Hi,
Please help me, I bought a 57 r50 and needs a lot of work, 1 cylinder is lost, I want to rebuild the engine, i want more power, I need to know if I can install r60 cylinder and pistons or r50 s,
where can i buy a set of cylinders and pistons ?
I need a fuel tank and complete front shocks
regards
Eduardo
1957 R50 cylinder
-
unrepentantgeek
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Wed 29. Apr 2009, 08:29
Re: 1957 R50 cylinder
Hi Eduardo,
So many things to cover. First off, that's a very nice bike you have. I also own a '57 R50 and am in the process of rebuilding the engine. You are not going to be able to fit R60 cylinders and pistons on that engine as the crank has a different stroke length. You could fit R50S pistons and up the compression a bit.
As for the missing cylinder, you need to find another cylinder from an R50, not an R50/2. The cylinder design changed around 1960 or 1961 (someone have the exact date?) and the newer cylinders are not compatible. Don't worry though, they can be found. Don't buy new pistons until you have a set of cylinders. You may need to have them bored out at which point you'd need new pistons again.
When you go to rebuild your engine get yourself the many-in-one tool kit from Cycleworks. It's everything that you need to get the bottom end apart and back together.
Tanks and shock assemblies are fairly common on eBay and at parts swaps. I've even seen cylinders go by a few times. Keep your eyes open and you'll find what you need if you are patient. You can also try contacting Bench Mark Works http://www.benchmarkworks.com/ and see if they can help you obtain the parts you need. They seem to be able to get just about everything.
You can follow the work on my bike at http://matthew.livejournal.com/tag/r50 There's a bunch of pictures linked from there. They may help you in your restoration. You'll see there that I'm having Kevin Brooks rebuild my heads for a bit more oomph. It's not a cheap job, but appears to be worth it. The upside for you is that you could wait on that bit and have it done later once your bike is up and running again since the heads are easily removed.
So many things to cover. First off, that's a very nice bike you have. I also own a '57 R50 and am in the process of rebuilding the engine. You are not going to be able to fit R60 cylinders and pistons on that engine as the crank has a different stroke length. You could fit R50S pistons and up the compression a bit.
As for the missing cylinder, you need to find another cylinder from an R50, not an R50/2. The cylinder design changed around 1960 or 1961 (someone have the exact date?) and the newer cylinders are not compatible. Don't worry though, they can be found. Don't buy new pistons until you have a set of cylinders. You may need to have them bored out at which point you'd need new pistons again.
When you go to rebuild your engine get yourself the many-in-one tool kit from Cycleworks. It's everything that you need to get the bottom end apart and back together.
Tanks and shock assemblies are fairly common on eBay and at parts swaps. I've even seen cylinders go by a few times. Keep your eyes open and you'll find what you need if you are patient. You can also try contacting Bench Mark Works http://www.benchmarkworks.com/ and see if they can help you obtain the parts you need. They seem to be able to get just about everything.
You can follow the work on my bike at http://matthew.livejournal.com/tag/r50 There's a bunch of pictures linked from there. They may help you in your restoration. You'll see there that I'm having Kevin Brooks rebuild my heads for a bit more oomph. It's not a cheap job, but appears to be worth it. The upside for you is that you could wait on that bit and have it done later once your bike is up and running again since the heads are easily removed.