zed1015 wrote:If the lower case is irreparable (which would have to be very bad damage) then bolt the mismatched cases together with the outer crank bearing races in situ but without the hollow case locating dowels and mic them up.
The cases are machined very consistent from engine to engine, especially within the same production run so chances are that the bearing housing bores will be spot on but the dowels may throw alignment off when fitted.
There's a good chance that you will get away with it as is but you need to do some careful measuring and of course know what you are doing.
If everything measures up but the dowels throw it off it's possible to relocate them.
Using odd cases was common practice in racing circles will no ill effect and I bet there's quite a few zeds running around just fine with odd cases without the owners knowledge.
I'm not sure if I understand what you mean with "mic them up"?
However I did some testing. I used one of the outer bearing races and tried it in place with the cases pushed together. I tested both sides on both the cracked case and the mismatched case. With the hollow dowel pins in place. It felt like a realy snug fit and I could feel no difference between the cracked case and the mismatched case.
So I went on for a second test.
I used the same method again, but instead of only the race of a crank bearing I used the whole crank. Same result.
And as a third test I followed the same procedure but with both the crank and the grear box in place. Same result.
So, can I draw any conclusions from the tests?
The crack is pretty big but locaded just infront of the starter (meaning a weld wont be visible).
However I discovered that previous owner made some engineering on two lost threads holding the cover for the chain sprocket. He drilled out approx 8-10 mm and filled the hole with polyester plaster and put a threaded pin which would hold the cover. So in order to use the cracked case i will need to have further more welding to be done.