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Stevel
| | Posted on Monday, April 07, 2014 - 04:42 am: | 
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DHays,
I am afraid you are going to find this exercise very expensive. I am thinking you will find damage everywhere including the crank bearings. You will soon discover the cost of those from HD. They sell them in bearing halves and they come in only standard size. If you have suffered journal damage, be prepared to buy a new crankshaft. In Europe, those bearings are 300+ Euro per set. In the States, the best price I found was $200 per set. I know this is hind sight, but it is very important to do a complete cost assessment before you buy the first part. Complete replacement engines are available from wrecks for around $1,000, at least for now. I feel very sorry for your experience here. I sincerely hope the readers of this thread learn from this. You will unfortunately soon find just how poorly supported this engine is by HD in both parts cost and parts availability and in time, it will only get worse. Support for this motor is a loser for HD and as spares get consumed, I fear they will not be made again. Our only hope for support will be RX spares from EBR and we all better hope they fit. There are simply not enough engines in use for the aftermarket to help. |
Dhays1775
| | Posted on Monday, April 07, 2014 - 09:55 pm: |
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Alex, the dowel locations on the new camshaft brackets were about two to three millimeters CLOSER to the bolt holes. That tells me that something was different. That being said, it was fairly obvious that it wasn't going to line up. I'll try to post a picture to show you what I mean.
As for it possibly being the opposite head, that is not possible. The used head I received had all the correct locations for all fittings as the head that is currently on the the motor assembly. The "new" head had the number "1" stamped in it a few places. According to the parts manual, that would most likely indicate a front head.
Either way, we installed the cams in the timed TDC compression position like the manual shows, and everything lined up the same as what was shown in the manual.
Steve, I know this goes against everything you're saying, but I have found no damage anywhere but the front head. That's the reason i was excited to pull the cover for the oil pump, I figured SOMETHING to have gotten sucked up and scored inside the pump.
I know it's not advised, but I strongly feel that damage was limited to the cams. I will continue to tear in a little deeper. Worst case, I still get a used motor to replace mine(built to 1190cc). Best case, the oil pump is good and I button her back up. I have been looking high and low for anything that might be not quite right, but I haven't found any. Hell, most of the missing chunks from the cams were laying in the very front of the head, as if there just wasn't any oil to wash it down and through the filter.
I love my Buell, and I would do almost anything to keep her on the road. I've had quite a few people checking it out with me and they all say the same thing. They see nothing that would even begin to indicate a full tear down since the damage was all fairly contained to the front cylinder.
All this being said, I take full responsibility for all the damages done, it was my fault. I imagine it STARTED with the home-made modified rotor. Lesson learned there!
I'm also not knocking the stainless steel filter, as I'm sure it works perfectly for those that do not have other self induced issues.
Side note, the auto hobby shop was closed today, and my EBR rotor comes in on Wednesday. I hope to have the clutch pulled and oil pump inspected tomorrow, and hopefully reinstall the primary cover. I should then be able to move on to the rotor, and hopefully button back up.
Inspection will tell...
Pictures to come. I promise.
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Stevel
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2014 - 03:18 am: |
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DHays,
You will have no way of knowing the total damage without total disassembly. The fault was loss of oil pressure due to the stator and without looking at all the oil consumers within the engine, a total damage assessment cannot be done and anything less is conjecture at best. Good luck, I wish you well. |
Rodrob
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 - 02:31 am: |
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You must get the clutch off and look at the bearing surfaces for the right side balancer. The reason is, that the balancer shaft is hollow and is the main oil pathway for the crank and main and rod bearings. Oil is pumped through the balancer shaft, into the clutch cover case, back into the crank on the right side, through the crank and into the rotor, oiling all the bearings along the way. If your right side balancer bearing surfaces in the main case and side case, and the crank end bearing in the side case are all clean and not scored or gouged, there is a decent chance that you have miraculously escaped other bearing damage. Did you find any metal shavings in the oil that you drained? |
Dhays1775
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 - 03:17 am: |
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Rodrob, I haven't been able to pull the clutch yet due to not having the correct tool. The auto hobby shop doesn't have the correct tool for my application, so now I'm stuck waiting, again.
When I pulled the right side cover(s), I inspected the upper balancer and shaft, and all available teeth on that side of the engine. I haven't found ANY scoring or gouges. When I drained the oil initially, there were no chunks or bits found in the screen, on the filter, or the plugs. Almost all of the pieces missing from the cams were laying in the recesses in the front head. It's almost as if there wasn't enough oil to wash them down into the bottom of the engine and through the screen/filter.
I think that all the grinding on the cams and followers is what clogged the filter, since I have yet to find a single errant chunk. There was a decent amount of material stuck to the magnetic plug, but it was all very fine, no shavings or measurable pieces.
As soon as I get the chance, I will tear back into the engine and report back with progress and pictures.
I'm still surprised how localized the damage is.
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Rodrob
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 - 12:39 pm: |
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Even if there is no visible damage, the problem you face is metal fragments possibly lurking in the oil passages somewhere. The clogged filter shows that the metal from the cams did not all stay in the head and if the filter integrity is compromised, then most likely there is debris in the oil passages. Even with the engine disassembled, it is difficult to get that cleaned out, impossible if its assembled. I am amazed that all that crap got past the oil sump screen and through the pump to the filter. You really need to look at the pump. That stuff could be from the pump. |
Mitchg
| | Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2014 - 01:12 am: |
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Any more progress or info with the repairs? |
Dhays1775
| | Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2014 - 08:06 pm: |
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After installing the cams, it was pretty straight forward. I changed the oil after a little more than 500 miles and everything looked good. There were a couple small chunks in the screen, but I'm thinking it got washed down by correct oil flow to the front head. I changed the oil again after going on a ~1,200 mile ride just to be sure. The oil change was non-eventful.
Changed it again at 27,000 miles, and checked the screen. Nothing to report. Seems like all is well. I'm just a tick under 29,000 miles right now. (The issue was caught at 22,500)
So far, she runs like a champ. No issues since (oil related) and all is right in the world. |
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