ducatipaso.org

Love working on 30+ year old bikes!

This winter I've been working to convert my Paso fairing to 1/4 turn fasteners. The well nuts offer some alignment flexibility and the new fasteners have less. There was always some weird panel fitment and the opening around the headlight never seemed right.

Yesterday I was looking at how the tank sat on the bike and found some interesting welds around the "tower" under the tank that locates it near the steering head. I'd noticed the paint and primer before but didn't look that closely.

There are a couple of odd touch up spots on one of the fairing panels and the front fender. I thought it'd maybe had a tip over or something. Now I think it took a hit on the tank at some point. Frame looks ok, as does the headlight subframe.

tanks are prone to cracking in that area. Have had my 906 tank welded more than once. Tanks need to be thoroughly washed out and filled with argone before even attempting to weld BTW !

Mine too , I cut the mount right off , beat into shape and welded in a bit of 1/8th steel plate about 4 inches square ( cant remember exactly what size it was ) , trimmed the 1/8th off the mount and welded it back on . The whole weight of the fairing and 1/2 the tank hangs offa that mount.

How do you manage to get the positioning right?

This one isn't off by much but there are wear marks on fairing panels due to it being off by a little bit.

I wondered if the two threaded bits on the underside were from the factory to locate the mount.

looks like a cracked tank repair to me, most likely you will get the chance to do it again. A reinforcement plate like Mctool did is recommended

To get the position right Id probly mock the whole thing up ( with headlight fitted )with the tank just sitting on the mount and get everything sitting as you want it and then tack it with a mig welder .
When I did mine I didnt bother fixing the cracks ,I just welded right round the edge of the patch . The idea of the 1/8th" /3mm thick patch was to spread the load over a larger area than just the diameter of the mount/tank weld . I gotta move this bike soon and it sorta in bits so I could probly get a pic if you want .

At long last an update on the Paso and tank.

I picked up one of those "NOS" 750 tanks that are floating around on the internet. Upon arrival I noticed that the petcock fitting is on the wrong side and the fuel filler is the larger later style.

Since it fit properly on the bike and aligned with the body panels we decided to relocate the petcock to the correct side and then cut the filler out of my original tank and weld it into the new tank.

Many months passed getting that work done and getting into the schedule of the painter. That said, it should be ready for me to pick up next week.

Beautiful work Oily, is that the finished pieces in the 1st pic? Wow, that’s looking good.

Almost done. That's in clear but before wet sand and buff.

He takes a while but does gorgeous work.

for reference, here are pictures of both tanks. and a correction, the fabricator had a new insert laser cut to take the stock filler assembly and welded it into the new tank.

Nice job!
Is the freshly painted tank the "NOS" 750 tanks? Asking because that is a 907IE tank, which is why the connections are different and there's a bracket for the electric fuel pump inside.
The seat lock is upside down.

G.

I'll take a look at the seat lock, wasn't sure if it was the Australian version!

I thought the tank might be a 907. They are listed as 750 items and as I've never looked closely at a 907 tank... Loads of them are posted up on ebay this way. Buyer beware I guess.

Once I can get the KTM off the lift I'll work on finishing getting the tank plumbed up. Looking forward to summer days and riding the Paso again!

Love the wheels! That was a lucky find for sure.