Snells,
the family owned Ducati Dealer for Sales / Service / Accessories &
Clothing in Hampshire and the Surrey / Berkshire borders.
Station Road, Alton, Hampshire, GU34 2PZ. Tel: 01420
84480 Fax: 01420 89622
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Snells,
the family owned Ducati Dealer for Sales / Service / Accessories &
Clothing in Hampshire and the Surrey / Berkshire borders. |
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This
is a special area of Ducati servicing and performance work and we should
be clear that although some of the services we offer below replace your
normal 6000 or 12000 mile service they are very different to our arrangements
for normal annual servicing. 'THE FULL MONTY' - Developed and explained by Neil Spalding Almost all our PERFORMANCE SEVICES are based around the FULL MONTY. As you scroll down you will find a Tariff guide but first it is important to understand what we are looking to achieve and why so grab a cuppa and read on................... What we call the Full Monty preparation job is not a complete racing blueprint but it is 75% of the work for 25% of the price. We give the bike the service of its life and while we are at it we concentrate on getting all the power producing settings of the motor to within very very close tolerances to ensure the engine produces power in the way that Ducati originally intended, but which the time constraints of a mass production line made difficult to achieve. The game is to make the standard components operate at their very best, usually enhancing reliability and longevity. To try and reduce the costs of Ducati ownership the factory have expanded the range of acceptable valve clearances, now its not that these wider 'acceptable' clearances cause damage, its just that the bike runs a lot better, smoother and more powerfully if the clearances are reset precisely to the original numbers at each service. There are also a few classic Italian flaws that should be checked and sorted during a proper service, are the plugs that blank off the oil ways in the crank securely fixed? is the alternator nut on tight? what do the rockers look like? and so on ... a lot of our work is a once only basis, but we specify a proper service structure for the future to ensure that those settings that do wear are properly controlled. So what we are actually doing with a Full Monty is servicing the bike and simultaneously building the bike accurately to standard specs, in a lot of cases there is nothing wrong with the standard spec, its just that your nice new bike (or even more likely your nice but used bike!!) isn't accurately set at the standard spec. But there are also some modifications that can be done at the same time that help some more…… So what do we actually do..........? Firstly the fairings come off and are put into careful storage and then both the coolant and oil are drained. The radiator and fuel injection systems come off, as do the exhausts, heads and barrels. Once the bike is stripped and the heads and barrels removed we carry out an inspection of the Rockers, cams, valves and their seats and have a look down into the crankcase to make sure that the crank shaft plugs are all intact and in the crank. Once we have reported back to the owner we are under way … the cylinder heads are stripped and the valves cleaned. Then the valve seats and Valve faces are lapped to ensure a good gas tight seal, you might think this is a little excessive but you must remember that on a Ducati we don't have the big valve springs of a typical motorcycle engine and that the Desmodromic valve gear relies on the rising gas pressure in the cylinder itself to complete the valve closing sequence, if the valve seat is damaged therefore is difficult to get full compression. There is no point in trying to do this without at least cleaning the valves as well so we do that too, it has the happy side effect of making the gas flow work better. Once we have four valves correctly seated and opening and closing rockers in good condition we set about shimming the head this we do to the original manufacturers tolerances, not the checking tolerances set out in the workshop manual as we believe that the correct original tolerances give better and smoother low down running and more compression and more responsive motor elsewhere. At the same time we clean the top of the Piston and check the condition of the piston rings and then we check the Squish. Squish is the distance between the top of the piston and the cylinder head. A close squish clearance is designed to improve the engines ability to get a good burn from the fuel you have put in. If the piston to head clearance is just right it lets the piston act on the mixture just like somebody slapping their foot in a puddle. There is a small flat area at the front and the back of the head and the gas that is trapped in that area is spat out into the general combustion chamber, just like the water from that puddle, mixing up the rest of the mixture as it goes. This ensures that when the spark is set off you get good and complete combustion, and the best possible power for your buck, all this mean smoother running and more power but to get the really close tolerances where you get the best reaction, but where you still don't actually touch the head with the Piston you need to do some pretty careful clearance checking by hand and that's what we do. While we are at it we check the tightness of the Alternator Nut, and usually take it off and re loctiting it to insure that none of the bikes that have been Full Montied suffer this classic