New engine chirping and running on 2 cylinders | Page 3 | GTAMotorcycle.com

New engine chirping and running on 2 cylinders

hey hey hey getting it done. given what you found, you may want to check that the head is torqued to spec. Good to do after a new engine gets run in anyway. would also be a good time to measure / check valve clearances. At 145-150 psi across the board, it sounds like a healthy motor.

would like to see some pics - so far they have been v good. Did I understand correctly you have the rotor off?
 
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Rotor is not off yet. I went back to it last night with my cheap eBay bar end and I tried the dowel trick, hitting the tensioned bar end with a rubber mallet, but I just ended up destroying the threads on the soft bar end metal. Will wait for the Motion Pro bolt/tool to show up before attempting again. Would rather use the proper hardened tool rather than chance it with another random bolt. Should get the tool tomorrow.

And yeah, I should re-torque the head stud nuts just to make sure - good call.
 
I think the low torque of the rotor bolt gives a clue to what happened. I don't think there is a woodruf key in place. The low torque may indicate the previous owner was having a problem keeping the timing marks lined up without the key in place as he was tightening the bolt. This and the fact that he replied to you to check the woodruf key. This isn't such a bad scenario, as a sheared key could cause damage to the slotted rotor/crank interface.
 
I'm hoping there's no key in there. A sheared key on a 28-year-old engine has probably fused to the shaft and rotor by now.
 
Update! Flywheel puller came in and it made very short work of the flywheel. Yay quality tools!

bcdfdcb78ed0865ee4da4c359400f84d.jpg


00f56733d172ca31f2769c8e87e2ba72.jpg


Now, there *is* a Woodruff key in there and it's intact.

34fdcece5bd5ac01c44219ce13b632f6.jpg


Yet the timing mark issue remains. Here's a vid where I visually bring up piston 1 to TDC, then check that the cam lobes are lined up (off frame). They are lined up. But the crankcase mark and "T" mark on the flywheel are still off by a good 10 degrees or more.

Then starting at 0:15, I line up the marks. You can clearly see the piston begin its descent.

[video=youtube_share;jPUrDesGDRc]https://youtu.be/jPUrDesGDRc[/video]

b5ec79e1a39b9254b68b16d5760607be.jpg


At this point, am I right in assuming that the cam chain jumped a tooth?
 
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At this point, am I right in assuming that the cam chain jumped a tooth?

That would make me very nervous if that were the case on a fresh engine. If that has happened, I would seriously consider pulling it apart to check everything myself as that would be the second hiccup you know of with the rebuild.
 
I'm going to talk to the guy who did the rebuild. He may have simply messed with the engine after pulling it out of his project bike. Cam chain is nice and tight.

Wish I had the space to do engine work, but I really don't. I'm already pushing my luck doing all this work in a very visible area of my condo garage. Neighbours shake their heads at me: "You and these bikes!"
 
Update! Flywheel puller came in and it made very short work of the flywheel. Yay quality tools!

bcdfdcb78ed0865ee4da4c359400f84d.jpg


00f56733d172ca31f2769c8e87e2ba72.jpg


Now, there *is* a Woodruff key in there and it's intact.

34fdcece5bd5ac01c44219ce13b632f6.jpg


Yet the timing mark issue remains. Here's a vid where I visually bring up piston 1 to TDC, then check that the cam lobes are lined up (off frame). They are lined up. But the crankcase mark and "T" mark on the flywheel are still off by a good 10 degrees or more.

Then starting at 0:15, I line up the marks. You can clearly see the piston begin its descent.

[video=youtube_share;jPUrDesGDRc]https://youtu.be/jPUrDesGDRc[/video]

b5ec79e1a39b9254b68b16d5760607be.jpg


At this point, am I right in assuming that the cam chain jumped a tooth?

it wouldn't hurt to check the cams are in the right position. however the piston and crankshaft relationship doesn't change regardless of the cams positions.

on a hunch...are all four plugs sparking at the same time? or is there clearly 180 degrees between the two coil sparks. Somehow I can't stop thinking that the wiring is sparking all four plugs at once. im back to the wiring splices in the harness. perhaps harness wiring from double pick up fj, to single pickup radian has somehow got both coils firing at the same time? thus messing up spark timing. you could check that the coils are sparking alternately by slowly turning engine over and watching sparks?

edit - great pics, it looks to me like the T mark and arrow are lined up.
 
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it wouldn't hurt to check the cams are in the right position. however the piston and crankshaft relationship doesn't change regardless of the cams positions.

True true. But then... what the hell? Is the T mark not the true TDC? Is that common?
 
I remember the CCT being semi-auto - maybe it was never touched? I would think it is more likely the cams were just installed wrong rather than the chain jumping (though it can happen of course)

You might need to more precisely measure TDC, you can do this with a properly calibrated pencil but the internet explains it better than I can
 
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on a hunch...are all four plugs sparking at the same time? or is there clearly 180 degrees between the two coil sparks. Somehow I can't stop thinking that the wiring is sparking all four plugs at once. im back to the wiring splices in the harness. perhaps harness wiring from double pick up fj, to single pickup radian has somehow got both coils firing at the same time? thus messing up spark timing. you could check that the coils are sparking alternately by slowly turning engine over and watching sparks?

Ooooh, good thinking. I'll check the wiring again but I'm pretty damn sure it's as it should be. It's got a full Radian igniton and charging system now too. But I may be missing something, indeed.
 
the T mark and arrow on the engine look to be lined up closely. try another look? great pic!

That's what I thought too, but MR thinks different marks need to line up (see post 24).

EDIT:
MR already posted reference.
Any manufacturer that puts an arrow beside the proper timing mark which looks like a casting ridge deserves a swift kick in the *****. (Or both Clymer and Haynes are wrong which could happen and would explain why the marks look off even there is no possible way they could be with a keyed rotor.)
 
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That's what I thought too, but MR thinks different marks need to line up (see post 24).

Matt, the small tiny arrow is difficult to see. take a long searching look at your new pics and study the crankcase for the arrow.... arrow is near invisible - this is THE mark on crankcase ..
 

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