Engine Swap

[Papa Fred]

Good Evening, gang...

While this is related to an earlier posting regarding my transmission bearing grief, things took a slight turn this afternoon that sent me down what appears to be a fairly optimistic path.

An earlier whiff of a replacement engine turned out to be a better candidate for Yard Art, so I continued hunting and came across a very interesting offering in the way of a 1998 Royal Star engine.  It came out of an insurance claim bike that had basically cosmetic damage to the windshield and light pods, but being a 24 year old bike the insurance company just wrote it off.  The package is a 26,000 mile running engine with carbs...basically they unplugged the wiring from engine and carbs, unbolted the front frame tubes and cut the rear and pulled it from the bike.  The rest of the bike is being parted out.

I am not familiar with the Royal Star, other than the Venture, and was quite surprised when I googled a 1998 Royal Star and saw essentially a stripped-down early cousin to my Venture.  The general layout as in engine, frame, even the fenders look the same.  This looks nothing like a Gen 1 Venture, more like a preview of the 2nd Gen. 

Here's The Ask...Will a seemingly identical-looking engine out of a 1998 Royal Star swap into my 2000 Venture?

Another unknown is the rear shock.  Would the Royal Star have used the same type of shock set-up as the Venture.  The rear shock being offered looks to have a different mount at the bottom, but I thought I'd ask.

Based on what I've learned from a few sources today, I'll be spending many, many dollars just to get MY motor out, and tear it down to see what damage has been done, never mind start replacing bits.  If this '98 ticker will fit, my bike will have a nearly new engine, and I'll have a lot of useable parts on the original engine.

That's it for now...I look forward to any confirmation, denial, affirmation or suggestions.  Thanks in advance...

Cheers.

[Freebird]

Don’t know it it would bolt in but drastically less power.  I wouldn’t recommend it. 

[cowpuc]

I am with @Freebird..As I recall those bikes were a totally different engine with the absence of a balance shaft internally. I would look very careful as the exterior of the engine cases and double check motor mount locations and the like. Regardless though, the loss of 20 hp or so would definitely be a cause to make me skip this one @Papa Fred BUT the choice is yours.. 

[Papa Fred]

Well, I was all High Hopes & Dreams there for a while, but your mention of the engine mounts, @cowpuc made me take a closer look at both mine and the donor.  The donor doesn't have the "dogbone" upper engine mounts on the front cylinders, just clean, symmetrical fake fins. That's kinda critical, I think. 🤔 

Would I be correct in thinking that the late 90's Royal Stars were a bit of a test bed for the upcoming Gen 2 Venture?  Externally the engines look the same, but I guess the plain Star was a bit lighter than the Venture??

Guess I'll go back to writing the obituary for my RSV.

[Papa Fred]

Thought of this after I sent the last... On the engine case, behind the Left Rear Cyl (#1??) there is what appears to be a serial # of sorts cast into the case.  My 2000 motor has P603E-003716.  On the motor I was looking at the number was 4NK-017706.  I noticed on a couple of other EBay offerings, their motors had the same P603E.  I'm guessing that would be a "Venture" serial number string as opposed to the other earlier "Royal Star" serial...as in a way to confirm a GEN 2 engine?