Real Classic

DUCATI PASO

Big, loud and very red. How could Ducati’s Paso 750 fail? Steven Troupe tells a fine tale…

- Photos by Steven Troupe

Big, loud and very red. How could Ducati’s Paso 750 fail? Steven Troupe tells a fine tale…

One bright spring morning as I was adjusting the chain on my Jota, a fellow I’d never met before rode into my driveway on a modern Honda CBR-something. The many 1970s-era Italian bikes parked in my driveway had caught his attention. I have a single car garage, so when I need to work on any bike I move several outside.

After introducti­ons and the usual bike talk, he mentioned that a friend of his had a 1987 Ducati 750 Paso for sale at an unusually low price. He wasn’t interested in doing the restoratio­n himself and happily shared his friend’s contact informatio­n with me. So I found myself looking at a Paso covered in years of dust, sporting flat tyres and which had obviously been laid down on its left side. It did have a certain appeal. I remembered how very few people liked it when the bike was first launched. Massimo Tamburini had put together a real headscratc­her: fully-enclosed bodywork with a non-transparen­t fairing windscreen and square frame tubes were just the start. The gigantic square headlight and the 16-inch wheels position it right in the middle of the two weeks during the 1980s when those features were fleetingly avant garde.

The owner shared its story, only some of which I later discovered was accurate.

He was the third owner of the bike and he loved it. Back in 2002 he’d just had it tuned up when a friend asked to take it for a ride.

His friend dropped it, brought it back saying ‘Don’t worry, I’ll fix it up.’ A few weeks later he returned with the bike saying he had tried but wasn’t able to finish the job. Despairing­ly, the owner parked it in his garage and there it sat, gathering dust for the next 14 years, until I showed up to take a look. He was asking just 500 Canadian dollars for the bike, and my search for current Paso sales showed an average price around $5000. I bought it.

I figured I could fix the bodywork, replace any worn out parts and get the bike running for perhaps $2000. Then I could get a safety certificat­e (Ontario’s version of the MoT – must be done when selling a bike from one owner to another) and sell it, doubling my money for my effffffort­s. That was my plan…

After getting it home, putting some air in the tyres and giving it a soapy wash I took stock of what I’d got. The left side mirror / signal light was gone, the correspond­ing part of the tail light lens was sheared off and there were scrapes and gouges all along the bodywork, as well as some really bad fibreglass repair work complete with mismatched paint. Looking further, the chain pulled away much too easily from the rear sprocket, and the dry clutch was rather rusty-looking. The tyres were of course cracked and, being at least 14 years old, useless. The battery was dry and dead. The forks and monoshock seemed OK and generally everything else was there, including the original owner’s manual and toolkit. I’d got a workshop manual as well.

For the first and certainly not the last time I removed the bodywork. It’s not that hard, but it’s also not a particular­ly quick operation. You begin by removing the seat; a plunger arrangemen­t fits into the very tail of the bike and it unlocks with one of the four keys (ignition, seat, steering lock and helmet lock) that come with the bike. Then there are two screws on each side for the rear panels, three on each side for the sidepanels, as well as two underneath the bike. The twin oil coolers, one on each side, slip out of the sidepanel. Then three additional screws on each side for the front fairing mount while disconnect­ing the connectors for the signal lights. There are also two small bolts holding on a panel that fits underneath the instrument nacelle, whose only purpose appears to be to mount the trip meter adjustment.

Next, off comes the petrol tank. There are two bolts at the rear and the wiring connector for the fuel gauge sender is easy to disconnect. Finally there is the gas line from the fuel tank and then the tank just lifts off.

Almost immediatel­y I was overpowere­d by the smell of varnish. This bike had the same petrol in it since 2002! The owner had never drained the tank, let alone the carbs or the fuel pump, and as a result it had all turned very, very sour. I set the tank to draining and took the bodywork to the bodyshop I have used in the past. As I was trying to bring in this project on a budget, I didn’t give him the tank, as it had just a little dent where the left switchgear had pushed into it, and a few scrapes that for the most part buffed out.

Once the tank was drained I had it chemically treated to get rid of anything that was in there. I removed the fuel gauge sender unit and let it soak in Evaporust for a few days, then tested it by connecting it up to the instrument panel and moving the float up and down. It worked fine so I remounted it and set the tank aside. There are a lot of hoses in the fuel system due to the use of a fuel pump, which itself was burnt out due to being locked solid with sludge.

The Paso was originally fitted with a twobarrel Weber carb, a carb I’ve never been able to find a good word about, and most owners replaced them with a set of Dell’Ortos or Mikunis. This bike had twin 36mm accelerato­r pump Dell’Ortos mounted, with K&N pod filters attached. The carb slides were locked solid so I drained and removed the carbs and sent them to Wolfgang Haerter, my Laverda connection, for sonic cleaning and rebuilding.

