I haven’t updated this thread for a while as I have been busy with work and also have been trying to decide how to proceed after a major set back with the project.
Whilst I had a good running engine to start with my plan was to give it a full pull through and refresh, with the addition of some trick bits. I figured that it had survived for nearly 30 years, so with a full refresh it should be good enough to outlast my remaining NC30 biking days.
One of the key elements of this engine refresh was the (rarer than unicorn poo) +1mm Omega pistons I had managed to acquire back in about 2012
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From what the guy selling them said, and following subsequent conversations with Mike Norman, it would appear Mike commissioned a couple of sets of bespoke pistons from Omega for G-Force racing. These were duly shipped out to California, but it would appear another set or two might have been made at the same time and made it onto the open market very much by the back door. Anyway I got them and have been planning to fit them as part of an engine overhaul ever since.
Having stripped the engine I needed to get my upper crankcase and pistons to TTS in the UK to get the cylinders re-bored to fit. Being in Germany I was a bit wary of posting stuff from over here so waited until my parents visited. I packaged up the crankcase and pistons (well) and they hand carried them back with them to the UK. Once there they organised for a courier to pick them up and take them the 50 miles to Graeme France, who had agreed to take my stuff to TTS along with his stuff the next time he was going down.
All was going well with the cunning plan until Hermes deliver the box to Graeme’s place looking a bit battered. Upon inspection inside this is what Graeme found:
The technical engineering term is “Proper F****d” and of course as the upper and lower crank cases are a matched pair, this has effectively now rendered the rest of the engine … scrap, or spare bits at best. As such the rest of the engine has been nailed back together where possible, or just packaged up into relevant packages for spare bits (clutch, crank & Pistons etc).
Whilst this has given me my workbench back, it does leave me an engine down and even if I do manage to crack the Hermes claim process, I will only get 100 quid back. After all it was a metal component, well packed in a robust box so what could possibly go wrong, thus I didn't feel the need for the supper expensive additional insurance. Guess I never figured on the Hermes factor
Thankfully I do actually have a spare engine laying around. This one actually came out of Graeme Frances personal bike a few years ago and was forming a key part of my planned 3rd bike.
Having this does mean I can at least carry on with my project but has kind of pulled the plug on bike no3. In addition I have no desire to strip down yet another good working engine just to try and fit the trick +1mm pistons and risk something similar happening again. Looks like I will either have some very expensive bling collecting dust in my garage in the form of the unused Omega pistons, or I might actually bite the bullet and sell them on to someone who can use them.
I had even been thinking of getting the engine soda blasted whilst it was all apart and giving it a fresh coat of paint to really tart it up – but now I think I will just take the spare engine to work and settle for just giving it a good clean instead. At least having an engine to play with means I can get that fitted and move forward with the project a bit.
I have a trip back to the UK at the end of the month and hopefully I will be getting some new rubber fitted as well as collecting some other bits from Graeme / Rick which will facilitate some more rapid progress and get the build back on track at least
Trying my best to be positive and find something good to report……at least my new knee sliders have turned up ready for Cadwell in June.
Before:
After:
Time to flip the tables and a chance for me to grind the RAF down for a change