www.rkengines.com

So you went to a manufacturer, dealer or swap meet and bought yourself a racecar and had your expert buddy help you set-up, scale etc. Then your cool new numbers and graphics showed up. You purchased gear sets, extra wheels and all that stuff that you tell the wife/girlfriend cost about 15% of actual price! Now you just go to the local wrecker, pick up a used motorcycle engine, have someone leak test or compression test it, install it with fresh oil & filter, fire it up and go enjoy an economical racing career! Right?

WRONG!!! Please understand that the purpose of my rant is to save the new racer some of his/her hard- earned money.

First, lets think about the origin of that sweet new engine. It came from a sportbike (which means it was not used by a nice old lady to fetch groceries on Sunday!) and, believe it or not, most of the engines from crashed bikes etc, have likely had a rough life before landing in the boneyard. For this reason, it is in your best interest to have a professional do a complete inspection of your purchase before you install it in that sweet new ride. Ask anyone how much a used superbike engine with a big ventilation hole created by the connecting rod is now worth! This situation can happen due to many factors including inadequate oil changes, wrong type/grade of oil (which we will discuss further in a separate article), oil starvation (caused by too many wheelies!), acidic pitting of bearings due to storage with old oil, etc. Many other components require verification and / or repair, but I wanted to point out the need for a complete tear down including the bottom end.