color of crank

moved this from rebuilds to 'reg'lar' forum......well my pig in a poke 1973 commando engine came today and I started checking it out....took rocker covers off and tops of valves are shiny clean and collets look new...looked down plug hole and only a whisper of carbon on top of pistons...head gasket edge is shiny like new.....poured some marvel mystery oil in plug holes and let it soak a while and put vice grips on primary side crank end and engine turned over fairly easily...took big drain plug out of bottom of cases and the little wire gauze had no sludge or shiny bits....by now I am thinking good stuff...but...took ignition side cover off and oil pump had reddish stain on it ..no red rusty stain on chain..red rusty stain wasn't fluffy or scaly and most wiped off with rag.....I shined light in breather hole and could see shiny rod....shined light in big drain plug hole...uh oh....crank has that same rusty red/brown stain on flywheels....I plan to take top end off tomorrow...it seems to me that engine sat in unheated bldg. and condensation was present...seems that top end was done not long ago...thoughts? re-marks?
today I took rag and WD 40 and wiped oil pump timing chain etc and 90 percent of 'stuff' came off it appears to be very superficial

Well, unless you do a teardown you will still have a "pig in a poke"

But personally I might just flush the crankcase out with some kerosene and run it. Monitor it close and you should then know if it has to come apart...

Yep thats what I would do as well, flush it out with kero a few times till it comes out clean then fill her up with clean oil and go for it.

Ashley

Stopped in my local hardware store to buy a gallon of kerosene and the man started to apologize to me and said that would be $12.00 US for a gallon of the stuff. He said it was "triple filtered",,,,,,,poured through the same filter three times?
The only gas stations that still sell it in bulk are the ones in rural areas. The next time I ride that far out of town I'll check their price.
Dave

The main thing I would be concerned about wouldn't be visible with the camera. That would be rust pits on the main bearing races. If there are pits the bearing will not be long for this world...

I have an inspection camera and it is real handy but it doesn't tell you the history of the motor.

I’m not sure what preceded this part of the story, and it would probably be the deciding factor for me...

Meaning...

If this is in an otherwise good bike, that will be ready to roll with some simple recommissioning, then I’d flush it, ensure it had a good oil filter, run it, change the oil soon and see what happens (as Comnoz alluded to).

However, if it’s a restoration project upon which I was lavishing mucho time and cash, then having the engine out on the bench already would make it an absolute no-brainier, I’d strip it and clean it and lavish equal mucho time and cash upon it as the rest of the job.

Nothing worse than a shiny resto with a shot engine (“All fur coat and no knickers” as my Dad likes to say) !

I couldn't agree more, except that I find "all fur coat and no knickers" creates a much better mental image for me than all bling no engine!

gentlemen..thanks for your thoughtful remarks...today I called my cousin over he had a car restoration repair shop for 30 years before he retired he brought his borescope ..we ran the pistons down to BDC and he put scope in each cylinder and looked around...you could still see strong crosshatching and no rust or corrosion at all on the cylinder walls and only a trace of carbon on piston tops..he put borescope up oil drain plug hole and saw the residual condensation rust and said everything else looked ok..he examined the valves through the ports and said they looked new...so I have decided to go the kerosene/oil route and see what happens ...many thanks