Yeah - that long....its not like hes building the whole bike....thats why im hesitant....i dont mind paying what i have to if thats how long it takes but dont want to be literally taken for a ride as well...
Comfysofa...Not exactly local perhaps but try Carl Harrison in Harleston, Norfolk. Whilst he specialises in Italian motorcycles, he does work on many other brands and I am pretty confident he could handle your engine. I know I constantly extoll his virtues but I have never met a person in 25 years of knowing him, that has a bad word to say about his work. He only carries out what's necessary on a bike (unless you specify otherwise) and is very reasonably priced. http://www.carlharrisonmotorcycles.co.uk Hope this helps.....Topo
I was on the SOHC uk forum last night...looks like ive found someone (Gloucester) so pretty local....gonna call him later on!
The one thing we didn't consider, his quote might reflect a certain reluctance to take the job on Hope the new man is more reasonable ........ price and attitude. Andy
That’s too expensive in my opinion, why don’t you do it yourself? First engine I ever did was my z1b years ago, never rebuilt a motor before that but got a Haynes manual and yes a lot of head scratching but managed it and really enjoyed the process, they’re nowhere near as scary as modern stuff, failing that if you get stuck I know a good guy in Hereford who could do it in his sleep
A few have said....its my old mans bike and one thing i dont want to do is fuck it up....its the sort of thing that ill miss one thing, overlook something and bang...the engine is toast....ie....because a question wasnt asked and a question wasnt answered - that little thing was a 3k rebuild on my hypermotard engine...
Finally have someone to build the engine...registered on the sohc forum and just got off the phone with a lad thats built more honda in line 4's than ive had hot dinners....knew them inside out and is only in Gloucester! so hopefully should be taking it up on the weekend - hes more than confident he can have it rebuilt in a weekend. Which is a big load off my mind..!
Dropped the engine off this morning....total confidence in the guy thats building it - he even guessed the mileage based on the internal wear of some of the parts....im gathering about 6 weeks for it to be built.
Great news! (As others said maybe the other guys priced high as they didn’t really want the job, we used to call this the FF rate when we were quoting, F*ck Factor)
So - stuff is actually happening now....bottom half of the motor is back together, barrels are off being honed - engine builder has got covid at the moment but expects the motor to be back together in the next few weeks. Once ive got the motor back and in the bike we should be full steam ahead...although may be not financially - theres no budget for this....just tend to buy the next thing i need when i get paid.... a set of rear shocks next, then a motogadget engine management unit.
Well, i think his tab for the motor rebuild will be about 300 then the carb rebuild will be a separate cost...which im ok with...hell hes done more in a month than the last guy did in 2 years.
Well, the whole engine thing has been a pain in the arse - once ive got a complete lump and a complete set of carbs back i should be good...although its been apart so long ive forgotten the minor points of how to get it back together....wiring is going to be....interesting...ive got a replacement digitial ignition and will be swapping the whole loom out with a motogadget unit and changing all the lights to LED - the idea being to make it look as stock as possible but under the hood - all the mod cons...weather i can pull it off or not is another thing...
I did the same with a 550 four in the hall of or rented house, luckily the landlord never visited at the time!
I was quite productive at that time - did a couple of CB175/200’s too! The carpet was a mess, but then it was such a squalid student house in Leeds that I don’t think anybody noticed! The carpet was so swirly and horrible that any oil spills blended in.
Amazing to see how much space there is in that head casting - it’s sooooo simple, with 8 really easily accessible valves. Great stuff!
