Can Can Kev
Member
- Feb 24, 2003
- 233
- 0
oh and i have managed to pinch 3 tubes in a row putting a new rear tire on my yz i go so frustrated i took it to the local shop after my knucles were raw as sushi!
Rebuilds gone wrong
- Thread starter shagman505
- Start date
- Jan 25, 2000
- 1,822
- 0
I thought there weren't too many flys on me regarding this - that is, until I remembered my first "mod", performed on a '71 Suzuki 125 2 stroke street/trail bike (I think it was called a Duster) when I was 16.
One way to simulate a "port" job was to trim the piston skirt on the intake side (there were no reeds, the intake timing was controlled entirely by the piston skirt). I took my piston over to a friends house and borrowed his Dad's vice (we didn't have one) and proceeded to neatly trim off about 2 mm from one of the skirts. When I got back home, I realized that I made a huge mistake - I trimmed the wrong skirt! :(
As I was looking at the piston in disgust, I got a phone call from someone that was coming right over test ride my bike and maybe buy it. :scream: I did the only thing I could do at the time - I put the piston in backwards (wasn't sure if it would work the right way around). The guy came over and test rode it and it performed great - a definate increase performance, so he handed me the cash and took it away. Of course, with the piston in backwards and the ring end gaps protruding into the exhaust port, the life expectancy was about 15 minutes.
I heard about the carnage and resulting rebuild later (I won't mention what else they were saying :eek: )
One way to simulate a "port" job was to trim the piston skirt on the intake side (there were no reeds, the intake timing was controlled entirely by the piston skirt). I took my piston over to a friends house and borrowed his Dad's vice (we didn't have one) and proceeded to neatly trim off about 2 mm from one of the skirts. When I got back home, I realized that I made a huge mistake - I trimmed the wrong skirt! :(
As I was looking at the piston in disgust, I got a phone call from someone that was coming right over test ride my bike and maybe buy it. :scream: I did the only thing I could do at the time - I put the piston in backwards (wasn't sure if it would work the right way around). The guy came over and test rode it and it performed great - a definate increase performance, so he handed me the cash and took it away. Of course, with the piston in backwards and the ring end gaps protruding into the exhaust port, the life expectancy was about 15 minutes.
I heard about the carnage and resulting rebuild later (I won't mention what else they were saying :eek: )
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Oh man errors!!!
1972, 14 year old wet behind the ears kid, I was a bad ass mechanic that could fix anything, (so I thought!), had a BSA 650, that I was doing a valve job on, never seated the valve keepers, sucked BOTH valves, trash bike!
'75, was running a '72 Harley 125 2 smoke. Jetting? what the hell is jetting?? Toss in a splash of out board motor oil in it and head out to ride, motor becomes a boat engine!
flash a few years later, '86 KX125, night before Broome Tiogia national, well let's do a top end, new piston, clip in one side, slam the wrist pin in, the other side pops out, (I never knew it,), put the bike together, fire it up, load it up, 2 laps into practice, boat anchor motor!
'88, was riding a Cagiva, (Oh man I wanted a bike with upside down forks!). the famous Deleoro carb, needed to be rejetted ever 2 degrees of temp change, got pissed, jetted it lean, piston melts all over, boat anchor motor!
So over the years I've had my share of "OH S*** what happened now?)
Joe
Sticks and stones may break my bones, that's why I run into trees and rocks!
1972, 14 year old wet behind the ears kid, I was a bad ass mechanic that could fix anything, (so I thought!), had a BSA 650, that I was doing a valve job on, never seated the valve keepers, sucked BOTH valves, trash bike!
'75, was running a '72 Harley 125 2 smoke. Jetting? what the hell is jetting?? Toss in a splash of out board motor oil in it and head out to ride, motor becomes a boat engine!
flash a few years later, '86 KX125, night before Broome Tiogia national, well let's do a top end, new piston, clip in one side, slam the wrist pin in, the other side pops out, (I never knew it,), put the bike together, fire it up, load it up, 2 laps into practice, boat anchor motor!
'88, was riding a Cagiva, (Oh man I wanted a bike with upside down forks!). the famous Deleoro carb, needed to be rejetted ever 2 degrees of temp change, got pissed, jetted it lean, piston melts all over, boat anchor motor!
So over the years I've had my share of "OH S*** what happened now?)
