| Author | Message | ||
     Steveford |
Negatore, the steaming pile of camel snot is still refusing to fire up and claim its rightful place as King of the Devil's Dunghill. Maybe one of the float ticklers is stuck? Until I can track down this mysterious gremlin I've put in for FMLA as a delaying tactic. | ||
| Ourdee |
Did you apply for the FMLA for a family member? | ||
| Reepicheep |
Must need seafoam Steve. Seafoam fixes everything. And maybe a little marvel mystery oil. | ||
| Steveford |
Yes, the Useless is considered to be part of the family. Kind of like your weird Uncle who lives under the stairs somewhere in the middle of the woods. Well, maybe you don't have an Uncle like that but I do. Just in case my claim was denied by HR, I decided to persevere. Seafoam was my next move (along with some Marvel Mystery Oil for myself as I'm getting kind of weak and creaky) but the guy at Home Depot suggested taping refrigerator magnets onto the frame with Gorilla Tape and then giving everythhing a good kick. I liked that idea so much that what the heck on went the magnets, one massive kick to the pile uh crap and, wouldn't you know it...  Next week I'll pick up an oil filter and some oil, reroute the clutch cable, see if I can't download a race tune, reset the TPS, reset the ignition and give it a whirl. Assuming all is well next are new tires and wheel bearings and then the big 100K refurb is done. (Message edited by SteveFord on August 06, 2016) | ||
| Reepicheep |
Excellent! In all seriousness, does it really have 100k now? | ||
| Steveford |
Not yet, 94,000 since I bought it way back when - late 2005/early 2006 when I worked at Schoch's H-D/Buell (now Pocono H-D in Stroudsburg, PA). I was putting so many miles on the 06 Triumph Tiger that I decided to quit screwing around and get the Useless done a bit early. When it hits 100K I'll do a write up of problems encountered/mileage when they occurred. (Message edited by SteveFord on August 08, 2016) | ||
| Etennuly |
Why is the bottom of that rear jug and the corner of the front head the only clean looking parts on the entire machine? That damn thing looks like it has 50,000 unwashed, hard ridden miles on it! What the hell man?!?! | ||
| Etennuly |
I hope you at least made it to work on time the past few days! | ||
| Steveford |
That is untrue - the front headlights look freshly washed. Yes, I made it to work on time but had to take a Triumph. The shame... The last 50,000 miles were rough on this bike as it was nearly all highway commuting into a slum and then outdoor storage during working hours for the past 7 years. Acid rain, sunlight, toxic puddles and crap flying out of trucks will certainly age the finish! The powder coating on the primary and cam cover is starting to delaminate, in another 50,000 miles big strips will be missing. Actually, that's pretty clean for this bike. There's no cover on the timing plate so that makes it look shabbier than normal. It needs repainting and some powder coating but a cosmetic restoration isn't in the cards for a while. Heck, it's not even broken in! (Message edited by SteveFord on August 10, 2016) | ||
| Etennuly |
 Just picken at ya! It's crazy what happens to a vehicle when you actually USE it!  Did ya notice I was allowing for 44,000 miles of tender loving use??  | ||
| Steveford |
And the final update on this silly thread: 94,450 miles is when it came apart and it fired right up and now it's break in time again. This brought back a LOT of good memories of breaking it in back in 2006. The difference is in 2006 the break in miles occurred when it was around the freezing point, this time it'around 100 degrees out. In 06 I was the Buell Guy at Schoch's H-D/Buell in the Poconos, ten years later Schochs is gone, BMC is gone and I'm a civilian. I'll be back at 100K with write up in case anyone is curious as what to expect as the mileage creeps up. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Thanks for the fun thread Steve! | ||
| Steveford |
One last funny one. The wife was surprised to come home and see me riding the thing and I told her that I had a few parts left over and I didn't know where they went so I threw them away. She went, "Really?" | ||
| Reepicheep |
LOL. I just did some (turned out to be) major work on the Mini, and had two bolts left over. I'm normally better than that, but this one started as a short job and turned into one of those "adapt and overcome" death spirals, and I let myself get annoyed, which let me get sloppy. So I ended up with two bolts. I looked at them, decided they couldn't be that structural, and threw them in the "spare mini parts" tub with a label in a zip lock bag for the next time I'm in there to try and figure out where they might belong. (They were "body fastener" sized, and on a car with 100k+ miles on it, the clips and body parts those bolts hold are often long gone anyway  ) | ||
| Brother_in_buells |
Left over parts means that you just made it more efficient!  | ||
| Falloutnl |
So eh, Steve, what did you actually do on the bike? | ||
| Steveford |
Honed front cylinder/new rings, new rear piston and cylinder, lapped valves, new reed valve (not needed), new modified car lifters, new PCV valves, "new" race canister, reflashed "new" ECM, consolidated grounds under headlight to one terminal, about 10 hours spent getting baked-on crud out of heads and front piston top, gasket kit, header retaining circlips. It was pretty ugly in there but I was so determined to hit 100K before taking it apart. Almost got there. (Message edited by SteveFord on August 15, 2016) | ||
| Falloutnl |
Ah, very nice. Were you able to determine whether the big-end was still g2g for another go around? (Encouraging btw that you were able to hit a 100.000 miles with the original engine.) | ||
| Phelan |
Did you replace the valve seals? 06 had the leaky black seals from the factory, probably contributing to the buildup and oil consumption. The 07-up Orange seals and most aftermarket seals are much better. | ||
| Steveford |
