Hi all,

Its been a long long while on the forum but I moved from the Netherlands to California and brought my Santamonica with me for some track day fun. Since mid 2020 when the world was in lockdown I had my first very hot trackday on big Willow and since then did numerous track days on big Big Willow and Streets of Willow.

Here some photo's of the day the Santamonica engine blew its last sigh after 35 years of track and road use. So I am back to firstly lurk around and learn about the collective know how here on the forum. In the meantime enjoy the great pictures.

Regards, Ron

Welcome back Ronn. I remember posts from the past.

I like the background on the photos, but I did not know Willow was that green.

At least it died with a sword in hand, and I hope you carried it back on its shield.

Let us know what you find is needed to get it going again. Maybe the collective can help. Engine work is easier than body work.

MikeV

Thanks MikeV,

Past 2 winters were very wet for California and created green hills and superbloom.
Indeed the engine blew after 35 years and 60kms of duty and have been running like clockwork until....
I will start to poke around soon, looking for pistons, repainting it, new valves, etc. My biggest concern was some damage to the cases but that is manageable. I also dragged a spare 650 engine with me for years that now is the perfect donor for the crank that didn't survived as well.

Cheers, Ron

This photo gives me a sense of freedom!
Very nice

Why don't you show some photos of what you find during the autopsy so the collective can see what is really needed. Have you seen your transmission lately? There is some concern using a 650 crankshaft with 88mm 750cc pistons, since 82mm pistons were used and the crank balanced for them. MikeV

The transmission is undamaged, it is actually the third transmission from an early 90's longer sprocket spline transmission from a 750SS. Good point about the balancing of the 650 crank. I will check the crankshaft of the Santa to see if it got unbalance / damage, if it is usable I can swap the rods.

Thanks for the helping thoughts. Just opened the 650 engine, it hardly ran in its previous life so potentially a good source for parts but I also noticed from the Santa engine that its buildup with more attention as the 650. Will be setting up a technical topic upcoming week!

Cheers, Ron

Great to have you back as Mike has said. I look at your Symposium Facebook sight daily. Can't wait to enjoy your journey. Lou

Started a technical topic in the F1 technical section!