front cam chain guide explody - help!

[BruKen]

You got nothing to lose but your temper, and everything to gain. Go for it! Oh, and post pics.

[metalguru]

Follow the steps in the manual and it is a straight forward proceedure, you are nearly there just take your time and it comes apart very quick. Reassembly is a bit more involved but again follow each step in the book and keep it really clean and use a real good jointing compound. Triumph used blue hylomar on those engines, especially sealing the liners, Have done a few of these now and they come apart real easy and are easy to reassemble, my 10 year old assembled the last one under insruction from me as I was recovering from an errant horse collision and he found it straight forward but he does help out now and again.

GO FOR IT what do you have to lose, if you have a prob just ask.

[mantramoto]

Going for it in baby steps: today I took out the cylinder sleeves and one piston. At this point you really feel committed. I wasn't going to remove the sleeves after reading a post on this site (Rocinante?) that talked about only re-sealing them unless one was slightly proud. They all looked fine - however, after looking up into the case with the oil sump off I could see drips of coolant leaking onto the thing that drives the pistons - I knew that was not good and must have been coming from the disturbed sleeves. Looking at the sleeves you can see where over time the coolant had leaked down between the case and the sleeve (I never saw coolant in the oil - but maybe it burned up in the hot oil. The sleeves took a bit of patience and lots of gentle wiggling but eventually came out with twists and pulls. The piston pin was quite the lesson in motorcycle proctology - this took some time but eventually came out - I still have to do the other two. Sorry some photos are upside down, I don't know how to correct it.

[MIMbox]

Gotta say, you walk the walk . Much respect for getting in there. I think you have done the right thing, so keep us all posted, and good luck..

[CoolHandLuke]

Nice.  Are you going to be changing the rings?

[BruKen]

Yeehaa! Way to go  :icon_salut

[BruKen]

remember to keep all pistons, liners, gudgeon pins, cam caps etc labeled or boxed in such a way that they all go back in the exact same place and direction as they came out. Dont want to be mixing and matching bedded in parts.

[mantramoto]

Nice.  Are you going to be changing the rings?

I wasn't going to change them - the bike only has 40+ K miles and everything in there looks fine, does not burn oil and compression seemed good before the cam guide mis-adventure. The cylinder sleeves look good, cross hatching is still apparent. But again, I am not mechanic - should I be changing them? I am trying to keep the cost down to a minimum by only replacing the essentials.

[Mustang]

Nice.  Are you going to be changing the rings?

I wasn't going to change them - the bike only has 40+ K miles and everything in there looks fine, does not burn oil and compression seemed good before the cam guide mis-adventure. The cylinder sleeves look good, cross hatching is still apparent.

you should be fine ..and look at it this way even if they do cause a problem later on , you will be experienced now. LOL

[CoolHandLuke]

The cylinder sleeves look good, cross hatching is still apparent. But again, I am not mechanic - should I be changing them? I am trying to keep the cost down to a minimum by only replacing the essentials.

You will likely see the cross hatching on the liners at 80k+, too.  Certainly the engines I have seen apart still have them.

If it's not burning oil and everything looks in good condition it is not necessary.  I think it is something I would do, if I stripped the engine that thoroughly, as the rings are not too expensive, IIRC.

[BruKen]

I don't know if you can buy rings separate but the piston ring set is bloody expensive IIRC 78 GBP a shot or 450ish if you did a proper job and did wet liners too. If your rings need replacing chances are excellent all needs replacing.

[CoolHandLuke]

I don't know if you can buy rings separate but the piston ring set is bloody expensive IIRC 78 GBP a shot or 450ish if you did a proper job and did wet liners too. If your rings need replacing chances are excellent all needs replacing.

No, this is not necessarily true.  I have seen knackered rings and the liners have been fine.  The rings in one case seemed to have lost all their spring.

One thing I would add, make sure the rings go back the right way, so that the gap on each ring is facing the right way.

[mantramoto]

Thanks for all the input guys - it is all very much appreciated, the more opinions the better. And thanks for the flashback Mustang!

[Colonel Nikolai]

You will likely see the cross hatching on the liners at 80k+, too.  Certainly the engines I have seen apart still have them.

If it's not burning oil and everything looks in good condition it is not necessary.  I think it is something I would do, if I stripped the engine that thoroughly, as the rings are not too expensive, IIRC.

I'm with CoolHandLuke.

I just did this sort of job on a 2003 Buell XB9S. The cylinders both has the hatching apparent but the rear had some scoring in a couple of places. Since a ring set is $30 and a hone is $22 per cylinder at Bill Bune Motors ("We do boring work" heh heh) here in town, I figured it was something I couldn't afford not to do. This was an air-cooled engine, though; they don't wear the same really, or so I've heard. YMMV.

EDIT: your pistons may one day look this nice!

[JetdocX]

Christ almighty what a waste of aluminum!  Water cooled is definitely the way to go. :roll:   Love that H-D technology.  "Decades of tradition without regard to progress." :lol:

Oh, and edit:  I did not replace my rings.  Everything was kosher after reassembly, but I was careful with them.  The gaps should be indexed 120 degrees apart with reference to the piston.  Line them all up and you will be blowing through oil! :lol: