Boring for big bore kit

[philward]

Hi guys
Just done the rebuild on the bottom end over the holiday period and now moving up the engine and need a recommended reborer near Wigan for the 836 kit.  Prefer someone local(ish) if possible. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Phil

[Seamus]

Best advice is to find someone who does bike engines as the tolerances can be tight. Tell them what size to bore and give them the tolerances.

[Trigger]

I did know someone in liverpool, but phoned today and the company is no longer. I use T&L engineering in bedford, give them a bell and see if they can recommend anyone in your area. For got to mention, when re-boring always take a piston as a good reference. 

[Bryanj]

Any decent reborer will want all 4 pistons, I have a superb bloke localish to me but it ain't cheap

[Trigger]

That's what i meant to say Bryan. It was late, and the days have gone at £5 a cylinder.

[mick]

Hi Phil if you don't mind a drive up the M6 I can recommend this place I've been using them all my biking life  ,

small 2 man operation if you phone ask for Malcolm,  cheers Mick

http://www.lancasterengines.co.uk/location.htm

[Greg H]

Hi Phil . I used to use Sutcliffes  when they used to be near Millers mcyls , where the saddle junction is now in Wigan , I believe they are now somewhere off Swan Meadow Lane .I'll be keeping the contact details of the guys Mick recommended up in Lancaster for future reference .

[philward]

Thanks everyone
Got a recommendation from someone who has always used a guy in St Helens - who is a biker himself (Z900). Went yesterday and he does all kinds of engineering work - there was a guy there that had used him for years on a variety of bikes from RD's to Commando's.  He wanted clearance figures specific to the kit so went on the .net forum to 'Hondaman' in USA who's used these 'Cruzimage' kits and got figures he recommended.  Picking barrels up on Monday. Good price as well (I think?) - 50 squid. Des at Wilber Motors in St Helen - one man outfit.
As an aside, the Hondaman piece had some great info increasing on o ring size (thickness) as a number of patterm head gaskets/big bore gaskets are slightly thicker - had a hell of a job finding the thread but well worth the effort.
Thanks again for all your imputs
Phil

[SteveD CB500K0]

I went through a phase of collecting thread and posts under the " Thoughts of Hondaman" title.
If you have a link to what you are describing, I'll add it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

[philward]

Havn't kept link but 'cut and pasted' the info - see below:-

There have been lots of reports of leaking head gaskets, even with Vesrah kits, so here's some of the things I ferretted out today, using a new VG-157 top end kit:

1. The Vesrah head gaskets (like most of them today) have no sealant in them. This means you should add your own around the oil drain passages, even around the oil feed passages.

2. The orange (silicone high-temp) 11x2.4mm O-rings Vesrah supplies for the head-cylinder interface for the oil feed passages are TOO SMALL and TOO SOFT, a bad combination. I have posted about this before, but here goes again: use at least a 2.5mm cross-section O-ring (2.6mm is better, harder to find) with the Vesrah head gasket(s) or the ones from the Crusin'Image 836cc piston kits. The OEM size of this O-ring was 11x2.4mm, but that was for a 1mm (.040") thick Honda head gasket: the Vesrah gaskets are about 1.2mm (.050") thick instead (so are the 836 gaskets). So, the O-rings must be AT LEAST 0.2mm thicker than the OEM version. The softness of the silicone O-ring is fine for a drain, but not for 70+ PSI oil pressures: use either Buna or Viton here. Buna will be OK unless you plan on using synthetic oils a lot: then it can weep here. So, add sealant around the oil feed passages if you are going that route. I did it anyway, so I'm sure the next disassembly will be the Devils' Child...

3. If you get 'stuck' with the post-1973 head gasket (big holes for the 8 oil drains) and you have a pre-1973 engine, insert a 2x11.5 or 2x12 O-ring into each head gasket "drain hole". I had the correct head gasket here, so this picture doesn't show up just now: mine is the small holes all around. This issue has come up on the Crusin'Image 836 kits when installed into pre-1973 engines (I hear about it a lot) because of the leaks that can occur.

4. Add sealant around the whole cam chain tunnel. Honda did: I'm sure it was important!

Hope that helps

[Trigger]

Phil, was that 50 beer tokens per bore or all 4 ? I was charging 15 a bore back in 1995. If you got all 4 at that price, i would say you had a result. 

[philward]

Yep - 50 squid for ALL four bores