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A different motor will likely be your cheapest option once the chrome goes....
You may have over-complicatred the decision process a bit.
Millennium is the name of the company I've been trying to think of. A number of threads on this board referring to them. Do a search.
Buy a used Jackal motor and stuff it in there -- 25% more displacement and a working charge system/oil filter for not much more than the updated 850 piston kit. Offset the expense by selling ATE your old one for his lawn art project. He likes reusing old bearings and the other robust, 35-y-o wear parts. It's win-win.
I have a running Bassa motor I'll sell for $650.00 plus shipping or pick up for free. Also included are the tb's, ECU and wiring harness. Fuel injected 850T in the making.
Run T3 till it fails, people are overlooking one major point, this is an oil filter engine not a loopy or V7 Sport/ 750S/ 850TOnly the oil pump is unfiltered, I've seen loads of T3's with damaged chrome, didn't even wreck oil pump, certainly nothing else.
He says in the first post that it's an 850-T, so it could have a filter if it's a late T or not if it's an early one.
I'm confident that you would have been sorrier for asking my advice than not. :D I have no issue at all with what you do on your own stuff, Andy. As a part-time studio photographer you're well qualified to turn wrenches. You've proven that repeatedly here as shown with your success with big valves, distributors, carburation, roadside repairs, etc. -- in fact, you've been equally successful with everything you've done with Guzzis. My problem is when you pretend you're an expert and attempt to instruct others in the "ATE method".
My advice:Skip looking at them, and just replace them.I had a beautiful V700 once. The bores were perfect when I checked them every year, in November. One year, I decided to sell the bike, so I checked them again in February. Side light revealed a veritable hill country of small "pimples" in the chrome. A few "hills" had already been overstressed by the rings and had shed the "hilltop" of chrome into the sump. It is just not worth it. Park the bike until you can afford the nikasils.
For those interested in the Bassa motor, I bought the Bassa from a fellow member on here a couple months ago. He bought a new to him Norge so the Bassa was sitting dormant in his shed for a while. The bike has 1000,000 plus on it (did not smoke or make any out of the ordinary noises).
I So far, I've seen no evidence of sparkley bits in the oil sump. Dave
That is exceptional, a true million miles. I'm impressed but still interested, Makes the OP's 52K a bit pitiful (as it is for a 38 year old bike)Let the OP have first bite, then me please