I finallt got the motor disassembeld on project TLR. Given the overall condition of the bike, I feared the worst. The good news is that the piston looks fine and the ring gap was not too bad.I plan to go ahead and re-ring while I have the chance. Bad news: the bottom of the sleeve of the cylinder. I found a small piece, about the size of two pencil erasers, broken away. I figure since it is at the bottom, I should be ok. It kind of looks like rust damage - an uneven edge. I would guess that it is maybe 6 or 7 mm square in size.

The combustion chamber sure needs some cleaning, that I will do when the valves are pulled for replacement. Top of piston looks pretty good. Cam chain guides show a lot of wear. I picked up replacements along with the cam chain. Anything else I should be looking for?

If you were thinking about a rebore anyway, I would highly recommend PJ Engineering (www.prox.co.uk). They specialise in two strokes, motor cross, blah, blah, blah.

As I knew that there were no pistons available for my RTL, and I didn't want to waste the engine on some a*** who said they could do a job then bugger the cylinder, I spent quite some time phoning round places before I arrived at PJ Engineering. Paul there seemed really knowledgeable and made an excellent job of sleeving the cylinder and honing the bore to the old piston.

I've since recommended several other people and they've all been happy with the results and I'm taking my TLM260 engine there later this week.

David

had a similar problem with the bottom of my cylinder on my villiers two stroke , the missing lump was maybe 1.5 cm x 0.5 cm looked like someone had taken a bite out of it if filed away the rough edges never had a problem again with it ran like a train no probs..

I presume you have drained the oil and will clean the strainer - but don't forget the centrifical filter on the end of the crank....you might find what became of the missing bits.

When I first got the bike, I pulled the drain plug and screen. As the oil drained out, I heard a few clinks in the bottom of the pan...... Now I know where they came from. I plan to pull the oil pump assembly to install a new shift shaft as well as clutch plates. Hope there are no more surprises.