Joe
Sticks and stones may break my bones, that's why I run into trees and rocks!
i recently did the top end on my 95 cr250 and every thing went good for about three weekends worth of riding then during the first five minutes of the first ride on my six day trip to glamis the rod bearing in the lower end went and took the rest of the motor with it. needles to say i was with out a bike for the rest of the trip.
I was setting valve clearences on a GSXR1100. Dropped a blot down the cam chain hole. And of course you can't get the sump cover off with the motor in the frame.
Did a 1200 conversion to my 883 sportster. Wrist pin clip came out after a few miles. I knew I put the clip in so after I took the cylider off and it was not there I knew it had to be in the bottom of the crankcase. I took the motor out and turned it upside down but no luck. I had to split the casses to get the f#@&in thing out.
Did a 1200 conversion to my 883 sportster. Wrist pin clip came out after a few miles. I knew I put the clip in so after I took the cylider off and it was not there I knew it had to be in the bottom of the crankcase. I took the motor out and turned it upside down but no luck. I had to split the casses to get the f#@&in thing out.
Ive pinched alot of tubes several times when changing a tire , and have had lots of small things go wrong,incl. finding a circlip on the workbench after doing some gearbox work..
When I was a car mechanic at a Volvo dealership I often wondered how some of the old guys could make funny mistakes,like putting in the brakepads the wrong way,forget to dump the oil before pouring in the new oil etc , etc....
Thing is , these guys performed service checkups on the same cars all the time , it became tedious work,doing the same thing over and over again. Ive never done anything like that , and never understood how it could go so wrong.
Well , 2 weeks ago I had to change pistons in a Yamaha XS 650 . if you dont know this engine its an air-cooled 650 twin almost like an old Triumph,only it has an overhead camshaft with points on one side,and centrifugal advance on the other side of the cam.
I have done lots of rebuilds on these engines , but this one was a bit special: I busted my elbow , when I removed it from the frame , the pistons was different from what had been ordered,so I had to split the cases and install a different crank, I dropped a circlip into the cases ( first time ever!),Assembled the entire thing , adjusted the valves,looked on the table,forgot to put in the cam chain slider. After assembling the d**n thing once again I installed it in the frame , and had just gotten all of the mounting bolts tightened , and started to look at the wiring,- hang on, Ive just seen the only xs 650 in the world with the points on the right side of the engine,f*** I had put in the camshaft the wrong way !!! Engine out of the frame again , correct the mistake , and of course a spring from the ignition advance flew away and couldnt be found again.....And off course the firing was off 180 degrees when I tried to start it...
Naturally , I blamed the bike but the morale of the story must be: No matter how many times youve done the job before,pay attention to what youre doing!
When I was a car mechanic at a Volvo dealership I often wondered how some of the old guys could make funny mistakes,like putting in the brakepads the wrong way,forget to dump the oil before pouring in the new oil etc , etc....
Thing is , these guys performed service checkups on the same cars all the time , it became tedious work,doing the same thing over and over again. Ive never done anything like that , and never understood how it could go so wrong.
Well , 2 weeks ago I had to change pistons in a Yamaha XS 650 . if you dont know this engine its an air-cooled 650 twin almost like an old Triumph,only it has an overhead camshaft with points on one side,and centrifugal advance on the other side of the cam.
I have done lots of rebuilds on these engines , but this one was a bit special: I busted my elbow , when I removed it from the frame , the pistons was different from what had been ordered,so I had to split the cases and install a different crank, I dropped a circlip into the cases ( first time ever!),Assembled the entire thing , adjusted the valves,looked on the table,forgot to put in the cam chain slider. After assembling the d**n thing once again I installed it in the frame , and had just gotten all of the mounting bolts tightened , and started to look at the wiring,- hang on, Ive just seen the only xs 650 in the world with the points on the right side of the engine,f*** I had put in the camshaft the wrong way !!! Engine out of the frame again , correct the mistake , and of course a spring from the ignition advance flew away and couldnt be found again.....And off course the firing was off 180 degrees when I tried to start it...
Naturally , I blamed the bike but the morale of the story must be: No matter how many times youve done the job before,pay attention to what youre doing!
Never done anything major, but I've done plenty of stupid little stuff.
I'm getting better now, but I used to always forget to turn the gas on, or the kill switch. My quad (I know, evil, I agree) once died when I was hauling (hehe, if you can call 25 mph in 5th gear at about 7000 rpms hauling. Stupid little 125cc lawnmower-wannabe quad) down our private road. I was worried that I had murdered the engine, cause it was a little on the hot side, this was the first time I pushed it that hard, and it sounded kinda wierd when it died. I spent a couple minutes examining it, the neighbor looking at me strangely behind my back, and I happen to glance behind the rear fender (the petcock is right inside the rear fender) and notice it's pointing the wrong way...
