Jota engine rebuild

D

Deritrend

New member
Location
United Kingdom
Hi
I have a opportunity to buy a 1981Laverda Jota 180 S2 but the engine had seized during a ride throwing the rider. He is ok, but the bike requires engine casings, one exhaust muffler and several dings repairing in the tank and scratches elsewhere. It looks a smart tidy and clean bike otherwise, with upgraded ignition coils, braided brake lines etc.
He's open to offers but I don't know how much would cost to repair? He claims the insurance policy has it valued at 20K but I think this is a bit "Ambitious!"
Any help on this would be very much appreciated
Many thanks in advance
Tim
 
Deritrend said:
Hi
I have a opportunity to buy a 1981Laverda Jota 180 S2 but the engine had seized during a ride throwing the rider. He is ok, but the bike requires engine casings, one exhaust muffler and several dings repairing in the tank and scratches elsewhere. It looks a smart tidy and clean bike otherwise, with upgraded ignition coils, braided brake lines etc.
He's open to offers but I don't know how much would cost to repair? He claims the insurance policy has it valued at 20K but I think this is a bit "Ambitious!"
Any help on this would be very much appreciated
Many thanks in advance
Tim
Click to expand...
Look for £ 7 to 10 000 repair costs for a bike that sells at the moment for £10 000 but on the way down.
Paul
 
Try and find out why it seized and what needs to be repaired. It could be just a stuck piston or something really expensive.

And can you work on the bike yourself? If paying someone else and it has big problems in the motor it will quickly cost more than the bike is worth. If you can fix it yourself and can get it cheap, I would buy it but not for £5500.
 
A rare 6 speed! I'm surprised if not known on the forum. Assuming a tidy insurance payout & modest buy back was tendered this could be an opportunity worth pursuing.
 
Bike looks really nice on that auction site, minor damage only. As others, the conundrum is the engine, and why it 'seized'. Roller bearings and very simple low pressure oil system means there is little to go wrong. Piston nipped up? Again, very unusual unless it's had recent engine work done incorrectly. Cam bearings are plain bearings surviving on very modest oil supply but very rarely give trouble, again unless the f-kup fairies have been in there. Conrods can rarely break but almost always punch holes all over the place.

I'd be fully inspecting the engine before making an offer, is it the crank itself which actually won't rotate? Or is it a gearbox or primary drive seizure? Sometimes people might use an inappropriate primary and/or cam chain "because it fits" and they can break - might lock the crank. Will the owner let you dump the oil, remove the exhaust and sump covers and get an inspection camera up there? You might be able to work out what happened? OTOH, it might reveal something trivial, depends on the owners level of mechanical knowledge, he could be dumping it because he knows it's an expensive fix, or because he can't determine the difference between a crank seizure and a back brake which suddenly clamped on because the footrest linkages were poorly adjusted. :)

In the absence of evidence though, you'd have to base the offer on assuming the worst. If it were my bike I'd have at least dome some basic disassembly to determine the culprit.

Nice bike though, the series2 180's are essentially the best iteration of the triples and are lovely bikes to ride when set up well. But also note that some parts (notably crankcases) are unique to the year and very hard to find nowdays. Confirm there's no holes anywhere, including top of the gearbox under the air filter where 4th gear can very occasionally get ejected.
 
My brother owned an 860 bevel Ducati that apparently seized on a trip from Sydney to Cairns. It was put on a train and sent home. A couple of weeks later, we started investigating its seizure and discovered an alternator magnet had broken off and jammed against the flywheel. Flicked that tiny bit of broken magnet out, and it spun beautifully, lost a bit of electrical energy, but still ran fine. You never know till you look.
 
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Excellent point Vince. The starter clutch might have jammed (or backing plate screws come loose, jamming the freewheel) and either blown something trivial up in there or over-revved and seized the starter motor. Worth a look.
One would almost take a punt on it if the owner just wants rid. Make a low but not offensive offer in the hope it is trivial. Just be prepared for the worst if it turns out he knew what he was doing. :)
 
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1200ts said:
Try and find out why it seized and what needs to be repaired. It could be just a stuck piston or something really expensive.

And can you work on the bike yourself? If paying someone else and it has big problems in the motor it will quickly cost more than the bike is worth. If you can fix it yourself and can get it cheap, I would buy it but not for £5500.
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Many thanks Bob great advise 👍
 
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