Ducati problem, we also strip the clutch and inspect the plates to try to get the best clutch operation. It's also possible on some models to set the cam timing to non standard settings and for several of the bikes we have a very good alternative setting to the factory specified one that gives an alternative style of power delivery. We want our bikes to be robust in general service after we had done our work so rather than put adjustable cam pulleys on we use the old fashioned offset woodruff keys to ensure that once the cam timing is set it stays set and doesn't get accidentally changed at a future service. When the engine is fully reassembled the ignition system goes back on, this has its throttle-position Sensor carefully re-set so that the zero position of the butterfly is exactly where the computer thinks it is, given that the standard Ducati tolerance for this is plus or minus 10 per cent a plus or minus one per cent is a significant improvement. A new Eprom is loaded into a computer giving a much greater variation to the fuel given to the rear cylinder, all Ducati's have had this capability since they went to fuel-injection but few have actually used it. The Fuelling in the FIM Eproms we use, with matched and correct Squish on both cylinders and cam timing set accurately the fuel map is the icing on the cake for a smooth-running engine. Fresh oil and filters complete the reassembly. Once the airbox is reassembled (New Air filters too) on to the bike the fuel tank also goes back on, but not until it has had a new Fuel Filter fitted. Then the Throttle bodies are balanced using a single vacuum gauge (its more accurate if both are set by the same gauge!!) once that is done the idle set up is completed using the airscrews. This leaves us with the chassis settings, the Forks are stripped, cleaned and rebuilt with fresh oil , we can do a standard fork rebuild or the valving can be slightly changed for a more Track Day friendly setting. The rear suspension is also checked with the rear Ride Height being set to a specification that we think is better than the one set by the factory, depending on the bike this is combined with moving the headstock to the vertical position to complement things. Parts wise we will have used new Belts, base gaskets, head gaskets, half rings (they act like valve colletts), oil, all filters and exchange shims. We add a small sundries charge for all the little gaskets and seals too. As we see things that are badly worn we replace them , typically one in five bikes will need new alternator wires for instance. Only after we get the owners permission will we also replace damaged rockers and other larger parts. So what can we add to a Full Monty to really transform the bike? It's difficult to try and summarise all the bikes as each model has its own preferences; a brief summary of the options looks like this though. So in addition to the normal servicing benefits of a Full Monty we can offer….. On 748 Desmoquattro's we find they respond really well to 853 Kits as well as the Full Monty. On the 748 SPS and the SP we can fit 853 kits or we can modify the cam timing for more midrange. On the 748R we have several settings either standard Full Monty or with an 853 kit and a basic porting job 916's respond really well to the basic Full Monty and the FIM Eprom. On the 996 Bip we have the basic standard setting but also have our Grunter cam timing version. This sacrifices a couple of top-end horsepower for a gain of around six or seven horsepower in the midrange. Given that the Full Monty typically would find it six or seven more HP at the top end you don't really miss the couple that you don't get but you certainly notice the five to seven in the midrange. A really nice extra for this is a lighter weight flywheel and lower gearing to turn this bike into a SPS killer. On the Monsters and ST2's 4's and 4S's a Full Monty helps, and the chassis changes completely transform the bikes, the fuelling can be modified with (including the redline for those of you with 9500 rpm cutoffs on your S4's) Fim Ultimap computer. Again a lightweight flywheel makes a big difference. 996 SPS and 996 S's can be built either to standard Spec or with modified cam-timing for more midrange. ****************
The Tariff - Below is a guide to the costs involved, please do give me a call on 01420 84480 or e-mail me for a specific quote and guidance in the right way forward for you. Email Tom The
'Full Monty' - Set-up to Factory Spec Set Squish clearance; Set Cam Timing to factory settings; Set Throttle Position Sensor to factory setting; Fit and trim FIM Ultimap EPROM; Clean Valves; Lap valves to valve seats; Check and Adjust Valve clearances to race settings; Check output shaft for concentricity; Check crankshaft oilway plugs for integrity; Synchronise Throttle bodies; Replace Timing Belts; Replace Spark Plugs, Fuel Filter and Airfilters; Torque & Loctite Alternator; Change Brake and Clutch Fluid; Check & clean clutch; Check Brake Pads and Brake Efficiency; Check and set Play in Steering Head Bearings; Change fork oil, set oil level; Check and reset rear Ride Height; Change Engine Oil and Filter; Oil and Adjust Chain. You have the option of our street or track chassis settings. W.M.SNELL supplied eproms, exhausts, 853 kits, and clutches all fitted free as part of the Full Monty.
2
valve Full Monty The
'Big Service' - Keep it all fresh Rear
shock service
Parts: The
Ultimap Eprom The
Ultimap Flashload The
Ultimap Flashload The
Ultimap U59 Computer The
SIGMA Ducati Slipper Clutch
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