Alright fellas, first of all i'll say i'm very glad i find this forum. you all seem like a nice bunch of guys, by the way my name is Dalton. So my question, or concern i guess, is this.....a guy down the street has a honda 125 thats been sittin the drive for about a year, he told me he would sell it for 200 but it don't run. He had thought the cylinder was locked up but me and my buddy walked up to it one day and pulled the cord and heard the piston movin and the exhuast popped, but the cord didn't go back in all the way. So i'm wondering...should i take this deal? what could be the possible issues? i kno there is no pin pointing but what are the possibilities of what could be wrong?? thanks guys. look forward to hearin from yall.

 

Hi Dalton, welcome to the forum. As you said, it is impossbile to even guess what problems may lie ahead with that project. You could be looking at something as minor as a freshening up of the top end,...or you could be looking at having the entire topend needing work including valves, camchain,...even the cam....you just dont know. Your range for those repairs would start around 100 and go up from there,...to an ammount too scary to type for a 125 engine.
Either way,..you are looking at other things that will have to be changed or maintained as well regardless of the engine condiditon. Carburetor cleaning...maybe even a rebuild....air filter, changing of the oil, unplugging the exhaust, etc,etc,etc.

I will say that for $200, what is found is exactly as you describe....unknown repairs needed. Run across them all the time. My rule of thumb is that if you think you could sell enough parts off of it to get your money back in case the project is not feasible,...then buy it and estimate your repair totals once you get in the engine and make the choice to fix, sell for parts, or try to sell as a whole with little or no loss on your investment. In ATC land, thats about the only way to play it safe. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

thanks man...um, the guy who is selling it actually told me that "brenny's" the bike shop down here, will put in a used running engine for 250 bucks worst case senario, meaning if i can't get it to run on my own, then i take it down there and pay 250 bucks, which i don't want to do. so, just out of curiousity, do you think that is a bunch of crap or what?