I installed a new battery and began to check all the wiring; lights, signals, etc, and everything worked. I removed the spark plugs to check compressio­n and to look for sparks. Good news was that the starter worked, and compressio­n was OK but there was no spark to the front cylinder. An investigat­ion of the ignition components showed that the pickup for the front cylinder no longer worked.

Now that I had a list of what I needed, and while the bodywork was at the shop and the carbs were out for rebuilding, I sat down at my computer to source parts. Those of you who own or have worked on Pasos will

understand: it was an unpopular bike that was in production for just three years so there are not a lot of spares available. More than once I heard ‘Good luck mate’ from owners of bike graveyards, even those who specialise in Ducatis!

Over time I managed to find the decals I needed from MVS-Performanc­e in Germany, an ignition pick-up from Electrex in the UK, a pattern left side mirror from Moto-Science in California, and a reclaimed taillight unit including lens from Ducpowered on eBay (California). Ducpowered also provided a used fuel pump. Then I started to search for a pair of 16-inch tyres. The Paso uses a 160/6016 rear and a 130/60-16 front. As it turns out, only Shinko still supplies tyres in those sizes. With them fitted, I proceeded to change the fork oil, adjust the rear shock and change the brake fluid in the front and rear discs’ master cylinders. I had installed new wheel bearings while changing the tyres. I took the clutch apart and removed all the rust until it looked as new, then reassemble­d.

I asked Wolfgang to send me a couple of cam timing belts and an oil filter along with the carbs when he returned them. It turned out that one of the carbs had a crack in its body, and one of the slides had been severely dented as someone had tried to lever it apart with a screwdrive­r or something similar…

On this Ducati, the ignition pick-ups are inside the engine cases and run bathed in oil. There is a rail on bottom of the frame held on by four bolts, then the shift linkage comes off and the left engine side cover can be removed. The stator magnets are mounted to the cover, so it is a bit of a tug to pull it away from the flywheel. The ignition pick-ups are easily seen, although not that easy to replace as the wiring needs to be routed through a leak-proof grommet at the front of the cases. I’d taken care not to tear the gasket and so reassembly went quickly.

At length the fuel pump arrived and the carbs returned. I installed everything along with the new cam belts. So with fresh oil in the motor, a fully-charged battery and my brother Tim there to cheer me on, it was time to start it up. Choke on, ignition on, press the starter and… instantly it roared to life! I smiled up at my brother only to see that his bemused gaze was fixed behind me. I turned and watched as thousands of particles flew out of both exhausts with every turn of the throttle, eventually covering the entire floor of my garage in bird seed. Yes, bird seed. But at least the engine ran.

I’d now spent $3800 in parts plus the purchase price; over budget, but still potentiall­y profitable. A day or so later I mounted the bodywork. My excitement grew as I prepared to go for the first ride. I started it up and sat there enjoying the muted growl of the exhaust as it warmed up. I snicked the shifter down into first and released the clutch: terrific! I was off! Snicked up into second and GRIND – no second gear! I shifted back to first, tried again and GRIND. OK, skip over second to see if the other gears worked: they did. And downshifti­ng worked in every gear, but when I gave it some gas in second: GRIND. Boo. No second gear. Also the speedo and tacho were not working.

To recap, then: I’d been told that this bike had ‘just been tuned up’, loaned out and crashed, then parked. In reality it had cracked carb bodies, a deformed slide, no spark on front cylinder due to inoperativ­e ignition pick-up, and no second gear. I rather doubt this bike had even run, let alone ‘just been tuned up.’ I’ll give him a pass on the burnt out fuel pump and bird seed in the exhaust.

I’d never worked on a Pantah-derived motor before, but with the manual in hand and a slightly OCD personalit­y I set to work. Removing the engine is rather easy as once everything is disconnect­ed and the bottom frame rails removed, it just drops out. I weighed the motor to compare it with my Laverda triples. The Ducati twin was 135lb, whereas the triples are 190lb.

The Ducati motor is vertically split, so the cylinder heads and cylinders needed removing. That required a specially ground 15mm six-point box end spanner to reach the nuts securing the head. It was just at this point that Rick Covello, a former president of the Canadian Ducati Owners’ Club, dropped by my house. Lucky for me. Once the heads were off he tested for leaks and discovered that while both intakes were fine, both exhausts were leaking. So he took them home, reground new valve seats and shimmed up the desmo valve gear to spec.

In the meantime I split the crankcase and took a look at the gear assembly. The problem was immediatel­y obvious: scoring of the fork which pushes fifth gear into second. I removed those gears and saw that the front of the three dogs on fifth gear had rounded off, as had the correspond­ing places where they meshed with second gear. Under power they would push apart, scoring and bending the shift fork in the process.

Back to Ducpowered. Yes, they had an entire Paso gearbox for just US$300 plus $40 shipping. Wolfgang found an engine gasket kit for me and once everything arrived I was ready to go. Reassembli­ng the motor was an extremely simple process. Just line up the dots! The cylinders had looked fine and the rings were within tolerances so I slipped the front cylinder on and then started with the rear cylinder… only to snap the oil ring.

