So it's back to square one. We're only talking about a handful of fairly simple parts but the mental effort, research, time wasted and general roller coaster ride to get to this point, only to have to retrace my steps, was pretty crushing.
So months of finding a way forward with the (insert swear word of your choice here) starter parts is undone in the 2 hours it takes to restore the super-lightweight starter-less WSB flywheel/alternator set up. I thought the 749R spun up pretty quick but this is going to be something else
You'd think I'd be pretty glad to look at something other than the lefthand side of the engine for a change and to no longer be tempted to smash it with the nearest heavy object, and you'd be right, but in amongst waiting for parts to arrive, queries to be resolved etc etc a welcome distraction had been looking at the intake system. Every time I found my hand, seemingly of it's volition, reaching for that heavy object I'd change tack and move onto nutting out a way to get air/fuel into the engine, which seems a tad ironic in hindsight given I hadn't yet figured out how I was even going to start the thing.
Here's the issue, this is my gas flowed 749R intake:
And this is a shot of the 999RS intake:
The difference doesn't look so profound until you see them side by side, when you realise not only is the shape different but the circular sections of the RS ports are also about 3mm larger in diameter. This is where the evolutionary nature of Ducati's and racing leading to road bike developments is brilliantly demonstrated: the OEM 999 has the shower injectors developed on previous WSB bikes and up until this point all Ducati throttle bodies were circular, but the 999RS/F0 took another step and pioneered the oval throttle bodies that then went into production on the next model 1098.
Unfortunately the RS throttle bodies, manifolds and airbox share price point and availability with NASA parts. At the time of writing there actually was a very rare pair of bare inlet manifolds available, no throttle bodies or anything else for 900 euro, factor in TB's which I've never seen available, and the airbox, and you are, without any exaggeration, looking at what I paid for the complete engine. Hang on, don't put your credit card away just yet: the airbox won't fit the base of a stock tank as the tank forms the top of the airbox so you'll be needing the RS/Factory carbon tank (+2000 euro), and the RS/Factory air runners, which don't fit an OEM-style race nose cone so you'll also be needing the RS/Factory race fairings. On second thoughts I'm thinking NASA parts are looking like quite good value!
But there is salvation...no, let me re-phrase that...there is a busted arse solution at hand. Remember those "adapters" that were included with the starter parts? They turned out to be pretty crude, just a 6mm alloy plate forming a very rough stepped transition between the OEM 'R manifolds and the RS ports. They would do the job of allowing you to run OEM throttle bodies but would rob a heap of power and seemed like a disservice to such a great engine...
...and then nightshift web surfing paid dividends (I won't say "again", because at the moment this engine is more problem than solution). Apparently I wasn't alone in not being government funded and unable to afford a Factory 999RS intake system, so Jetprime in Italy make beautifully CNC machined intake manifolds to adapt oval 1098 throttle bodies to 999RS/Factory heads...you lil' bewdy!
Hmmm, but the 1098 has the injectors mounted in the 1098 air-box lid, not off the throttle body as on the 999, and the injector can't hang in mid-air....so they also manufacture billet 1098RS-copy intake trumpets incorporating an injector mount:
They don't just make stunning products, they are also good folks, kindly helping my project along with a discounted price on a set of both:
The other good news is that 1098 throttle bodies are ridiculously cheap compared to Corse items, with a set landed at my door for just over $100USD. And how good does this look?!
Aaaaaaand, the good news story ends right there: the throttle bodies, mounted to the heads, are not even close to fitting my big Shift-Tech carbon airbox. Grooooaaaan.....now where did I put that heavy object?
I'm loathe to do major surgery on an expensive piece of quality carbon goodness, but I'm conscious the months are slipping by. In a quandary I decided I need to just Keep It Simple Stupid, get the thing going, and address some of the shortcomings at a later date.
So, with apologies to Jetprime, this was my interim "Jetprime-Lite" solution:
Using a set of 'R inlet manifolds I ground the rubber lining back to bare aluminium and reshaped a more gradual transition to the RS ports with an "epoxy-steel" type filler. No, not ideal, but far better than the crude stepped plates, and it's not like I was expecting to supply an engine doing 13.5 - 14000rpm and making 195hp, I be would happy with 160-ish rwhp. Again, a fair amount of time and money went into getting to this point but the eventual "solution" only took half a day and cost next to nothing....I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Another small job that grew arms and legs was finding appropriate hoses/fittings for the oil cooler. An RS radiator/oil cooler combo would be ideal, but that would involve finding everything except the engine in this diagram:
And then same again in this diagram:
Which isn't impossible, the parts are occasionally available:
But it's not quite that simple, because on a stock 749/999 the ECU/battery/regulator etc sit right about where that upper cooling pipe drops vertically next to the crash bung in the following picture (note: also a good display of how completely different the carbon RS/Corse tank is compared to a road unit):
It is literally a game of mechanical wack-a-mole as solving one issue only gives rise to another. It soon becomes bigger than "Ben Hur" and almost as expensive. But is it really necessary? I'm only going to be making 160-ish hp for a max of 15 minutes at a short regional track, not 195hp for a 40 minute WSB race at Mugello or Phillip Island. I'm thinking probably not, so will make do with the OEM rad/cooler units (in the meantime), which reassuringly are about the same size as fitted to 1098/1198 so will probably be quite adequate.
Righto, decision made, but the oil cooler hoses are still an issue because the RS crank cases are set up for RS hoses. "Eh?" I can hear you say. Racing at WSB level isn't just about being faster on track but also in the pits: Ducati Corse don't use threaded hose nipples as per the road bikes, they use "push-fit" oil lines with o-ringed fittings:
The fittings are simply pushed inside plain unthreaded ports, secured by a clip. This is the crank-case end with single versions at each of the cooler ports:
There is no laboriously unthreading each oil line at the crank case or cooler; using a T-bar allen key just spin out the Ti M6 x 15mm bolts to release the clips (parts 3 and 11 at crank case, 4 and 9 at the cooler in the diagram above) and all 4 hose ends could be unplugged in a matter of seconds.
Brilliant...unless you are trying to fit a race engine to what was a road bike and you need hoses to transition from o-ring/clip to threaded nipples. It was looking like I'd have to cut up two perfectly good sets of hoses (one of which is very hard to find!) to make what I needed....until a helpful forum member pointed out that Diavel (who'd a thunk it?) hoses were exactly what I was after, just a tad too long. One set of $30USD dollar hoses and a re-termination later, and this is a 749R hose vs 749R/999RS "hybrid" hose:
With that the ol' girl was starting to look suspiciously like a bike again:
