Hy Guys,as title says I'm in the process of getting my 748R engine rebuilt(20k miles,yr 2000),due to some problems with my connecting rods. The engine was running fine and was powerful enough but I heard some noise coming on around 4000rpm,so decided to take the engine apart and check everything. I had some non magnetic shavings in my filter screen,which was the first sign. I didnt do the acid test as I planned to open the engine anyways. My main bearings are perfect,the big end bearings are showing some wear but they were still fine,,but after taking the shells out of the rods,we found some black gunk on the rods,and they look like they were corroded. Further measurements are showing that my crankshaft is perfect however my connecting rod big ends have some imperfection/ovality of 0.07-0.09mm , which I think might be the cause of the engine noise coming on at around 4000rpm.. Also I have 7 rockers that could do with replacing,3 are bad,4 others are just starting to show wear,so these would need doing aswell. So what would you guys do? There is a company in germany who offers refurbishment of the Pankl rods for 180 eur/each,but then again,,how reliable will it be? Or I could go down the Carrillo route for 675usd/set+import tax,,but then crank has to be balanced due to the weight increase in conrods. Also there is a full engine for sale now for 900gbp with receipts and warranty,new belts etc,but knowing that Pankl Ti rods have the tendency for this sort of issues,it might be a stupid idea to buy a secondhand engine. Any advice/input apriciated,my pocket is not full of cash at the moment as I just bought this bike recently,so I would prefer to keep costs reasonably low. Thanks!!
To start you can have the rockers refurbished at Newman Cams for a fraction of the new price, around £35 each last I heard. Steve
Arrows Rods. Very good indeed and they'll do Ti if you really want to splash out. Give Baines Racing a call he might be able to order them for you
Thanks Sev I'll call them for a quote ,might be interesting. Also found some Brian Crower Billet steel rods ,they seem reasonably priced too. I thought about engine transplant for a second,but I have a 999 aswell,I'd prefer to keep this standard(ish)
Whilst the cases are split, I'd have the gearbox refurbed and super finished (ceramic rumble). A very worthwhile mod/upgrade. Dunno where you are but Moto Rapido in Winchester carry out this service. Good luck.
+1 for the above. When I had to strip my motor I splashed out and replaced pretty much everything. I'm confident now nothing will need doing for a looooong time. While it's apart check oil passages. Mine had so much casting material left over them I'm in no doubt it was part the reason for the wear I had.
Thanks for the input guys. I found a complete engine with very little mileage from a collectors bike that came up for sale(less than 1000miles) I'm trying to close the deal on that one. the whole thing sounds a bit unbeliveaible,but engine looks virtually new,so I kinda have a good feeling about this.
If you look in the general Ducati section someone had 2 ex Stuart Easton 749r engines for sale. One with no miles since full rebuild. If I knew how to do it I'd put a link to it for you.
