Burn out the devil, or part and spread

[Crazcnuk]

I will know tomorrow, if my bike is truly possessed, as I believe it is.

If it is, should I take it out in the field and burn out the devils, or part it out on Ebay and spread possessed parts all over the globe, thus ensuring more ritualistic fires?

I was trying to do the high speed chop thing, to see if my new 120 mains are too rich, when a heli-coil decided to come out of #4 hole. I didn't know it was heli-coiled.

Today, I bought a heli-coil kit, and destroyed two heli-coils as they will stick to the oiled sparkplug better than to the locktite'd cylinder head.

To make it worse, I think I may have hit the intake valve with the tap I used to clean the threads.

If I have indeed bent a valve, then I am done with XS11's forever.


I just have to decide if I would get more satisfaction from burning it in a field, or getting my money back by parting it out.

[trbig]

If I have indeed bent a valve, then I am done with XS11's forever.

Man... you know how much work that would have saved me had I said that in the very beginning when I bent all my valves?

NOBODY has had bike/engine problems like me. My bike Posessed?? Maybe, but at least I got those little bas$#@ds trained for now!

It's frustrating, but just keep at it. Valves can be fixed cheap. If it's too much... just send the demon laden thing to my address..


Tod

[Crazcnuk]

No this is the 2nd time I've bent valves, and frankly, this bike has been fighting me every step of the way.

It's the 2nd most expensive bike I've owned and by FAR the worst bike I've owned.

30 years of mechanics and everything I do to this one makes it worse.

[trbig]

Last time I looked, you can dang near buy a whole used head for the same price as a valve or two. Lap the valves, no helicoils to mess with, throw the cams in and the chain and go.

OK, not quite that simple.. but you get the idea. I have had many deep dark hating days for this bike. BUT... if it wasn't for this thing, I wouldn't have most of the people I call friends now, and the new ones I am constantly meeting because of it. Just a thought.


Tod

[Yahman]

Don't burn it yet!

I once had a Yamaha TX-500 that was a complete lemon, it would never run right. I decided to strip it completely and do a complete ground up restore. It looked like new and seemed to run like it too... On its maiden voyage it bent all of the valves. Right there on the side of the road, I pulled the gas line off and let the fuel drip out onto the ground. I was just about to light it when a good friend seen me, pulled over and stopped me. He convinced me to fix it once more, so I did. As soon as it was running again, I rode it straight to the Honda dealer and traded it in on a brand new CB750F. When they were done test riding it, they put it on the show room floor with a for sale sign on it. I heard that it never ran right again after that day.

Larry

[olebiker]

I am too pissed off just now to go into details but all I can say is you are not alone. Must be the Canadian air.

[blue giant]

Hey Carl,

Is that Special causing you more grief?

Most day's I can't wait to finish my standard but some day's I wonder just how much more trouble I'm in for. So far everything I touched on this bike has been broken or worn out! So much for a cheap fixer upper!

Let me know if you need anything!

Paul

[olebiker]

Thanks Paul. I finished reassembling it today. I am not sure what I did wrong as I was really cautious as this has taken so long. I think I may have put the cams in the wrong spot. I don't know for sure but I have no compression. If I did do what I think it was just not taking the time to make sure that the intake and exhaust didn't get mixed up. I was pretty careful laying them out so that I would avoid the mix up and so didn't take that 2 seconds to confirm that they were right. It was one of those moments when I hit the starter and in a couple of rpms had a fast turning engine. It is the only explaination I can think of. I did everything else to a T. I am gonna pull the cover tomorrow and see bif I am right. I haven't pulled a bonehead move like that in a long time. I almost hope that it is what I did. If it isn't then I am totally lost.

[blue giant]

Carl,

Cams are marked IN and EX. Should be able to tell quickly.

I would think if they were switched the result would be the same as your cam chain adjuster failure.

Let us know what you find!

Cheers,

Paul

[olebiker]

Yeah except if I did mix them all the cylinders would be affected. And I did a compression test on the first two with no compression. I think 3 and 4 are likely the same. That is why I think mixing them up must be what happened. When it jumped a tooth it only took out one cylinder. A real downer weekend.

[olebiker]

Plus I didn't win the 32 million in the 649.

[olebiker]

I have read in a number of posts, plus read in the manual to hold the cam chain tight with your finger in the cam chain tensioner hole. I found that I could not put enough pressure through that hole to prevent the chain from jumping teeth on the bottom sprocket. I ended up having to install the tensioner early as I could not safely rotate the engine by holding in on chain. I am just wondering if others have found the same thing or is there a chance that the lower sprocket is very worn. The camshaft sprockets look fine. I am obviously not a fan of this setup.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Carl,

Sorry to hear about this! Yeah, I've recommended putting the tensioner back in place because of the inability to adequately hold the chain tensioner slider in place while trying to turn things etc.!!

Well, if you put the cams in backwards, you may get lucky, because it would just be opening the exhaust valve instead of the intake valve, and vice versa, but if they were timed and aligned right, then you may not have actually bent any valves!?

Here's hoping that's the case, vs. the chain not being on crank sprocket, or having it jump a tooth!?
T.C.

[trbig]

I've always done it that way.. (Finger in the hole... had never read that the manual said to, I've just always done it that way) It is possible for the cam chain to be BESIDE your crank sprocket. You need the bike on the center stand, and you need to get a good flashlight to shine way down the cam chain galley from the top of the motor and actually LOOK to make sure the chain is centered on that sprocket.

If you try to spin the motor backwards, you won't be able to hold the cam adjuster bar in... but it should be easy to hold it spinnning the correct clockwise direction.

Tod

[olebiker]

Have to double check that Tod I think I was going clock wise but who knows. I will check though I never thought of there being a difference in how well the chain would lock into the sprockets.