Yes, the valve seals were replaced as a matter of course. I wouldn't doubt they'd croaked long ago but the main culprits, I believe, were the PCV valves and all of the scoring in the rear cylinder. I commute 100 miles/day and try to never take my truck. I'm pretty much March through December on a bike. Once the roads are free of ice it's back to it. Every day I had to ride through a shitload of road construction as they were grating and repaving whole sections of Rt. 83 and renovating bridges and one fine day, at around 72,000 miles, a bunch of cement and asphalt grit got past the K&N and into the motor. Up until then it didn't use a drop. I also had to have sinus surgery but that's another tale of woe. It never even crossed my mind to worry about the big end - there's never been any weird noises to concern me and I seldom take it past 6000 RPM as what's the point? The motor pretty much runs out of steam by then. I move right along but don't beat on the bikes. I never believed the Buell ads with the wheelies and stoppies and burnouts and such. That always looked like a good way to destroy somebody else's bike! Aside from one cylinder being scored to death and the incredible mess in and on the top end, everything else looked to be in pretty good shape. The next time the motor comes down it's getting a new oil pump drive gear as that was looking a little worn on the edge but that's for next time which I'm not planning on doing until it hits 150,000. The bike might have other ideas as it's kind of contrary at times... | ||
| Falloutnl |
Makes sense. Not sure whether I would count on that drive gear to last for another 50.000 miles, but you probably know your shit a lot better than I do. Did the first Ulysses come with the improved gear? | ||
| Phelan |
Yes it did. | ||
| Steveford |
Now that I take some time to compare what I saw with images of brand new ones it doesn't look like there's much, if any, difference between the gear with 94,000 miles and a new one. If money hadn't been so tight I would have just ordered a new one for peace of mind and chucked it in there while the guts were out. | ||
| Falloutnl |
When the gear failed in my X1 shortly after replacement - it failed because I had been sold a •••••• imitation part that was pulled from shelves shortly after - it didn't do too much damage luckily. Cams were ok. Only thing that needed replacement was the oil pump and the oil lines (the lines were a precaution). Most of the 'cost' was in terms of our labor involved in cleaning up the mess. Anyway, like that •••••• imitation part, the replacement gear should be a little more malleable, right? So maybe it's a risk you can take. Especially if it still looks fine. | ||
| Brother_in_buells |
For a replacement there is the beryllium bronze gear ,or a hardened gear from lucky hands Germany. | ||
| Tootal |
Well I for one appreciate your willingness to share what you found at that mileage. I'm afraid I'm going to be doing the same thing at 50,000 miles. I bought my 06 in 07 and it had been the demo bike so break in was not proper. My front plug is always black from soot and my rear is perfect. It uses oil but doesn't smoke so I'm leaving it alone for now but I really hate any engine that uses oil. This Winter I might tear it down as you did and hone it .005" over and replace the pistons and ring. I'm afraid my front head is going to be like yours, full of carbon! I'm thinking of heating the carbon with a butane torch and then hitting it with a cold gas or liquid to pop it loose. It would imitate the old, "get her hot and pour a little water down the carburetor" trick! Glad to see yours back on the road! Well done! | ||
| Hughlysses |
Tootal- before you tear your engine down, you could try the old mechanic's trick to remove carbon. Mix ~50/50 brake fluid and water and shake like hell. It makes a foamy mixture you drizzle down the intake with the engine idling. I think the idea is to slowly pour it down for a few minutes, and then immediately shut the engine off. You let it "soak" about 30 minutes to soften the carbon, then fire it up. It will smoke like hell for a few minutes but apparently the brake fluid/water (which turns to steam) mixture will blast the combustion chambers and piston tops clean. As far as the baked-on gunk in the intake ports, I was able to clear that out with brake cleaner. When I tore down my 07 engine I wound up selling the heads to a guy from Australia (IIRC I sent them to NRHS for reworking- it was cheaper for him to buy my heads than to ship his from Australia). My rear port had ~1/4" of build-up in it. I just sprayed brake fluid in the port with the valve closed and let it sit. I'd move the head every day or so so that all the gunk was eventually submerged. I think it took about a week and a couple of applications but it all came out with no scrubbing. | ||
| Tootal |
That might be a good idea Hugh. I've always had problems with pinging on hot days using ethanol. Carbon buildup will raise compression and cause it to ping and even knock. I had an 84 Jeep that did that. Loaned it to a friend who drove it like a little old lady and it sounded like a rod knock. I took it to a dealer and they cleaned the carbon out and it was fine. I always ran the crap out of it and never had a problem! | ||
| Etennuly |
Hugh, to be clear on this, did you use brake fluid, or brake cleaner? You got me when you sprayed it. GM dealers have(or had) a product called 'top engine cleaner'. Works basically the same way as your dump it down the throat method. Warm the engine, slowly pour the product down the throttle throat, faster as you near the end of the amount you are using, until the engine stalls. Leave it sit for a half hour, fire it up and immediately drive it at as much half throttle or more that you can. It will put out a smoke cloud for about a half mile that will amaze you. As much carbon that I had in my intake, and build up that I could see on the valves, and the large amounts that I have cleaned off from the throttle plate and throat inspired me to re route the PCV spooge to my outside drain system. Good thing I run the better premium gasolines! | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
The oil consumption may be just valve guide seals. You may not have to go too deep. |
