I Miss my storm

[masterdave]

I proper miss my storm, tis currently in the safe hands of mr tony.mon, gutted that its not in my garage, cant wait to get back on it!!!!!

[seb421]

why is it there then?

how long has it been gone?

weather is shite for the near future so no biggie, i enjoy my storm but id sooner travel in a car when its pissing down, riding in a thunderstorm Monday night wasn't much cop

[masterdave]

Its having a new engine as my rings and bores were really bad, been gone 2 whole days! Its my only transport so is really missed, but needed doing so i have to get a bus lol

[tony.mon]

I proper miss my storm, tis currently in the safe hands of mr tony.mon, gutted that its not in my garage, cant wait to get back on it!!!!!

Yep, it's in my garage, and is being gutted. It's all going suspiciously well, so that probably means the engine mounting bolts will be completely seized

Sadly the bore wear is causing low compression and it's burning oil, so a low-mileage engine swap is the best option.
I was hoping it would be valve seals and/or seats, but no, the heads look fine.

Mileage on the clocks is mid 30's. No sign of running when low on oil, or any other reason. Maybe track-dayed a lot in a previous owner's care? Nothing to support this, though, no lockwiring or race upgrades visible.

A wet compression test showed a big difference on the front cylinder, so that's game over, really. Might have been a ring or two, but there are no marks on the bore and there's quite a bit of visible piston movement in the bore throughout the stroke, side to side as well as front to back, so there's the culprit looking at me.
Although a set of new pistons and rings might help temporarily, it would only be a patch-up, and wouldn't last long.
It would need new oversize ones and a rebore, and the cost of a replacement engine is less than that.

And tempting though it might seem to go down the high compression pistons route, really, the cost of getting an engine to stage one/2 spec isn't justifiable, compared to the cost of just buying an SP1 or 2.

It'll be finished early next week, and back to running as it should.

[seb421]

Its having a new engine as my rings and bores were really bad, been gone 2 whole days! Its my only transport so is really missed, but needed doing so i have to get a bus lol

Gutted mate, usually when my bikes out of action for what ever reason i was fortunate to be able to use my dads as a back up, was sh1t when i couldn't use either bike when mine failed its MOT its like your freedom has suddenly been ripped from under your feet and its like being a kid again planing your days out around local bus and train times

What could have caused its bore wear tony? could it have been run on to low oil in its life for any period of time or poor quality oil with infrequent changes

[Wicky]

Ouch! There's a cheap engine near me and masterdave at Motorcyle Recycle.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VTR1000F-FIRE ... 709wt_1113

or one in Maldon

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/97-Honda-VTR- ... 500wt_1128

[tony.mon]

Its having a new engine as my rings and bores were really bad, been gone 2 whole days! Its my only transport so is really missed, but needed doing so i have to get a bus lol

Gutted mate, usually when my bikes out of action for what ever reason i was fortunate to be able to use my dads as a back up, was sh1t when i couldn't use either bike when mine failed its MOT its like your freedom has suddenly been ripped from under your feet and its like being a kid again planing your days out around local bus and train times

What could have caused its bore wear tony? could it have been run on to low oil in its life for any period of time or poor quality oil with infrequent changes

"Mileage on the clocks is mid 30's. No sign of running when low on oil, or any other reason. Maybe track-dayed a lot in a previous owner's care? Nothing to support this, though, no lockwiring or race upgrades visible."

Having taken the front head off, everything looks as it should, but today I went to view the supposedly "complete" engine, it has no front head (par for the course, front cct failure) but it's been left in a shed with the head off for years, apparently, and condensation (rain?) has caused the bore to rust, and the engine won't turn over, although the gearbox rotates. Too much work to refurbish, even for £200.
He said he'd take an offer, but as it's in such poor condition the only part worth any money at all is the clutch cover.

So if you need one, or an alternator cover and windings, let him have an offer.

So plan B is that we look at a full rebuild.
I'll cost it tomorrow, but I was pleasantly surprised by the low price of 1st oversize pistons, new at £50 each from a main dealer. Mind you, ring sets are another £40 each.
But if it can be rebored cheaply that's still a good option.
New Shells for the crank and big ends aren't too bad, so as long as the other engine bearings are ok we should be good to go.


For the first time in a long time all of the engine mounting bolts came out without any issues, no cutting or heating necessary, just unbolted as Mr Honda designed, so engine's out and ready for a strip tomorrow.
But I'll cost it first.


I saw those engines, Wicky, thanks, but they're all a similar mileage to the one we're rebuilding; if it has to be a similar mileage one we might as well just refurb the one we have already.

Unless anyone has a low mileage spare engine they want to let go?

[lumpyv]

Its having a new engine as my rings and bores were really bad, been gone 2 whole days! Its my only transport so is really missed, but needed doing so i have to get a bus lol

crikey what happened mate? did it start rattling and smoking or what? seemed ok when we popped out the other saturday.

[seb421]

Its having a new engine as my rings and bores were really bad, been gone 2 whole days! Its my only transport so is really missed, but needed doing so i have to get a bus lol

Gutted mate, usually when my bikes out of action for what ever reason i was fortunate to be able to use my dads as a back up, was sh1t when i couldn't use either bike when mine failed its MOT its like your freedom has suddenly been ripped from under your feet and its like being a kid again planing your days out around local bus and train times

What could have caused its bore wear tony? could it have been run on to low oil in its life for any period of time or poor quality oil with infrequent changes

"Mileage on the clocks is mid 30's. No sign of running when low on oil, or any other reason. Maybe track-dayed a lot in a previous owner's care? Nothing to support this, though, no lockwiring or race upgrades visible."

Having taken the front head off, everything looks as it should, but today I went to view the supposedly "complete" engine, it has no front head (par for the course, front cct failure) but it's been left in a shed with the head off for years, apparently, and condensation (rain?) has caused the bore to rust, and the engine won't turn over, although the gearbox rotates. Too much work to refurbish, even for £200.
He said he'd take an offer, but as it's in such poor condition the only part worth any money at all is the clutch cover.

So if you need one, or an alternator cover and windings, let him have an offer.

So plan B is that we look at a full rebuild.
I'll cost it tomorrow, but I was pleasantly surprised by the low price of 1st oversize pistons, new at £50 each from a main dealer. Mind you, ring sets are another £40 each.
But if it can be rebored cheaply that's still a good option.
New Shells for the crank and big ends aren't too bad, so as long as the other engine bearings are ok we should be good to got.


For the first time in a long time all of the engine mounting bolts came out without any issues, no cutting or heating necessary, just unbolted as Mr Honda designed, so engine's out and ready for a strip tomorrow.
But I'll cost it first.


I saw those engines, Wicky, thanks, but they're all a similar mileage to the one we're rebuilding; if it has to be a similar mileage one we might as well just refurb the one we have already.

Unless anyone has a low mileage spare engine they want to let go?

Sorry Tony i must have skimed this one and missed it, my bad

[tony.mon]

Well, it's been taken apart:





and hopefully, after the Wales weekender, lovely shiny parts will have popped through my door to get it put back together.

[agentpineapple]

one day i'll get you to build me a tony mon engine with a little plaque on it....
of coarse it will be a big bore high compression jobby and you can take my engine in part exchange, how does that sound

[tony.mon]

one day i'll get you to build me a tony mon engine with a little plaque on it....
of coarse it will be a big bore high compression jobby and you can take my engine in part exchange, how does that sound

What do you mean, coarse? Nothing coarse going on here, thank you.
Finely tuned, it'll be, and polished to perfection. The outside is Masterdave's job, though; I'm just doing the inside.

Re engine for you:
distinctly possible.
I have a lovely donor engine (no, not Masterdave's) that is crying out for a nice pair of oversize JE's and a bit of cam work, gas flowing the heads would be nice, and a few breathing mods, I reckon you have an easy stage one for not a lot more than £650-700 depending on spec.

Trouble is, that's Sp1 power outputs for more than SP1 money.....Always down to "is it worth it"?

[masterdave]

God im missing my bike so much, come on honda hurry up!!!

[lloydie]

have you got the shakes yet ?
at least you know it will be a good engine when you get it back

[agentpineapple]

yup i was there when tony chased honda for the oversized pistons, COME ON HONDA indeed.
just concentrate on how nice it will be when its all done dave....tony will have to mount a little plack/plaque which ever way its spealt, engine built by tony mon, the wizard of kent.....number 001
that would be a nice little touch.
and tony, sorry for the miss spell of course, my english is terrible, as for a stage one engine build i'd be very interested mate. we'll have a chat about it at the workshop day mate