My biggest problem is losing parts. My work area is frankly disgraceful. My stepdad won't let me use the garage (I don't know why, the only thing he uses it for is tool storage and to house his 80's Oldsmobile Toranado (talk about a boat of a car, the thing's longer and wider than your average truck) that is a piece of junk, while the 86 Suburban Diesel he completely restored 6 months ago sits out in the rain, along with about 5 of the 20 or so Hudson Jets that he hasn't built carports for yet...) so I have to use a shed he built for the tractor, but then became a hay storage shed. It has pallet boards for a floor, full of musty hay. Once a screw, bolt, socket, or anything else is dropped, it cannot be found. I usually work outside on the grass/dirt for those reasons. Then I usually kick the container holding all the fasteners...
I'm getting better now, but I used to always forget to turn the gas on, or the kill switch. My quad (I know, evil, I agree) once died when I was hauling (hehe, if you can call 25 mph in 5th gear at about 7000 rpms hauling. Stupid little 125cc lawnmower-wannabe quad) down our private road. I was worried that I had murdered the engine, cause it was a little on the hot side, this was the first time I pushed it that hard, and it sounded kinda wierd when it died. I spent a couple minutes examining it, the neighbor looking at me strangely behind my back, and I happen to glance behind the rear fender (the petcock is right inside the rear fender) and notice it's pointing the wrong way...
My biggest problem is losing parts. My work area is frankly disgraceful. My stepdad won't let me use the garage (I don't know why, the only thing he uses it for is tool storage and to house his 80's Oldsmobile Toranado (talk about a boat of a car, the thing's longer and wider than your average truck) that is a piece of junk, while the 86 Suburban Diesel he completely restored 6 months ago sits out in the rain, along with about 5 of the 20 or so Hudson Jets that he hasn't built carports for yet...) so I have to use a shed he built for the tractor, but then became a hay storage shed. It has pallet boards for a floor, full of musty hay. Once a screw, bolt, socket, or anything else is dropped, it cannot be found. I usually work outside on the grass/dirt for those reasons. Then I usually kick the container holding all the fasteners...
Full-Force
Member
- Mar 30, 2005
- 7
- 0
Well th eguy I bought my 91 CR125 from redone the top end and let hi son take it up the road. Bike was running strong as his son was really hammering it when he remembered he forgot to put water in it. He screamed " wait a minute " and then boom! Another top end. :ride:
Burtonridr250
Member
- Dec 11, 2004
- 122
- 0
both bikes had a piston pin clip come out
How can you make sure that the pin clip doesnt come out?
How can you make sure that the pin clip doesnt come out?
Oldschooldeathwish
Member
- Oct 10, 2004
- 163
- 0
When I first started building my bike I got my engine back from a shop and it ran worse than it did before i had it sent out. Idiot put the wrong head gasket in (needed a 175 he put one in from a 125) base gasket was leaking and the piston was hitting the overhanging gasket last but not least he put the crap philips head screws that hold the case togeather back in when I had requested allen head screws. The best part was that i did not get the engine running until about 2 months later and when i took it back to the guy he refused to fix the problem because i had no recipt. even though I had been into the shop about once a week for the last 2 months and given him several hundred dollars of buisness .
NO HAND
~SPONSOR~
- Jun 21, 2000
- 1,198
- 0
I remember when I was about 15, I had a KE100 79' and took the front wheel off to find out how front brakes work. I don't remember tighting the front pinch bolts though. It held fine until the first wheelie. While on a wheelie I remember seeing right next to me, a big something flopping around at the end of a cable. There was a rodeo ride waiting for me just seconds later.
Quite a while lather, I had a 2000 CR125 that I was racing every weekend. At one practice, I heard the sound of apocalypse happening in my transmission. It was the sound I needed to recall I had started an oil change the night before. Every gears were completely destroyed as the big mainshaft bearing blew up. Gosh I fell stupid.
Quite a while lather, I had a 2000 CR125 that I was racing every weekend. At one practice, I heard the sound of apocalypse happening in my transmission. It was the sound I needed to recall I had started an oil change the night before. Every gears were completely destroyed as the big mainshaft bearing blew up. Gosh I fell stupid.