The silver lining on the Ducati cloud (there has to be something right?) is the Darwinian nature of their bike development: evolution rather than revolution. Basically when you are onto a good thing don't fuck with it too much. Hence folks these days are able to bolt 1198 engines into 748's, 996 ST4S engines into 851's ("must resist...must resist!"), a single slipper clutch fits just about all of them, and many many parts within the various 4V engines are interchangeable.
It's not so common in Oz but in NZ and the UK "Mini-twin/Pro-twin" type race classes exist with a 650cc 2 cylinder class limit, where the common weapons of choice are SV650/ER6 etc. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, but where there is a will there is a way. Or you could think outside the box and build the bike Ducati never did by mixing and matching across several decades of Ducati development to create something like this:
"What I ended up with was Ducati 749 pistons in a bored out (+2mm) 748 motor with a mega short-stroke of 51mm from using a 400SS crankshaft."
That's 3 different era's/iterations involved: 2V 400, 4V desmoquattro 748 and 4V testastretta 749. Depending on the spec you could build one without breaking the bank, and all in a sweet chassis that would have SV/ER6 owners crying "Referee!".
But while there are innumerable possible variations, practically the options are drastically limited Downunder due to parts availability. I'm already realising I could probably build another bike simply from what I will end up spending on shipping various parts for this bloody thing. Not to mention there are some well known "go to" parts that everyone knows are the dog's danglers and prices are just nuts, 996SPS cams for example, you'll pay at least 1000euro for a used set....if you can find them.
But when I came across a complete crashed 748R engine, for a price that wouldn't even buy a set of SPS cams, I started to get some traction with a way forward. It mightn't be the "ideal" set up but it made a lot of economic sense. I could use the high lift 748R cams, close ratio gearbox, Ti rods, big valve heads, and possibly even the shower injection: winner winner chicken dinner!
Wait, what's that? Post-classic/pre-89 rules prohibit later model castings? Cool ya jets, replica parts are allowed and be they 851, 888, 748, or 916 heads (996 went to a different stud spacing) all are basically identical save for different cams/valves (which aren't limited by the rules), and all the parts therein are interchangeable. If I wanted I could fit all the 748R bits into the 851 heads, all the 748R heads are achieving is saving the faffing around doing so.
So that's where I was leading up to with the backstory on Ducati parts interchangeability. Given the evolutionary development of these things, the way the road bikes mirrored racing developments, it isn't stretching the truth to describe the 748R heads as replica SP/Racing parts it's just a statement of fact.
Not long after picking up the 748R engine, I also found a set of great condition very rare 96mm high comp Pistal pistons and barrels (for 926cc, stock 851 bore is 92mm) are you sensing danger? Why is this set up so rare? Because the 96mm bore only appeared on the near mythical 916SPA (955cc), with only 50-odd bikes produced for the American market (hence the A after SP) to homologate the 955 engine for competition. It isn't hard to make the barrels, it is a simple bore and replate job, but the problem is you need SP barrels to start with as they have a thicker cylinder spigot that fits into the cases. Going to 96mm with standard 94mm barrels from a 888/916 (the 916 just has 2mm longer crank throw) leaves the spigot dangerously thin/weak.
Hmmmm, pity the 851 crank cases have all the structural integrity of your mum's Christmas pavlova...and about the same life expectancy in a race application.
So while there are still plenty of holes in the jigsaw it is slooooowly coming together.
But it was about this time that everything other than my slow burn bike project was in danger of crumbling apart.....
2 close family members had passed away in the previous 12 months (the reason we were back in NZ), then another of our closest friends back in WA also passed, a stressful house build, and the continuing work commute back and forth to the Timor Sea pretty much had me at breaking point. Something had to give.
Bottom line it was pretty simple:
give away the FIFO job and decent income that went with it
or move back to Perth to make it more sustainable.
But as lovely as our rural location was for outlook and lifestyle (see pic below), you paid for it with virtually no work opportunities - hence it was affordable. So in a way our decision was made for us: we had to move for work either way, so we decided it would be back to Perth for one last push chasing the dirty dollar.
Bye bye:
