor and some other tricky (for me) bits. He's taken the wheels for disassembly of the spokes and hubs for treatment.

Some photos - note the wiring nightmare within the headlight.

[MrUpwey]

Received new stickers for guards, side covers and rear spring ride adjusters yesterday from Phil Hitchcock, R&R. $180!!!.

Some advice please - do we 'restore' the side covers (paint and new stickers) or do we leave them as they are in the photos hereunder?

The front guard must be done as some panel beating is required (see LH end), the rear guard has minor paint damage and the stickers on the side covers are split/distorted. Jason from Chequered Flag will be doing the work so the quality will be superb and the paint colour match should be accurate - it has to be as I'm not touching the fuel tank.

In my opinion, we should do the guards and covers, however, Julie thinks we should only do the front guard and not the other bits.

[Jeff Eelkema]

Peter

I would leave the side covers if it were mine or at the least just try to remove the stickers and not touch the paint. Or maybe look into removing the stickers and putting some fresh clear over the original colour.

I had a look for a headlight shell but no luck with anything decent. Rather rare commodity on old bikes as headlights, gauges and mufflers are always the first thing damaged in a spill. A good plater should by able to fill the pitting with brass before chroming though.

Cheers

[griffiths_r]

Peter, i'd keep as original as possible.... If the paint can be improved with a polish rather than reapray that'd be better? Can always paint them later!

[MrUpwey]

Thanks Jeff & Rich
At this stage we'll just get the front guard done and decide on the side covers when the bike is completed. Then, as Jeff suggested, attempt to just do the stickers without affecting the original paint.

..............and Jeff, thanks for the efforts with the h/light shell.

[MrUpwey]

The resto is going along nicely.
To date;
1. The guards and side covers are with Jason for panel work & painting. The colour of the side covers and guards did not exactly match (faded differently over time)- so both will be done to match the fuel tank, which we aren't re-painting.

2. All painting completed.

3. Most chroming completed (awaiting wheels, muffler, headlight shell and some nuts etc)

4. Wheel hubs polished.

5. All anodising bits currently being done.

6. Need to clean up old tyres (very hard to buy new ones)

Some photos of things collected today (I'm afraid it's become a little more than a "refresh" job - I've been hanging around Clyde for too long)

Engine will be done last

[griffiths_r]

No toothbrushes in sight so you are ok...

Looks like great progress though!!

[Jeff Eelkema]

Looks good Peter but I hope you are not planning on riding it with old tyres. Even if they aren't full of cracks they will be rock hard = no grip!

It one area where I feel its OK to give up some patina - there should be something around in the right size.

Cheers

[OBRUT]

Peter,

These guys have a pretty wide range of older style bike and car tyres:

http://www.antiquetyres.com.au/

I have just ordered some Firestones for my 76 Honda CB400F (see pic) to replace the current rock hard rubber.

[Andrew B]

Mr Upwey

Now that someone has done most of the hard work. It's time to clean up the engine. Try these on for size :

https://www.machinerycleanery.com

PS out of interest what was the coin for chrome work and powder coating ? as I'm looking at doing a resto on an old bike.

Thanks ANdrew

[MrUpwey]

Jeff, I intend to purchase new tyres. It'd be disastrous and stupid to spend all that money and time on the bike and then risk dropping it due to poor tyres.

Ryan, thanks for the link to "Antique Tyres". The Duke has 19" front and 18" rear - and the Avons look pretty good. I'll make some enquiries.
Picked up the wheels from the chromer this week and they are magnificent - and apparently steel wheels on a 450 are very rare. Phil Hitchcock from Road&Race (Sydney) who is a Ducati expert says he has only seen alloy wheels on a 450. Just like Porsche back in the old days - Ducati probably grabbed what was available on the factory floor at the time for our bike - "a Friday build" .

Tiger.
All the black bits in the photo are painted - no powdercoating. The paint used is gloss "Enron" (a two pack baked enamel and as hard as nails) and there were in all 19 components painted including - frame, centre and side stands, side cover boxes, chain guard, rear no. plate and tail light carrier, swing arm and various other bits and pieces. The front forks were done with "Enron" satin finish. All are perfect and painting was done by David Keen, (who recently painted our Landcruiser) and total cost was $800.
Jason still has the guards and side covers which will be matched to the blue fuel tank

The plater is still struggling with the "Silentium" muffler - he has replaced the internal baffles and rear cone, but the sand blasting has made the metal very thin and fragile. I may end up getting a stainless reproduction (from Road & Race), which unfortunately doesn't have the stamping "Silentium" and MOTO DUCATI.

Jeff, have you seen these repos and if so do they look reasonable? Also do you know of any NOS or reasonable/good second hand ones which may be for sale?

Next job, zinc plating for spokes, polishing hubs (parts) and other components, re-anodising all bolts and other bits (not the deep nylock nuts as they can't be replaced)

................and of course, purchasing a set of those magnificent engine cleaning brushes.
Do you want a set too Clyde??

[Andrew B]

I heard that re-plating spokes or buying new stainless ones were much the same price somewhere, I think the Deus guy. Anyway you might want to consider that as an option ??

[Jeff Eelkema]

Peter

I don't recall seeing these particular repos but Phil is normally fairly fussy with parts quality. I don't think you will find any repos that have the original stampings - maybe the tooling costs aren't justified given the small volume. I have heard of people cuting an area around the stampings and welding that into a similar sized hole in the repo muffler - heaps of work and rechroming etc.

I haven't seen NOS for these models for years and if there was, Phil would have bought the lot! S/H stuff will all be fairly rusty. Sadly Ducatis suffered like Fiats and Alfas in this era from rubbish steel. Story goes that the Russians got Fiat technology - Ladas with Fiat engines and gearboxes - while the Italians got cheap Russian Steel. I think the Russians got a better deal!

I tried to get a replica stainless chaingaurd made up for a 750 and the fabricator looked at an original and said he could make one but it wouldn't be exactly the same. He then added he couldn't buy stainless that bad!


Cheers

[MrUpwey]

I heard that re-plating spokes or buying new stainless ones were much the same price somewhere, I think the Deus guy. Anyway you might want to consider that as an option ??

Thanks Andrew, but as the bike came with zinc plated spokes, then that's how we'll do them.

Unfortunately the muffler can't be restored - so it looks as though we'll need to source a repro. I know Road & Race sell replica Silentium mufflers in stainless, however, I understand stainless can't be chrome plated as per the original and it discolours differently to chrome.
Jeff, are you aware of where I might be able to get a chromed Silentium replica as in the attached photo? (not a good shot, but it's the only one I have on work PC))