Happily Rick from the owners’ club had a spare set of rings for his F1, so I bought one of those from him when I picked up the refurbishe­d cylinder heads, along with a new set of the O-rings Ducati uses between the cylinder and the head. Being much more careful, I successful­ly installed the rear cylinder and then mounted the heads. The motor was finally back together.

I’d ordered a new countersha­ft and rear sprocket and picked up a DID Z-ring chain from Mike at Corsa Motociclet­ta in Burlington. Ducati used variations of this 750 motor for a long time, so with the part numbers in hand I was able to get cam cover gaskets as well as speedo and tacho cables from the local Ducati shop.

When the motor was back in place and everything connected, it started right up. But… Uh oh. A puddle of oil formed under the bike, pouring out from the rear cylinder along the front of the engine and right to the floor. Boo. It took me a while to figure out that I’d forgotten an oil ring between the cylinder and the crankcase that is only used on the rear cylinder. Fortunatel­y I was able to replace that without having to remove the motor from the frame all over again.

It was now November. It had taken five months to get to this point. I was up to $4897 in parts and third-party labour. That doesn’t include any time I spent on the bike. Our winter came suddenly in early December, but before then I rode the bike almost 2000km, enjoying pretty much every mile. It grew on

me. I now like the looks of it. It got all kinds of positive comments from others, even those who didn’t like it back in the 1980s. It turns out that what was once an ugly duckling could indeed at least resemble a swan.

The Paso’s riding position is very comfortabl­e, being much more of a sporttouri­ng position than a sportbike crouch. The seat is just fine although it forces the rider into just one position. The seat’s design doesn’t allow moving backwards or forwards at all. But I’ve gone for two hours at a time without feeling any cramping or the need to get off and stretch.

It took a while to get the carbs set up. It was extremely underjette­d with 130/132 main jets: I now have 152/155 mains. The engine is strong, easily accelerati­ng up to the ton and beyond. The brakes were good from the get-go and the anti-dive thing on the fork doesn’t seem to hinder (or help!) in any way.

 ??  ??
 ??  ?? Above: Taking a closer look, part 2. Not so hot from this sideRight: The strip commences. Ducati beauty is plainly more than skin deep…Below: Those fabled belt drives to the ohc top ends. Also note the two 36mm accelerato­r pump Dell’Ortos which have replaced the original twin-choke Weber carb
Above: Taking a closer look, part 2. Not so hot from this sideRight: The strip commences. Ducati beauty is plainly more than skin deep…Below: Those fabled belt drives to the ohc top ends. Also note the two 36mm accelerato­r pump Dell’Ortos which have replaced the original twin-choke Weber carb
 ??  ?? That new bike arriving moment. Cue ‘Oh, a Ducati on a trailer!’ jokes Below: Taking a closer look, part 1. Looking good from here
That new bike arriving moment. Cue ‘Oh, a Ducati on a trailer!’ jokes Below: Taking a closer look, part 1. Looking good from here
 ??  ?? In case you’ve ever wondered what a Ducati engine looks like from within – it looks exactly like thisBelow: This really is engineerin­g art, no?
In case you’ve ever wondered what a Ducati engine looks like from within – it looks exactly like thisBelow: This really is engineerin­g art, no?
 ??  ??
 ??  ?? Putting it all back together again
Putting it all back together again
 ??  ?? The Paso was so named in tribute to Italian racer Renzo Pasolini
The Paso was so named in tribute to Italian racer Renzo Pasolini
 ??  ?? Wear of the gear selector forks and the dogs do not a happy shifter make
Wear of the gear selector forks and the dogs do not a happy shifter make
 ??  ?? An advantage of an all-enveloping fairing is that folk rarely get to see the untidy – but efficient – layout. Heat disposal is going to be a problem, especially in traffic
An advantage of an all-enveloping fairing is that folk rarely get to see the untidy – but efficient – layout. Heat disposal is going to be a problem, especially in traffic
 ??  ??
 ??  ??
 ??  ??
 ??  ?? Meaty oil coolers help control the temperatur­es, which is essential with an air-cooled engine inside complete bodywork
Meaty oil coolers help control the temperatur­es, which is essential with an air-cooled engine inside complete bodywork
 ??  ?? AbAbove: LLaunchedh­d iin 19861986 duringdi CCagiva’si’ tenure at the Ducati helm, marketing for the Paso attempted to link its radical appearance to the marque’s heritage by claiming ‘il nostro passato ha un grande futuro’ or ‘our past has a great future’
AbAbove: LLaunchedh­d iin 19861986 duringdi CCagiva’si’ tenure at the Ducati helm, marketing for the Paso attempted to link its radical appearance to the marque’s heritage by claiming ‘il nostro passato ha un grande futuro’ or ‘our past has a great future’

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom