SuzukiSavage.com - Rebuild motor or replace?

7 Mary 3

YaBB Newbies

Offline

Just this guy, you
know?

Posts: 15
Augusta, ME
Gender: male

Rebuild motor or replace?
03/11/09 at 13:23:26

My buddy and I FINALLY got around to tearing down the motor last weekend. This is an 86 Savage I got for $350 in non-running condition. Previous owner said he ran out of oil and the bike hasn't run since. After the teardown, I believe him - the rings were worn flat with the piston and welded into it on one side, with scoring inside the cylinder itself. There's a little wear on the head, too - not sure if it can be fixed or needs replacement as well. (There was also NO valve cover gasket!!! Explains why the kid ran out of oil...)

So now I'm pondering whether to rebuild the old motor, or just replace it. If we rebuild, we'll know exactly what's inside, and that it should last a good long while if we do it right and take care of it. If we replace, we can get a much newer, fresher motor - possibly upgrade to a 5-speed in the process - and it should just drop right into the bike. At this point I'm not even sure what the less expensive option would be. Any thoughts?

Back to top

- Justin
82 GS1100L
01 Savage
86 Savage (R.I.P.)

IP Logged

T Mack 1 - FSO

Serious Thumper
Alliance Member

Offline

sold 2001 LS650 for
a 1986 XLH1100

Posts: 2919
Emmaus,Pa
Gender: male

Re: Rebuild motor or replace?
Reply #1 - 03/11/09 at 13:59:30

I got my '01 in almost the same shape. Melted piston and worn cam journal surfaces. The rest of the bike was beautiful, $500, 10 K miles....

The local salvage yard offered to sell me a used '88 engine for $400 OR just the head that I needed for $200. I asked the owner what he would do, .... he looked at me and said he would rebuild so that he knew what he was getting.......

That said... what I spent on my rebuild.......

First over sized piston from the dealer - around $100 plus... the kit didn't include the wrist pin so that was another 10 or 12 dollars.

Used head assembly (the whole thing, cam and all,) for $200 from a local motorcylce salvage yard.

Gaskets around 40 or 50 dollars.
new cam chain , $86 ( the old one measure ok but I wanted to be safe )

Bore cyclinder, free, my riding buddy is a machinist......

Back to top

Engineers design things, Technicians make them work.
---
30% of being mechanical is confidence/30% is knowing to go slow when needed/30% is looking repeatedly at what you have/10% is dumb luck Wink

IP Logged

T Mack 1 - FSO Serious Thumper Alliance Member Offline sold 2001 LS650 for a 1986 XLH1100 Posts: 2919 Emmaus,Pa Gender:	Re: Rebuild motor or replace? Reply #2 - 03/11/09 at 14:01:52 Also, LS650's don't have a head cover gasket. Just sealent.....
Back to top	Engineers design things, Technicians make them work. --- 30% of being mechanical is confidence/30% is knowing to go slow when needed/30% is looking repeatedly at what you have/10% is dumb luck IP Logged

justin_o_guy2 Serious Thumper Offline What happened? Posts: 55279 East Texas, 1/2 dallas/la.	Re: Rebuild motor or replace? Reply #3 - 03/11/09 at 14:43:52 You might look around for an engine to get the thing up & running, so you can have fun this summer on it & slowly build the other one back up, slap a cam in, maybe play with the timing , balance & compression, just have fun with it & see how mean you can make it.
Back to top	The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.- Edmund Burke. IP Logged

verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28886 L.A. California Gender:	Re: Rebuild motor or replace? Reply #4 - 03/11/09 at 17:44:01 I picked up an '88 with a burned piston for $300 as second bike soon to be daily runner so I can rebuild my '96 and give to my brother. In the process of tearing it down, a wrecked '02 popped up for $350. There's nothing like having a spare to play with.
Back to top	Versey's Place Tech Section Index IP Logged

Big Nix

Junior Member

Offline

Screw dieing of
natural causes.

Posts: 51
Atlanta, GA
Gender: male

Re: Rebuild motor or replace?
Reply #5 - 03/12/09 at 06:08:38

yah i'd have to say I think if I had the time and place to do it i'd definitly rebuild, like everyone else has said that way you know for sure what you're gonna have at the end of the project. I mean if you where to get a crate motor or something along those lines you'd more than likely have a warrenty with it but I don't know about you but again if I was to rebuild my motor there's also that little bit of self satisfaction, and again the knowing what you have and the quality of the work. Cause let's face it we've all had the "brand new" stuff that either was crap right out of the box or went to crap after only 100 miles.

Cool

Back to top

Courage is being scared, but still sadeling up and riding out.

IP Logged

7 Mary 3 YaBB Newbies Offline Just this guy, you know? Posts: 15 Augusta, ME Gender:	Re: Rebuild motor or replace? Reply #6 - 03/13/09 at 09:15:20 Looks like the general concensus is rebuild what I've got. And since the labor is free, it's probably cheaper, as well as the benefit of knowing exactly what's inside. So I need to go price some stuff out - thanks for the advice!
Back to top	- Justin 82 GS1100L 01 Savage 86 Savage (R.I.P.) IP Logged

T Mack 1 - FSO Serious Thumper Alliance Member Offline sold 2001 LS650 for a 1986 XLH1100 Posts: 2919 Emmaus,Pa Gender:	Re: Rebuild motor or replace? Reply #7 - 03/14/09 at 05:06:34 Unless you can get a very low milage farily recent year engine as Verslagen did. The options I was given was an engine older than my model year......
Back to top	« Last Edit: 03/18/09 at 19:19:08 by T Mack 1 - FSO » Engineers design things, Technicians make them work. --- 30% of being mechanical is confidence/30% is knowing to go slow when needed/30% is looking repeatedly at what you have/10% is dumb luck IP Logged

odvelasc Ex Member	Re: Rebuild motor or replace? Reply #8 - 03/14/09 at 13:44:05 rebuilding sounds so "Cumbersome" lol
Back to top	IP Logged

diamond jim Serious Thumper Offline Posts: 1425 North Alabama Gender:	Re: Rebuild motor or replace? Reply #9 - 03/18/09 at 19:15:03 So why all these burned pistons? Running too lean and the engine getting too hot?
Back to top	IP Logged

T Mack 1 - FSO

Serious Thumper
Alliance Member

Offline

sold 2001 LS650 for
a 1986 XLH1100

Posts: 2919
Emmaus,Pa
Gender: male

Re: Rebuild motor or replace?
Reply #10 - 03/18/09 at 19:28:31

diamond jim wrote on 03/18/09 at 19:15:03:

So why all these burned pistons? Running too lean and the engine getting too hot?

On mine, after we cleaned the melted aluminum off the bore, but before really getting the scoring out, we measure the bore in several spots. Pretty much on the low side of the minimun stock bore size. And the melt was on the back side of the cylinder.

Also, the pockets of oil we found were petty dark. Oh yea, the cam journal was also shot.

Maybe a missed oil change and a too tight piston..... we can only guess.... the engine was in pieces when I got it.

EDIT: on a side note, the Cam Chain was well with-in spec.... go figure...

Back to top

Engineers design things, Technicians make them work.
---
30% of being mechanical is confidence/30% is knowing to go slow when needed/30% is looking repeatedly at what you have/10% is dumb luck Wink

IP Logged