New to me 2012 - Needs Transmission

[hollywooduno]

Hello busa community! I have been gone for a long while but recently picked up a 2012 with ~30k miles on it. Prior I had a '99 and '02 but life got in the way for a while and I took a break from riding. Now on to the bad news....

The bike I picked up clearly has been ridden hard and put away without any maintenance being performed. Before my maiden voyage I replaced tires, brakes, brake fluid, oil & filter, and fork seals. Also did a lot of clean up. Then on my first day out, I made it about 2 miles down the freeway before the bike fell out of 6th gear (under normal load) and into a false neutral between 5th & 6th with a lot of horrible noises coming from the trans. I went down into 5th and everything seemed ok, but when I went back into 6th, it again fell into the false neutral with horrible grinding noises. The bike will not shift down into 4th, 3rd etc, and will make horrible noises in 6th, so 5th is all shes got.

I contacted the prior owner to ask what was going on and he is claiming there was never any shifting issues. I took it to the local dealer and they have concluded (without splitting the cases) that it needs a transmission rebuild. They are quoting $1700 in labor plus parts.

My questions are:
1. Did I buy a lemon, or is it possible this is the first time this happened?
2. Would you just do the transmission rebuild or would you lean towards an entire engine rebuild to ensure there aren't any gear pieces floating around in oil journals which may cause issues later?
3. Should I go for the ultimate "while you're in there" and look for a big block kit for it? If yes, who should I go to for this?
4. Who is the recommended shop to perform this sort of work in the L.A/ San Diego Socal Area?

Thanks in advance!

 

[mabupa]

A lot of 2nd gens are known to have the dreaded random false neutral between 5th and 6th. Mine has done it since knew and is a real nasty sound when she doesn’t go into 6th and kind of “floats”. As for the other gear issues, not sure what’s going on there. A transmission repair is simple enough that some members have done the work themselves. @nintastio comes to mind. I’m my opinion is a huge $$ difference between a transmission repair and going in to upgrade the whole engine, but if money is not an issue, maybe now is the time(?).

 

[Dai.]

That is exactly what happened to my 08 Bus, ended up replacing a lot more than we originally thought. I’ll find the invoice when I get home and take a screenshot with what could be needed.

 

[nintastio]

I recently bought a bike with a trans issue, but is a gen 1. I have zero prior experience working on a motorcycle beyond removing fairings and exhaust but I do have a decent amount of wrenching experience on cars.

I was able to get the engine out in my garage without any real trouble, replaced a shift fork that looked worn and sent out the trans to get undercut. The bike had 21k miles on it when I tore it down and I did minimal repairs just to get it back on the road due to limited funds.

If money was not a concern I would have probably dug in a little deeper and replaced bearings and such while in there, but I also didn't want to take a chance of messing something like that up since it was my first time inside a motorcycle engine. I am also extremely impatient when it comes to this kind of stuff, so I wanted to get back to riding since it is the first bike I've owned in almost10 years.

Also I'm not overly familiar with the way a 2nd gen trans will fail and if it's the same as my 1st gen. Mine seemed to be a combo of a bent/worn shift fork and worn out dogs so an undercut and new fork solved all my issues.

 

[hollywooduno]

That is exactly what happened to my 08 Bus, ended up replacing a lot more than we originally thought. I’ll find the invoice when I get home and take a screenshot with what could be needed.

This would be super helpful. Thank you!

 

[hollywooduno]

A lot of 2nd gens are known to have the dreaded random false neutral between 5th and 6th. Mine has done it since knew and is a real nasty sound when she doesn’t go into 6th and kind of “floats”. As for the other gear issues, not sure what’s going on there. A transmission repair is simple enough that some members have done the work themselves. @nintastio comes to mind. I’m my opinion is a huge $$ difference between a transmission repair and going in to upgrade the whole engine, but if money is not an issue, maybe now is the time(?).

I wouldn't say money is no issue, but if I want to do it at some point I might as well do it now.

 

[shade]

If you are going to be opening the cases anyway...
Just put turbo pistons and valve springs and steel valves.
Then go turbo.
I'm sure some will disagree but big bore IMO is less street able then a well built turbo bike.

 

[hollywooduno]

If you are going to be opening the cases anyway...
Just put turbo pistons and valve springs and steel valves.
Then go turbo.
I'm sure some will disagree but big bore IMO is less street able then a well built turbo bike.

Is there an off-the-shelf turbo setup?

 

[sixpack577]

Is there an off-the-shelf turbo setup?

Contact Powerhouse Cycles in Long Island NY
They can sell you a package deal.
You build it and have it dyno tuned.

 

[Dai.]

This would be super helpful. Thank you!

 

[hollywooduno]

For those on pins an needles wondering what I ended up doing.....

As this was always meant to save me fuel on a 40 mile commute, getting the bike back on the road asap was my top priority. (Gas is pricy here in Cali). I ended up taking the bike to a local dealer and they tore the bike down, split the cases and gave me a quote for $5600!! Apparently they thought is was far worse than @Dai.'s

I of course had them pack the bike up for me to pick up, went and bought a complete power unit from a local dismantler (recycler?) for $3000 and proceeded to install it. This weekend I finished getting it installed into the bike. Runs good and strong and with a motor that has half the miles on it!

Thanks all for the insights and opinions.

Pic 1,2&3 are the dealer quote.
Pic 4 is the bike mid-install. I used one runner of my 4-post lift as a bike lift. It wasn't perfect but way better than crawling around on the ground.
Pic 5 is from the 1st start video.

 

[BigBSBusa]

Glad you got it fixed. Did I miss the video though? I see a pic of the gauge cluster, but no link.

 

[hollywooduno]

Glad you got it fixed. Did I miss the video though? I see a pic of the gauge cluster, but no link.

I didn't post the video as the site says it is an "invalid" format.

 

[Dennis]

You can buy a used trans for a few hundred and put the other engine back together. Or send it out to be undercut and buy new shift forks. Can be done for a lot less that 5600.

 

[Hayabusa Wannabe]

I didn't post the video as the site says it is an "invalid" format.

Yes videos cannot be uploaded but only linked, say via YouTube.

 

[Dnyce]

U can buy a whole damn bike for $5600.

U should take your motor with the messed up trans, remove it, send it to Robinson to get undercut, and slowly build a badass motor. Ape still does exchanges on bored out blocks if you go big bore, or put stock size turbo pistons in it and go that route. When it’s complete, swap the motor.

 

[nintastio]

Glad you got it up and running, but like others said you can fix that trans fairly cheap and you clearly have the tools and knowledge to split the case and swap gears or send them out to get undercut. You can recover most of the funds you spent on that new engine.