Bike Repair Horror Stories

Posted: Mon May 14, 2018 7:08 pm

Hi All,

I wanted to hear some horror stories from everyone! Near misses, unsecured parts? Animal nests? Let the tales tell! maybe they'll serve as words of warning in the future

I'll Start.

The past two weekends I have been rebuilding my head and in the process of putting the valves in I found that we had an odd # of keepers. We checked all the valves spring/bucket holes except for the last 4 we had done because I had just put them in and was confident there were no roaming keepers. We chalked it up to a garage gremlin and got a spare. After assembling the rest of the valves we put the head on the engine and bolted it up. During a valve clearance measurement we found that one valve was so out of whack that we couldn't put a big enough shim in to make our .005. After leak down on that cylinder it was leaking like a sieve and we decided to take the head off and relap all the valves. During disassembly, we didn't find anything out of the ordinary except that after taking everything apart, relaping the valves, and reassembly we found that we now had one EXTRA keeper. I don't know where this lil' guy was hiding but man did it make my heart skip a beat; just imagining the havoc it would have wreaked.

Moral? If there is any doubt as to the whereabouts of a missing part: disassemble!

-Sebastian

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 12:30 am

Seb,

Good job finding your issue... It is good you are patient... and willing to break the motor down again... and againn Smile

My awakening is... these bikes are old and who knows what people have done to them over the years...

As J.R. says, there comes a time when people should tag out instead of doing a repair that causes more headaches.

You would get bored (or wouldn't stop laughing) if I started a page on the issues I have faced with Big Orange... LOL. I have stopped counting the number of stripped bolts and threads... wrong bolts and hardware etc... every step forward brings me two to three back, as I find more issue(s). Wire harness repairs (hacks) Smile

In spite of it all I am glad to have the bike and am addressing the "stuff." Had I gone into it, doing a frame off, it would of been easier and taken less time.

Peace
Vince

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 3:34 am

You'd better be Happy with Big Orange !!!!

Cause Janet and I aren't hauling it back to Texas this Spring Very Happy

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 2:01 pm

Does spraying sub-one millimetre ball bearings through a blackbird gearbox count as a horror story?

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 3:56 pm

Putting my (current) race motor back together over the weekend. Got the cylinders and head installed. Wanted to check the valve springs and make sure they were ok (found a broken kibblewhite inner spring last time). I use the put air pressure to 2 cylinders so I can remove retainers while it's assembled method. Had set the pistons so they were all even in the cylinders. When I applied air pressure I heard the crank/pistons move. No serious leakage through intake or exhaust so I didn't think much of it. Checked valve springs (all good) so I'm ready for top dead on 1 and install cams. Crank will only move about 20 degrees either way. Found the a chain had bunched up underneath the crank and the boss that sticks out from front of cases for the guide. Had to disassemble back down to cases to manipulate the chain so I could get it loose.
s
Moral of the story: If you do the apply air pressure method of holding valves in while removing retainers use more than a 20 ounce ball peen hammer to hold your cam chain slack and make sure all the slack is pulled out of cases when you apply air pressure. The hammer didn't move when I applied pressure to the cylinders which makes me think I had loose chain bunched up down in the cases. PITA!

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 10:39 pm

How about dropping a shim into the motor? Tried every which way to get it out - after 3 days of throwing fits, pulled the motor, disassembled it and found the shim.... under the tool box!!

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 10:45 pm

BlueThunder wrote:

How about dropping a shim into the motor? Tried every which way to get it out - after 3 days of throwing fits, pulled the motor, disassembled it and found the shim.... under the tool box!!

Oh fuck......

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 10:53 pm

Brian.. Thats exactly what happens to me lol...

Posted: Wed May 16, 2018 1:15 am

I found the shim I dropped down the front of the cam chain tunnel, lodged against the crank/cam chain guide. Pulled the exhaust cam, moved the chain out of the way, stuck my extension-magnet down there and saved the day. Luckily the motor was out of the frame at the time.

