need opinions on this

Ban-One

Ban-One

Registered
Ok the other day I looked on Craigslist and found a motorcycle mechanic. He said that he has worked at several shops and that he was at Ducati of Tallahassee for 5 years. The guy sounds like he knows what he is talking about. When I asked him about a valve adj, he told me how long it will take and the price he gave me was under what a dealer would charge. He said that the bike needs to be cold in order to work on the valves. Now the guy lives about 10min from me and I am going to meet up with him tomorrow. I am going with a buddy cause I dont know what if anything I may be getting into. What I'm not sure about is the fact that he said that since the bike needs to be cold, I would have to leave it at his house overnight. I dont like that idea at all!! He said that he did some work for a shop here in town (he said that he has not been here long) that I'm going to call and try to check up on him. Can you guys think of anything that I can ask him to see if he knows what he is talking about? What would you all do in that situation?
 
there is no way i would leave my bike with a guy i didnt know for even a little while. if its only 10 mins away he can come to your house. jmo
 
I will meet him tomorrow then maybe get him to work on it in a week in so. He wants me to fix his s2000. Job swap style.
 
Yes, the motor should be cold, as in stone cold, sit overnight cold, so at least he knows what he is talking about. As for whether or not you trust him, that's a different issue.
 
Does he have a full set of shims in stock? If not it may take awhile. You dont know what size you need until you measure the clearance and then remove the cams and the tappets. If he doesnt have them and you local shop doesnt have them then it takes about a week or so to get them ordered.
 
Ban-One said:
So you measure and then take the cams out to adjust them?
Click to expand...
Yes. And you won't know what shims to buy until you know what shims are in there.

In the future, you can save yourself some time and work if you carefully write down the number of each shim for each valve position. Then, when you measure the clearances, you can figure out what shims you need to buy without pulling the cams.
 
Ban-One said:
Well its whatever the factory has in there.
Click to expand...
Yes, that's true, but that doesn't mean they will all be the same size shims. They might be, but then again they may not be.

If you have a record of the shims in there at the last adjustment, then you can figure out the shims you need before you pull things further apart. You can also see if you can use one of the shims that needs replacing in another position - often the case - so you don't need to buy as many shims.

Gixx1300R gave you excellent advice about asking if he has a pretty good set of shims.
 
Here is the e-mail I got.
Valve adjust only? If so, you're looking at around 3.5 hours labor to check the valves, maybe less. If any need adjustment, the cams must be removed to change shims out as needed so there would be additional labor plus the cost of shims (about $6 for each valve that needs adjustment). To remove cams for adjustment, probably figure about 1.5 hours additional. I charge $45/hour and guarantee my work. The only other thing you may need is a valve cover gasket, but usually those are re-usable. So...

$157.50 valve check
$ 67.50 additional for adjustment if needed
$ 6.00 per shim needed, maximum 16 shims (usually only two or three valves need adjustment, but you never know. also I have a decent selection of shims - If I have what you need I'll just trade out shims)
$ 7.50 flat shop supply fee. This covers my shop towels, cans of contact cleaner, suzukibond, etc. that I will use
-------------------
$232.50 plus parts if they need adjustment; $165 if no adjustment is needed. Only items in question would be the valve cover gasket (probably not needed) and shims.
 
According the email he knows what he's talking about.

As far as trusting him that's for you to decide.
 
I won't comment on this guys character, But sounds like he's just trying to
make a living to me. Most crooks are not going to bring you to their house.
Also all the info sounds on point. You already made the best choice by taking
a friend with you I would advise that with any meet off Craigslist.
 
The quote he gave you is thorough and very much in line with everything discussed already in this thread. You should compare that to a dealer quote and have to ask yourself if the anticipated savings is worth your worry.

The dealer will probably want to replace a lot more parts. They almost automatically replace things like the valve cover gasket and those gaskets that go under the four center bolts on the valve cover. (does the Busa have those? I haven't had mine apart yet) Dealers do this because they don't want the engine to leak when they are done or they will be paying for the labor to fix it. Instead they get you to replace a bunch of parts that sometimes leak, but can often be reused by a cost conscious mechanic. They sell more parts, they guarantee their work, and take a lot less risk this way.

In contrast, the private mechanic tries to save you a little money and you may be more willing to overlook a little oil weep hidden under a bunch of plastic bodywork. Or you may not discover it for months. It's usually not serious and rarely worth pulling things apart to fix. You also develop a relationship with someone who can help you out when things get really expensive, like a bent shift fork in the tranny or chewed up dogs.

You also risk not having the power of a dealership to fix it if things do get screwed up.

In all, the private mechanic sounds like the work I have done over the years to save some friends some money, but I could never offer them what a dealer could. People say "stealership", but that's usually just a bad joke in my opinion. There are many good shadetree mechanics out there, sometimes excellent one, but there is a trade between price and risk. Dealers and private mechanics offer different services for different prices.

I don't know anything about Tallahassee.
 
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Does he have insurance? (For example, if the bike is damaged or stolen.) I always take mine to the dealer for service.
 
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I say peace of mind has a price tag. I would gladly pay a few extra bucks for peace of mind. However, like someone else said, most theives/scammers aren't going to have you come to their house.
 
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