I can't imagine that anyone cares about this, but I'm feeling proud of myself, so here goes:
I just rode my 2000 YZ426F supermoto around the block a couple times, and it ran great. Way too loud for the neighbors, but I was feeling celebratory.
You see, the motor seized three years ago. That's how long it's been sitting in my garage, silent. I had a good idea of what was wrong with it - the con rod bearing is a weak spot, and mine can't have been made any better by the fact that it was running a high compression piston, and had had a pretty bad head warp at one point that filled the crankcase with coolant. Extra HPs and a good soaking can only make a weak bearing worse, eh? I was too discouraged to dig in and find the problem, so I pushed it in the garage and let it gather dust.
I've been feeling the racing itch lately. I decided this spring that I was going to fix the YZ and do some TT scrambles and supermotos this summer.
So I tore that sucker down. Turns out I was right. The con rod bearing was munched. Instead of having the crank pulled apart, replacing the bearing and then having it all pressed back together and balanced, I decided to just buy a whole new crank assembly. The 2002 YZ426 had a bigger, better bearing AND a splined counterbalancer drive gear - I went for one of those. The keyed counterbalancer drive gear on the pre-2002 bikes was garbage - the keys get bent right away, and the whole bottom end clacks like a pair of castinets.
I figured I'd put a new (stock compression) piston and rings in while I was at it. So I took the cylinder to my local shop and asked them to hone it. It did not take a hone - it was not so much anymore, how you say... round. "Junk" the service technician told me.
So I ordered a new cylinder too.
All that stuff arrived about three weeks ago.
I have spent maybe 25 hours in the garage since then, cleaning and assembling.
Net result is a 40+ HP supermoto that runs like a champ on pump gas, with none of its old clackety sounds. Also, I can honestly say that I have split the cases on a bike and done an entire build with good results. No leaks, no fires, just noisy neo-classic supermoto goodness. Yay me!
Your a better man than I Gungadin I still haven't gone after what I think(hope) is a bent shifter fork in my 426. 4th and 5th gear slip in and out. But I lost momentum when things got canceled out in Springfield...er, last year *sigh*
Congrats on the rebuild, good to hear your back in it.
__________________
Steven
2008 Triumph Sprint ST
2001 Yamaha YZ426F
Motorcycling is not, of itself, inherently dangerous. It is, however, extremely unforgiving of inattention, ignorance, incompetence, or stupidity
Your a better man than I Gungadin I still haven't gone after what I think(hope) is a bent shifter fork in my 426. 4th and 5th gear slip in and out. But I lost momentum when things got canceled out in Springfield...er, last year *sigh*
Congrats on the rebuild, good to hear your back in it.
Turns out it's not that bad in there, in the crankcase. I took my left case half and crank to a local shop to have them pull the crank, but the rest of it I did myself. (I just didn't feel like buying a crank puller for $50 when the shop would do it for $10).
Hey, as an update, I took the YZ with 17s and slicks out to Coulterville on Sunday. The other riders looked at me like I had three heads.
"Whatcha got there?"
"Does that thing get any traction?"
I had a perfectly good ride. The clay was baked so dry and hard that the slicks weren't a problem. I was watched, eagerly, everywhere I rode. I think they thought I was gonna eat it sooner or later, riding without any knobs on my tires.
I sent in my pre-registration for Superbikers2 on June 12/13. I'll get as much onboard footage as I can afford SD cards.
I'm also going to throw my old intermediate tires on the 17s and run some TT races at Belleville. I only race Vet and Open C, I'm sure no one will give a crap that I'm not on stock wheels.
First race, heck, first time back on track in 3 years. I entered 3 classes, this asphalt only class in the morning, just to get the extra practice time.
Ended up breaking a finger, getting fabric burns from the inside of my leathers, straining something in my rib area and knocking myself loopy enough that they sent me in an ambulance to the Sheboygan ER. I had fun before it all went to hell in a handbasket. I'll be back at it soon.
In the 2nd practice session in the morning, on the out lap, the rider in front of me fell - right in the line. I checked up, worried about hitting him, and locked the front on a very cold tire. I ht the ground at walking pace. But when I lifted the bike, I knew immediately that my pinky finger was broken. I rode the rest of the session, then went to the pits and taped up my finger enough to sort of splint it, but not so much it wouldn't fit in my glove.
In the afternoon, I was entered in two different classes, two sets of timed qualifying, etc. I practiced well, getting faster and more comfortable - I had my braking, shifting, turning points down the way I wanted them. I ran the first qualifying session, and got a clear lap that made me happy right away. There's a trick to it at Briggs & Stratton - you get a faster qualifying lap if you you swing WAAAAY wide in the last corner on the previous lap. The previous lap time is crap, but the extra run you get across the start finish makes that next lap better than anything you could do in a race. So really, only every other lap after the first two can be used as a flyer, and you need to be sure you're not going to run up on someone who's not on his flying lap. It's planning and opportunity, and it's easiest in the first few laps when everyone is on the same "schedule".
So I had good runs on laps 3 and 5 for my first qualifying session (Vet). I left the track after a lap 6 cool down. I went back out for the 450 class qualifying and again had a very good lap 3 flyer. I used lap 4 to set up my run, and was half way through my second flyer (lap 5) when *BANG* - the next thing I know the track EMT is asking me all sorts of personal questions, and there's an ambulance crew. The EMT tells the ambulance guy "He doesn't know the date, or how old he is..." I ask him "Did you ask me that?", but I'm mostly trying to stall him because, he's right, I don't know the answers. Onto the gurney I go for my ride to St. Nicholas hospital in Sheboygan.
Within minutes, my head cleared up, and I was able to answer questions again.
Two different doctors tested me every which way to convince themselves that I wasn't concussed too bad. They dressed my fabric burns, gave me prescriptions for Vicodin, and some stuff to prevent nausea in case getting my bell rung would have made me ill. I was out of there in an hour, and ended up having a fairly nice dinner with my dad at a steak house in Plymouth.
I still have no idea how I crashed - it wasn't a part of the track I had any problems with. I got two different stories from people who "saw part of it". Some guys thought I tangled with a rider who was passing me on the inside. Someone said the rider who was also there had just stopped to help. I have zero recollection. No idea.
My bike is fine - scrapes on the brush guard, number plate and a slightly bent footpeg.
I was sore, and my helmet was trash, so I didn't race at all on Sunday.
I am planning on returning in September. I'm determined not to be discouraged. The upside was that the bike ran great. I have to be proud of that.
What is it with you and breaking fingers? You gonna get another piece of titanium?
Glad to hear things were going good right up until the bambulance ride.
__________________
Steven
2008 Triumph Sprint ST
2001 Yamaha YZ426F
Motorcycling is not, of itself, inherently dangerous. It is, however, extremely unforgiving of inattention, ignorance, incompetence, or stupidity
What is it with you and breaking fingers? You gonna get another piece of titanium?
My pinky pin (7 years ago!) was temporary - just there to hold the bones apart so they would set right. I remember the orthopedist saying "well, I think you're ready to have this out..." and then he grabbed it and pulled it out... Son of a ... if I had known he was going to do that I would have protested.
Same pinky, but I don't think it's the same kind of break. It might even just be dislocated. I see a physician tomorrow.
Self congratulatory - YZ rebuild
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)
I still haven't gone after what I think(hope) is a bent shifter fork in my 426. 4th and 5th gear slip in and out. But I lost momentum when things got canceled out in Springfield...er, last year
*sigh*
You gonna get another piece of titanium? 
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