Extended oil filler tube on scrambler

[Duccout]

I've just looked at a couple of 350 Roads on eBay and they have the filler neck.

[themoudie]

Aye DaveL,

Been and had a ferret about and found a website that may hold the clue to why you do not have an extension tube and dipstick attached to your oil filler cap. It's Spanish!

The website with the images is https://www.ducatibrochures.com/the-collection-per-type-or-year/mototrans/

Whilst the image for the Ducati 250 Scrambler model is purported to be a Motrans publication on the website, because it is a Berliner Corp. publication and not a Mototrans publication, I believe that it is displaying and referencing Italian, Bologna made machines. I may be wrong!

The other image of the Ducati Deluxe 250 however, clearly states it's Mototrans origin.

It would appear that the front engine mounts are different on many of the Mototrans manufactured singles frames from those on the Ducati manufactured singles frames. The images of the late Mototrans Vento 350 clearly show an abbreviated mounting and no side stand gusseting etc compared with Bologna produced MKIII widecase frames and these are the frames that I have.

Whether Mototrans used the same thread for the oil plug in the left front of the crankcase as Bologna used, so that you can use an extension tube and dip stick cap, I do not know.

Finally, that green Vento 350 still looks "right"!

Good health, Bill

[veloduke]

Neither my Spanish 125 TS or 250 Road had extension tubes when I bought them.
I fitted tubes made for Italian bikes without any trouble (no very long spanners required ).

[Jon Pegler]

The image that Bill has posted of a 250 widecase Mototrans machine is that of the 250 Road, not the 250 Scrambler.
There was a cross over of parts between the two models, but they were different.
That image and the specifications that go with it are on the Berliner publicity brochure for the 250 Road.

The front engine plates on Mototrans bikes are the same as their Italian cousins, be they wide or narrow case.
The only bikes with a different front engine mounting are the Strada and Forza models, with a front mount welded to the frame, using a single 8mm bolt.
Vento frames have the standard widecase Italian type front engine plates.

The motors on Mototrans bikes use the same 22x 1.5 thread as the Italian bikes for the oil extension tube, although as Veloduke says, some narrowcase Mototrans machines were not fitted with one, just a plug.
All the widecase Mototrans bikes came with the extension tube as standard until the time of the Forza, Strada and Vento.
The first Forzas had the oil filler on the RHS of the crankcase, as the usual filler hole was obscured by the starter motor.
The Vento came with no extension tube and a plastic filler plug on the LHS as did the Strada.
Strangely, the Vento parts book shows an extension tube but they were never a standard factory fitment.
Some widecase Mototrans crankcases have the LHS oil filler hole undrilled, using a RH filler, some have the RHS undrilled, with a LH filler and some have both sides drilled and tapped 22x1.5.

Jon

[themoudie]

Aye Jon, thank you for your clarification and clear images. As usual for Ducati and Mototrans " a bit of a dogs breakfast" depending upon the time of day, week, year and what happened to be lying in the parts bin, or production machinery had failed!

I always enjoy Nigel Lacey's musings on the variability of components and production methods that he has found. You want a "blueprinted" engine, now which blueprint would that be?

Good health, Bill