Rebuilt engine back in!

As usual, click any image to zoom in.


It was a lovely, sunny day yesterday. Mark and I started work at 11am and by 8pm all the tools were away.

It wasn't too bad a job really - removed the seat, petrol tank, rear mudguard, chainguard, chain, carb, exhaust, engine and then put it all back together.






Once the new engine was in we filled up the oil tank and gearbox and Mark ran the bike up and down the road with the spark plug out and in gear to get the oil round the engine until we could see the oil return pumping oil.

The bike fired up first kick, which was nice!

We had a bit of trouble starting the bike a while later because the clutch needed adjusting (adjustment bolt was too tight).

I was sitting on the bike ready to ride home when it cut out and we couldn't get it started again.

I left it at Mark's overnight and we had another go this morning, adjusting the timing, and were fast running out of ideas when Mark suggested changing the spark plug. At that point he noticed that the rebuilt engine had a Champion N4C plug and not the recommended N5C. It started first time with the N5C plug in...

RTS engine quote

The bill for my engine rebuild will be £850-900 ish. That includes new alpha big end, main bearings, rebore, new piston and rings, valves and springs etc, plus cams and larger inlet valve.  I'd hoped it would be around £750:00 but I suppose the cam and inlet valve modification are worth the extra.  I see no point in doing so much work on the engine, knowing that the head needed sorting out, and not completing the job properly for the sake of £150:00. 

At least the bike will be up to spec apart from the front forks and indicators. We can then fit the indicators and put some oil in the forks and see if any oil leaks and, depending on how fast any leak might be, that will help me decide whether to just keep topping the forks up, or consider having the forks repaired!

Engine rebuild

As usual, click any image to zoom in.

After a few people taking a look at my bike and saying it sounded OK to ride, I could still hear a knock so we took the engine out and the head off. Lo - the conrod was waggling about when you tried lifting it.

Not fancying trying to repair it ourselves, we found Roger Taylor of RTS Racing while searching on ebay for some spare parts. We dropped the engine off with him today in Gloucester and he reckons that even though he's really busy at the moment, he can turn it round in 2 or 3 weeks.

On another note, Roger explained that the oil return on my other engine sounds fine because the return flow rate is higher than the inbound flow - this is why the initial return rate after starting the bike is excellent but then settles down to a slower rate, even with the odd bubble.