My burning question for today : can the cylinder sleeve in my 97 big bear 350 be replaced ? Or bored ? I was told I should buy a new cylinder.
This is after a top end tear down and finding the piston &rings destroyed.

 

Your cylinder should be able to be bored out, rehoned, and reused. Unless the damage was very severe. Or if your block is cracked then you would need a new one.

 

Thanks, the person who advised me to get a new cylinder hasn't actually looked at but he knows more about mechanics than me ( pretty much nothing). I can easily feel and see scratches on the cylinder wall so likely it's toast.
Thanks for your help, much appreciated.

 

Unless the scratches go really deep should be able to be bored out. You can then order a new Piston for the size you bore out the cylinder to. Wiseco sells .20 and .40 over pistons. Good chance to get a higher compression piston for more power too.

 

Well so far, the mechanic has parts quote at $1800 CAN, so I'm not sure I'll continue with the project. Gotta do some thinking on my next move.
Thanks for you help, again, I really appreciate it.

 

You're better off just buying a used bottom end for a couple hundred bucks on ebay if your mechanic is willing to work with that. If not may be better to sell the quad as is. Where are you located?

 

I'm in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. I noticed a piston/cylinder kit on Amazon for less than half the price the mechanic quoted , so maybe I'll try that and use the old head/valves. What do you think ?

 

Here in the UK a rebore on a single costs circa £60, a piston with rings & pin about the same. Gasket set circa £50 too, so the whole thing for under £200. If you are going that route, take the cylinder to the machine shop and ask them what oversize piston to get, my local machine shop likes to have the piston before machining the cylinder to suit it.

 

The mechanic I talked with said he could guarantee any shop around here would charge $500.00 just to do the head. Shot my plans down in a hurry.