Elefant Technical Thread

[Donkey Hotey]

Originally Posted by azcagiva

Speaking of using an old unrepairable bike... this is what I will be running in the upcoming Mexican 1000.

Well, at least that's a proper dirt bike...and not much else you can do with it. At least an Elefant is a great street / light dirt road bike.

He asked what spares to bring and I told him. Lose weight? Sure--lighter muffler (make your own cuz nobody has anything in the aftermarket), lose the luggage rack, make an aluminum subframe if you're a fabrication god. Maybe fit a cush-drive rear wheel from a slightly lighter bike, with higher-quality rims. The front fork could be changed out but, it's a good match for the stock rear suspension if you rebuild the Ohlins. The trick is to remove the plastic top-out spacer inside the Ohlins. That extends the rear travel to match the front. Ditch the metal tank and try to find a plastic tank to fit the frame. Ditch the entire wire harness and make a simpler one that won't break down when a switch or connector fails in the middle of nowhere.

Of course this all assumes that the intake boots are in good shape on the engine (a well known weak spot for which there are no replacements). If those carbs fall off or the rubber fails, the bike will be quite properly screwed. Just putting the carbs on there with pod filters won't work. It will just double the load on the old rubber intake boots--thereby increasing the odds of the carbs just breaking off the engine.

Hey, the truth hurts. I love mine but, keeping it rideable is something I've already tackled. That trip would almost definitely be it's death.

[decafe]

Donkey thanks for advice I am aware of problem areas. All have been gone over and will continueto be until April I am more worried about me not making it. I am almost 20 years older than bike. Also the bike does have carbon fiber slip on. Exhaust from 1987. And brand new belts

[ceevu]

I dont know how fragile this transmission is compared to some others but i broke second gear on mine.On sand. It could have been hurted before,who knows but i couldnt find replacement parts so i swapped 10 years newer(97) engine instead.Thats relatively easy after all.But no kickstarter
on positive side 750 5speed transformed in to 900 6speed

[Bill the Bong]

1994 750 LE. The crank nut came loose. Destroyed the rotor and chewed up the stator. Unbelievable mess. I hope to rescue the bike.

I've heard about that happening before (M750 motors). Since mine has 78 000 km on the clock, I figured it would have happened long ago if it was to happen. There's a lesson in there somewhere.

[Tony T]

I've recently bought a '95 E750 and the rotor nut is one of the first things I was told to check by those in the know.
I also read an article in Classic Motorcycle Mechanics about ressurecting a mid 90's 750SS (same engine) amd they suggesting checking it at regular intervals too.

[Bill the Bong]

Fortunately I had a spare stator and rotor. I'll rewire the stator. The main challenge is to determine if the crank was damaged in the process.

[RonS]

Been working on my elefant. The bike was running well two years ago but smelled awfully rich. Had a problem where it would only start on one cylinder. The second would catch eventually until one day it didn't. I replaced the stator and that seemed to fix that problem. The bike then sat for a bit and when I went to look at it again it was running really rough. I tweaked the carbs with a balance and adjustment of the idle circuit and now it runs well at low rpms but starts missing at above 5k. Can’t tell if it is starving for fuel or if it is electrical in nature. Any ideas?

[Bill the Bong]

Originally Posted by RonS

Been working on my elefant. The bike was running well two years ago but smelled awfully rich. Had a problem where it would only start on one cylinder. The second would catch eventually until one day it didn't. I replaced the stator and that seemed to fix that problem. The bike then sat for a bit and when I went to look at it again it was running really rough. I tweaked the carbs with a balance and adjustment of the idle circuit and now it runs well at low rpms but starts missing at above 5k. Can’t tell if it is starving for fuel or if it is electrical in nature. Any ideas?

What's the fuel pressure like? I'd say that you're not getting enough volume at higher demand.

[Bill the Bong]

Originally Posted by Bill the Bong

Fortunately I had a spare stator and rotor. I'll rewire the stator. The main challenge is to determine if the crank was damaged in the process.

My crank was indeed bent. Does anybody have any inputs on a modern engine for a transplant (Ducati or otherwise). I'm not rebuilding my old 750 motor, it was never officially imported into South Africa and Ducati here does not support it with spares as its a grey product. Due to my location, importing anything takes about 4 weeks to reach me.

[RonS]

Originally Posted by Bill the Bong

What's the fuel pressure like? I'd say that you're not getting enough volume at higher demand.

Not sure. Good idea though. I'll check that.

[ceevu]

Hi BtB
about your engine problem,i believe that almost every pre 98 2v ducati engine is potential transplant to your bike.It has been done a few times to newer bikes(like yours) and i (and some others) have done it to old one too.All it needs is cut a little from engine ears that bolts to frame(measure old carefully,including chain line,I believe that newer frames are closer to duc specs than mine was and i had to cut a little from shock cradle too ) and remove needle bearings where ducati swing arm was and mill two bushings to fill gap between engine case and swing arm bolt. Yours is carbed,right? 97SS 900 engine had even same electrical connectors and wire colors as my 87 750 fant.(i believe that 97 is last one that has same electrics,after that it is injected and therefore different) Thats about all it took.
Hope that helps(well,is 97 modern engine and is any 2v ducati engine modern?...)

[Bill the Bong]

Originally Posted by ceevu

Hi BtB
about your engine problem,i believe that almost every pre 98 2v ducati engine is potential transplant to your bike.It has been done a few times to newer bikes(like yours) and i (and some others) have done it to old one too.All it needs is cut a little from engine ears that bolts to frame(measure old carefully,including chain line,I believe that newer frames are closer to duc specs than mine was and i had to cut a little from shock cradle too ) and remove needle bearings where ducati swing arm was and mill two bushings to fill gap between engine case and swing arm bolt. Yours is carbed,right? 97SS 900 engine had even same electrical connectors and wire colors as my 87 750 fant.(i believe that 97 is last one that has same electrics,after that it is injected and therefore different) Thats about all it took.)

I've spent a lot of time thinking about the way forward. The LE is one of 5 or 6 bikes so there is no serious rush to get it done. The main problem is that it is my favourite bike ever and its because of the unique character. Loosing that is not optional. So I decided to get it rebuilt. Since I'm not about to get rid of it, it doesn't need to make economic sense.

[Touring XR]

Thought we should resurrect this thread. I mentioned on the Elefant Sightings thread that I am the new keeper of an old e900 with some high speed running issues. Fuel pump rebuild kit is enroute from Sudco. We'll see if that helps.

[Chuck_V]

I am trying to locate the parts needed to convert an Elefant to Marathon configuration such as the seat/tank assembly, subframe, etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Bevelhead]

I think these are cheaper than a kit.
http://www.ca-cycleworks.com/mikuni-...are-fuel-pumps

Originally Posted by Touring XR

Thought we should resurrect this thread. I mentioned on the Elefant Sightings thread that I am the new keeper of an old e900 with some high speed running issues. Fuel pump rebuild kit is enroute from Sudco. We'll see if that helps.