Honda Odyssey and Pilot Forum
General Category => Pilot FL400R => Topic started by: FL670R on February 24, 2005, 09:59:37 PM
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Well as our story begins, it is late fall 2004 and I am just finishing up doing the last (or so I thought) bit of maintenance on the two machines I am going to take to the Fall Ride at Litte Sahara OK
I have checked all the fluids and given both my Stock FL400 (wifes ride - or so called) and my Bad500 (My LT Pilot with a 400cc Cylinder Punched out to 500cc) the 10 point check over...
It's a nice fall evening and I've already done a couple of plug chops and everything is looking great.
I decide to take the Bad500 for a little spin around the farm and down the country roads...
I return about 15 minutes later and the Pilot is running great - One last pass to the top of the hill and I'm going to load it on the trailer for the trip. As I aproach the top of the hill, running about 50 MPH the engine slowly dies... I immediately reach down and pull the choke hoping that if I did get it hot I would be able to cool her off as I coast to a stop...
I hop out hoping that something simple happened like a) plug wire came off b) I accidently hit the kill switch c) the plug unscrewed itself (hey it's happend before) but everything looks normal...
After letting it cool down for about 10 minutes I try to give it a little pull via the start rope - Nothing doing - AH CRAP - At this point I'm guessing 4 point seizure.
Anyhow with very little time left before the Jambo I decide to push it in the garage and take my Work-in-progress FL670R instead... (In hind sight I'd guess I'd rather it blew before I loaded and halled it 8.5 hours to a ride area)
OK - Fast forward a little
Anyhow - here it is today (or so) and I have finially started tearing into the BAD500 to see what happened.
NOTE:
For those of you that didn't know the BAD500 has been my adopted experimental project since I bought it - no one seems to know its origin or who created such a beast. Many such as ATVR have said that they never punch out a FL400 cylinder to run the CR500 piston. CW Racing has admitted to doing this mod to some Pilots but claims his all have his markings on them...
It's been two years since I have had to tear into this machine so I (an others I assume) are kinda interested in seeing what has been going on...
Enjoy the Picts - Any/All thoughts are welcome...
Dennis
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HOLY CRAP I'M SHRINKING...
No not me my pictures these are all
640x480
72dpi
16.7 million color (32bit) Images
What happened...
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just click on the image and it'll get bigger. LOL I just re-read my sentence. Man I need to get my mind out of the gutter.
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the thubnail files size limit is set at 50,000 bytes, it must have kicked in and thumb'd them....keeps them easier to load for dial-up users ;)
So what caused the rod bearing to go. Same thing just happened to my brother's machine. I didn't pressure test it....no need. the clutch side bearing was toast and you could tell it would leak air there. But the clutch side bearing wasn't seized, just worn out. Now the rod bearing, it's seized. Cylinder and piston, and head too all look fine. The crank shows signs of high heat issues as well.
If it was an air leak, wouldn't it have leaned out and caused more of an heat issue on top and seized the piston?
Similiar happened to Ted's...We rebuilt his due to worn bearings. But the clutch did not get installed correctly, it went on crooked and toasted the main clutch side bearing in ~7 hours use. Main bearing and seal again would have leaked air...(you could move the clutch end of the crank very visibly by hand).
So why didn't these engines and yours piston seize due to air leaks. Why, how did the top ends stay clean/good, and only crank/bearing issues arise?
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I agree since the top ends are complete and not damaged it appears that it is just lower end bearing failures...
I'm not sure why we are all of a sudden seeing lots of bearing failures
I did have a PowerBloc clutch on this machine - clutch balance issues ?
This machine also runs a little higher compression about 170lbs
I have not ever switched motor oils so I don't think its a motor oil band issue - I run Bel Ray MC1 at 32:1 by the way...
I guess these machines are all just getting to the age where some parts are just starting to wear out ?
I'll know more shortly...
I boxed up the lower unit and sent it to Phoenix, AZ (PCP OffRoad)
I boxed up the upper unit and sent it to Batavia, OH (Bore Tech)
I'm having a few upgrades made :)
PS
Anyone know where I can get a new set Pro Design Cool Head O-rings ?
PSS
Thanks for the info on why my picts were thumbnailed <sp?>
Dennis
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Well we'll see what happens with Ted's and Sinclair's in the next while. Ted's is up and running...maybe 3 hours on it (have to check his Digatron gauge), I have ~15 hrs on my CR500.....We'll be putting a gauge on Sinclair's once we rebuild it, so we'll track his hours too. I have no idea how many hours were on their bottom ends as they were not touched since they were bought, so it's quote possible it was just their time to go. We'll track the new bottom ends for hours, and pressure test them periodically.
Sorry no help on the Pro-Design O-rings :(
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Dennis, I feel for you man! I hope you get the issue resolved quickly and as painlessly as possible. Riding is so much of an adrenaline rush, but I guess breakdowns and repairs are just the downside of the whole issue. Unfortunately, everything has its downsides. :(
Again, best of luck to you!