Dart 400 colour etc

The Cagiva era Morinis
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Jammu
Posts: 6
Joined: 20 Oct 2016 10:52
Location: Vantaa, Finland

Dart 400 colour etc

Post by Jammu »

Hi,

I have just joined this forum and now I'm writing the first time on it. The reason for it is naturally a Morini project. I have bought couple of months ago a Dart 400, which looks horrible and I am aiming to return it to the condition, what it was when it was new. I have just started to tear it on parts and the first thing what I am going to is to paint the frame. The concern now is the colour - the colour of the frame is gold and it seems to be original paint (there is no other layers under the gold paint except the primer, which is not silver neither. Has there been gold colour on frames? Will I do a mistake, If I paint it to silver? The bike it self is red. Is it a original colour or is it repainted? I can find only couple of photos of red Darts. If it is originally red, what it should look like? The Dart has been registered in Germany in 1992. The frame number is 10020, if I remember correctly and it says also Dart 400/390 on the frame number plate.

If somebody have owners manual or some other documents of this bike, I'm interested to buy them.
morini_tom
Posts: 920
Joined: 05 May 2006 13:47
Location: Northampton

Re: Dart 400 colour etc

Post by morini_tom »

Jammu,

Welcome to dart ownership!

Almost all darts were the 'normal' pearl white with blue artwork, silver frame and white wheels.

There were apparently a small number of red ones, badged as Cagivas but I've never seen one and I'm not sure if they actually sold any or if it was just a promotional thing. There is a picture of one on the Dutch morini site: http://www.motomoriniclub.nl/devel.html

Even then, I think they all had silver frames.

The dart is a beautiful bike and looks stunning in the sunlight in the correct pearl colour, but ultimately it's your bike so make it look however you prefer. Whatever you do, You'll not find any morini purists telling you it's the wrong colour!

Regarding information, you can ask anything on this forum and we'll do our best to help. There is no workshop manual covering the chassis parts but a late era engine manual does exist which covers the kokusan engines found in the dart. There is also a parts diagram and an owners habdbook.

Some of these can be downloaded from the members area of the morini riders club (well worth joining for the club magazine alone) or you might find them somewhere else on the net.

It would be interesting to see some pictures of your dart, and keep us updated with your progress,

Tom
EVguru
Posts: 1528
Joined: 01 Aug 2006 11:13
Location: Luton
Contact:

Re: Dart 400 colour etc

Post by EVguru »

The Freccia manual can be found online, which will cover most of the frame suspension and bodywork.
Paul Compton
http://www.morini-mania.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/user/EVguru
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