The 'Uh Oh'

Hmm... change of pace.  Lets see what I've bought as far as the engine is concerned.  Until now, have left the engine, very non-shallont, half on its side, in the middle of the floor & constantly in the way. Complete with fossilised spider eggs, webs, and some sort of ancient worm like creature wedged in a crevace around the gear selector shaft.

Testing my new strength thanks to 4 weeks with Tony Horton (P90 and P90X excersize videos), I easily lift the engine on to a trolley and wheel it outside and drench it in degreaser.  I give it a good hose off and inspect it to see where to needs a second squirt of degreaser.

Hmm... whats that? In the immortal words of one Homer J Simpson... "DOH!".   "Oh dear..." "Good lord" and other such words were exclaimed, and there it was.  The bottom right front engine mount hole in the lower engine crank case, is cracked through in 2 places.  The top crack is clean thru and a daylight gap of 1mm is visible.  The bolt hole is now oval, from probably 30,000kms (18,000 miles) of Oz's best roads wearing the hell out of the hole.

My suspicions have been confirmed.  This bike has had a decent accident on the right side, damaging that engine mount, the rear engine bolt, and foot peg bracket that I have replaced, as it was bent.  Doesn't help, that the engine weighs more than the rest of the bike.

The dilemma?  A quick google, and ring around, suggests that the engine, MUST, be pulled completely down, and I either have to replace the upper and lower case, or, hope that I can get the lower one welded up and strengthened.  Looking like either way, the engine has to be rebuilt now.  I was planning on cleaning it up externally, and running it.  Alas, that will no longer happen.

The next decision?  Do I try and pull it down and rebuild it myself, with my only prior engine work experience being a 140cc 4hp Briggs and Stratton re-ring 15 years ago?  Or, save my pennies and eat Maggi noodles for the next 6 months and send the engine to a experienced mechanic?

Decisions decisions....