| Author | Message | ||
     Italialaw |
Hello all, I recently picked up my second tuber, an s1w white lightning. Anyway, I went out for a short ride and all of a sudden the bike sounded loud in a terrible kind of way, started to bog and eventually stalled out. I coasted into a driveway, got off the bike and noticed that the front spark plug had blown out of the head, and the rear spark plug wire at the coil end disconnected. When I got the bike home I determined that the spark plug threads were still intact and there was no metal in the spark plug hole in the cylinder head. However, when I attempted to thread a new spark plug in the front cylinder head the plug would not tighten , so I assume the threads in the front cylinder head are stripped. I have a couple of questions for the board: 1. What if any damage could I have done to the motor? The bike stalled out approximately two minutes after the problem occurred. I am very concerned about my motor. 2. What options do I have as far as re-threading the front cylinder? I have seen time-sert and other comparable products but I don’t know how difficult re-threading is to do, or what size insert or kit I would need. I really don't feel like taking it to the dealer and paying an arm and a leg for this repair. 3. If I took the bike into the dealer how would they fix the problem? Install a new head or re-thread? 4. Is this a common problem on tube frame buells? I have never had this problem on my S3. Thanks in advance! | ||
| The4ork |
ive never heard about this problem for buells. if it was my bike i'd pull the front head out, and take it to a machinist. however if you have access to a truck, and can haul the bike, i would try to take it to a machinist and see if they can do it with the motor in tact and in the bike. this is a COMMON problem for some ford f150's and there are kits to add in helicoils without removing the heads (and you just vacum out the metal shavings) its def worth a try and should be cheaper than the dealership | ||
| Ratbuell |
Not uncommon on a Buell (or any other aluminum-head engine). There's a few guys in Big Bad and Dirty who've had it happen to their Ulysses'. It was probably either overtorqued on installation, or wasn't put in tight enough. Pull the head and helicoil/time-sert it. It's easy enough. You'll need a base gasket, a head gasket, a rockerbox gasket set, a pushrod tube O-ring set, and an intake manifold gasket set (otherwise known as a "top end gasket kit"). I want to say 14 bolts and you've got it all apart. Under 30 bolts and you have both cylinders off. If you don't already have one, this is a great time to get yourself a shop manual  As for damage...aside from the popped threads, I'd be surprised if you did any damage at all (assuming ALL of the spark plug came out, and it didn't drop any pieces down in the engine). If you have a complete spark plug...you should be just fine. | ||
| Buellistic |
TORQUE SPEC's. for spark plugs is 11 - 18 ft.lbs. Use coper compound antize(can buy at NAPA) ... My spark plugs stay tight at 11 ft.lbs. on my 1997 S3T and at 12 ft.lbs. on my 2000 BLAST ... If the the plug/plugs stay tight there is no reason to tighten tighter !!! If "i" had to replace threads it would be the most correct way possible ... Would never replace the head unless there was no other way ... | ||
| Italialaw |
Has anyone had this type of work done on the cylinder while the head was still mounted to the bike? | ||
| Oldog |
remove, weld up, re thread, reassemble I highly and personaly recomend Cyclerama for the excellent work they do. they fixed where my head mount let go, if you can swing it I would look over the rest of the bike now I would do the billet mount and isolators Unless you find damage to the piston or valves I would not worry, My only issue is If I sent the >heads< to Pammy, I would not be able to stop at repair, and overhaul DAMHIK  faster is a set of cams away....... | ||
| Oldog |
I would not do it because you may not get all of the shavings out. the head is difficult to reach with machine tools, and a hand drill and inserts are not the way I would go. | ||
| Italialaw |
The bike had not been ridden for some time (by the prior owner who I recently bought the bike from) and I'm kicking myself for not checking/changing the plugs sooner. This happened on the second ride (literally). I called my local buell dealer and the service manager plans on talking to his "head" guy in the morning to determine whether the cylinder needs to be removed from the bike to repair the stripped threads. I'll keep everyone posted. |
