If it's only top end damage, I'd rebuild the original R engine. It's the proper one for the bike. If he doesn't want to do that right now, I'd just stick it in the corner of the garage until I got round to it, but I wouldn't break it..........or sell it to me cheap.
From what higgy748 has said it might be worth taking the rocker inspection covers off, make sure the piston is down the barrel, then turn the cams and see if the valves are returning fully, this might show if you have any bent valves, if it looks OK ,y you could fit new belts and turn it by hand to check for any contact and if all seams OK do a compression test then try and start her, it might be worth a try if you haven't got the funds to strip it down. If you find bent valves then you know it will be head off. Just a thought. Steve
I think even if the piston is down the bore, it's going to have travelled a few cycles after the tensioner went. He may have been lucky and the valves were closed at the time. But sound advice.
When I say make sure the piston is down the bore, it is to turn the cams, if the piston is at the top the cams won't turn as the valves will hit the piston.
Push comes to shove, I have spare barrels, pistons and valves which I’m prepared to do a deal on. Andy
Thanks everyone for your comments and advice! I really appreciate it. I’ve had some great offers of help and parts, so I’m going to get my hands dirty, learn a bit and go from there. I bought the bike with exactly 43,000 on the clock from the second owner. She had owned the bike from when it was 12 months old until July 2018 and rode it to Italy a fair amount, which accounts for the high mileage. Before I bought it last year, the bike had been sat in a garage for 6 years doing nothing. So in 6 years, the bike has done 143 miles with me and 2 for an MOT! Although there’s a lot I read on here to build up my knowledge, this will be a well worth while little project for me. Sitting at the side of the motorway, adding up costs for the work seemed daunting, but as said, there’s a ton of knowledge on here to keep me going The bearing is still free and running smoothly, so it must have been either a weakness in the bolt, or it’s been over torqued in the past. Before the bolt failed, the bike was amazing! Ran as well as a bike with half the mileage. Great, thanks! As above, the previous lady owner racked up 40,000 of those miles over 17 years. Definitely got her monies worth! I let my heart rule my mind yesterday and had a bit of a sulk lol. Definitely got to be worth a shot at repairing it. Definitely mate! Might even just do it as a continuation of this one. Some fantastic knowledge on here! I’m eager to get it done now and looking forward to a project, so I’ll keep this thread posted with updates, pics and multiple queries for advice! God knows I’ll need it! I’m going to check to see if there’s any clash, as it’d be nice if the valves survived! The horizontal head will have to come off to have the rest of the snapped tensioner bolt extracted. All looks like it’ll be fun now! Thanks again guys and looking forward to getting stuck in
I've noticed when people say the bike they sold but they wish they had kept, it almost ducati wise, seems to be a model with an R at the end. Stick with it chap, I'm sure with clear thinking and the resource of the forum, you'll be up and running soon
Nope, still don't see a response.... @TelRobinson Good luck (and fun) with the rebuild. I'm going to be watching attentively..
So, while the little ‘un is having a nap, I got down the shed to have a bit more of a look. Good news is the vertical belt stayed on, but looks like the tensioner is turned in the wrong way with the belt almost touching? Then I took off the rocker inspection cover off of the horizontal and there doesn’t seem to be anything glaringly wrong in there, Which so far looks like good news! Luckily this happened at about 15mph as I pulled away from the lights and not on a good run! More strip down to come, when I get some spare time.
Get one of these to have a look down the spark plug hole? £18-35 Ebay/Amazon. They have a small clip on mirror (don't loose it in the cylinder!!!). You could then turn it over by hand and look at the valves.... may save stripping the top down too far? A word to the wise..... Everyone I've shown ours to sticks it up there arse.... and says I've always wanted to see what that looks like..... I tell them it would be funny if they were the first and I've not washed it since the last guy did it
