250 NC race bike build

[flynbulldog]

When I first started this race bike project I joined here for advice and a little help.
Thought you guys might like to see the finished product (well, almost finished)

I posted this on Ducati.ms so if it's a repeat to any of you I apologize.

This racebike project started out as a '65 scrambler. it was found in a barn with two other scramblers and boxes of parts, most of it showing it's age but nothing rusted or seized.



you can see that the bike was very close to a fire in the barn and it was covered in livestock poo - my garage smelled for a month after I brought it home



I struck the deal for this bike and a second engine but the owner wanted the wheels back - I didn't get the tank, seat or any other parts.

[flynbulldog]

Tear-down and inventory showed how much - or little I had to work with

[flynbulldog]

We went to work on everything at once.
To compete with the Hondas in AHRMA I decided to give the engine some goodies:

Arias 12.5:1 piston
DLC coated wristpin
Fully ported and flowed head by master head designer Jim Comstock (he understands the nuances of this head design)
Big stainless valves with new custom made seats
Full roller treatment to the rocker pins
Ditched the hairpin springs for coils and titanium retainers
Full race cam
No flywheel, no stator, lightened clutch basket with a higher primary drive ratio
We will run points through a dyna coil with total loss electrics
36mm Delorto PHF carb with a hand made manifold (thanks Dan!) and Melossi venturi
I made the exhaust system from stainless with parts sourced from Cone Engineering

[flynbulldog]

I used the stock rear wheel hub and brake but for the front I decided on a Suzuki water buffalo 4-leading shoe drum unit that was languishing on my Norton Atlas cafe project.
(The Norton is getting a massive 4 leading drum from a Yamaha factory TD race bike.)
You can see that the backing plates and even a set of shoes for the Suzuki have been lightened...

WM3 shouldered alloy rim for the Rear and WM2 for the Front. Do you know how hard it is to find a decent WM2 shouldered rim? It took me at least six months to find a good one!

Rebuilding the wheels and brakes was another project all in itself.

My good buddy Dan came over to help me with the lacing and truing.

I did most of the wheel building, Dan made sure it was all perfect. (and then it went to Woodys wheels and was rechecked when I got the tires mounted)

[flynbulldog]

As usual with a build like this parts were sourced from all over the world including England, Australia, Germany, Italy and not much from the USA.

I found a correct size smooth top triple after a couple of wrong parts showed up at my door all the way from England and I started the fork build.

The forks are completely stock with the exception of a set of springs for a 190 lb rider.

Then it was time to start mocking up the bike before paint...

[flynbulldog]

The frame got a little attention too. I used a swingarm pin from a wide case and made an outside support bracket.

I also welded reinforcements to the rear motor mount, the rear grab rail (I was surprised that this one wasn't already broken), and the rear axle mount.
All of these places have shown to be weak points for the narrow case ducatis.

I got a set of rear-sets from England and the POS gear arm supplied would not fit the splines, used a gear selector arm from a 900 Monster and it fit perfectly.

[flynbulldog]

With the majority of the mock-up done and the frame mods behind me it was time for paint.

There's an amazing powdercoating shop near me that can do paint-quality powder finishes and they are quite good at metallics and matching.
I had them mix up a special gold color in exactly the shade I wanted and dropped off the frame.
Meanwhile I took the Glass tank to a place up north that specializes in chrome-like finishes on non-metal parts.

My wife Candie picked a color that comes close to the candy burgundy color of the stock Elite and I went to work on the parts I had on hand.

I painted all of the parts on this bike myself in my back yard.









I gave the Elite tank a Scrambler badge as a tribute and to acknowledge the true beginnings of the bike.

[flynbulldog]

These final pics were taken the day after the paint was finished. Nearly done but there were still things to finalize.
I'm a little further along today but have yet to run the bike, that should happen by the end of next week.

[flynbulldog]

I want to say THANK YOU to the guys of this forum, all of your posts and links to information was a big help in finding parts and information to complete this build
I really appreciate this site being here and I appreciate all of you guys who are experts on these little bikes Thanks!!!

Now I'm running back out to the garage to continue working on the 250...

[Edray]

WOW. what a beauty.
thanks for sharing..
cheers.