| Author | Message | ||
     Pammy |
That would be sufficient. It's hard not to experience project creep given your situation. | ||
| Xl1200r |
Wasn't sure if my stock cylinders had a nikasil coating or not... seems I hear conflicting reports on if those can be hones or not. Thanks for the heads up and your help. Also - does anyone know if I should bother trying to set the squish clearance? I'm concerned that if I do the pushrods won't be the right length, or is there some wiggle room in there given the hydraulic lifters? | ||
| Pammy |
Stock cylinders would not be nik. | ||
| Buellistic |
Anyone ever hear of removing the wrist pins and leaving the pistons in the cylinders ??? | ||
| Pammy |
He has quite a few miles on the engine. | ||
| Xl1200r |
Is 22kmi considered higher mileage? Did my head look in any worse shape than you would have expected? Pistons are soaking now getting ready to get cleaned up. (Message edited by xl1200r on December 16, 2011) | ||
| Oldog |
Mark: the idea with a hone on the iron cylinders is you are replacing the rings, and giving them a new surface to seat on, a ball hone should work fine on stock iron cylinders. Nic cylinders are honed to clean aly from piston failures off, presuming the jug is still round and the nic is not damaged, then honing the coated surface cuts the debris off, the NIC is actually harder than the stones on most glaze breaking hones so they dont cut the coating... BTW I wire wheeled the crowns of my pistons off for re-use.. (Message edited by oldog on December 16, 2011) | ||
| Pammy |
Lafayette can probably take one of these motors apart and reassemble with his eyes shut...AND he would enjoy it!  However, I don't get that vibe from you Mark. Your head had evidence of oil contamination...and quite a bit. Since all I have seen is one bare head, I can't begin to tell you the origin. I'm just sayin' I had a whole, long, dissertation that some how got erased....Lazy is my middle name. | ||
| Harleyelf |
Pammy - by "oil contamination" do you mean foreign substances in the oil or just a really long time between oil changes? | ||
| Xl1200r |
I absolutely do enjoy it, just wasn't prepared for the expense is all. As far as having my eyes, shut, likely not, but I'm no stranger to being inside an engine, this just happens to be the deepest I've been into a Buell. This all may be for the better - I've had a mystery "oil evaporating" issue for a while that I haven't totally traced. On my cross-country trip, it went through quite a lot - at first I thought it was a leak, but I think that leak is coming from the stator gasket (or stator plug) and would be primary oil. I think it was actually burning quite a bit instead, though it only seemed to do it while I was doing long stretches of high speeds in hot weather. It really hasn't been an issue since that trip, which is why I stopped really looking for it. It does seems to puke a good bit of oil from the breather, which is why I have the catch can now, but I didn't always have it on there (did for the trip). I don't over fill it, either. On that trip, I think I added something like 4 or 5 quarts of oil over 4500 miles. | ||
| Pammy |
Oil where it should not have been. Not in quantity, anyway. | ||
| Xl1200r |
Pammy - by "oil contamination" do you mean foreign substances in the oil or just a really long time between oil changes? I think she just means oil getting into the combustion chambers. | ||
| Pammy |
definitely burning oil...or sucking it in from breather routing into filter. either way, could be rings. | ||
| Xl1200r |
Pammy - the valves I've sent you have alrady been cleaned, but the back sides of the intakes were really grungy looking. Is it safe to assume that oil was coming in from teh intake (either from the breathers or bad valve seals), rather than from any blow-by from the rings? | ||
| Xl1200r |
Thanks. Now that I think about it, the air cleaner still had some oiliness about it (I have a catch can now but route the breather line back into the air cleaner) and the throttle body and intake looked a bit gross inside. I think I'll put a seperate filter on the catch can and that will solve my issues. It's getting new rings and valve seals regardless. | ||
| Pammy |
Even if the seals were off it wouldn't contribute that much oil. The pattern I saw in the head looked like maybe from the breather venting. For there to have been that much oil, I would think that the rings were weak or some equal failure involving ring seal. | ||
| Pammy |
Good for you. | ||
| Pammy |
I think you said you were upgrading the oil pump as well. If it isn't scavenging as it should it could leave too much oil in the bottom end. Bike will run hotter in that case as well. Drain the crankcase if you can while you're waiting on parts and see what's in there. shouldn't be much oil in there at all. If there is more than say 8 ounces...you could have been wet sumping also. (Message edited by pammy on December 16, 2011) | ||
| Harleyelf |
I see. Oil on the back of the intake valves and not the exhaust would seem to indicate the fuel/air mix is contaminated with oil, most likely from some breathing malfunction. I see that sort of thing on VW motors with an un-valved hose from the oil filler vent to the air cleaner. The rings get loose, blow-bye pressure builds up, and oil boldly goes where only fuel was intended to be. | ||
| Xl1200r |
The upgrade I was doing was to install the bronze drive gear. The bike hasn't run in about 5 weeks. Is 8 oz still a reasonable amount to find? If there's more, what's the fix? | ||
| Pammy |
Rings and deglazing will probably cure what ails you here. Glad to hear that you will be enjoying this project. Nothing quite so zen-like as taking apart an internal combustion engine on a quiet day. | ||
| Pammy |
There is an oil dam mod you can make to the rocker boxes to let oil drain back into the bottom end instead of getting blown out the vent. | ||
| Pammy |
I love the CSI of it all. | ||
| Xl1200r |
Nothing quite so zen-like as taking apart an internal combustion engine on a quiet day. Just wish my garage was heated! There is an oil dam mod... Sounds interesting, I will look into this. Is there to stop the oil from wet sumping in the crackcase? Regasket the oil pump? | ||
| Pammy |
if it were getting air, somehow, it would cause the scavenging side to be less efficient. Like trying to suck water through a straw with a hole in it. Not typical with Sportys or Buells. | ||
| Xl1200r |
I can't find anything on that oil dam mod... any insight? Something I can do, or do I need a machine shop? Would I be better off just going to XB rockers? | ||
| Pammy |
If you want to stick with your budget...no But they do vent differently. They give a bit more clearance. Seal better... The oil dam was a piece of aluminum that raise the air vent just a bit higher to keep the oil out and give it a chance to drain back into the bottom end. You also opened the drain hole a bit larger as I recall. Seems like I remember chamfering the hole for the umbrella valve... You know Al at American Sport Bike would have that archived...he IS a walking encyclopedia for Buells. Probably other cool stuff as well. (Message edited by pammy on December 16, 2011) | ||
| Xl1200r |
Pistons are cleaned - the carbon was thick and hard, even after a 24-hour soak in sea foam. Ended up having to use a brass wire wheel on them. I'd rather not have all of the tool marks in them, but I don't think they'll be a problem (I also ran them over with some polishing compound after). My logig says hot spots shouldn't be an issue beacuse the brush marks are all smaller than the engraving, casting marks in the valve reliefs and the little arrow:  Also saw this upon closer inspection of the cylinders - there's a mark that looks just like on both sides of both cylinders - anything to worry about?  | ||
| Pammy |
Can you feel it? | ||
| Jramsey |
Mark, sorry for the threadjack, Oldog check your PM's. |
