Seeing as there seems to be bit of a rash of derelect Darmah's turning up on this forum at the moment, i thought I might share what Santa bought me for christmas, and add another one.
Actually, I've been asking Santa for a 900 Ducati for christmas every year since I sold my last one about 25 years ago, so really he's a little bit late, but you know, I dont want to sound ungratefull.
Christmas seems like a strange time for a resurection doesnt it, but anyway what have we got?
That was the eBay photo and it was advertised as a 1980 Darmah non runner that had been in storage for 10 years. The seller had purchased it sight unseen 10 years previously, shipped it to melbourne, rode it up the street and back and then parked it up. he started it regularly for the first 2 years then the battery went flat and it hasnt been started in 8 years, but was running strongly and sounded fine. It was last registered in Queensland in 2001.
Other than that it had fallen off its stand at some point and broke the fairing and screen, both brake master cylinders were not working and the Ignition switch/dash panel came as a spagetti fest wrapped in bubble wrap.
Obviously it was built as an NCR replica and I believe it was built in Brisbane some time through the '90's. Its a pretty distinctive bike and I'm hoping someone up there might remember it? The tank is a slightly different colour, so it probably had an NCR tank rather than the current Imola tank.
So despite the fact that it looks a little like a ducati soup at the moment! with the NCR fairing (from '78) the MHR rear bodywork (from '82) and the Imola tank (from '74), the eagle eyed might have already spotted that it is in fact an SSD Darmah. It still has its SSD specific mechanical bits (raised clip ons, 6 bolt drilled discs on ally carriers, Ignition switch/Idiot light panel, SSD rear shocks and the instrument/headlight mount bracket) so finding the correct bodywork, which is basically shared with the SD and returning it to its original 2 tone ice blue/dark blue will be easy enough to achieve in the future.
So it turned up late on christmas eve and I've had a few days now to have a look over it and a bit of a tinker.
it mostly looks pretty sound and as far as I can see was originaly well built and reasonably oil tight. It shows 67000Km on the clock and it has no case seals so I assume it has been rebuilt at some point. The frame has been painted in...... dunno? It looks to be polished and then cleared or something? It would have looked spectacular when it was done but unfortunately it hasnt lasted too well and I think that is its biggest issue at the moment.
Basic objective has been to get it running and then assess its potential, so with that in mind i set about getting the motor running.
First task was the wiring debacle.
I downloaded all of the workshop manuals, parts manuals (SSD and SD) as well as wiring diagrams from bevelheaven (thanks Steve!) and pretty soon had everything sorted except i was missing a couple of the special 3mm bullet connectors to connect the ignition switch. Hmm, Where am I gonna find them? At which point it struck me!
The idiot lights in these Nippon Denso dash units have been unobtainable for years and they are shared (basically) between the Darmah, Pantah and the MHR. I was missing a couple of the idiot light bulbs on my recently restored '83 500 SL Pantah, so to finish it off and make it complete i had imported from Germany a few weeks ago, an SSD dash unit so I could pirate the bulbs. Once my head had stopped spinning from the realisation that i had somehow managed to already acquire the missing part for a bike that I didnt own yet! I quickly nicked the bullet connectors from the German unit and we had ignition! The dash panel is nicer than mine as well, so it will go on eventually too. I guess it has too huh?
Next, I dropped the oil and was pleasantly surprised to find it had a browny translucence rather than sooty blackness and no trace of any foreign matter in the bottom of the drain tray. i checked the filter and could still see the yellow of the element, so i assume this was done before it was laid up. I gave it fresh oil and will run it for an hour or so and then drop it again and do the filter at that point.
I pulled the carbs to clean them out and I'm very glad I did too! One of the chrome in line filters had disintergratred internally and left metalic chunks and grey brown dust in the float bowl and lines. That would have made a mess.
The other float bowl was full of green goo, but that cleaned out easliy enough with carb cleaner. The pilot jet was well blocked and took some persuasion to come clean. I will put new kits through both carbs soon enough, but initially I'm keen to see it running.
I've drained the stale fuel from the tank and have since spent a couple of days battling a recalcitrant fuel tap, replacing its sealing washers, thread taping the threads etc but to no avail. I can see the stain on the crankcase where the fuel has obviously been leaking forever, so I need to find a replacement tap. I'm getting bored draining the tank all the time.
Anyway, I poured a little oil down the bores, replaced the plugs and cranked the motor for a few minutes to circulate the oil and then left it overnight. Yesterday i put a fresh set of BP6HS's in it, set the throttle stops to 1 turn out, the pilot air screws to 2 turns out, flooded the ticklers, hit the button and bingo! First pop, up and away, singing like a bird. Sounds beautiful. No rumbles, no noises. It did start to whiff a little smoke from the front pot after about 2 minutes, but i figure this was the oil from the previus afternoon burning away out of the exhaust tract. It disappeared almost straight away.
I recorded the moment for posterity on my phone and you can watch it here if your bored:
So thats some good progress in the first few days and I'm encoraged by the results so far. I think it might be a good strong runner, as it was represented to be. I'm not a fan of fixing something if it isnt broken so I am reluctant to rip this old beast to bits if it doesnt actually need it. The frame corrosion is the biggest issue, but if I can come up with a solution to stop that deteriorating further then I am tempted to put it on the road and get some milage out of it.
My Pantah is a lovely little bike, but honestly its too shiny! I'm a rider rather than a polisher and I'm thinkin the poor old NANCR (Not An NCR)/SSD might enjoy a year back on the road. What do you reckon?
Still got lots to do but it looks promising.
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