the big question to do or not to do.

[chaz]

right, My A50 cases and crank have been away for machining for a year now, the crank has been ground but the cases need bushing . problem is, he is overloaded with work .
I am contemplating buying an A65 motor and rebuilding that while waiting. Ive found a few bottom ends , the majority seized. Ive got to find another engineer locally and working out costs of work, parts etc against selling it after my bits come back.

so, the question is, would a newly rebuilt motor be worth the costs to rebuild it? I have many parts and access to trade prices, also have time on my hands to do it. Im guessing around the £1500 mark, thoughts?
would it be of more interest if a Lightning spec or Thunderbolt?

[DAVE BRADY]

Hi Chaz,

Why not retrieve your cases from the overworked engineer and get them finished by the engineer you will use for the other engine? 
If you can do it for £1500 then you will probably make your money back.  The only difference between Lightning and Thunderbolt is the head - one carb vs two.  Different power delivery so it depends on how you want to use it.  Cruiser or bruiser?

Dave.

[ducati2242]

I'd get them back and find someone that can actually do it . A year is taking the piss .

[chaz]

thanks,
problem is, Ive used him for 30+ years and he always does a good price. he has already done the head and rebores for me, that Ive not paid for. well respected around the local classic car and bike and modern motor powered fraternity for his quality. To go to someone else is going to be a gamble and probably double the price as Ive already had a quote for that from someone else near,
think Im going to have to drop in on him Monday for a chat.
meanwhile will price up what I need over the weekend, providing the B40 decides to cooperate tomorrow!!

[AdrianS]

I would seriously have a word with him about finishing the job. Surely he wants what's owed to him ?
It's not like the bushings is a long job and I'm sure he could do it in an hour or so.
What I've found doing engine rebuilds, add 50% to your guesstimate!
Good luck!

[Spaceman]

I've used a similar type of motor engineer for 20+ years but the problem is that he makes his money doing commercial work and only does my type of motorcycle engine work when he can fit it in - generally, the turnaround is several months but I find I have to regularly nag him to achieve that. Re-bores, crank grinding and valve work is his bread and butter but inserting crankcase bushes and line reaming them rather than pressing in new ball/roller races is not his normal line of work. I therefore never get him to do this type of work which I am more than capable of doing myself.

[Guitarzanbikes]

Hi, I've just had the same sort of issue with my 72 Lightning, I have just got the cases & crank back after leaving them with the engineering company in October. They have line bored a new bush and ground the crank, they do motorbike stuff, the owner is a biker himself, but their main business is plant and trucks. Every time I phoned they said I could come and collect it not done or wait until they could fit it in. They are a decent company but their bread and butter work is keeping the wheels of industry turning, as they said to me "if it ain't turning, it ain't earning", and having worked in industry myself I couldn't argue with that. I feel this is a problem that is definitely only going to get worse as time goes on and our choice of where to go for engineering work decreases. I said to my firm "alright, as long as you can get it done before spring that will be fine" they have, just, and its a cracking job, worth the wait but I know how you feel!

[chaz]

as a general  reply, to my own post. I work in an engineering company, the same one for 46 years. Been rebuilding bikes for 40 years and riding for 47 years, oh and repairing customers bikes for 15 years as a business.
As an apprentice I worked in all parts of the machine/fabrication/electrical and finishing areas, currently work on cnc controlled lathes which turn and mill to high tolerances, having run verticla and horizontal cnc milling machines.
Our shop currently has 2 lathes 2 vmc machines and 6 machine centres as well as deburr and light assembly.
The last 4 or 5 years our output has been greater than the previous 20. With this has come a de-skilling excercise. We are all loaders, a couple of us can do wonders the rest dont have a clue. We get paid well for it and would be daft to leave.
That said, we dont need slow time and labour consuming machines and operators, we can output an item in half an hour which would have taken a week to complete on multiple machines.
Many local machine shops are dedicated product ones not general "one off" ones. Finding small "one man" skilled people is hard to find, the ones around dont want our type of work or will do but quote high charges.
as i originally posted, Im going to be paying around £100 , other quotes are coming out double and doing less work. The chap I use , his business is rebores, re valving , bushing etc all that we need. His choice is not to do production work , even the local main dealer in Bristol uses him after finding out they cant do the work as fast or cheap as he can.