Any ideas on where to get an engine rebuilt?

[Minister of Etc]

Hi all,

This summer, my c650 Sport started eating drive belts. After the second belt incident, I had the bike towed to my mechanics, and they took apart the CVT assembly, only to find that the output shaft from the engine case to the CVT was very worn, with pitting and jagged edges on the splines of the output shaft.

Replacing the output shaft on the bike will require a near-total teardown of the bike, separating the engine from the chassis, splitting the upper/lower cases, and at the very least replacing the output shaft (if not more drivetrain gears in the engine lower).

My usual mechanics quoted me a ballpark of 40 hours labor just for the teardown/engine split, with the repair and rebuild a separate pile of work -- in other words, unaffordable when compared to just buying another c650.

I'm bummed. I've put 30,000 fun miles on this scoot, and I'm up for saving it, but I also know my limits as a shade tree mechanic living in NYC.

For now, the bike's parked in a client's warehouse, and a couple friends near where it's stored are up for the disassembly process, even cracking the engine.

But I also know that what appears to be fun at first can quickly become a chore, and situations like this are how basket cases are born.

So, since I know that engine rebuilders are a thing, I'm asking y'all if you know have any ideas about a place that could handle the engine rebuild for me (assuming I ship it to them), and leave me and my friends the task of getting the bike apart and back together again.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Ceesie76]

I suggest you look into an alternative solution, which is sourcing a low-mileage replacement engine. They must be around and potentially not very expensive. Rebuilds are probably not commonly performed, so knowledge and parts relatively scarce/expensive. The output shaft is only one of many things that wear out so you're looking at many parts to replace. Last thing you want is go through all that, and then find the rebuild was not entirely successful, and you have to do it all over again. The removal of the engine is probably well described in the workshop manual and just time consuming but relatively simple to do.

 

[RollaCosta]

Could this be worn variator eating belts? I mean worn pulley sides.
what tells you it is the output shaft eating belts?
Also final chain could cause vibrations when loose because it is time to change it

 

[Minister of Etc]

Could this be worn variator eating belts? I mean worn pulley sides.
what tells you it is the output shaft eating belts?
Also final chain could cause vibrations when loose because it is time to change it

Since the variator bell and output shaft both show wear (metal missing/out of true on the positive-negative teeth of their mating surface), both will require replacement. But the variator was otherwise in good condition before this suddenly cropped up.

If the variator could be replaced without addressing the shaft, I'd be going this route, believe me.

It's not the chain, unless the chain was improperly replaced at the bike's 30k service, when it was indeed replaced. The belt eating started at around 34,000 miles.

Regardless of root cause, for this engine to continue powering this bike, it needs a rebuild.

@Cessie76 -- I'm on the lookout for replacement engines, but the options on the ground have been thin so far. eBay has yielded nothing in months other than already disassembled blocks (the very situation I'm trying to avoid), and CoPart/CrashedToys asking prices for write-offs have been too high ao far.

 

[Ceesie76]

Thanks for the update. I just posted a '6 year review' and if my Sport engine ever 'grenades' I will likely just buy a low-mileage replacement and keep my old paperweight-one for all the spare parts.