| Author | Message | ||||
     Beache |
Court, you seem to be the go-to-guy on everything Buell. I bought a project bike recently from an ex-BMC employee, and in the bottom of the engine there is a small 1/4 hole drilled in it. It was plugged with a small rubber plug. when i had the lower fairing off the bike yesterday i found it pulled it out, along with a court of oil. A bit disturbing since it could have fallen out while driving. Anyway to get to the question, why would anyone drill that hole? I'll try to post a pic of the hole and plug. The engine also has the VIN drilled. | ||||
| Court |
I **think** (depending on the year of the bike) I know who would know. Send me a picture and a VIN. How did you buy a bike with no VIN? Depending, again, on the year, the VIN may not have been drilled, there may have been a problem with it. Buell had a bit of a struggle at one time with the VIN and there was one VIN related recall. This would go back to 3 years before 94% of the folks here had ever heard the word Buell. | ||||
| Beache |
Sorry meant to say Engine SN not VIN. Also meant quart of oil, not court of oil. Anyway back to buisness here. The engine has the SN drilled, the chassis has a good VIN and title. The chassis is from a 98 s1w, it is a recognizeable bike. You may have seen it before.
| ||||
| Beache |
There must be an easier way to work these images. | ||||
| Court |
Easy . . . just convert them to JPEG, shrink them below 55K and use the command. . forward slash - the word image followed by { then the name of your pic, close with } and post away. Very easy . . . I know, cause I can do it.  | ||||
| Court |
I've never seen the bike before and it looks like it's had lots of post-Buell mods. No idea what the hole was for. I'm betting the ex-employee may have done something but it doesn't appear to be anything that would have been done by the factory guy (actually guys as in 2 at that time) who were doing that sort of work. The bike must have been sold at retail and modified to have had the serial number removed. I **think** all the old COV's that Buell auctions off have to have the numbers intact. | ||||
| Beache |
 | ||||
| Beache |
COV's? I guess I will plug the hole with a bit more permanant and reasuring means than a rubber plug. not sure what though. | ||||
| Court |
COV's are company owned vehicles . . test bikes, photo bikes, pre-production fitment bikes, bikes sent to outside vendors for accesory development, the S1W's given the the HD area reps and so forth. I'd screw a bolt in there and be done with it. You might ask the guy you bought it from, he'd darn sure know. | ||||
| Firemanjim |
I drilled holes like that in my cases for oil line returns from heads. Probably 1/8" pipe thread. | ||||
| Diablobrian |
ANother possibility could be return line from a turbo, although it would be a little small for that. | ||||
| Beache |
Thanks. The hole isn't threaded though. I did ask the guy I bought it from, and he had no Idea, he did ask someone named Glen who seemed to think it was a typical practice for race engines, and that the rubber plug wouldn't come loose. I guess I'll Tap it and plug it. Thanks again. | ||||
| 1313 |
all the old COV's that Buell auctions off have to have the numbers intact. That is an accurate statement! Both the VIN and both Engine ID #'s. Court, I'm working on the 'assignment' don't take my lack of a reply as a lack of interest. Trying to cram as much in as I can in the limited time available. My initial responses will be coming your way SOON! 1313  | ||||
| Court |
B: Excellent! My last engineering final is next Monday. I'll call you in the next couple days. The Elves have a lot of work to do if we're going to pull this off. Be well, be weird. Court | ||||
| 1313 |
Court, My initial responses have just been sent to your g-mail address. be weird. I think I can manage that one. Without any difficulty in fact! Best of luck with your last engineering final! 1313 | ||||
| Jlnance |
Let me add some baseless speculation. I have seen places that drill holes in defective parts to prevent them from being taken out of the scrap heap and sold as good parts. I'd expect such holes to be bigger than 1/4 inch, but perhaps not. That would also explain the lack of SN. | ||||
| Spiderman |
Beache. It is hard to tell from the pic but, it looks like that hole is in line with the other torx head fastners. Which means it is more than likley RTX selaent used as a gasket between the cases when the motor is re-assembled. I am about 75% sure there is metal behind that "hole" there is a substatial amount of metal there to begin with, I will look at all my pics at home, I may have one of the engine case apart to show the girth of that area. | ||||
| 98s1lightning |
Could it have been for a mount for full fairings? | ||||
| Beache |
No, this hole was intentionally drilled between the two torx bolts going from one half of the case at a slight angle upward until it pierced the crank case. You can tell someone did it with a drill, and after the engine was assembled. After the oil finished draining from the hole, I could distinctly see the bevels from the drill bit in the other half of the case. There was no RTV in the hole. Here's what I think it was for.... I think the hole's intent was to drain the residual oil from the crankcase during an oil change. My likely remedy will be to tap and plug the hole. | ||||
| Spiderman |
well there is already one of those holes in the case on the bottom. Tap and plug... |
