back again...and its NOT good...couldnt get much worse actually...

so the latest is we couldn't get the # 3 plug to start threading the other night so i finally bit the bullet and took the bikein to the shop thursdayto have the headheli-coiled for $75...great right ?

wrong...the shopcalls today and the good news is yes the loose plug was more than liklely causing all of themissing & popping...but thereally bad news is that the jack-*** previous owner stripped the frickin' threads trying to get that frickin' crap autolite plug in #3 so bad it can't be heli-coiled...even if they remove the head...so then he tells me i need a new head ?? wtf !

so he quotes me $1100 plus appx 10 hours labor at $75 p/hr....$1850 !!!!...wtf !!!

but another shop quoted me 5 hoursat $350 for labor...so is the shop who has my bike hosin' me because they've got the bike and he's got me by the nads or what ?

anywaythey'll agree to put my own head on if i bring one in and just charge me labor....so anyone have any opinons on getting a used or a newhead ?should i ask the first guy if he can come down on his labor ? and take it to the other shop if he won't ?

i can get a used head for about $300 from a salvage yard...ori can get new on ronayers.com ($695) or on mrcycles.com ($679)...but i figuredit's an old bike so i dont want to sink alot of cash into it...so i'm looking to go cheap at this point....but i dont want to have any problems later either.

any thoughts ?

thx again!

signed...so-bummed-out-i'm-damn-near-sucidal-in-michigan

 

Thxeverybody for theirinput...you guys helped big-time.Ok so I found a clean used head assy on e-bay for $ 120 and ordered the gasket from ronayers.com for $ 50.
And I called the service manager at the shopand he's going to matchthe other laborquotes I got at 5 hours...so if all goes well (KNOCK ON WOOD!!)... I'll have the parts by next Monday and get the bike back by the end of next week good to go...all for about $500...more than I wanted to spend but a hell of alot better than $1850 !!Thx again to everyone who helped...I'll let you know the outcome !

 

damn well good to hear its sounds like you got a fix. good luck bro.

 

you couldve just bought an entire new motor for 500 and installed it yourself.

 

F4i head and TB assembly ftw

 

He's baaaaack....finally !

Thxeverybody for theirinput...haven't been able to check back in lately...(stupid kids...no time! J/K !!)...but I got the bike back 7/31 and it runs awesome....turns out the previous owner DID wastethe # 3 cylinder threads with Auto-crap plugs....so the plug was blown out of the threads and that what's caused all the missing popping, back-firing, etc.....so I had the shop usethe used head assy & new gasket I got on ebay,change oil & filter, new ngk plugs, new brakes and fluid all around, new air filter, new coolant, adjust my new manual cct, all for $700 parts and labor...with free pick-up and delivery...and now it purrs like a kitten but runs like a raped ape...cost me 6 weeks of riding time but I couldn't be happier with the end result.

All you guys helped big-time so thx !! Moral of the story...if you dont thread your news pulgs correctly...you WILL be totally *UCKED !!

Thx again to everyone who helped!

 

another thing is to never change the plugs when the engine is hot. Because of expansion and contraction its easier to f'up the threads. Thats what the PO done to my Beetle. Glad you got your bike back. I would have had to do the work myself though. I've swapped motors in mine twice now at $500 or less per motor. At those rates, I guess I really need a shop.