V4s Build - From Start To Finish

Here some additional shots of the clip-ons and side stand assembly, as well as the side stand switch (new stainless bolts).

I've never been a lover of the antennae-esque rear view mirrors on the Panigale, less so their fragility, the fact that on the V4, unlike the 1199, they don't fold back and perhaps more importantly, that they vibrate so much they are near next to useless in the real world, so a decision was made very early on, to get rid of them altogether and go with bar end indicators. I don't like the type that bolt to the nose fairing so it was an easy choice.

The difficulty lay in how to wire them up. Since the handlebars have allen headed inner end caps that secure them to the clip-ons (see previous post for images) the wires from the indicators would have to exit before this point. I simply drilled a small hole on the underside of each handlebar, just before the bar enters the clip-on casting, which is where the wire will exit. I measured and drilled these out some weeks before I had the bars Cerakoted. Having worked out how to get the wires out, I now needed to find a way to connect them to the existing points on the loom. For this I grafted/soldered on two OEM style indicator connectors and fly leads to the exiting wires and heat shrank them, before finally covering them in braided hose to blend in with the style of the OEM loom. These two leads would then loop across to the centre and down over the top of the air filter duct and under the front subframe where they can connect to the original indicator connectors on the front end loom. I tested this set up many times to ensure there was enough slack in the wiring to allow lock to lock movement of the handlebars without the wires being pinched or snagged in any way or that would place them under any tension.

The indicators themselves....I went with MBlaze by MotoGadget, a German manufacturer. I like the narrow form factor and size, as they barely add to the length of the handlebars unlike the Oberon units I had on my 1299. They are incredibly bright and because I wanted to fit them in conjunction with bar end mirrors and MotoGadget don't make a kit for them, I had the retailer (DesmoWorld in Germany, huge thanks to Chris Schipfer for this) make me up some one-off anodised billet adaptors. Not cheap but worth it.



Custom made mirror mounting adaptor kit.







Indicators as supplied.



Cable sheathing, heatshrink and mirror mount adaptor fitted.



OEM connectors fitted onto the ends of the indicator wires AFTER fitting and complete indicator assembly BEFORE fitting to the handlebars.



Indicators fitted to the bar ends. The MBlaze model indicators are handed, so MotoGadget sell both a LH and RH version, which are sold separately. This is due to the orientation of the LED bulbs inside. Whilst they are omni-directional in terms of light output, they are brightest when viewed directly in front or from behind, so have to be angled accordingly taking into account the pitch of the bike when sitting on two wheels.

This image shows the "glass-less" mirrors, which I will be fitting later in the build. They feature a unique diamond cut and polished metal disc that produces a reflective surface on par with a conventional glass mirror.

So now it's on to the cooling system. Won't take a genius if you've read through the thread thus far to realise there is more Cerakoting involved here. As I said, the oil cooler was the subject of a recall, so the images shown are of the replacement version. Basically Ducati added some doubler plates at the outlet/inlet points, where previously there had been some fracturing on owners bikes with the original version.

Here's the main radiator after coating. This had a ceramic based coating applied as opposed to straight Cerakote. The silicone bungs will remain in place until it's fitted on the bike, to prevent any ingress of dirt.



Pays to mask off areas well.



Oil cooler.





Here you can see the reinforcing doubler plate, to mitigate previous fracturing issues.



Ordonez manufacture the new versions of the oil cooler.



Evotech radiator and oil cooler guards. Good a time as any to fit them and much easier with the whole assembly off the bike.



Fan assembled on to newly coated bracket with stainless fasteners.



Here you can see one of the four rubber strips removed prior to coating and re-bonded using Loctite 480. These act as a cushion between the edge of the fan blade bracket and the radiator core and provide the necessary clearance, so there is no danger of a fan blade striking the radiator.



Fan assembly complete. The central rubber bung also acts a spacer to achieve the correct clearance.

Fan assembly mounted on to radiator shroud.



New fasteners once more and rubber dampers fitted.



One of the two expansion tanks in situ.



Complete assembly ready to fit onto the bike.





Evotech guards in place.



A few people have commented on the length of the radiator fan bolts, but the replacement stainless ones I used are exactly the same length as OEM, so should not present any issues.

Fitting the radiator and oil cooler assembly to the bike is quite a fiddly job and on reflection it is best if two people do it as it's hard to support the structure by yourself while bolting it into position. I will come onto that procedure later as before I can fit it, next up is the exhaust system.....

There are numerous threads and videos explaining how to fit the full Akrapovic exhaust online, so I am not going to dwell too much on it, save to point out anything unusual that perhaps the documentation they provide does not explain well. Ordinarily on a fully assembled bike, this is a BIG job for anyone, largely due to the amount of dis-assembly required just to be in a position to start fitting it. In my case that clearly doesn't apply so I will jump straight in.

Front header pipes fitted using new copper manifold nuts and plenty of copper grease on the threads - 10Nm max. Rear heat shield is assembled first as it makes life easier. Next the front heat shield is fitted. You will note the second of the two camchain tensioner bolts I mentioned in an earlier post (the large black hexagonal bolt). Also visible is the starter motor wiring and heat shielding.



Front down pipes and retention springs in place. Rear headers were, as mentioned earlier, a pig to fit...until I invested in some swivel sockets.



Rear Lambda sensor fitted.



Rear manifold heat shield.



Ditched the bolts that came with the Akra kit for these instead.



Last of the metal heat shields to go on.



Since the purge valve and bracket are tossed in the bin as part of the installation, it leaves a sizeable gap behind the front downpipes. The most important thing is ensuring the wiring remains clear of any exhaust runs.

Re-routed wiring loom.



Front Lambda sensor fitted.



It was a pity to cover this up.

I'll say this now, so I don't have to explain myself later. I am not a fan of matte carbon fibre. For me, clear coat brings out a depth to the weave that looks much nicer. It's a personal choice, I appreciate, but there you have it.

The first of many carbon fibre parts that were treated to a clear coat finish.





RH silencer fitted with gloss heat shield.



Rear manifold gloss heat shield.

With the exhaust on, save for the LH silencer, it was time to fit the radiator/oil cooler assembly back on the bike and finish off all the plumbing. Where shown "Mikalor" jubilee clips were used. All of the black steel OEM pipe clips were replaced with bright zinc options.







New expansion tank filler cap.



Loctite 480 used to bond a new rubber brake line guide block back onto the RH radiator fan bracket support.



Oil cooler lines and Cerakoted clamps re-fitted to the engine block.

Hydraulics, possibly my least favourite job. I removed the entire system as one, lines, calipers, clips, reservoirs etc. Most would end up being swapped out or changed in some way, but it meant refitting the system was a much quicker process than splitting lines here and there and introducing more air than was necessary. I could just cherry pick the parts I wanted to replace one at a time at a later point in the build.

Rear brake caliper line in place. Note the position of the rear speed sensor cable, that must be routed UNDER the lip of the chain slider as I mentioned earlier. I have some other hydraulic related parts to fit in the coming months so this is still very much work in progress.



More stainless hardware, mounting bolts, pinch bolts, bleed nipple and banjo bolt.



Rear speed sensor in place.



Reservoir bracket bolt.



ABS unit mounting bolts.



Stainless master cylinder bleed nipple.



Perch bolts.



Rizoma front brake lever.

Stainless double banjo bolt and caliper bolts (both sides) and new clutch slave cylinder.



You might well be wondering......



.....Never did like the cheap tacky tape Ducati uses to colour code the ABS lines, so I decided to use some spiral wrap instead.

Rear sub-frame was next. I'd split this to remove the cross member that needed to be Cerakoted. The mounting bolts must be replaced after every removal/re-fitting of the frame (according to Ducati). Note that the upper mounting bolts have a different torque to the lower ones.

Rear subframe in position. Wiring completely re-routed as per Akrapovic installation instructions. Also visible is the Cerakoted cross member and stainless steel nyloc nuts. Plastic modified exhaust heat guard comes as part of the Akra kit.



Ilmberger LH & RH rear cylinder head covers with new stainless bolts.







New foam liner fitted/bonded into place.



Rear bolts replaced.

Here's how the bike looked at this point in the build. Well almost.....the eagle eyed amongst you will notice that neither the indicators or silencers are fitted in this image and it appears to have gained a rear sprocket as well, that is because some photos are slightly out of sequence to give this thread some sense of coherence.

That's all for now folks, this last post takes us up to around May 2019. More posts to follow soon. Time for a break.

