But how/who to actually put the engine together? At this stage I'd built engines, but not Ducati's, and not to this level: using the best bits from 3 different iterations was biting off a bit more than I could chew for a race application, especially with everything else going on. So I made a few enquiries only to find the options kinda like lips on chickens: exceedingly thin. 7 month wait times, no time at all (too busy) or not interested in a competition engine.....but I eventually found a small workshop with a good reputation and competition background. Despite saying "Yeah, no worries", when I rocked up with a wagon full of 2 complete engines, a set of crankcases, and a box full of bits, I think it was only then that he realised what he had signed up for.....poor bugger.
With that underway I could start on the frame.
Funny, for a bloke who had been thinking about modifying the frame brace (to fit the air box) for a couple of years I had to take a deep breathe before actually making the cuts. It's a simple lil' job, but it's just one of those "first kiss with a new love" type moments: "Don't fuck this up buddy..."
There are a few ways you could do it, but I used the method that has made China the economic powerhouse it is today and shamelessly copied someone else. This is pretty much as per the Factory race bikes, and mine looks virtually identical:
Now it was time to put my big boy pants on and make more obvious alterations: the additional frame bracing. I'm a crap welder but I figure there's no other way to improve than to put my skills (or lack there of) into practice, and how do you make something yours if you don't do as much as possible yourself? So off I go to find some appropriate steel tube....but do you think I could find a half metre or so off-cut in a workshop somewhere? Nup. So I reluctantly head to a steel supplier, convinced I am about to get absolutely fleeced:
Me: I don't suppose you'd have a half metre or so off-cut of 15mm steel tube available?
Attractive sales assistant: 15mm? Only 6m lengths, sorry.
Me: 6m?!!! Oh....(downcast)
Attractive sales assistant/secretary: ....for $9 per length
Me: How much?! (perky!)
Attractive sales assistant, getting even more attractive by the second: $9....but cuts are extra (breaking the bank at $11 all up so I could fit it in the car, lol)
Me: cash or card?
Here was me expecting to hand over the credit card for a 3 figure sum, not pay for it out of the parking meter shrapnel in the car ashtray.
So after studying the Brown Ducati 851 pic's again:
And placing the frame over the toasted 749R engine I had removed and confined to the naughty corner, I had a pretty good idea of where the tubes should go to avoid the cooling pipework and hoses. Note, the Brown bike has a different tail fairing, and the additional top rail screws up the stock subframe mounts, so I was only adding the extra lower rail to keep it simple stupid. It was another deep breathe moment before striking the first arc, but realistically it is only an ordinary Strada frame so I wasn't potentially ruining something collectable.
After a bit of welding and a lot of grinding it was done, and any more fiddle farting around was only going to make things worse. So I crossed my fingers and hoped my shortcomings as a welder would be overcome by the skills of Niall, a well recommended painter:
