Was out for a ride in the peak (UK) on sat when I got a bit of a shock mid corner @ about 60mph, massive crack, back wheel locks momentarily and engine cuts out...glad to be upright but feels expensive I thought. Turns out first impressions weren't wrong, chain plate had snapped, chain whipped round cut through indicator and put a hefty dent in the bottom of my arrow can...at least it wasn't my leg! Started it up in neutral, seemed to run sweet, sigh of relief...new chain easy! 3hrs later I'm in the garage waiting for the chain to go on and get the dreaded "come and have a look at this, it's not good!" turns out the chain has chewed through the crank case. So phoned a few garages to get a new engine in, around £1800 all told. Can't afford that! So it's an engine off ebay job £600-800 seems like the going rate (which I can't really afford either) but it's going to be the cheapest way. I have/had an 09 STR, I need an engine to replace this one as I've read this is the simplest and cheapest way to do it, rather than take engine apart then weld up (sounds like a faff). So my questions to you folk are: - Will any ST/STR engine from 08-11 work or do I need to be worried about engine codes? - Anything to look out for on engines off ebay? (they've all done such low mileage :-D its a miracle!!) Expensive weekend
Can you find a small engineering company who can do alloy welding?? A bit of a faff, but probably better than swapping for an engine of (possible) dubious quality! I found one myself many years ago to re-attach a broken cooling fin on my Benelli 900 Sei. Did a good job for little money - well, it was way back (20-odd years I do believe)!
In short yes it can be done but the engine would need to be stripped to get the crank case off so it can be completely cleaned before welding, from what I have read this is not so straight forward and it is simpler, faster and cheaper to get a new lump and chuck it in....providing it's not a dud!
Fair comment! You could then perhaps p/ex your engine for a replacement, or, rebuild it at you leisure whilst using the new one. Oh the possibilities!!
So the guy from the garage who rescued me mentioned that he has repaired similar holes in crank cases using sheet steel beaten to shape (roughly) and generous amounts of chemical metal to hold this piece in place. I'm obviously tempted as its going to be a lot cheaper and I dont even have to remove the engine...anyone got experience here? My main concern is the expansion and cooling of the metals occurring at different rates causing the chem metal to crack (good to 180 degrees or similar). So far I've taken the sump off the bottom of the engine and fished out the engine fragments which were punched through! Any advice appreciated.
I'd be wary of going down the c/m route. The consequences of it letting go suddenly, or even slowly, are too nasty to contemplate. Broken engine, oil on tyre > broken body/bike! Nah!
I used to own a Honda xl 250 which had metal footpegs with serrated edges, anyway I dropped the bike onto its rhs and the footpeg folded up, as it was designed to do, and punched a hole through the crankcase cover. I fixed it with araldite, never leaked in 2 years!
For a horrible minute I was reading this thinking you were going to tell us you punched a hole in your leg!
Scrapped the bodge and am replacing the engine with a second hand one off ebay! I wouldn't have been confident riding it with the chance of the glue letting go and leaving oil all over the back wheel! Hopefully given time I can take the crank case off and have it ally welded up and sell on. Only a few hundred quid down this way rather than £1000+
I have however managed to snap the expansion tank pipe off the radiator (that crimped clip is a horror to remove), this has now been chem metalled back on and seems solid...less critical though & easier to inspect every once in a while!
I would imagine that after removal of a few parts to give better access, an experienced and competent alloy welding person would have that permanently fixed in no time at all ... hopefully! A mate did similar damage to his Honda CB750 many moons ago. He was pissed off as well! Good luck with it all!
Not sure why you need to strip everything off and remove the engine for that repair? An good alternative would be to tig an Ali patch over the hole. It's not pressurised oil but would need to be fully seamed. Fairly easy I would have thought and only need to clean external metal. Jmho.
I was just thinking about sprocket removal for easier access to the hole and then the ability to get at any possible detritus still inside the crankcases via the outer covers and the bottom sump cover.
