For some reason my old engine had a cut and spliced oil line to the cooler, which failed during a special stage of the Beacons Rally, resulting in the engine being run at full noise for a good handful of minutes with no oil.
I can only assume the mechanic I paid to put in the previous engine decided this was easier than unclipping the oil lines properly. Lets not go there.
Anyhow, 10 months down the line and it starts rattling - maybe just little ends but whats going to fail next. Time for another engine swap. What seems a good engine was supplied at a very fair price by MrDucatiParts of this parish and a plan was made.
Reading a few threads revealed this is a daunting task for a desk jockey without even a garage to work in.
No worries, a mate with a workshop and the promise of some rather fine hospitality with a bunch of airhead fans gave me the impetus to give it a go.
Having a good workshop made it possible. A decent strong hydraulic lift like the small blue on under the bike and either a hoist on the ceiling or an A Frame / engine lift would be the minimum set up to do the job.
So it went like this...
I cheated with a very nice workshop:
Take all the obvious big bits off
Keep going till you pretty much have the engine, gearbox and clutch and shaft plus the frame left. You will see the frame has two halves, front and rear.
Do not disturb the horrible cable junction box under the battery tray. Do label all the cables so you know how it all plumbs back together.
Stick a couple of random bolts into the two halves of the frame where they join so the bike can pivot on these, and get some mechanism to lft the rear of the frame in place.
Lift the back frame section up and out the way and 6 bolts drops the clutch, box and shaft as one un-disturbed unit.
THen basically lift the back and front together to leave the engine behind ready for the swap out. I cheated and had a second pulley for the front. What luxury!
Then its just a question of reversing the process. I used a clutch alignment tool I borrowed off MrDucatiParts, and that was the only special tool I needed.
I can only assume the mechanic I paid to put in the previous engine decided this was easier than unclipping the oil lines properly. Lets not go there.
Anyhow, 10 months down the line and it starts rattling - maybe just little ends but whats going to fail next. Time for another engine swap. What seems a good engine was supplied at a very fair price by MrDucatiParts of this parish and a plan was made.
Reading a few threads revealed this is a daunting task for a desk jockey without even a garage to work in.
No worries, a mate with a workshop and the promise of some rather fine hospitality with a bunch of airhead fans gave me the impetus to give it a go.
Having a good workshop made it possible. A decent strong hydraulic lift like the small blue on under the bike and either a hoist on the ceiling or an A Frame / engine lift would be the minimum set up to do the job.
So it went like this...
I cheated with a very nice workshop:
Take all the obvious big bits off
Keep going till you pretty much have the engine, gearbox and clutch and shaft plus the frame left. You will see the frame has two halves, front and rear.
Do not disturb the horrible cable junction box under the battery tray. Do label all the cables so you know how it all plumbs back together.
Stick a couple of random bolts into the two halves of the frame where they join so the bike can pivot on these, and get some mechanism to lft the rear of the frame in place.
Lift the back frame section up and out the way and 6 bolts drops the clutch, box and shaft as one un-disturbed unit.
THen basically lift the back and front together to leave the engine behind ready for the swap out. I cheated and had a second pulley for the front. What luxury!
Then its just a question of reversing the process. I used a clutch alignment tool I borrowed off MrDucatiParts, and that was the only special tool I needed.
it's no biggy to release at either end!! 
