OMG!!! Ponies!!!

Git her done guys, looking good so far.

Well, we had a major incident in the garage. Not sure if things can continue.

Major blowout.



Full delamination on the passenger side. Only 3 years old!

I suffered through part of the day with that thing flopping around and finally had enough.

So much so that I found myself at Nordstrom Rack.

Say what???



Sometimes you gotta grab the bull by the horns and solve the problem.

After a quick reshodding side trip, I ventured to Harbor Freight and picked up a few items.

Specifically this:



No, not 'yet another crappy set of poor quality bits to go with the other 15 mismatched sets in the drawer.

This is a left handed crappy set of poor quality bits!

My hunch was that if I could get a good bite, the screw would crack and come right out.



I do so love it when a plan comes together!



Ever think about how it always looks like a scene from the inquisition whenever a bolt extraction operation is in progress?

Good job, that.

I spent 6hours in the garage this morning getting the transmission/primary back in my sportster, and swapping out drive sprockets. Only had to go from Tustin to Costa Mesa twice for tools.

That's a job for Shoe-Goo! If you don't have some, you should. Keep the unused left over in a glass jar and it will last.

On flip flops? I don't think so.

Besides, you missed the fact that they're 3 years old. Time for some new ones anyway. I've got 3 pairs plus the Chacos I picked up today. I'm good for another 5+!

Defeat has once again been snatched away by the jaws of victory.

New engine is a fail.

Cranks about 1 turn and stops unceremoniously.

Tried all the usual suspects.

Topped off battery. Same result.
Tried second battery. Same result.
Swapped out starter for the one on the old engine. Same result.
Removed plug. Slightly more turns. And I felt *some* air getting pushed.

Ok, so there's compression but it ain't turning right.

Hmm...

Took off variator cover (again) and tried turning by hand.

Aha!

Loads of resistance every other turn.

So, 3 possibilities that I can think of:

1. Crank is toast (worst case)
2. Top end is toast
3. Exhaust valves not opening

All 3 will require removal of the head.
I JUST replaced the water pump and refilled all of the fluids.

I decide to do something else with my time otherwise the scooter is getting tossed into the pool.

How about some of that long-promised engine forensics porn?

From the top end:



And the lower bits



God, I shoud have gotten a parts washer a LONG time ago!

Cylinder looks ok. Some light marks but nothing too deep. I can still see crosshatching underneath them. I think we're good here!

Had a scare with the rockers. Looked like there was some galling on the lower part of one (8G)







Turns out, it was just crud.



Surfaces are still shiny with no visible galling.

The Cam also wasn't quite as as bad as expected.






Signs of galling on all lobes. Can't tell for sure but there also appears to be some other type of damage on the two middle ones around the edges.

Status: Questionable.

Damn shame as this part alone is over $200.

From the no-shit-sherlock files:



The crank bearings are no more.

Totally expected that. Hopefully it didn't tear up the case bearings. I'm hopeful since there hasn't been *that* much metal in the bottom of the case (so far) and there's very little damage to the top end.

I didn't get any further because I tried to save a few bucks and ordered a QUALITY BEST VESPRA PGGIO FLYWHEEL TOOL TO EXTRACT 100% item off of eBay.

Needless to say, it was less than useful for extracting the flywheel.

I'll never learn.

Tomorrow I'll revisit #2 engine that's currently mounted. Hopefully I just screwed something up when assembling it.

I'm not hopeful.

I might have another concurrent 52 engine part pickup game on my hands before high noon.

Could it be cam chain off by one tooth? I'm glad there's no pic of the bottom of the pool... yet

Engine #2 has unknown history and unknown miles.

It could be filled with velociraptor eggs for all I know. Cross fingers that crank is ok.

That will be my 'abandon all hope' indicator.

Ever wonder what 1000 miles on a malossi head looks like?

Wonder no more.







Overall, not bad.

I can’t quite tell which way you are moving the rod in the video. I cannot speak to that specific crank, but in this type of design it is often quite normal to have lots of side to side movement. Where there can be no movement is pulling out and pushing in on the rod.

Found a couple of issues.

#1 one of the coolant hoses was rubbing.



Zoikes! This would have been catastrophic on the cannonball!

The OEM hose is reinforced at this point and that's where all the damage occured. I think the shape of the Malossi head is different and has a sharp edge somewhere that's tearing the hose up. Need to take a closer look and figure out how to fix it.

#2 I found the source of the chriping cricket.




I now believe that the crank was on its way out already and I merely accelerated the process by starving it of oil. This *could* explain why it failed so quickly. It ran for 30 seconds, tops after I discovered the oil loss.

I didn't check the stator but I imagine that if it was the problem I'd see a scratch all around the flywheel and not just in one section, no?

Enough damage porn, on to Engine #2 teardown.

I bought this for $200. The bike 'ran, but needed a new water pump'.

Oh, it needed more than a water pump.



See the problem?

Hint: I didn't feed this thing viagra. It should be NOT be maintaining an erection.

The oil sludge in the head/cylinder tells the story.




PO asshat ran this thing for a LONG time with low oil. He then filled it up with new oil to hide the evidence. I was able to turn the crank a bit when removing the variator so I didn't think there was anything wrong. I should have tried to turn a few full rotations before I went any further.

Let that be a lesson. Don't trust what anybody says. I got excited and went for the easy kill and I got burned. See why I didn't want to go with a 'donor engine' solution?

3 weekends down and we're back to square one.

*sigh*

I need a new hobby.

Sorry the video was so short. I was tired last night. The play is excessive. There is some back and forth play as well. I don't think the bearing has completely disintegrated like the one in Robot's video.



It's possible that the problem is in the case bearings. See the photos of the flywheel damage.

Unfortunately I can't take it apart right now as I don't have a flywheel puller.

Wow. I’m frustrated for you, that really sucks. Maybe it’s just best to buy a crank and rebuild the original. What’s a few hundred more after all of this?