is this repair price fair?

My son had a leak of oil in his VFR400 NC30 and realised too late, he
sent me the sound and it sounds like a big end
He did find the oil pipe had split.
He has put it off the road for now and had his mechanic "mate" look at
it who has said a best way forward is replace the engine and has
quoted him £500 this seems to me as a big fix rather than a repair.

Would appreciate advice on prices, he lives in Preston.

 

The engine hasn't seized hence he has put it out of use, as I say he
did send the the sound file, after he put new oil in!!
Can't post the sound file on here unfortunately, its in a itunes
format, Im 100 miles away from him so all I have to go on is the
sound.

I would have thought that a repair would be more on the cards, he is
looking around for someone who will give him another quote at the
moment, just to compare.

The £500 quoted was "mate rate"

 

As far as Im aware it includes an engine from a scapper

The engine is running.
I have advised him not to ride it until its checked out.

If it is, I'd advise him to

That maybe the answer yes.

 

I'd echo everything that Champ has said. I'd expect a decent repair on
an engine with a blown big end, and a split oil pipe (off the cooler?
Can't think of any other external oil pipes on that engine) would
certainly cause that, to cost at least £1000 even at 'mates' rates'.

We're talking about engine removal, and believe me that's a PITA as
you wouldn't believe how tightly they're fitted into the frame. Carbs,
the two rads, oil cooler, all cooling plumbing, all electrics, exhaust
(and removing that alone can be a nightmare): it'll take hours.

Then a complete engine strip. You might be able to get the crank
reground and undersized bearings fitted. Even that will cost hundreds.
A new crankshaft is quoted by cmsnl.com as over 1100 euros (so a
thousand quid) and is listed as 'not available' anyway. Plus the new
bearing shells, at around £15 a pair and you may need more than one
pair. If he's damaged the conrod as well, that's another £140 per rod.
Plus all the gaskets, and head gaskets alone are over £20 and you need
two. Plus new oil, filter, coolant, innumerable small O-rings etc.....

Plus the cost of rebuild and re-installation.

In short, forget it.

Sounds to me the 'mate mechanic' knows what he's talking about (which
is rare among 'mate mechanics', in my experience). £500 for a
replacement engine, fitted, is cheap. £500 just for a good engine on
its own is decent value. £500 just for removing and replacing the
engine, but not including the cost of the engine itself, is a bit on
the expensive side.

 

Fair enough,
He loves his bike if it were me presented with that I think I would
cut my losses and sell as spares or repair.

 

If it was me, I'd break it for parts, selling them on eBay. Nobody's
going to want to repair it, as anyone with any sense will realise it's
uneconomic, and there are plenty of people wanting parts for those
bikes. He'll do very well.

Just selling the whole thing for spares is daft, as most people will
only want a few bits and won't want to pay for more than that.
Breaking a bike yourself is a wonderful exercise in how the sum of the
parts is worth far more than the whole.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique,

Move.

HTH.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - "He's hopeless, but he's honest"

I have already made the greatest contribution to the fight against climate
change that I can make: I have decided not to breed. Now quit bugging me and
go and talk to the Catholics.

 

Heh. I have fond memories of Preston. A lot of my Mothers side of the
family were from there or Bamber Bridge, so it's taking quite a bit to
remove the rose tinted specs I have of the place.

Where my aunt lives, troops need to patrol the streets, so she's less
than pleased ...

Paul.

 

<types>
<deletes>
<types>
<deletes>
<pukes>

 

I've never met him.

 

....but I've heard he's a ****.

 

Owns an MV. Nuff said...

 

nah, it's worse than that - apparently he looks a bit like me.

 

Suddenly I feel very sorry for him...

 

<proud>

 

well, yeah - I mean, obviously I look a bit like me, but at least I
can get and keep a woman.

 

To be fair though that's like saying Catherine Zeta Jones looks a bit
like Lisa Riley.

 

are you suggesting you wouldn't do Lisa Riley?

 

Heh. I'll have you know I was asked out on a date yesterday. I'm biding
my time though as she's just got back from a few months backpacking in
South America, so a bit of piggy flu quarantine is in order.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, CT

Nah, they're very nice them MV Augustas.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - "He's hopeless, but he's honest"

I have already made the greatest contribution to the fight against climate
change that I can make: I have decided not to breed. Now quit bugging me and
go and talk to the Catholics.