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Bought a 1988 paso 750. wow
Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 10:02 pm
by Biohazard
Im brand new to Motorcycles......
Ok so i have a friend at work. I went and looked at the bike.
First off. Who ever painted it did one hell of a crappy job. but that will be redone.
anyways. it ran great. he threw the chain threw the casing and had that fixed. he started it up last summer one day and heared i guess he said it was like a clacking sound. ran for about 3 seconds and he shut it down right away. people have told me a few different things. most are saying that its a broken valve guide. some say it might just be a piece of metal in the cylinder from the earlier damage to the casing. and some say it may be a broken piston rod.
Me knowing this, I payed $500.00 for the bike ( well $550.00 with a brand new matching helmet )
i bought this for a project bike, so now huge rush on getting it going. just your thoughts on this.
i was told that if its the Busted piston rod, its probebly cheaper to get a used engine. people said they can find these used online for under $1000.00
I will be picking the bike up this weekend. and pulling the head(s) off to check them out.
hopefully a bad valve guide or piece of metal....
so anyone know any good place for parts for these. also the front blinkers are gone.
heres an image.. ( new paint job down the road. gonna stay yellow but no flames. )
the oil spot has been there for a while. it drips like a drop a month. ive been there enough to know...

Re: Bought a 1988 paso 750. wow
Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 10:10 pm
by paso750
congrats and welcome.
Before we start just guessing what it all could be that makes noise pull off the heads and check top down. If heads, cylinders and pistons are ok remove the engine covers. If you then still cannot find a cause split the cases if you don“t want to do it right away.
The oil leak could come from the cylinder head but if it`s there also when the bike is unused I`d guess it`s the driveshaft seal behind the front sprocket.
G.
Re: Bought a 1988 paso 750. wow
Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:19 pm
by Biohazard
alright will try all that. with the heads off. are you able to turn the engine over by hand and see if both pistons move like they should. or is it pretty hard to do it by hand? last thing i want to do is split the case. I heared it has to be heated to a certian temp. to split the case.
and nope not in no rush, so wont be just pulling and yanking and guessing....
Re: Bought a 1988 paso 750. wow
Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:35 pm
by higgy
Re: Bought a 1988 paso 750. wow
Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:41 pm
by Biohazard
Sorry new... what do you suggest?

Re: Bought a 1988 paso 750. wow
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 8:28 am
by paso750
higgy, so you suggest just to sit next to the bike looking at it and waiting it repairs itself ?
So then pull the engine covers first and continue from there. All I`m saying is to check all the easy accessible things first before thinking about opening the engine.
In case the cutch etc is ok and you do remove the heads of course you can turn over the engine. Put it in gear and turn the rear wheel by hand. As there`s no compression it will turn easily.
G.
Re: Bought a 1988 paso 750. wow
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 9:41 am
by nnnnnnorman
Re: Bought a 1988 paso 750. wow
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 4:07 pm
by Biohazard
ok more info
bike ran great then he put the chain through the case. took it in to get fixed. brung it home, next day he started it up, ran great for about 3 minutes then the clakin noise, shut it off right away hasnt started it since. they think a piece of metal is the culpret. but trying to find head gaskets and head bolts for the 750 pantah first. before i dig into it. are the motors much different when lookin for the gaskets? thanks again for the help so far. not many places have this old of parts.
Re: Bought a 1988 paso 750. wow
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 5:33 pm
by Desmo_Demon
Welcome...
For the noise, I would suspect that a small piece of the broke case is still inside and will require splitting the cases. At least this is a guess without hearing it. If I were you, I'd casually keep an eye out for a good deal on another engine. If you find a good deal on one before you start dismantling this engine or figure out what is making the noise, you'll probably come out better. Once you split the engine, You'll probably have lcose to $300 (or more just in gaskets to put it back together- I elieve head gaskets are fairly expensive). With this engine or a replacement engine, you'll still want t do a valve check and chage the belts and oil/filter at a bare minimum.
Re: Bought a 1988 paso 750. wow
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 6:03 pm
by Rhino
Congrats and welcome Biohazard, welcome to the madness that is Paso ownership.
Re: Bought a 1988 paso 750. wow
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 7:14 pm
by Biohazard
yea, If it is a broke piece of the case, then its in the bottom, and yea splitting the case would need to be done. Been trying to price out a used motor. and there isnt many even around. I might end up just redoing this one. ( like i said, project bike. )
Used Motor, from what ive been told about $1000.00
repairing this one, approx. the same....
Re: Bought a 1988 paso 750. wow
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 7:59 pm
by Rhino
Where are you Biohazard ?
Is it worth me looking for a motor for you? I assume because you refer to everything in $ that you're based somewhere civilised like . . . Australia or Hong Kong . . .
Re: Bought a 1988 paso 750. wow
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 10:49 pm
by Biohazard
michigan usa. been looking no luck on a motor so far. might have found some gaskets and seals. maybe ... gonna call me back in a day or two.
Re: Bought a 1988 paso 750. wow
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 12:08 am
by scimmione
If the left side case was broken from a 'classic' Paso chain failure, the case section must have been removed in order to weld-up the hole, no? Am I wrong to assume the case is not repairable 'on the bike'? I weld, granted I don't TIG, but I the damaged site would have to be oil-free for such a repair.
Did the previous owner use JB Weld?
Please post pictures of the repaired case.
Thanks
Re: Bought a 1988 paso 750. wow
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 12:57 am
by Biohazard
i will be picking up the bike this weekend. I will take some pictures and check it out. The guy i got it from works with me and is a good friend.
On a personal note tho the guy who repaired it, is a moron in my case. he may be good with bikes, welding i dont know. but him as a "person" a moron.
But will take pictures of the damaged area and post them.