That was not nearly as worriesome as getting the cam cover ceramic bead blasted, coated and installed, and at the next valve clearance check finding ceramic beads in the oil pools by the cam lobes. Talk about avoiding disaster! I am still not quite sure where the beads were stuck. I know I checked, but never saw any in the cover. Phew!!

Steve

Posted: Wed May 16, 2018 1:48 am

Sometimes static electricity on the inside of the covers after blasting is enough to hold the media in the crevices. My dad's bike had the same thing. He caught it when he was trying to spray it down with brake clean and compressed air. It just pushed the media around and never got it to release...weirdest thing.

Posted: Wed May 16, 2018 4:10 pm

So while machining Matt Zwickers head to fit a V&H B guide. I went too far and machined through the head. No biggie I just welded it up.

Then drove the engine down to Matts in CA. A 700 mile trip one way. We installed the engine and low and behold we had oil leaks. Fixed a couple on the new oil line to the B guide and thought we got them all fixed so I left and drove home.
Two days later Matt calls and says the engine is leaking still. Ah shit. So I drove back down and got the whole bike. The engine is on the bench now and I see that I didn't get the hole all the way welded up. I'll be fixing that today and have the bike back in Matts garage this weekend.

This is a vary costly error on my part so I will now build a test stand and test run all engines before I ship them. Live and learn Embarassed

BTW, I could tell these kind of stories all day long. I have learned things the hard way that's for sure. Haha

Posted: Wed May 16, 2018 4:39 pm

JJam wrote:

This is a vary costly error on my part so I will now build a test stand and test run all engines before I ship them. Live and learn Embarassed

BTW, I could tell these kind of stories all day long. I have learned things the hard way that's for sure. Haha

So the hard way is the best way I say. That way you are more likely to remember a lesson learned. Live and learn...

Posted: Wed May 16, 2018 5:11 pm

Experience is what enables one to recognize a mistake when one makes it again.

Posted: Wed May 16, 2018 6:33 pm

Ha ha! The old carpenters saying: Darn it, I cut it three times and it is still too short!

Steve

Posted: Thu May 17, 2018 1:37 am

Not so much a motorcycle horror story but a good prank.
Years ago Greg, a good mate of mine ran a motorcycle repair shop.
One Saturday morning his dad came in to service a 4 barrel carbie in the workshop.
Once he had washed all the parts in a tub of fuel he had put the carbie back together. As you do, he ran his hand through the dirty tub of fuel to see if he had missed anything, and came up with this tiny ball bearing in his hand that Greg had thrown in the tub when dad had his back turned.
Well the dad was shitting bricks trying to work out where this bearing had come from and was on the point of tearing down the carbie again, until someone gave the game away and told him Greg had thrown it in there.

Posted: Thu May 17, 2018 1:45 am

BlueThunder wrote:

How about dropping a shim into the motor? Tried every which way to get it out - after 3 days of throwing fits, pulled the motor, disassembled it and found the shim.... under the tool box!!

Ouch. That sounds like it should be one of my stories. Embarassed

No were near as bad... just yesterday I was checking the valve clearance on my Kawi. I was having a particularly frustrating time trying to get a shim into it's bucket when the shim and the holder tool took off like a shot. Fortunately, I had stuffed the cam chain tunnel with rags and easily located the bucket holder tool. Spent hours looking for the shim only to find it was in the bucket I had been trying to place it into. What are the chances?

Posted: Sat May 19, 2018 3:19 pm

Changed the rubber cushions inside the primary shaft and had a hard time getting the bearing off to disassemble it. After putting the engine together I rode it about 100 miles and it ate the bearing. Took the engine back out & apart then went to get a bearing .... no longer available from Honda (in the USA anyway) ... went to bearing supply shop ... they could get the bearing with correct inner & outer ID's but no one but Honda made the bearing with the groove around the outer race. Contacted a restoration shop I have used before and got one out of Holland! Bike was down about two months! Rode Junior that summer.