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Been talking to a lad who is new to scootering who is working at my work place doing some machine maintenance. He is looking at getting a decent spec rb20 engine built at a dealers and was asking if I had an idea of cost. He has a bare casing only. I said guess about 4k. Close ? I presume labour rates will vary dealer to dealer

Andy Francis advertises complete engines and gives prices on his webshop.

4k for an rb20. I don't think having a casing will save a fortune on a small block as they're 10 a penny.

£4k is a good ball-park figure. As said, the casing isn't saving much.
Quite a few variables though, clutches can start from around £50 but you can pay 10 times that if you want, likewise an exhaust system could be a £100 for a basic clubman, rising to over £500 for a top-spec' expansion. Ignition systems start from around £100 with some systems costing over £300. Carb's, cranks and gearboxes also have large variable costs. A lot depends on how deep his pockets are and what he intends to use it for.

How long is a piece of string?

The decision upon a 'fully built engine' comes down to expectations of the buyer. There are probably two main types of buyer:

The buyer wants the components assembling with the minimum additional cost to ensure the engine runs.

The buyer wants the components optimising during assembly with a healthy dialogue between them & the builder. There would likely be a mutual understanding of integrating superior components & techniques within the build from those supplied in a kit. Alternative cylinder heads, pistons etc would be examples of superior components. Spigotting of the cylinder to head would be an example of superior techniques.


I think that Royspeed coined the phrase "Bolt on Power" & you'd think that term might still apply if you subscribe to the recent attempts at discrediting port matching of the case to barrel along with the fact that Production Class racing doesn't allow it! However, optimising of a complete top end is applying knowledge & techniques to make a good thing even better but not @ the cost of reliability.

There was a complete RB20 engine for sale at Cadwell yesterday of £2200. It was near Paul Baker’s (SRP) tent, though it might have been Cornwall scooter services (all the tents were a bit squashed together).

Knowledge wrote:There was a complete RB20 engine for sale at Cadwell yesterday of £2200. It was near Paul Baker’s (SRP) tent, though it might have been Cornwall scooter services (all the tents were a bit squashed together).

Interesting, I was planning on a quattrini for myself but the RB ticks a lot of boxes too.

I built an RT225 using a new Uni casing (£520) and using everything top notch, Octopus hub, octopus layshaft, Casa close ratio 4 speed gearbox, BGM Pro 6 plate clutch, Iwis chain, Casa chain tensioner, Sip Vape ignition, Sip crank, Avanti ST Ex box exhaust, Dellorto PHBH 30mm carb, top quality bearings and seals. It stands around £3500 but no labour charges. RB20 would be cheaper as it could use all the same components except your casing would be much cheaper and there's not a great deal of difference in the price of the 2 kits. Lots of overkill but cost wasn't an issue.

Looked at the insurance renewal for my car, the stated value was less than the cost of the BGM clutch