Not that I was surprised, but it is clear as to the problem! The engine has thrown a rod and then it looks as if the bits punctured the oil filter pouring oil over the headers.
Half of the rod was actually found under the oil tank, quite how it bounced it way there I dont know but it did.
Of course it has taken the barrel with it which is a real shame, but again not that unusual! You can see the piston is still inside the head, but luckily the valves are all good and the head untouched!
These are the bits we found OUTSIDE the engine!
just for good measure, perhaps the half a rod, has poked a hole in one of the exhaust joiners. Its nothing though that cant easily be fixed!
I didnt want to just rebuild what I had before as I wanted to know what had actually caused the problem. It soon however became clear that one of the rod bolts has snapped, the cap has then been wrenched round, snapping the other bolt and then breaking everything in sight. the normal reason for this is an overrev, but I checked again and the engine is good for just over 13000rpm, but the power drops at about 12000 so I only rev it to that. The bolts hadnt got hot so oil starvation, which is another common problem on bikes didnt appear to be the cause. Also, although bent, one on the rod shells looked as good as new, no marks or scratches on it, again pointing away from oil problems.
After a bit more research I have new found the problem, although I am not too happy about it! It appears that the bolts were faulty. They were supposed to be the mustard unbreakable, made of unobtainium bolts… I shall not be using them again! I have though now bought a new secondhand busa and shall be building that into the new engine. This time though I am going to change a few bits and bobs to try to make it breath a little better, so hopefully it should be a little better. Its frustrating, but that I suppose is development! But I have learnt from this and hopefully wont do the same again!
Tags: Engine
