Bimota Forum

[riversbikes]

Hello all,
Looking at purchasing a 900ss engine originally from a 2004 DB4 Bimota. Were these engines fuel injected, or aside from the DB4ie, were they carbureted? Owner claims the bike had carbs, but the intakes are short like the FI bikes. He's not 100% familiar with what he has, but the engine appears to be in good shape.

[2bims]

What colour are the crankcase covers???... Yup...bimota made a carbed and fi version...the carb version was the duc monster engine at the time as ducati were making the 900ssie....when bimota made the db4ie i think it was the 900ssie engine...but with bimotas own version of fuel injection...so maybe shorter intakes...

[riversbikes]

engine covers are dark grey, whereas the 2002 900ss ie engine I mean to replace it with has light tan covers.

[2bims]

Ok...that sort of makes sense....this is my DB4 carbie…..tricolor was the only colour it came in...with light grey/silver crankcase covers....But...this engine came from the Ducati Monster 900...which was carbed and same carbs used by Ducati..Mikuni 38's













This is a Fuel injected Bimota DB4ie...which used the Ducati 900ssie engine of the time...which was also fuel injected BUT...Ducati wouldn't give Bimota the fuel injection system so Bimota used their own....Dark grey/sating black engine covers....





BUT...you may also see this...which is a tricolor DB4 so should be carbie version...BUT...engine covers look like Dark grey/Satin black...as some tricolor bikes did contain the Fuel injected engine out of the Ducati 900SSie....dont forget that Bimota went bump at this time and most of the planned 400 DB4's to be produced weren't...or were unfinished and a lot of bankrupt stock was sold of of engines and incomplete bikes finished by buyers at the various sales …





Hope this helps...I would check though the swing arm mounting width at the back of the engine and the hole diameter for the mounting shaft to fit through the back of the engine casing with its needle roller bearings....I dont think they changed it...BUT maybe Ducati did...the swinging arms on the Ducati Monster and 900ssie were different types...and the Monster also went fuel injected in 2000.....Bimota used to generally end up with Older stock of engines that Ducati weren't using at the time...But there is no hard and fast rule in that

[2bims]

If I had to guess...and it would be just an educated guess...if the engine has indeed come from a Bimota DB4 and it has light grey/silver crankcase covers then I would say it was an original Ducati Monster 900 carbed engine.....but thats the problem with buying second hand...youre going on the trust of the owner...and them knowing the history as to whether anything has been changed on the engine by previous owners....including inlet tracts/tubes

[riversbikes]

At the risk of someone buying this out from under me, here is said engine:





Based on your photos, 2bims, that looks like a FI engine...

[brian]

Are they any different other than the intake tubes and colour?
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'99 DB4 #104, '96 SB6 #1165, '94 DB2 J #652, '99 DB4 #088, '08 VTX1800, '93 ZXR750R M1, '95 ZXR750, '95 ZXR750 Race Bike, '94 CBR400rr NC29 Race Bike, '94 CB250, '49 BSA C10 250, '61 BSA A10 650, '89 ZXR750, '91 Ducati 851

[riversbikes]

By all accounts, they are the same. I'm wanting to use it in a FI bike, so I need to ensure:
1. Case bolts (2) are 12mm, not the earlier 10mm
2. Swingarm pivot is the correct diameter.
3. Alternator pickups(?) will work with an FI engine... don't want to bother with converting a FI bike to carbs.

The confusing thing is that the DB4 was carbed in 1998-99, and FI in 2000-2001; this is listed as a 2004. Depending on where you look, you see information on carbs (a retrograde approach), FI (with the later ie bikes), and either "ducati fuel injection", or bimota fuel injection.

In a perfect world, I swap the intakes for the FI ones on my bike, bolt it in, and fire it up...

[brian]

They weren't made in 2004, so that might be when it was first registered
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'99 DB4 #104, '96 SB6 #1165, '94 DB2 J #652, '99 DB4 #088, '08 VTX1800, '93 ZXR750R M1, '95 ZXR750, '95 ZXR750 Race Bike, '94 CBR400rr NC29 Race Bike, '94 CB250, '49 BSA C10 250, '61 BSA A10 650, '89 ZXR750, '91 Ducati 851

[2bims]

As Brian says.....weren't made in 2004....Bimota exported to over 50 different countries....and a lot of old stock hung around for years before being sold and registered....if it was a bike never registered anywhere you could choose at least here in the UK...for a new registration or age related one...

Very short intake stubs there with rubbers so defo would say fuel injected....carb intakes bend round and are 4 times longer to meet a side by side bank of twin carbs...…

Clearly an engine thats no longer bone stock looking at the fancy clutch cover and pressure plate....

O wouldn't worry about someone buying it out from under you...its the worlds smallest audience on here as far as Forums go.....And dont be reading too much on the internet...journos often quoted wrong things...saying engine was from this or that and Bimota used this or that....yet not one of them would have ever owned a Bimota....go by the folk that have them and know them...albeit it takes a fair few years to learn...

[riversbikes]

thanks fellas... its looking more and more like its an \FI engine. Which is what
I need...

[brian]

[riversbikes]

That's the plan -- although I fear the taped up section on the top of the horizontal cylinder is the mechanical tach drive. If that is the case, its the wrong engine...

[2bims]

Nope....the DB4 I have is the same.....and its an electronic tacho drive unit....you can just see it on the pictures of my tricolor DB4.....cable driven tacho was a worm drive speedo style cable on the front face of the horizontal cylinder just under the belt drive covers......Both the DB4 carbie and DB4 ie had electronic tacho drive units....reknowned to be unreliable and not working

[polyesterpig]

2000 was the last year for the DB4. Only the DB4ie Biposta models were fuel injected. In 2000 they also made a tri-color (color) single seater that was carburetor only. The fuel injected models used the Ducati Monster engine. You can tell by the throttle bodies. The monster and supersports used different injectors. Also, the injection system is the Ducati 15M system, so any Ducati mechanic can tune the bike. This is the only Bimota that uses the stock Ducati fuel injection. My DB4ie is currently using the Ducati Performance ECU.
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2002 Cannondale E440
2003 Cannondale Super Mono 440
(3) 2003 Cannondale E440R
2010 Ducati Hypermotard evo SP
2000 Bimota DB4ie BiPosto