I just had the best day on my xs then....

[petejw]

I just reshimed 3 inlet valves on my bike, they were all
too tight that i couldnt get the thinnest feeler guage in so after
waiting days to get a 240 shim i finally got it all together, the bike
has never ran so good, full power right from idle, it was running so smooth
that the exhaust had a sweeter note to it, the notice was right throught the rev range, so ive spent most of the day on it, sum with my daughter. It was going so good i didnt want to get off it, so I take it for another run, this time down the freeway, im in 3rd accelerating to around 6500 then it coughs and splutters so i slow down a little, the bike begins to lose power, now its not firing on a cylinder or 2 and i begin to limp it home, i get off the freeway and the bike is losing more power, im still a few k's from home, about 2.5ks and about to lean into a corner when the rear wheel locks up throwing the bike sideways i was able to pull the clutch in time so i was lucky i didnt come off. Now ive literally pushed the bike 2.5ks home and sitting here in bewilderment, i havent looked at the engine yet so i dont know what ive done. Appologies for the drawn out post im just sitting here stunned taking it all in. Ill let you guys know what i find.

[Dragon Tamer]

Oh Wow,
Lousy way to end such a good day. Sorry to hear about it. Yes, please keep us posted on what you find and Good Luck!!!

[petejw]

Thanx Dragon.
I just took the plugs out and removed the valve cover and cam chain tensioner, Ive either seized a piston/s or bearings, the pistons are sitting in the middle of the bore and the cams move but I cant move the crank, looks like I'll be pulling the engine and stripping it.

[Dragon Tamer]

Pete,
It does not sound to me that what happened would be related to you reshimming the valves. Even if a piece of something had fallen into the cylinder somehow you would think it would have shown up a lot earlier than that.
I am very interested in this however as I am about to do the same thing to the Fire Dragon but will hold off until you locate the source of the problem.
Again, Good Luck.

[DGXSER]

That just sucks Pete! I know the feeling of finally finding that nagging issue and riding your new and improved beast, feeling on top of the world!

Then to have that happen, wow, major switch!! I do think there is no way the valve work did this, other than letting your bottom end work at full power when you may have not been putting full force on those bearings with your valves so far off before. That would just mean it came a little sooner is all though. JMHO.

Good luck on the work to fix it!

[tw1980]

Sounds like you ran into a bit of bad luck today Pete and just when you had her running perfect.That's usually the kind of luck I have with women.Sorry about your bike. Terry

[3Phase]

Now ive literally pushed the bike 2.5ks home and sitting here in bewilderment, i havent looked at the engine yet so i dont know what ive done. Appologies for the drawn out post im just sitting here stunned taking it all in. Ill let you guys know what i find.

Whoah! That is bad. That is so bad it almost redefines bad. That was a very nice save though so you didn't go sailing before pushing the bike home. Have a beer or 24 and relax, you deserve it!


Regards,

Scott

[SFerinTEXAS]

Just to ask.. did you use the tool or did you loosen the cams for the shim job?

[DiverRay]

Pete,
Go through things one at a time! It sounds as if you may have had two different things happen in a close time frame too each other.
I DO have a 1978 engine with four teeth missing on a mainshaft gear, and one was stuck between two gears, locking up the bike. If you had something like that happen, it may be a "cheap" fix. I'll hope it is, for you! The loss of power could have been a pick-up coil going south, and would have been something else.
As Scott said, have a pint or ten and THEN start to look into what happened. Keep us posted, as we will do what we can from here to help, even if it is just lifting a beer in honor of the bike!

[petejw]

cheers guys,
i was pretty pumped when i wrote that,
have had time to settle down and a few beers,
I did remove the inlet cam to adjust the shims, I had
3 to adjust.
Ive pulled the engine and removed the sump, theres a whole lot of
tiny specle material looks like bearing.
The pistons have stopped half way up the bore, the valves all look good from what i can see at this stage, the cam chain looked fine.
The oil did look contaminated, i only changed it not to long ago.

Im in the process of removing the lower crank case cover, can i do this with the gears in place or do i have to remove them prior?

Ive got another engine in my parts bike, I know it needs the 2nd gear fix, so i think i ll probably put that in, im just disapointed i spent a bit of time polishing the cases, and was running at its best.

[trbig]

Not quite sure what you mean by a lower crank case cover... but you remove all the covers before you can split the motor. You don't have to remove any of the gears at any time.. if you're talking about the transmission gears.


Tod

[petejw]

Ive taken the side covers off and removed
all the numbered bolts top and bottom, once this is done
should the cases come away?
With the engine being siezed should i cut the cam chain to remove the cams
and head or should i attack it from the bottom first?

First time ive been into the engine this far
and any help will be appreciated.


heres a cpl of pics,



Thats bits and pieces of bearing.

[trbig]

With the motor sitting right side up, on the back right of the motor is the breather cover.. 4 allen bolts. One of the bolts is under that if you haven't gotten it.
As for the cases being split.. you usually will have to get the rotor off to clear the cases. Are you sure you got every bolt from 1 to 34? (35 total since there's two #11's.) The middle drive has to come off.. drain it first. Then follow the seams of the two cases. See where they go. Anything that intersects them both has to be removed. There's a couple oil galleys under the shifter cover with six T-30 torx screws that have to come off. Watch out and don't lose the little O-ring underneath.

Tod

[petejw]

Thanx Tod,
Ive removed the bolt under the breather, the middle
drive has been removed, ive removed 3 of the torx bolts that attach the
'special oil nozzle', ive got all the bolts out, ill just have another look and try again and seperate it.

[trbig]

In the front of the motor, there's a couple spots about 1/2 way between the center and the outside edge that have a bit more "Meat" around them. I tap a large screwdriver into the spot there and gently pry up on each side. It's about the only spot I've fouind to get into one. If you mar up the aluminum a bit there and are worried about the "Gasket" surface, Yamabond will seal that back up there.


Tod