Hey guys, this is my first post and hopefully I'll be able to stick around for a while.

Here's the deal...

My buddy works at a motorcycle shop and 8 or more months ago(probably longer) they got in an F4i that was running on two cylinders. When they removed the head they found a blown head gasket. They had the head machined and got a new head gasket, but as they were about to put it back together they found some etching/scoring on the deck of the block between cylinders two and three so they didn't put it together and called the owner. The etching is just deep enough to get a fingernail caught in it.

Long story short, the owner never calls back and just leaves the bike there at the shop in pieces, won't answer calls from the shop or anything. Fast forward to today, the owner of the shop is about to go through whatever the process is of him legally getting ownership of the bike and he wants to sell it for what my friend who works there said is "a couple hundred bucks." If that's true I'm thinking about buying it and fixing it to ride.

My question is can the deck of the block be resurfaced to take care of the scoring/etching even though the head has already been machined and then use a thicker head gasket to make up for the difference? I'll find out how much was taken off later today hopefully. The owner of the shop also said that he has used Yamabond on problems like this in the past with success. I'd rather do it the right way before something like that though.

Me and my buddy will be doing all the work except for the machining and yes, we know what we're doing. We just can't find any information about resurfacing the block.

 

hey there welcome to cbrforum..... sounds like your pretty knowledgable on your mechanics.... only advice i can offer its works like a charm every time for me..... also worst case senario... the the bike even without the motor is worth more that a few hundred bucks... ide say scrap the motor and look on ebay or on the sales section in this forum and just get a new motor... would put all your worries to rest.... and youde have a better peice of mind rather than worrying about when and if shes going to blow

welcome again

 

after re reading your questin... i dont see why you couldnt do what you stated... only thing i could see going wrong would be it could mess up your compression slightly but i cant see it being drastically if your only looking to remove some scoring/etching

 

Yea even if I can't fix it I'd still probably buy it to part out. My whole thing is keeping $$ as low as possible(senior year of college, student loans). Needless to say, buying a used engine is not an option. But if all I really gotta do is resurface the block I'll put in as many hours as i need to until it's back on the street.

 

That's my thinking too. I'm just worried about piston to valve clearance as I don't know much about honda motorcycle engines, I'm a car guy. I don't want to get the work done, go to fire it up and get bent valves.

 

im sure some here can help you more technically than i can.... but ide say you could at least try and call your local bike shop and ask them... (as long as they arent some bimbo bike shop who only does basic stuff)

try calling this number

(309) 266-8085

its a place local here called jay riddle racing... the guy builds drag bikes.... also sells and mods/does machine work for bikes... just tell him your situation and ask him what he thinks and hell give you his opinion....

im not sure where your located but im in Central Illinois lol so just make sure your not calling his shop at 2 in the morning our time

 

Will do, thanks for the help.

More detailed info on the bike to come...

 

I know thats fine in auto engines. In face it's common practice...

 

Right, I just want to make sure I don't take too much off since the head has been machined already. I gotta wait to hear from my buddy to see exactly how much was taken off.

 

you should be fine. just call cometic and get custom head gaskets made for it. there website is www.cometic.com . they made some for my 84 cr500r that i could not get the base gasket to seal.It has been 4 years and it is still not leaking.