west bend 820's and E bay

[ted johnson]

Be very careful of the advice you give. If you are working on a known engine you may know if the main bearings have been replaced and when. However several years ago I bought a 91B1 and rebuilt it. I cleaned, inspected and relubed the 6203 bearing and reused it. Today almost all the bearing you buy have the cage around the balls pinned. 2 min. on the test stand and the little pins came out and destroyed the piston, bore and head. So today when an engine shows up it gets new main bearings. You still need the new seals and gaskets, the rod and rod bolts, the piston clips, the new main bearings, probably rings for the used piston, and diaphrams for the carb (included in the $50.00 carb mod). So you haven't saved a lot. You still have to wonder about the bore if you are buying a used engine and yes you can run it stock if you want to go really slow.

Yep, I've seen a few 820's do what the one in the pic did! I did the same thing to a square port 101A/A in a street race in Ft. Myers, FL. My ex said she could hear it coming! It stopped running so fast the axle clutch couldn't disengage and it slid the rears for more than a hundred feet. When there's no meat left to hold the top of the block on, it doesn't matter if there's a steel liner or not.   TJ