Breaking engine in after Big bore kit

[Snow]

So, now that I am riding the heck out of my bike and using SAE40 straight dino juice for breakin, what should I expect?

I've been on the SAE40 for just over two weeks now. After the first week, my oil level got to the bottom of the oil window (still in range). After the second week, she only dipped down about a third to half the way down the window.

Any ideas on when I'll get to stop adding oil except for oil changes? When should I change my oil, after 3 months or sooner? At the upcoming oil change, can I use multigrade again?

Also, I've noticed that my clutch is slipping under full acceleration - could the SAE40 be the straw that broke the camel's back?

[skids]

Snow, I am watching this thread closely... I wish someone with positive experience would come forward!

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there Snow and Skids,

Well, when I did my big bore, I didn't know about using the single weight stuff, and put my usual 20-50 Castrol dino in. But then I drove it similar to the recommendations from the owner's manual and didn't over rev it or full throttle it for the first 500 miles, then did an oil change at 1000 miles. It's the miles, not the time that should determine the change interval.....IMHO. Drove it mostly on short trips that first summer(2001) after I got it running. Then took a trip to XS East2002, from Va. to Alexandria Bay, NY. Didn't have to add any oil for entire trip, same for recent XSeast03 to Pa and back.

So...apparently it did break in with the multigrade, may have taken a bit longer, but I wasn't in any rush!!! SO...I'd change it after 1kmiles, since you're only breaking in the rings, and not the entire engine/tranny/etc!!!!

Since you had to tear down the clutch for the rebuild, you may just need to readjust it at the engine cover to get it right again. But after you do a proper adjustment, and it still slips in 5th gear, then you are probably right in assuming new friction plates are needed, and you can get replacement heavy duty springs from JCW, DK. I used generic plates from JCW 2 years ago, still doing fine. Just inspect your metal plates for warpage, and clean them up with emory cloth or very fine paper to remove varnish and you should be good to go!! HTH.

[Snow]

I've already posted in a new thread about a new problem with my clutch that is most likely mechanic/owner-error, however..

After putting in new Yamaha OEM clutch friction plates and steel plates, she doesn't slip at all... I may have an extra steel plate in there causing her not to fully release though - I'll post here when I get that sorted.

My old plates and steel discs looked like they had been tortured in a previous life, which I believe b/c the whole reason I bored this motor out was the 4th cylinder was waaayyy out of spec. and causing her to majorly heat up within 1 mile of riding.

As for the losing oil problem - she seems to be using/losing less and less oil as time goes by. After the clutch work, I put in Castrol GTX 20w50 and after 2 weeks, she used at most 1/8th-1/5th a quart of oil. That's a lot better than the first week or two where she got so low the oil light came on...yikes!

After I can go a month or two or three without using any/much oil, I'm going to start giving her some motorcycle synthetic oil, most likely Golden Spectro as I've had good personal experiences with it in the past.

For anyone considering going big-bore, at the moment my thoughts are make sure this is what you really want to do and that you take your time and do things right the first time, including getting the proper tools beforehand. Keep in mind that if you start with a $800 XS11, bore it out for around $600 doing it yourself, you still have an $800 XS11.