I need an engine for a 954. I know I am joining a long list of people looking for the same thing, but I spent most of this last winter putting a 954RR back together, the problems all started when I found that the previous owner hid a crack in the engine and I had a local shop weld the crack and put it back together. Well the power commander went bad and I had to get a new on put on it, but I got a call today that while attempting to map the PCIII the engine started making some bad noises and I need to find a new engine. As I have looked in here I find that I join a long list of people looking for one, so if anyone has any leads I would really appreciate it.

 

Have you looked in the "parts for sale" section?

There is always ebay and CL...

 

and that's $1000 bucks. for no gain. you can fix a motor (no matter what's wrong with it).



so what's wrong with yours? piston slap? rod knock?


it all depends man. if you're building your 954, you can build a motor.


i've built 2 and i'm re-building a 1mm overbore right now, let me help.

 

Conrice knows only everything about the 954, I'd listen to him....

 

First I think that I should clarify, when I say built, I really mean that I had a shop do it for me. Although I have tinkered in the past, I knew that this project would get way over my head quick. This was a salvage bike that I knew what a decent bike that I wanted to put back together. The major problems started when I found that the previous owner had concealed that he had JB welded a section of the motor back together. With some welding and gaskets we got that back together and holding. That was under the stator cover. I have been able to ride the bike since right before memorial day. It ran really well, and since I knew I had that problem I was constantly checking the oil making sure everything was fine. And it was no leaks and the oil level seemed to be right in the middle of the window. The problem between then and now was that it was running really rich, I had a PCIII for it but it wouldn't take a new map and it had to be shipped back out to Power Commander to be fixed. It just came back last week and so I took the bike into the shop to get tuned. The shop checked the oil level too and saw that it was good, ran it up the first time and got a base line of 121HP. The second run up got 100HP and as he left off and brought it back down, the oil light flickered he said. So he turned it off and checked the oil level and said it was fine. He turned it back on and ran it up without a load on and said around 5K RPM it started making some really bad noises. That is the story. Now there are a lot of questions. What noises? What do they really think is wrong with it? I do not know as of this point in time. Here is what I can tell you. I was able to locate a motor, but the left front motor mount has been sheered off, and the oil pan and the clutch cover have been sold off of it. Is that worth trying to get? Can I get someone to plasma cut off my motor mount and weld it to the new engine? The "new" engine only has 3800 miles on it. I don't know I am really bummed! I will make some more phone calls tomorrow and try to find out what exactly is wrong with my bike and see what I can find out about getting this other engine into a working running mountable state. I will keep you posted.

 

OK, I found out a little more today about what is going on with the engine. The mechanic says that it spun a rod bearing. I am looking into what it is going to cost to rebuild the engine now. But the other question for me is what caused the issue to begin with and how can I make sure that it is not going to happen in the future or what can I do to try and make sure that it doesn't happen in the future.

 

has that motor been opened before? if the oil level was fine and it still spun a bearing - i'd think something caused one of the oil jets/orifices to become clogged so that the bearings weren't getting any oil.

at a shop, motor rebuilds are usually $1000 to $1500.


what motor mount is it? if it's the one on the head - buy that motor from that guy and then have the shop put the head from your bike onto your new motor and call it good. i find it hard to believe that if it were the other mounts that the motor would be okay.

 

I don't think that the motor has been opened up before. I am not sure if I mentioned it on this thread or not, but the guy who I bought it from concealed that a piece of the motor was broken off by the stator cover and he tried to repair it with JB Weld, so I am guessing that when they fixed that piece and welded it back in that all of the JB weld wasn't cleaned out and piece, like you said, clogged up an oil jets/orifices. The engine is the one where the mount is part of the case, I talked to a welder and he said that he could do it, but then in talking with the shop again, they think that it might be better to rebuild it, it seems that they are understanding just how scarce these engines are becoming. I am still waiting to hear back from them, hopefully tomorrow and see what their prognosis in on it. I will keep you updated.

Here are two pictures of the bike, one before I started the whole project and one after completion and before engine malfunction

 

i dig the matching wheels/swingarm/frame.


it's a shame you're having all these problems with it.


let me know what they say. it may still be advantageous to just have a weld shop fab a motor mount onto that second motor and use it instead of a quick rebuild from the shop

 

That is going to be a tricky weld though don't you think? To get that to line back up at the exact right position? I would think that if they get it off just a fraction that it would pull off to the side....am I over thinking it?

Yeah I really miss riding her....I have an 2010 FJR, so I can still ride, but she just ain't the same. I'm taking an advanced rider safety course in the later half of July and I was hoping to be on the blade, but I guess I'm taking my FJR