My new kart motor 1959 Ducati 175
- Thread starter Frank Davis
- Start date
- Tags 1959 ducati kart motor
When I was 14, I had a Bridgestone 90 Sport. A friend of mine had a Ducati 175, same exact engine as posted above. The bike was a wheelie machine. My buddy could ride a wheelie with his bike for miles and not put the front wheel down. Up hills, down hills, around curves, whatever. Didnt know if it was him or the bike. But the bike was a torque monster for the size.
I opened up the Ducati 175 today and removed the clutch basket, magneto assembly and kicker and they all look good....also removed the shifter cover and ratchet works nice....the front points cover was also removed and all is good inside....I removed the head and cylinder and found that the piston is NOT stuck, actually it's in great condition with no scores scrapes or signs of misuse, just smooth.....the cylinder is the same , all polish, and flywheels move freely...everything good to this point.
The downside is the tranny is stuck between gears as I cannot get the trans to shift (with or without the clutch installed) to a position that I can kick the unit over....so far, not so good!.....I suppose I could take this farther and split the cases to inspect, and possibly cure, the problem, but I think I'll stop here and let the experts take over.
I am going to list this as available to the exotic motorcycle community....Thanks for your interest, Frank Davis
The downside is the tranny is stuck between gears as I cannot get the trans to shift (with or without the clutch installed) to a position that I can kick the unit over....so far, not so good!.....I suppose I could take this farther and split the cases to inspect, and possibly cure, the problem, but I think I'll stop here and let the experts take over.
I am going to list this as available to the exotic motorcycle community....Thanks for your interest, Frank Davis
That's a nice looking engine. Externally complete and no broken fins. It looks like the threads in the exhaust port are worn, and those set screws are not original. That can all be fixed if it's restored. These motors have a weakness in the 2nd gear shift dogs that can lead to gear breakage, and one of the transmission shafts has a circlip groove that's a fracture point. You can easily tell if it's a desmo by popping off the valve covers and looking for lower "closer" rocker arm. You should also see the hairspring-style valve springs as these are used on all motors, even desmos. I think that desmo motors will often say "Desmo" on the camshaft bearing support where yours says "175". I have an early-70s 450cc wide case that's in the process of having a broken connecting rod fixed. I've found some good info at this forum. Ask those guys for a few pointers before the teardown goes much further.
Ducati Singles by MotoScrubs.com
Here's a pic of my bike, a couple of the rocker arms and cavity in the head that would be occupied by valve springs (we took the springs out of mine), and another pic of my broken 2nd gear.
Ducati Singles by MotoScrubs.com
Here's a pic of my bike, a couple of the rocker arms and cavity in the head that would be occupied by valve springs (we took the springs out of mine), and another pic of my broken 2nd gear.