73 Eldorado GILARDONI or Re-plate?

[cappisj1]

With some GILARDONI 850 cylinders showing back up and me getting an Eldorado back on the road do I go with $760 GILARDONI‘s or $450 platting at Millennium?

[LesP]

That would depend on the condition of the pistons you have and new ring availability as far as replating.

A 83 mm Gilardoni kit could be a arrive in the mail plug and play weekend job.

[moto-uno]

 If you were to go with the replating , do you have new pistons ? And are the cylinders still within tolerances ?
 Or be done with all this plating "crap" and get a machine shop to install a set of "LA Sleeves" and bore to replacement piston clearance
 and ride happily into the sunset . Personnel experience leads me to the later ! YMMV Peter

[lucky phil]

If you were to go with the replating , do you have new pistons ? And are the cylinders still within tolerances ?
 Or be done with all this plating "crap" and get a machine shop to install a set of "LA Sleeves" and bore to replacement piston clearance
 and ride happily into the sunset . Personnel experience leads me to the later ! YMMV Peter

Nikasil plating is as good as it gets. A lot better than sleeves. Hard wearing, excellent heat transfer, better cooling, no loose sleeve issues, closer piston clearances. The list goes on. That's why Ducati have been using it for near on 40 years and Guzzi around 30. Because its extremely good. Personally I'd go with a kit as the easy option. If you go with plating with std pistons you'll also need to source new rings as well.

Ciao

[nbags]

do they have any 850 gilardonis anywhere?

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

In addition to having the cylinders replated, you'd need to buy new rings... if you can find them. Most of the usual sources are out. I bought the last ones that Teo Lamers had. I sure there's a company somewhere that could make rings to spec. if you wanted to spend the time to pursue that. A set of rings (when available) added another $130 to the cost of replating, narrowing the gap with Gilardonis.

In my opinion, you'd be better off going with Gilardonis at this time.

do they have any 850 gilardonis anywhere?

These may or may not be Gilardonis, could be a kit that Stein-Dinse has put together with Meteor pistons and Caber rings.
https://www.stein-dinse.biz/product_info.php?products_id=3972

If you want to take your chances with HMB (they tend to not package shipments very well):
https://hmb-guzzi.de/Cylinder-Kit-83mm-850-GT-850-T-T3-T4

[moto-uno]

 I think my post may have been misread , I know of the Nikasil ( Nigusil) advantages , however my remarks were in reference to the
replating route , not new cylinder , piston assemblies .  Peter

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

I think my post may have been misread , I know of the Nikasil ( Nigusil) advantages , however my remarks were in reference to the
replating route , not new cylinder , piston assemblies .  Peter

Replating is still preferable to sleeves IMO. All of the advantages lucky phil wrote and actually less costly than sleeves, their installation and honing in my experience.

[Perazzimx14]

Having gone both routes if avalaible I'd choose Gilardoni kits every time.

The re-plating after factoring packaging and shipping cost, new rings and circlips saved me less than $100. It was my only option at the time. Now even if Gilardonis were 50% more I'd still pick them.

[moto-uno]

 I put 89mm Wiseco pistons in mine at least 100,000 km ago ( with the mentioned L.A Sleeves) and I'm now getting
around 800 miles to a liter of oil , so I'm suggesting it's been a pretty good alternative . I had the cases bores out
about 4mm to allow for the thicker sleeves I wanted . Just how many miles is he really going to put on this rebuild ?
It's nice to have a choice :) . Peter

[lucky phil]

I put 89mm Wiseco pistons in mine at least 100,000 km ago ( with the mentioned L.A Sleeves) and I'm now getting
around 800 miles to a liter of oil , so I'm suggesting it's been a pretty good alternative . I had the cases bores out
about 4mm to allow for the thicker sleeves I wanted . Just how many miles is he really going to put on this rebuild ?
It's nice to have a choice :) . Peter

A litre of oil every 1350klms sound like fairly high consumption.

Ciao

[moto-uno]

  It is, in reference to new cylinders etc . But it didn't get this large (990 cc)  so I could drive it like an old geezer ( which I am now :( ) . That bike
had the red line hammered in 4th and almost 5th gear almost daily on my race to work from the backwoods of Quebec for almost 8 years !
And keep in mind not all that oil is past the rings ( think valve guides ) . Originally, oil level was stable for the first 5 years or so before the
use ( abuse ) started to catch up with my delinquent ways !  Peter

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

89 mm bore x 78 mm stroke = 970.5 ccs. 

[moto-uno]

^  No wonder I couldn't get redline in 5th on that straight away  . Peter