Sometimes life just isn’t fair; the owner of this Suzuki GSX-R1000K5 club races it but had to bring it in to us so we could the swap crankcases over. Why, you might say?
Because of the legacy that surrounds club racing, of a lot of stolen bikes and parts being used, a lot of clubs these days are much stricter about crankcase and frame numbers. Fair enough. But this particular engine was legitimate, and we know because we bought it many years ago, fully receipted from a proper source – it came from an accident damaged bike that had had the headstock cut out (and sent back to the insurance company) and (crucially) the crankcase numbers scored through with a disc cutter.
So, while the original number is still there, and he has all the paperwork to prove the engine was bought legally, it’s got a score running through it and the owner is simply fed up of not being allowed to race. Which meant swapping out the cases – taking the old engine to bits, and rebuilding everything into the new crankcases – about six hours’ work including re-shelling the bearings.
We then ran it in and set it up on the Dyno. At least he’ll have no more bureaucratic bother!
A straight engine, purchased legitimately failed to meet scrutineers' new rules – the only fix a crankcase swap...
