I'm not desparately upset about it and I don't think other SL owners need worry. The old girl had more than 28000 miles on her and had been fitted from new with high compression pistons and other engine / suspension mods and had been used, erm, 'enthusiastically' by the owner.
I've no complaints, these things happen sometimes to higher mileage Dukes.
Baines are fitting a fully serviced (but standard) 904 engine so I'm sure it'll be good as new when I see it again.
Phew, I was nearly selling mine to you then BC if impending doom was on the way, but should have another 17K miles of pleasure before I hit 28K on my current rate of use thats about 8 years away Glad you are getting it sorted mate, mind you red uns are more reliable as well as faster
I personally know of several carbed 944HC kits in the US that have over 30-40,000 hard miles on them each with no problems. one guy recently upped it to the BCM 966HC kit because the 944HC kit was so rock solid. It's a beast!
You said that the HC piston etc. was all broken up. Did they look into what caused this? Wish/hope they can find the root cause.
I had to replace my engine on the 900SS so am feeling for you. Knowing the approximate price for a second-hand engine I'm not surprised that you aren't too pi$$ed off - certainly cheaper than a service for a 4V motor!