Jay, That news about your engine sucks. If I can help, let me know. Might be best to put it out to the universe like you are doing and see what happens over the next few days. I see that Procycle already answered with a good offer over in the DR650 thread. Jammit, lashit, bashit...okay maybe not. Jay
I have a cylinder head, cam (no sprocket), piston and pin if you need them. Some other parts laying around as well - no cam chain tho. I'm in SF proper - PM me if you think any of this stuff may be of use to you. EDIT: Just saw you phone # in another post. Too late to call you right now, but I PM'd you my #.
Hi Jay, The glass half full says its all good, you are doing this with chronological sense, breakdowns and spending money on mechanical snafu now instead of later. You'll be on your way soon. Good luck on your journey, I will be following it closely, Africa will be amazing. Subscribed
Well good news is that I've found a known donor motor to put in my bike The friend I've been staying with, Shridhar, has an 03 DR that he's not riding much, uses his V-Strom more and has agreed to let me take the motor for a moderate price. Either I find another engine for him down the line or he's ready to sell his bike minus the motor. And I'm in good hands, staying with rider friend of his who's helping me out by driving me around and letting me use his fully equipped garage to do the transplant. He's also throwing a party in my honor this weekend as a trip send off / break-down mourning Very interesting couple: intellectuals, veteran, artist. As they say, when one door closes, another opens. I guess this is what I really envisioned this trip to be about: meeting interesting people and sharing stories. I hoped it would already be happening south of the border, but hey, what's a week or two in the span of 2 years and I knew I really wouldn't have any control of how this trip pans out. Am glad my plans are pretty flexible to absorb situations like this. This is just a hiccup, one of many in the next few years ahead but looks like I'm eating into my maintenance budget rather quickly I'm still going to make it to Africa one way or the other
Haha, I knew you'd chime in with that comment I'm not ready to throw in the towel on the DR and never will be if the issues are something of my doing. If the design was inherently poor I wouldn't have chosen the DR in the first place, but the design is robust and if treated properly, very reliable. This is still a great bike for a trip like this and I hope to show the DR in a good light once I get rolling again. I did consider buying another bike, but I've spent way too many hours setting up the electrics just the way I wanted on this chassis plus the suspension that's on there now and it would take much longer to do than to swap in a different motor. I've taken my DR motor out of and put it back in the frame. Shouldn't be much work once I get my hands on the donor motor - wont happen till Monday. And I'll do a shake down ride to make sure everything is set right and have the mechanics at Werkstatt look it over before setting off again. Thanks for the offer, but yeah, Ive got access to a used known motor to swap in.
That is fantastic. Here's to your friend Shridhar At least leave him with your old engine, so if he ends up selling his bike without a motor, he can offer that one to the buyer. Enjoy your weekend. You should easily be across the border by this time next week. Looking forward to more stories of your journey. Safe Travels
Sweet, Jeff from ProCycle made an offer to buy my lunched motor, which should help offset some of my costs Thanks Jeff! New motor should be going in Monday or Tuesday. Thanks for all the support guys.
Looks good, man. Maintaining a positive attitude will certainly help when bigger challenges pop up later. Looks like you've got that covered. Have a great ride.
Hay Jay I had problems with my 05 klr 35k timing chain slip bent intake valves and need another head but another motor 07 under 4k miles $1150. got me on the road faster. Good luck and have fun when you get to Oaxaca, Puerto Escondido the Garden of Eden campground is at Zicitella beach. tomzap.com Captain Tom
sanDRina rides again! Engine transplant was successful. Fired up on first try. Took about 7 hrs this evening in Mike (mfed)'s garage to remove old motor from my bike, remove motor from Shridhar's bike and put new motor into my bike and fire it up. No mistakes along the way and everything went smooth Thanx a ton Mike. Good wrenching with ya. And now you got some engine removal and installs under your belt :) and many thanx to Shridhar for being so helpful with the donor motor. Going for test ride Tuesday and then hopefully hit the road Wednesday. Can't wait to get going again.