Greetings everyone.

I have just been given a 1988 750 Paso by my father. I didn't really know what I was getting into until I found this forum. Now, I feel as though I am part of an elite group of bike owners I had ridden the bike before a few years back, approximately 2006. Back then she was running like a champ. Since then, I have spent most of my professional career traveling around the US and Canada. Not too long after I had the pleasure of riding my fathers bike, he had an accident at work, and has been pretty much forced to retire, (both ankles and lower legs were shattered in the incident) He has not driven the bike since. It has set covered in his garage since 2006. I am currently relocating from Florida to far south Texas. The area is nice and has many great days to ride mostly all year. I had mentioned this to my father, and he suggested that I take the Ducati. He said he feels bad that she has sat covered and ignored for so long. He just dug up the title and signed over the bike to me. No charge. A gift. We went to the garage and pulled the cover off the bike. The tires were dry rotted, there was rust in the gas tank, and much of the paint was peeling from the engine after I managed to get the fairings off the side. The battery was dead and corroded (as you can imagine almost 7 years of sitting idle will do). The upside to this was that my father has basically a full service auto shop on the property that he still hobbles around in and tinkers here and there. It was at that point I opened my fathers toolbox, the same one that he used to show me how to fiddle around under the hood with when I was a kid. I am now 30 with a 2 year old son of my own, and he and I and grandpa whipped out the tools and went to work to see if it was worth putting money into. The first thing I did was to remove the fuel tank, seeing as how it was pretty rusty inside. After that the old battery and battery cables. I spliced some new battery cables and eyelets into the bike, and replaced a few other dry rotted wires. We then carefully removed the Weber carb, and broke it down piece by piece. Amazingly, every gasket was still in great shape and came off without so much as a nick. We cleaned every port and jet, the filter inline with the float bowl, and made sure it was completely clean before putting it back together. My father cleaned and oiled the K&N air filter, and it looked almost brand new. We pulled the spark plugs, they were still pretty clean, but ran them across and wire brush wheel for good measure. Then came the scariest moment for us. We attached a battery charger to the battery cables and turned the key on. Immediately the gauges and headlight lit up. I started to get a little excited at this point. My father sprayed some starting fluid into the newly cleaned carburetor and I pressed the ignition switch and slightly turned the throttle. The bike roared to life! It sounded just as loud and powerful as it had the last time I had heard it! My son started crying as soon as the dual pipes started screaming, it had obviously scared the crap out of him and me nor his grandpa had warned him of the possibility. This all lasted only about 2 seconds before we shut it down, not wanting to damage anything. However, we now knew she would run again. After this I have ordered new tires, and after seeing some posts on the forum here, I fear I may have gotten screwed. I found tires on eBay, made by Avalon and advertised for a Ducati Paso 750. So I bought them. I just received them via FedEx and haven't yet gotten them installed. Please, can someone on here tell me I made a wise purchase? I'm starting to think that while the tires will fit the wheels (130/70ZR16 front and 150/80R16 rear) but maybe I'm going to have to modify the front fender to get them to fit under there properly. Anywho, thats the beginning to my story so far. I will post pics and more as the project moves along and share my progress with y'all. Before I close, any tips on cleaning rust out of a fuel tank?

Thanks,

Marshall

hi Marshall, welcome and congratulations on your new acquisition...I used POR15 tank repair kit on my bike 3yrs ago, with very good results...recommended by higgy
http://www.por15.com/CYCLE-TANK-REPAIR- ... info/CTRK/

also, it would be a good to change the cam belts and all the fluids in the bike...
happy tinkering

Hello Marshall, I hope Avalon is not a chinese copy of Avon tires It would have been wiser trying to get the GoldenTires which are the only ones that make the correct sizes. The two concerns with a 150/80 are that even though you can put them on a 5" rim, they are made for narrower ones and that they are very high. As a consequence the tire can hit the front of the swingarm. You can correct this a bit by turning the axle excenter but by doing this you will lose range which is normally used to set chain tension. So it`s a bit of a compromise. A common one when there were no tire alternatives which was just until a little time ago.
I guess after years of being stored you need to clean all electrical contacts, specially the ground connections (below the upper frame rails near the steering stem, in front of the battery, the engine case and the regulator). Be sure the bolts are not rusty.
There`s a small filter in the fuel petcock which may be clocked and you probably have to replace the fuel lines and check if the fuel pump is still working.
And as Claude mentioned one of the most important things before you start the engine again is to replace the cam belts.
It`s good that with the car shop you have all means to get the bike going again and to keep it in the family.

G.

Thanks, gentlemen! I will definitely be ordering the tank repair kit, and upon further inspection, the tires are Avon, not Avalon as I previously stated (it was late last night while I was writing and my 2 and 4 year old had beat me down!) And it looks as if I will be ordering some belts as well. Thanks again for the knowledge!

Hello Marshall. Never is too late to start a Paso.

Welcome, brother! I really enjoyed reading that. The Paso is a great bike - very strong and well-built, easy to ride, and, if you get the ignition timing and carburation right, it has lovely smooth power.

There are some excellent people on this site.

Again, welcome!

Welcome!
When I read your story at first I thought you were from Harlingen in the Netherlands which is only 25 miles from where I live. I guess we won’t see each other on the road very soon as I thought for a moment.

Welcome Marshall, this is Spaz and I too have a Paso that sat for an extended period
of time. I have some tips if you have time to hear them... p m me when you get a chance, I'd like to talk to you...
Spaz

@Meat-biscuit

If you purchased the Avons already, I think this info can be helpful for you:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4463

I am still using the Avons and I am very happy with this combination.

All the best, Hardo

All awesome information, and will be very helpful!

I have finally finished the moved from Florida to Texas, and have the bike in my new garage. As soon as the wife and I finish unpacking everything in the garage, I'm going to get the Paso on a stand and get to work!

Thanks again, gentlemen, for the great knowledge!

My 87 paso is currently in W. Texas, but I will be moving it down to Corpus Christi as soon as I get my new Golden Tyres mounted. Just a short ride from the valley! Hope to see you on the road in S. Texas - Jimmy

Maybe we will see each other out on the road! I hope to make a ride from the Valley to the Spoetzl Brewery and back at some point after I get her running. Maybe a group ride is in order for a trip to the home of Shiner.

@meat-biscuit

I mentioned in the avon thread that you can not use many sprocket combinations.

I stated with the 15 / 40 combination - it works, but the transmisson ratio is in my opinion "too long". In the meantime I switched to 14 / 41. That works as well and is a perfect match in my opinion (big imporvemnet in acceleration).

Hence, if you have the option go for 14 / 41.

in my opinion, other combination do not work (tighten the chain is the problem).

I have 2500 km on the avons and everything works perfect. I did not need to tighten the chain so far (which would be difficult as there is not much room left).

Hope that helps, let us know how it turned out.

Many greetings from Switzerland, Hardo

instead of going for a smaller front use a bigger rear sprocket as that puts less stress on the chain.

you are right G., but it does not work with the Avons (at least in my case). I tried 15 / 42 and 15 /43 - the only possibility to tighten the chain was with the 15 / 40 and 14 / 41 combo.

by the was: I have some sprockets in spare now :-)