To But or Not to Buy an 81 550 Maxim engine with under 10,000 miles on it?

My bike currently has 33,000 miles on the original engine. Although I did do a budget restoration on it by replacing the gaskets and re lapping the valves and cleaning all the carbon out of the heads and cleaning the pistons and honing the cylinders. I was just wondering if I should splurge and just get an engine with less miles on it. I will leave it to the professionals.

 

If it has been maintained properly I don't even see why you'd be considering doing that stuff at that mileage, was there actually anything wrong with it?

I've had two 550 Seca with double that mileage and a bit more that were running strong and hadn't ever been apart

edit: If it was cheap enough then buy it, you can never have to many spares for older bikes

 

If you have the money to spare I would go ahead and get the engine, prep it for storage, and put it on the shelf for later (at least another 100,000 miles later).

 

If you can snag it for a super-low price, grab it and sell it later and make a couple $$ to keep the Xj world going!

 

It's about $325 for the engine. I just did a compression test on my bike tonight and the numbers were between 120 and 140 dry with a weak battery and the valves need to be shimmed. I love my bike and want to keep her going. So maybe it will be a good spare to have.

Thanks everyone for the quick responses.

 

The gaskets were leaking and the valves were full of carbon. The previous owner did not take very good care of the bike. I am in the process of going through the whole bike. I have no knowledge of maintenances.

 

Keep your eyes open and you can pick up a whole bike for less than $325. I got a titled frame and motor for free off craigslist once. Picked up another complete 550 Seca for $125 another time. The free motor only had 6600 miles on it. The other had 24,000 on it.

 

Agreed. I picked up my bike this past fall for $140 in New Paltz. I guess I just have to be patient. Thanks Guys.