Guest IanJ Posted March 18, 2004 Posted March 18, 2004 You may or may not recall that my Le Mans is currently out of service, having the engine case swapped under warranty at Moto International. I just wanted to post an update, since I know this is an interesting topic. I dropped off my bike on the 24th of January, and left town for a couple of weeks, visiting Kiwi Dave in Kiwiland. When I got back, it still wasn't ready, waiting on the machine shop to return balanced parts, and on MGNA to send a set of connecting rod bolts. Eventually, around the 26th of February, the parts came back from the machine shop, but still no conrod bolts. The word from MGNA was that the conrod bolts that were to have been shipped with the engine case kit were lost by the shipper. I can neither confirm nor refute that claim. Finally, yesterday (17th of March, for those keeping score) Moto International saw that the requisite bolts were in stock at MGNA. I received email from Meredith at MGNA this morning in response to a message I sent her last night -- she said that the bolts were in the mail, and that she understood all too well how long my bike had been sitting idle. Today, MI received another complete engine case swap kit, so I'm getting those conrod bolts, and the guy who's getting that kit will get my ground-shipped conrod bolts that MGNA sent out yesterday. So, if everything goes according to plan at MI, my bike should be back on the road and in my hands on Saturday, the 20th. I leave it as an exercise to the reader to calculate how many days my bike has been sitting idle, waiting on MGNA. Lessons learned: if getting your engine case replaced, make sure they have a full kit, with all the parts. I figured that since I was going out of town, that should give MGNA enough time to send the bolts on -- obviously, I completely overestimated their supply chain. If I had known that my bike would be out of service until nearly two months after I dropped it off, I would have waited until the full kit was available. Good news for everyone else: MGNA is no longer out of stock on conrod bolts! Engine swaps should be able to proceed apace now.
emry Posted March 19, 2004 Posted March 19, 2004 Anyone tried to convince their dealer to get some quality bolts like ARP?? Might save you some wait even if you had to shell out the $20.00.
Guest IanJ Posted March 21, 2004 Posted March 21, 2004 Woot! My Le Mans came home on Friday night (sooner than expected). Final balancing cost was $250, and it appears that the machine shop actually wanted to spend more than that, but I'd left written instructions that $250 was the limit. The engine runs just fine, although the idle speed needs to be adjusted. I had a small oil weep coming from the crankshaft pulse sensor, which was easily fixed, and otherwise no problems. The paint tone is slightly different from that of the transmission and oil pan. I can best describe it as being "smoother" and "darker". I'll post pictures later today. It's not really different enough that you look at it and immediately notice it, but if you look at all closely, it's apparent. I can't tell if the difference is because MG messed up the paint formula, or because of the age difference between the areas.
Guest IanJ Posted March 22, 2004 Posted March 22, 2004 Here is a picture of the intersection between the engine and transmission on my transplanted engine case.
al_roethlisberger Posted March 22, 2004 Posted March 22, 2004 That's not too bad It looks very similar to the picture posted last Fall by someone?? that had the cases swapped, so it looks like this is the finish they are going with. al
al_roethlisberger Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 Hey, quick question.... along with the side cases of the engine, did they replace the sump spacer as well? ...not the pan, but the bottom part of the engine case that the pan attaches to? I ask because the part of my engine case, along with the sides/halves, is also seriously leprous. al
Guest John T Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 Al, Just make sure your dealer orders the part now. Mine was perfect but my front timing cover case was bubbling so it was replaced with the block. Still looks good after a year and 4000 miles.
Guest IanJ Posted March 23, 2004 Posted March 23, 2004 I'm pretty sure that they didn't, but if you tell your dealer that it's bubbling and get them to order it, it should be covered under the warranty.
al_roethlisberger Posted March 24, 2004 Posted March 24, 2004 Ian.... Did you check to see if the sump spacer is new too? Called my dealer, who incidentally received their first kit last Friday and was about to inspect it as I called, and they said they would check if it's included... and if not, get that part ordered. Thanks al
Guest IanJ Posted March 24, 2004 Posted March 24, 2004 No, they didn't replace the spacer, or anything that wasn't cast with the engine case, looks like. It also looks like I get to head back and have them clean up some more oil weeps around the oil sump... <sigh>
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