Amazing

Staying with the subframe for now, it was time to start fitting some of the ancilliary items. First up were some carbon fibre subframe covers from Lieb Speed. Most people will have heard of Peter Lieb. I've always been an advocate of his products as they are quite simply in a league of their own. Fit and finish are perfect and even the packaging some of his products come in, is sublime. Worth a look if you are in the market for decent stuff. This is one of many of his wares going on this bike.

Adhesive and foil panels come supplied with the kit. The idea being that should you ever wish to remove the covers at a later date (why would you?) then you can peel off the foil panel and you are left with no traces of adhesive on the subframe.



Pin sharp accuracy in terms of shape and fitment.



As per Peter's instructions, adhesive is applied to the foil panel then the cover needs to be lightly bolted into position. These are then tightened to the correct torque once the adhesive has fully cured. As an extra measure I used some microfibre cloth and some tie wraps around the frame to apply a light but constant pressure overnight.







Kit comes with all the hardware you need, including these black stainless bolts and washers and the internal bolts and washers for the side rails of the subframe.



Here you can see the internal bolts and washers, that attach to the integral posts bonded to the subframe covers. On another note, it's also important to follow the guide lines Akrapovic recommend for routeing the wiring in this area, else you will have issues when you come to fit the fuel tank back on.

Ilmberger....again another name some may not have heard of but who have become increasingly popular over the years. I have cherry picked the CF parts I wanted, using a combination of Lieb Speed, Ilmberger, CDT Fullsix and Ducati Performance. Here was the fitting of the under-seat cover in conjunction with re-assembly of the under-tail compartment, rear light, seat lock and battery tender lead.

Having seen a number of cases on other V4s, where stones have been flicked up by the rear wheel and cracked the rear light lens, I had a local specialist apply some PPF film to the entire lens, to hopefully minimize any potential future damage. Fitting the light is simplicity itself.



Always like to check authenticity.



Number plate light/indicator fly lead. This is detachable from the main loom as it's the section that is replaced in the event you want to fit the DDA/GPS kit to your bike.



Again PPF film was applied to the entire panel to protect it from stone chips.



Light temporarily removed for fitting of the under-seat cover. Alignment looks OK.



Rear end wiring complete. You can see the connector from the main loom, to the fly lead I mentioned earlier. In the next image, even this P-clip did not escape the stainless treatment.



Seat lock is as always a PITA to fit.

Decided to run my tender lead up from where it connects to the diagnostics port under the seat, into the under-tail compartment for quick and easy access. It meant losing the pillion strap, but I'm never going to need that anyway! This tender lead will only ever need to be disconnected when a dealer lifts up the seat pad to connect up their system to the port plug.

I used to remember the days when Ducati actually supplied you with a toolkit. Now you just get an allen key!

Sticking with the ravages of stone debris, it always puzzled me why Ducati ever considered the exposed area of the fuel tank above the rear wheel was going to fare well. I don't like leaving anything to chance so added this to my shopping list. Again Peter pulls it out the bag. This is one of the few covers that extends up around the edges of the exposed tank, so no red 'peeps through' when viewed from underneath.

PPF film added, as per the other items in this area.



The cover even features a closed cell foam edge strip so that it won't scratch the paint on the tank and a foil heat shield.



All the necessary hardware is, as usual, included.



At least that gaping hole is no more.





As well as the bolts and washers you see here, Peter supplies semi-circular plates, that sit under the cover's lugs, between it and the Ilmberger panel below. This prevents fretting against the carbon and damage to the lugs, so they don't bend when tightened. I love his attention to detail.

About time the project had some wheels fitted. I managed to swap out my OZ Gass RA wheels from the 1299, so simply asked the dealer to change over the new V4S tyres onto these rims and my existing 1299 tyres onto the stock V4 rims for resale. While I was at it, now seemed a good enough time as any to fit an oversize rear hugger from CDT, which does away with the senseless cutout on the item Ducati sell for use with the full system. I also fitted a new front CF hugger (DP item that I had clear coated). This will have PPF film applied to the leading edges, once the bodywork is fitted.


At least this version should keep most of the road muck away from the rear suspension and under tail area (wishful thinking I know!)





Not a huge fan of Ducati's answer to cable management here, so I may end up fashioning a neater solution for this soon.





Love these wheels.



Front wheel and DP hugger fitted along with Brembo Goldline 330mm discs, stainless steel disc and caliper mounting bolts, banjo bolts and caliper bleed nipples and finally CNC Racing caliper spacers.







Front wheel speed sensor and shim stack.