Case Work on Viragos

This one makes me a little nervous as it involves the back-and-forth shipping of empty cases: bulky and fragile. Be sure to empty all fittings and just send in the basre aluminum with the cast-in iron parts. Bolt them securely together. Lay multiple layers of bubble wrap around them. Fill with styrofoam "peanuts" or expanding foam. Anything that must be removed or scraped off on our end will incur more costs to you -- if you expect to get them back.

What we'll do:

Chemical dip (unless you ask us to skip it) to strip all grease and dirt. Blasting with several grades of beads, ending with walnut shells. All oil passages will be blocked at this stage. Optionally, we'll powder-coat black or silver inside; your choice outside. Your main bearing bores will be hard chromed down to 90mm ID and the 6308 bearings of your choice will be seated. Bearings that have oiling channels and oil holes could have passages bored into the transmission feed lines in order to make sure that there is no starvation problems as stock these bearings are fed by splash. Case spigots bored to appropriate girth for your application. We'll look into a maximum bore cut with snug-fit aluminum rings for smaller sizes included. All potential obstacles to long stroke cranks will be fly cut off; all iffy protrusions. New dowels for oil passages and a plugged tap hole for those that want to run an oil cooler from near the pressure release, rather than off the filter cover.

That's all that comes to mind at the moment. No prices set. Reckon on $65 each way on shipping. I must get quotes on plating and powder coating and prices on various bearings. All of these procedures take place elsewhere. Before you ask, do NOT ship complete engines for us to build. This location is not zoned for it. And we can't afford to farm it out. Shipping and transportation add up and no matter how good of friends we are with third parties, they won't work for free.

There is no shortage of good used stators and pick-ups for the early bikes. I have a pile of them here and don't consider them part of my inventory. A new stator can be had for $150; there are no new pick-ups or coils. Any old rectifier/regulator can be persuaded to wire up; the adventurous may fabricate one from scratch. New ones are $125. Gen I rotors are another story: there are none to be had used or new at any price. Years ago, there was a fellow in the Mid-West who ground off the rivets (no small job), flipped the gear over and welded the toothed part back on. I believe he charged a buck and a half. If you have an adventurous machine shop in your area, you might see if they'll undertake this sort of job. But expect to pay several hundred dollars.

I just got my new Rick's catalog and pricelist. Sadly, it's a combination of Excel and pdf and one can't simply copy and paste pictures out of it. It requires a lot of flipping back-and-forth to price parts.

Good news? Gen I TCI units are available for $195. As are Gen I and Gen II starter motors. Gen I Strarter

I suggest that you look at their web site then comtact me. I'll sell it at the listed price. Rick's has a multi-page dealer agreement that among other things has the dealer promise not to sell any of Rick's products for less than Rick's sells them. Look at eBay: the same parts always at the same price. Is it price fixing? Feels like it, but no one is stopping it.

And what of Igniorg? I'll acquire the needed bits at a slight premium and you can hook it right up and make a few minor adjustments. A fully programmable TCI unit including shipping from the EU is $350. Pulse units (ignition pick-ups) are $50 each as are the coils to mate with the TCI. MAP, TPI, temperature sensor, shift accessories, multiple MAPs, and connectors total another $350. That's a total of $900 and for an additional $200 you can add a servo (controlled from the base unit) to turn a valve in your exhaust collector like those found in modern sports-bikes and metric cruisers.

Note well that some common pieces are rather expensive. If you look at the MicroSquirt Archive you'll find that they like LS7 parts. They are a lot cheaper and reliable enough for off-road trucks. An added bonus: the LS7 Yukon coils have what is possibly the most powerful spark on a street vehicle. I have tons of this stiuff waiting for me to start a new project. Fifty dollars in an auto parts store should be more than enough for everything except the spark unit. Plus, right now the EU is reluctant to sell electronic equipment to the US. I've dealt with customs and can take it. And the shipping is astronomical.

Case Work on Viragos

Have It Done Right

What we'll do:

More to come . . .