Hi.
I don't post much here, and I spent the last little while searching w/o much luck.
Anyway I have a 96 RK, got a 100" Ultima put into it five years and 10k miles ago, it's been pretty good for the most part. Now, however it appears it will need some serious work. One of the pistons "swelled" according to the mechanic I've been using, he had done the motor swap. I was on the highway going seventy or so and went to pass a car, engine lost power and started knocking pretty bad so I pulled off a mile or so later and rode another mile at about thirty. Of course the motor was very hot and some oil looked to be coming out of the air cleaner, and the pushrod area. I'm not here to bad mouth anyone, just would like some opinions. My mechanic has contacted Ultima, we are awaiting word back. I am going to assume they won't be helping much, after five years and that many miles. My mech. knows a guy that will rebuild the motor for about 2K, my guess is closer to 25 hundred the way things go. Here's my question(s). Will I save much doing the rebuild myself? I can take anything apart and surely with some help here and some friends I can get it back together. Or, try sellling the blown motor and buy an S&S? Or something else?

Thanks for any input.

 

A swollen piston? It's not a sponge. Sounds like bullshit to me

 

Yes of course you will save money doing it yourself, all the labour costs. However until the engine is apart there is no certainty how extensive the damage is or what needs to be done to put things right. That is likely to require a few tools you may not own at present. It sounds to me as if it will need a complete strip, clean and rebuild, a rebore and new pistons. Ultima have supposedly improved quality greatly since you bought your engine, so if they supply new parts you should be fine. A competent indy should be able to do all that in quite short time, so you need to weigh up the benefit of that against the time and costs it will take you to do it yourself.

 

yeah, I was dubious at the swollen piston thing too, maybe he didn't want to get tootechnical about friction and whatever else caused this.

grbrown: That's about what I was thinking I guess, just looking for some validation maybe. I don't have any specialty tools but I do have enough to do the general taking apart and putting back together. One torque wrench, a drill press, grinder, hand tools. I would be sending the jugs out for boring, and do what I can to get it back together properly. I have a few people that may be able to help.
It's good to hear Ultima has improved, I can't iimagine they would still be around if all their motors (mis)behaved as mine has.
Thanks for the input.

 

I wish my pistons would swell in my 103 to about a 120

 

So, I got the call. As expected Ultima will not stand behind their product.
Will get the bike home and start taking it apart, I wonder if I could sell the motor as is to a rebuilder? Anyone have a suggestion for me near Denver as far as selling it?

 

Your motor is five years old and way out of warranty! I don't think it is fair to say they won't stand by their product. There are plenty of threads on HDF where they have performed well.

Let's think this through! It is going to be darned expensive to sell a basket case and replace it with another motor. If you are able to rebuild it yourself the costs are going to be peanuts in contrast!

 

grbrown: I guess. It seems pretty obviously a defect of some sort. I don't race it, never have red-lined this motor. It's a moot point though now so....

I appreciate your comments and I will think more on what to do. I've never rebuilt a motor. I would like to make this one reliable and if that can be done without giving Ultima any more of my money, that's the route I will take. Learning more about my bike is always a good thing too, right?

 

There is no doubt the thing shouldn't have failed. However any warranty you had expired long ago and that was there to cover things like this. You haven't got the service life out of it that you should have, but unfortunately five years is a long time!

However we must look forward and try to make the best of this, so chin up! If you strip the engine yourself and rebuild it, to save costs, your local friendly indy may be able to supply new pistons of a different brand to replace the failed ones, also rebore your cylinders to match them. All being well your costs will amount to a complete gasket set and a rebore, plus some spare time.

 

I would take it in the shorts, and buy an S&S motor, and be riding, then build the other motor over the winter, and sell it.