Attaching Front Plastics--rubber mount thingy worn out!

[AtomicSpew]

OK, so clearly I've taken the front plastic shrouds off the ol' Baggy once too many times. When I went to remove them today (trying my hand at a re-paint), the rubber bushing that surrounds the nut thingy just twisted, and twisted, and twisted....finally the bolt came free that holds the plastics onto the front crash bars, but the rubber bushing assembly is toast.

So, of those of you who have experienced the same thing, did you:

A) order new parts from SF Moto (or your importer of choice), or
B) drill a hole all the way through the crash bars and affix with a simple bolt/nut device?

Thanks....
Flip

[OLDMTNCARVER]

Flip,
I think I remember reading a thread about those not too long ago and where they could be obtained other than MZ.
If I remember (find it) I'll post.
PS Hope all's well with the family...
Robert

[OLDMTNCARVER]

Mechanic / Tech Talk
Interchangeable parts - a list
Page 3
4th post
MSW
http://www.desmoparts.com/ducati/wellnut/wellnut.htm

Later,
OMC

[MSW]

BTW, Flip and Oldtimer,

A slight update to that post. When I was getting creative at OSH the other day (as I often do), I thought I noticed them selling the "well-nuts" in their hardware section. Try this: Go to your local OSH and look in the aisle that has the miscellaneous nuts/bolts/screws/eye-bolts/etc. It should be one or two aisles over from the regular standard/metric nuts and bolts. It might be with their garage door hardware. Not sure. Anyway, you'll see a rack of VERY miscellaneous bits, like nylon plugs and l-brackets for furniture, steel sleeves, etc. It's the rack w/little drawers on sliding tracks w/one rack behind the other.

Anyway, as I was looking for nylon plugs the other day, I thought I noticed out of the corner of my eye well-nuts like on the accessory bar of the Baggy, similar to the ones I ordered from the dealer mentioned in my other post. Of course, being the selfish bastard that I am, and seeing as I already have a lifetime supply of said well-nuts, I didn't investigate any further. But what the hell else could they have been?

Anyway, might be a way to find them instantly w/out having to wait for shipping.

Good luck!

[AtomicSpew]

Excellent tip! I'll look there first before ordering from a dealer, but thanks for that reference as well.

Damn, we all really need to get out on a ride and show some Baggy love, but of course I realize that I'M probably the one holding things up.

OMC, family is great. Little dude is almost 9 months old now (wake up, shake head thinking WTF!? Where has time gone??), he's been crawling lightning-fast for a few weeks and is standing up balanced for about 3-5 seconds with nothing to stabilize himself with--walking has got to be just weeks away...(sigh).

I had the Baggy put together for a couple rides, but I HATE the paint job I did on the spare plastics (hint: Rustoleum's galvanized fence spray may LOOK cool--way metal flake silvery stuff, but it doesn't go on evenly and dries somewhat flat), so I'm trying my hand at it again and fixing up a couple other things while she's stripped that have been annoying me. Hopefully it'll be ready to ride in another week or so (working an hour here and there between regular working-stiff shit and balancing wife's sanity with some "off" time from the dude). We really must all get out for a mountain road blast while the weather's good.

Thinking of sending off the CDI from the old enduro I picked up to the folks at Tunebike for the RPM increase, and will probably pick up the exhaust header combo thing they have for sale as well. Figure I'll leave the carb alone though, as many have had issues with finding the sweet spot (MSW--you're one of those, yeah?).

Hope all is well in your worlds. Let's ride soon (I know, I know...)!

Flip

[OLDMTNCARVER]

Flip,
Great to hear everyones doing good and as far as "The Little Dude" I crack up watching how fast those changes happen with my friends kids. First a wobble and in no time they're running full bore sliding across the floor with belly laughs at the fun of it, really great stuff!
If you get the chance check out Peninsula Color Service, Inc.
They're located at 1723 Soquel Ave., down across the side street from Wilson tire and the other side of Soquel from Dodge dealer.
If I get the chance this next week I'll take a panel down there and ask what they have in the color department for this kind of stuff and I'll let you know what I find out.
I'm getting close to having the sub-frame done for the first stage of my ideas. Took it to the media blasting business down off Thompson by the lumber companies door shop and had Bill put it in the white.
This week will be the turn signal brackets, kick stand stop and I'll FINALLY paint it for installation. Just cleaning it up like some folks here have already done to theirs.
Later,
Robert

[MuzTruckstuff]

In my experience, well-nuts work well for applications that will not be assembled/disassembled repeatedly. They wear out because the rubber takes a set, hardens, and can't be reused. Usually they are hard to remove because of this and invariably slip. Because of corrosion, I had to use needle nose pliers and a screwdriver as a lever to remove the bolts. Wellnuts are used primarily in a mass production setting where it's expedient and less expensive to use. There are better solutions, to be sure

I cut a piece of thick wall aluminum tubing that fits fairly loosely inside of the frame tube, drilled and threaded it to match the bolt spacing and thus retained the stock appearance. I upgraded the fasteners to stainless and made an aluminum plate(and painted it it satin black) to fit behind the bolt heads to keep them from damaging the shroud or pulling through the shroud as a result of vibration. I don't feel vibration is an issue in this case, but why test the gods? I suppose nylon rod or some similar material would be acceptable, but I prefer metal. If I get a chance I'll take a picture and post it.

Paul

[MSW]

Flip,

I have indeed had a few issues with the carbs, but I've got a new potential solution that I'll be experimenting with in the coming days. I've found what I hope is a source for cheap teikei carb parts, and I've ordered a variety of jets to try to dial in my tunebike-modified carb. Seems like the issue with modifying the carb is not knowing ahead of time exactly what the combined effect of the larger header and can are. So, working backward, I'm trying to figure out exactly how large the main jet on the secondary carb should be so I don't run too rich. Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes.

And yes, we must get out there before the rains come!

[OLDMTNCARVER]

Flip,
Hats off to MSW again!
I went by OSH off of 41st Ave. and they do indeed have a selection of well nuts!
I also went by Pacific Color Service and talked to them. I now understand much more (I'm not a painter). I was told that they didn't have anything in a rattle can and even went on to say that Crylon (spelling probably wrong) can do a fairly decent job. I mentioned that I considered getting hold of a body shop, let them know what I'd like and when a similar job came in...
Was told that it's actually common to see that.
Again big thanks to MSW for a sharp eye
Later,
OMC