Fiding my “long lost” Ducati 998

So.. I just lucked upon the VIN number of my first Ducati; a gorgeous yellow 998Mono… here she is on the day I bought her:
P5291722cru

About the bike

2002 Ducati 998 Mono
Termi aftermarket exhaust
HID headlamp upgrade
DP adjustable steering damper
Custom flywheel
VIN: ZDM1SB5V52****46

Yes, it’s been a GREAT many years, but there is a special place in my heart for this girl.. and I’d like to see if I can track here down. We sure had a lot of good times together!:

Goofing around on the best roads in the the Pacific North Wet;

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Riding was not limited to the PNW either, I rode her all the way to the World Superbike Races in California one year!

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Had some fun out on the race track too!!

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The bike always held a special place:

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I’m going to see what I can do to find her. I hope it survived over the years, and maybe I’ll get lucky enough to see her (and maybe own her) again. Only time will time.

UPDATE 1: 13-NOV-2014

So, looking for something like CarFax for bikes, I found this website https://www.cyclevin.com/ and ran a report. $25.00 later I find the first resale of the bike in 2003, and NOTHING after that! True, they had a record, but it’s basically worthless. 🙁 Lesson learned… technically they provided the info they said they would.. but it’s totally incomplete.

CycleVin BUYER BEWARE!
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UPDATE 2: 12-DEC-2014

Stumbled across this site, while looking at some Track Bike posts on Craig’s List. It’s the National Insurance Crime Bureau Running a VIN check on that indicates that the bike has not been reported a stolen or a total loss. More evidence that she’s still out there.. somewhere… waiting to be found.
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The Most Outrageous Car I Ever Owned

It was a 1966 Mustang notchback, powered by a 1970 BOSS 302. In a word, outrageous.

The year was 1986. Not long out of high school, and starting up my first software “company” (sold a few copies of this and that, but it never got off the ground). I’d been driving some of the worst cars on the planet, and I happened to spy and add in the Mercery News for a 1964 V8 Mustang for $3000. I went to look, and I just HAD to have it!

The Car

Following some creative financing (i.e. loan from my Grandparents), I made the deal and brought home this red beast. An early 1966 FORD Mustang (no backup lamps in rear valance):
64_Mustang_01

The machine was really, something else. Those that drove it were blown away at it’s raw speed, acceleration, and most notably it’s drum brakes. It’s about as close to a “Fuel Injected Suicide Machine” as I’ve ever helmed. Despite this short-coming; I, nor anyone else that drove it crashed, despite some less than responsible driving this thing was know to induce.

The Power

I’m guessing more than a few of you are saying “No.. it’s not a true BOSS 302, it’s a Windsor 302 with a 4bbl carb, and people are just saying it’s BOSS“. Well, let me assure that it was not some cobbled together 351C + 289W Frankenblock. Really, the only way to know for SURE if you’re dealing with a BOSS 302, is to pull the motor and check the casting numbers. So.. that’s what I did:
64_Mustang_03

It’s a true 4-bolt main block with forged crankshaft. Notice the screw-in freeze plugs. That’s the easist way to externally ID an authentic BOSS block. After checking the numbers I found that it was a 1970 “small valve” (and I say that as relative to the 69 “big valve”)
motor. Here are the specifications (as was common at the time for these special edition cars, the HP was grossly under-rated):

FORD BOSS 302 Engines
1969 1970
Bore: 4.004″
Stroke: 3.0028″
Compression: 10:5:1
Horsepower: 290 BHP @ 5800 RPM
Torque: 290 ft./lb. @ 4300 RPM
Redline: 7800 RPM
Intake Valve: 2.23″ 2.19″
Exhaust Valve: 1.72″ 1.72″
Carburation: Holly 780 cfm. 4bbl

In fact, the valves where so large, the tops of the cylinder blocks were notched at the factory to keep them from hitting the top of the cylinder block at lift. The canting of the valves allowed this little trick to be employed. Another unique aspect to the BOSS 302 engine.

NOTE:At the time Hot Rod Magazine tested the motor in the 1970 BOSS 302 and found: “It produced a solid 372 hp @ 6,800rpm and 325 lb-ft of torque @ 4,200rpm.”.

The motor was a screamer. But I knew there was a lot more in there to be extracted, so I started doing some research on how these motors were built for Trans AM Racing. It took a little while but I located an engine builder in Santa Clara named Frey Racing, that specialized in building motors for the Trans AM racing series. These are the guys I wanted to work on my mill.

After discussion, we found that only 1 manufacture still made pistons for this beast; TRW. The downside is that these were true track pistons that would give the motor a 12.5:1 compression ratio. Far too high for the fuel available to peasants. They would have to be milled down. I performed volume calculations on the cylinder head chamber and the piston displacement (these were heavily domed), and we came up with the proper milling to get the motor to the 11:1 ratio.
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To let them breath, I’d need a new camshaft, and again, not many parts where still available, however I did locate a part in the FORD SVO catalog for the BOSS 302 (which uses a solid-lifter camshaft, requiring frequent valve adjustments). The camshaft featured a .620″ lift with 300 degree of duration and a 92 degree overlap. Idling below 2500 RPM was simply not possible. 🙂

Finishing off the drivetrain was a close-ratio top-loader 4speed manual transmission (virtually bullet-proof) and a custom 5 link 9″ nodular rear end (it too should have been basically bullet proof but it blew up under the power of the re-worked 302).

Now all of this, as many surmised, simply could not fit in the very cramped engine compartment of the early mustangs. Designed to hold a straight 6 engine, when FORD shoe-horned in the 260 and 289 V8’s thee was little room to spare. The massive heads on the BOSS 302 were so much larger, it would seem impossible without cutting back the shock towers, or using a custom built set of headers that would snake through the very limited space. Basically, little on this car, was off the shelf.

Here is what it looked like back home inside the little notch-back
64_Mustang_02

I eventually sold this car in 1989 to purchase a new FORD Mustang GT (red of course). I was sad to see it go, but it was really a very dangerous car to drive, and I just didn’t have the money at the time to resolve the issue of the drum brakes. If I still had this car today, it would be a VERY different story. It would be interesting to see what became of this beast. If I could find the VIN number somewhere, I might be able to track it down, but I suspect those records are long lost. Regardless, I had GREAT memories of cursing, street racing, and other activities best left off the interwebs.