Bummer

[Titanium Cranium]

I found out today that I didn't just destroy my transmission during my last race. My sponsor tore into the motor a few days ago and told me that I spun the bearings in the motor but thankfully didn't damage the cases. And when he got into the rest of the motor, he noticed that my pistons and rings are pretty much done After this bill I don't think I'll be able to race the Vegas CCS round. That means I might lose my Supertwins championship this year

[Jami6989]

There's a stolen engine in the classifieds really cheap.

[andres]

Originally Posted by Titanium Cranium

I found out today that I didn't just destroy my transmission during my last race. My sponsor tore into the motor a few days ago and told me that I spun the bearings in the motor but thankfully didn't damage the cases. And when he got into the rest of the motor, he noticed that my pistons and rings are pretty much done After this bill I don't think I'll be able to race the Vegas CCS round. That means I might lose my Supertwins championship this year

Tom,

Was this a stock engine? You mentioned sometime ago that you put in some kind of special oil aditive that seemed to lower your running temperature, could this have had something to do with all this damage to the engine?
If it is a stock setup, seems a little strange.
Just trying to figure out what could have caused the damage

[RVTMAVERICK]

Hey T/C!

Sorry to hear about the problems! Any idea what could have caused the problems!??
As I think "anders" has a good point-question about that engine oil additive!??

Lets us know what you find out-if you find anything out?

Peace Jeff

PS.I hope you can get hooked up with another engine!

[Just Riding Along]

Word on the street is that motors that see lots of revs will scuff piston skirts and ovalize the bottom of the cylinder bore from "rocking".

Which bearing spun? Crank/Con-rod?

[area51racer]

I can vouch for cylinder scratching. My race engine has visible wear from the piston skirts. Nothing too major and it could have been there from the first owner.

Titanium Cranium: My is that you are better off shopping for a used motor with a clean bill of health than rebuilding a problem child. Keep the grenaded one for spares as you never know, and move on with a new engine. Unless you score some great deals on a complete transmission like I did over a year ago, and all the other parts that are not going to make it, your cheaper route to go is with a complete engine off of ebay or someone on this site that might have one available. My trans rebuild ended up costing me approximately 150 dollars in parts. I don't even want to know what labor would have set me back, that is why I did the work myself. I figured a regular mechanic could easily have charged me a grand for the labor alone. A new engine seems like the least expensive and stressful way to go if you hope to salvage your championship.

[H8redlights]

Sorry to hear what happend bro, hope the venture treats you well

[Napalm]

Man, that sucks. Plus the GSXR caused problems for you all morning.

After talking with you yesterday, and how you think the high running temps in AZ might be the cause, I'm now paranoid about mine. The temp on the final session showed 242 with an ambient track temperature of 121.

I'm running Repsol 10w-30 racing w/ no additives and engine ice for coolant.

[CBR400RR]

Originally Posted by Napalm

Man, that sucks. Plus the GSXR caused problems for you all morning.

After talking with you yesterday, and how you think the high running temps in AZ might be the cause, I'm now paranoid about mine. The temp on the final session showed 242 with an ambient track temperature of 121.

I'm running Repsol 10w-30 racing w/ no additives and engine ice for coolant.

Do you have Mori vents and are your fans running backwards? Mine are and it helped a lot, next is Thorstens radiator ducts.

[Titanium Cranium]

I talked to my sponsor/mechanic about the engine today and looked at the pistons. They're pretty chewed up ont he surface plus they ahve some noticable inclusions on the sides. The cylinder walls are good though. My sponsor, who is a mega Guru (used to be one of the head instructors at MMI and he does a lot of AMA work) thinks that the map I used to have, which was WAAAAY to lean may have burnt up the pistons and caused the leaking valve that he found yesterday too. The bearings that hold the tranny (I think) are the ones that spun. That was from me trying to force it into gear when it wouldn't engage during my last race. My tranny was acting up with false neutral problems long before I even started riding it on the track and it's just gotten worse. I knew it would give me problems sooner or later so I got a used on on e-bay for $70. The 2nd gear sprocket on the countershaft sprocket wasn't in very good shape on the used tranny but that's the only one I need to replace. And I managed to pick up some spare pistons on e-bay for $15. I just need to get new rings for them just to be sure. My sponsor is hooking me up BIG time by doing most of the labor for free and giving me a huge discount on the parts we need to get. So it won't cost too much. Well under $1000 for a full engine re-build. He said the oil additive didn't have anything to do with what happened. It was just some pre-existing conditions that I made worse by pushing the bike as hard as I possible could in some pretty severe heat.

[arizona_rc51]

Glad to hear there is a little light at the end of your tunnel now.
... If I could have spared my engine, I would have for you. But, my bike is my only one I own.
Its really nice to know you got some awsome sponsor with mechanical knowledge to pull ya through this.

[Titanium Cranium]

Yeah, he's probably a bit of a drive for you as he's on Bell Rd. & Grand. But he's damn good and he used to race an RC51 So he knows them inside & out. Plus he always comes out to the track to help people set up their suspension and tune bikes at the track. And that's usually for free

[Hoovenater]

Good luck Tom, I hope you can make the next round still.


I wish I had a great sponsor like that, I had to give up on my race motor and throw a bone stock motor in my GSXR over the winter. I managed that work myself, but tearing into the motor is scary for me. It will have to wait until winter now as our season is winding down and I just don't have time to deal with it, but I want to install the upper cylinder head from the race motor onto the stock motor. (good winter project for me, I will learn a bunch I'm sure).

[area51racer]

Originally Posted by Hoovenater

Good luck Tom, I hope you can make the next round still.


I wish I had a great sponsor like that, I had to give up on my race motor and throw a bone stock motor in my GSXR over the winter. I managed that work myself, but tearing into the motor is scary for me. It will have to wait until winter now as our season is winding down and I just don't have time to deal with it, but I want to install the upper cylinder head from the race motor onto the stock motor. (good winter project for me, I will learn a bunch I'm sure).

I feel for you, the RC is much easier to swap heads on versus an I-4. Damn cam chain tensioners can be a bitch to time sometimes. Or maybe that is just the R6 design. You will learn a lot doing it though so definitely tear into it to take your mind off of those sub zero nights in Duluth.

[Titanium Cranium]

I should buy a wasted motor to build as a project so I can learn about them. I honestly don't know much of anything when it comes to motor stuff. I can do the simple R&I stuff on the outside of the motor and body stuff.