Hello there,
I have a set of Mk1 LeMans cylinders and pistons with the cast iron liners. Unfortunately, they’d become pitted ( I assume at some point it had sat in a condensing environment for a while ) and so I replaced them with a set of second-hand plated cylinders and pistons about 25 years ago. I’ve been looking at getting the old ones redone and put in stock before it becomes too late. It appears I’ve already left it too late for oversized pistons and rebore.
However, Harper’s in Kansas City have offered a Nikasil reconditioning service for cast-iron liners for a number of years and I’m thinking about it again.
Does anybody know of an outfit here in UK that will take cast-iron lined cylinders and Nikasil them ?
Gino,
Langcourt charge 160+VAT per cylinder, so not too bad. Their normal work is plated bores, but they can plate onto the iron liner and it allows the standard piston and rings to be used ( I was surprised; I thought it might need the later rings at least ). However, they weren’t confident they could repair the pitting.
Harper’s charge $425 for a pair and when I last spoke to them about it ( several years ago ) they reckoned it wouldn’t be a problem to bore out the pitting and plate back up to the correct bore. Problem is that HMRC have become a complete pain in the wotsit lately, and they WILL be impounded on return and you’ll need to pay 20% VAT + import duty ( I don’t know what that is on motor parts/services ) + brokerage fee to bust them out of customs.
In addition, Harper’s reckon US-UK is the riskiest shipping, with possible exception of the third-world; they reckon more stuff goes missing on this route than anywhere else in the world. They just don’t think it’s worth risking LeMans parts to the transatlantic crossing.
So, unless you know someone with 10 kg of spare baggage space each way going over to US, for a long enough stay to get them done in time, it’s probably not viable for us.
When I’ve ordered a couple of things from US recently tended to be nearly as much as the thing, e.g. if it was say whatever it was plus $20 shipping, then about same again minus the shipping. I.e. nearly double. You get a card thru the door saying more to pay, either go to the P.O. or can do it online and (finally) have it delivered. Tho last thing I ordered was literally just $5 so HMRC apparently weren’t interested. That’s new parts tho don’t know how it will work with supplied parts for machining going both ways.
Interesting about US - UK route being one of the riskiest for shipping!
I just landed $20 of items with $20 of postage and now £20 of duty and handling charges. That last part is a lot to do with the carrier the vendor uses in my experience. Not happy.
Hi Andy
Hmm, £160 plus vat is cheaper than new barrels… Just, bought a set from Stein Dinse when the £- Euro was in our favour and apart from some extra machining (the skirts weren’t finished) they are good.
From memory we used to get our TZ Barrels Nikasilled in Germany back in the early 80’s for about £120 if I remember correctly so I suppose £160 per Barrel in this day and age isn’t too bad, Oh well I’ll give up on the idea of making a quirky wine rack with my old ones then
Might be worth seeing if you could organise the pickup from Harpers yourself. You could try Fed ex for example and see if they will do a pickup in the US and deal with the import. That way you can see the charges up front and pay them, and they are responsible for customs clearance for you.
It will always be expensive though, you can’t get round duty and VAT and courier charges for small shipments are always going to be significant too.
Might also be worth asking Teo Lamers, Agostinis or Stein Dinse if they know anyone, at least then keeps it within the EU (for the time being)
e.g. if it was say whatever it was plus $20 shipping, then about same again minus the shipping. I.e. nearly double. You get a card thru the door saying more to pay, either go to the P.O. or can do it online and (finally) have it delivered. Tho last thing I ordered was literally just $5 so HMRC apparently weren’t interested. That’s new parts tho don’t know how it will work with supplied parts for machining going both ways.