Ducati 899 and 959 Internal parts

Good day friends.

New to the forum and thought I would reach out the Ducati forum for some engine info. This is my first Ducati engine build, but not my first engine build.

I have a spare 899 engine that has spun a rod bearing, and now into a winter project.

I am trying to source a crankshaft and rods, and to my surprise the 899 crank and rods are a pretty penny compared to the 959.

Now gets me thinking. Can I put a 959 crank rods and piston into an 899. This is purely for cost savings Example, for the price of a used 899 crank, I can get a crank, rod, piston, and liners from a 959 / v2.

what I know so far

bore
899 - 100mm
959 - 100mm

compression
899 - 12.5 :1
959 - 12.5:1

stroke
899 - 57.2mm
959 - 60.8mm



Conrod length
899 - 120mm ( +/- (just took a rough measurement of the rod))
959- 110.1mm (pulled rom the net)

difference is crank case is that the 959 has an extra gear position sensor.

now are the deck heights the same? not sure, cannot find any info regarding this or drawings in the manual or net.

shared know parts.
-Case shell bearings
-piston rings
-wrist pins
-head gaskets
- intake & exhaust valves

Different parts.
- con rods
-rod bearings
- piston
-piston sleeve

what i don't know
Height of the 959 piston
wrist pin off set of the 959 compare to the 899


Has anyone attempted to do this or has some insights?

The timing chains are not the same in both motors, it could be because of tooth count or it could be because of length. You'll need the cams of the 959, they're probably bigger. The cam gears are different though, the 959/V2 use 30 tooth gears while the 899/1199/1299 use 25 tooth gears. So you'll need to count the timing chain teeth on the cranks to see if you need 959/V2 timing chains and gears.

there are minor variations throughout the engine when you go from the first gen (899 & 1199) to the second gen (959 & 1299). Few examples are the water pump mount is slightly different, the shift sensor was moved from rear of the case to the side, minor changes on valve covers, and the case mounting to the rear brackets are slightly different (think bottom hole is 4mm higher). Been a while since I've looked at them but I would be careful and check every part.

Forewarned said:

The timing chains are not the same in both motors, it could be because of tooth count or it could be because of length. You'll need the cams of the 959, they're probably bigger. The cam gears are different though, the 959/V2 use 30 tooth gears while the 899/1199/1299 use 25 tooth gears. So you'll need to count the timing chain teeth on the cranks to see if you need 959/V2 timing chains and gears.

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thanks for the heads up on that one. I never noticed it.

The 1299 has the same length rods as the 959 but uses a bigger sprocket.

I am going to investigate the timing now that think about it more.. at what point does the intake and exhaust valve open and close in relation to the crank. might give me some insight if i can run the 899 chains and keep the engine in time.

With the difference in stroke to rod length i could advance the cams a lot.. theoretically of course.
If i use a 959 crank with 899 rods i would increase compression by 3.6mm (which would either smack the head or have to run some stupid fancy fuel LOL). But if i run 959 crank and rods i should have more space to advance timing? just thinking it though.. Good chance i'm missing something with that thought, but i just wanted to put it down as a discussion point anyways.

Im not looking to do a full on 959 swap.. just looking for a 'cheaper' alternative then buying a 899 crank. from my understanding is that the 899 weak point is the rods and to upgrade to corrilo, which isn't that badly priced to be honest. I built a few R6 engines in my time, and since i need 4 it always got expensive quickly hahaha.

Seth Vo said:

there are minor variations throughout the engine when you go from the first gen (899 & 1199) to the second gen (959 & 1299). Few examples are the water pump mount is slightly different, the shift sensor was moved from rear of the case to the side, minor changes on valve covers, and the case mounting to the rear brackets are slightly different (think bottom hole is 4mm higher). Been a while since I've looked at them but I would be careful and check every part.

Click to expand...

thanks for the reply!

It seems they got the recipe right with the 959 since it had a good run for 6 years (including v2)

Just checked the events on the valves and they are identical from 959 to 899

the wrist pin says that it is bigger on the 959 by 2mm, but the parts list says they share the same write pin.. But there is a strike though indicating a supersede for wrist pin.

What has be scratching my head is the same compression ratio is the exact same from the 959 to the 899. that would lead me to belive that the crank case is actually bigger.. unless im missing something

you could swap in the 1199?

The wrist pin can be in a different location in the piston. It just depends on how they engineered it. You'd have to do a side by side comparison to see the wrist pin location.

Seth Vo said:

you could swap in the 1199?

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not looking for an entire engine swap. i don't mind tinkering with these. This will go into my race bike, and i like the power so far.

WHen i had my 15 r1, i was so exhausted racing that bike.

Forewarned said:

The wrist pin can be in a different location in the piston. It just depends on how they engineered it. You'd have to do a side by side comparison to see the wrist pin location.

Click to expand...

I can't find any info regarding cad drawings for the pistons. There seems to be no aftermarket support for these bikes. Eveything is OEM.

Usually aftermarket pistons will have some drawings showing dimensions from wrist pin center to dome.
If anyone has an extra 959 piston laying around can you measure it for me so i can compare it to my 899 piston?

i pulled a couple of pictures form the net, but hard to tell. When building engines .05mm can have pistons smack valves

You can see the webbing on the 959 piston new the big end. I wonder if they added that to prevent flex/ deflection so that the rod wouldn't starve the bearing?