Rare Scottish Tree Badger

I hear what you're saying. But I've hardly had any time on this bike and the few times when it's all been together it's felt great. I'm not ready for a longrod crank and I've struggled to control the power 'Shee was putting out for MX. Money is tight and I'm fed up throwing the little that I do have at it. ... I was almost there, and now I'm back to square 1. Here's the last couple of pics looking down the cylinder from above. Notice the bottom ring just lying there in the first pic. I then turned the motor upside down and poured another load of bits out. I can now turn the crank, but it gets tight as the damaged rod goes down below. Oh, and yeah, my cylinder has a few chunks out of it at the edges of a couple of the ports. I guess that means I need another cylinder and the expense of having it re-ported. I don't know for sure, but I'll send it off to my engine porter early next week and see what he says. Rare. (And almost extinct! )

..... No sign of any piston here, just a bent rod with a wrist pin hanging out of it: Oh, but what's this? ... Not much left eh! Rare.

No, it's not good. ... There's a real mess inside the cylinder. I've taken a few pics and will get some more up in further posts. It was all just lying in the front pipe when I removed it from the cylinder. And yeah, I'm not feeling too good about this. Here's the first few of the pics: I've pulled the head and the bad side doesn't look too bad. Should clean up ok. (That's a NEW plug in the bad side. I just put it in there for washing the engine). Surprise, surprise, I still have two pistons! ... But both are at the top More interesting stuff to follow. Rare

I don't know what caused it, but you've read my post wrong. ... I wasn't trying to kick it over after the engine failure, i just used my hand on the kickstart to see if it would turn over and it wouldn't. .... The grinding noises weren't there before, they just happened during the failure. Btw, I am ported - MX race port. (That's in my profile). And as for "Better a ring than a piston skirt", this is what I just tipped out of the exhaust! Rare.

You could elimminate plug, plug caps, and leads by swapping cylinders to see if the missfire moves to the other cylinder. If it does, then one of those three's your problem. Rare.

Oh well, now I get to look into my engine for the first time. Could have done without this right now! I've only just got the bike back together after the crash. Here's what I've done: After my plug chop the other day, I decided to up my mains from 270 to 300. I had been having problems with sticking slides, so gave them a polish up and a touch of grease. ... All back together and fire her up, first kick as usual. 30 seconds later put the choke off. My low running mixture jets had been at 1 1/4 turns out, but I had noticed that the plugs were fouling up quite bad after long idling so I turned them out to 2 turns. Ok, so now I play with the throttle blipping it up and down a few times. Everything's fine, I check the radiator and it feels warm (not hot). I carry on revving her up and down. Still blowing out the usual smoke from the pipes. ... Now I want to make sure my slides have stopped sticking, so I start blipping it to FULL throttle and letting go. And then on about the fourth full throttle blip I start to here bad noises, sudden drop in power, by which time I'm off the throttle. But she makes a horrible grinding noise inside and comes to a sudden stop. I know it's bad! 'Shee won't turn over on the kickstart. Oh shit, how much damage have I done? So I pull the left side plug, looks fine. But I felt if anything it was the right side. I pull the right side plug and the earth strap is closed up a bit and there's bits of metal around the inside and porcelain. I had torqued the plugs to 14 lb/ft, but this right side plug didn't feel as if it had been torqued. ... I guess the piston's let go and with the earth strap bent, the shock has loosened it up. What damage do you guys reckon I've done? And has it been caused 'cos I didn't have her warmed up enough before going crazy with the throttle? ... I'll take any abuse 'cos I feel like a dick for what I've just done!!!! Rare.

The part number for the Motion Pro cable for thumb with no tors is 01-0813. I got mine from ATV World (Tel: 01132 778663). That's all you need, just the cable and the throttle. Hit me with a pm if you want the thumb throttle. Rare.

Great news about getting your 'Shee back! ... I guess the only butt on that seat will be YOU from now on. Rare.

I'll second that. .... 59 lb/ft (Even if it does say 58 in my 'Yamaha Genuine Service Manual'). Is that a Clymers that says 59? Rare.

That's ok. If you don't ask, you don't get. TORS is the Throttle OverRide System. It's supposed to kill the bike if the throttle slides stick. ... Since your 'Shee has been converted to twist throttle, I would think your TORS has already been removed. The TORS sits above the carbs. If it's been removed, then you'll just have screw caps on top of the carbs with the cables coming out the top of them. Rare.

Good to hear! Happy Birthday, Guys. Rare.

I've got a spare one for

Unless you've had years of riding motorbikes, then stick with the thumb throttle. Especially if you're doing a lot of MX. ... I bought my 'Shee at the end of last year which had been fitted with a twist. I did get used to it pretty quickly and on long trails it was great, but for the MX tracks I found it was easy to get out of control. ... Needless to say, I just changed mine back to a thumb throttle. About your modding, have you tried looking at quadsportuk.co.uk? Tom's a racer, his prices are good, and he's based near Edinburgh. You'll pick up a 2+2 G-Force axle from him for about

About 20 or so miles south of Edinburgh on the Lammermuir Hills. Keep in mind that the higher ratio of fuel to oil that you mix, the richer the fuel will be. Rare.

Yip, they're on the side. But the left carb's window is on the inside which makes it difficult to see. I use a similar method to what you did, but I just take the air filter off and look in through the airbox. Rare.

According to their website ( http://www.putoline.com/eng/start.html ), MX5 is a Synthetic/ SAE 40 which they say to mix at 2 - 4 % which will be between 100ml and 200ml per 5 litres. ... 2% is 50:1 and 4% is 25:1 Putoline is European and therefore you might be better to use Quad Heaven in the UK to see if anyone's using it in their 'Shee here for an idea of what ratio to run. I use their light gear oil for the trans. (SAE 75). Where abouts in Scotland are you? Rare.

After chopping the first plug and seeing the strange 'rise and fall' of the ring, that's what I thought it could have been. So I took a note of where the ground strap was on the second plug before chopping it, but the swirl was at a different position. My last theory is that it's to do with the actual positions in the cylinders, maybe facing the inlet ports. So next time I'll mark the plugs before I take them out to see if that tells a story. I know what you mean! I can understand the warm running for 10-15 mins and then doing the WOT test to show up markings on the upper insulator and a good indication on the earth strap and base ring. But the actual ring that you see by chopping the plug is surely going to color from the times that you're at 1/4 - 3/4 throttle in that 10 min or so period, and therefore masking the main jet reading. The pics I put up of the threads and earth straps ... The whitish streaks rubbed off with the lightest of touch from my fingers and l noticed that, compared to a new plug, the straps were grayed right down to the base ring. I know the plugs need more time on them, but this could be showing a need for a change in heat range of plug. ... What a science this is! Rare.

I didn't think they gave a lot away, which possibly confirms the lean situation. ... Should it have showed up more info on what was only 20 - 25 seconds of running? Rare.

Are you in Europe? ... I ask 'cos in the Uk we talk about ml (mililitres) and petrol. If so, your 160ml per 5 litres is a ratio of 31.25 : 1 What kind of oil are you using? That usually determines what ratio you should be using. I use Silkolene Pro 2 (Full Synthetic Ester) at a ratio of 33:1 (150ml per 5 Litres of fuel). Rare.

Well, finally got around to doing my first plug chop. ... Warmed up, found a nice long straight (with no rocks in sight!), swapped in a new pair of plugs and pinned it through all the gears and held it open for 6 or 7 seconds in top. ... Pulled the kill, hit the clutch, kept the throttle wide open and coasted to a stop. I believe that's the way to go. As I said above, this is my first plug chop so appreciate some comments. ... Looks normal in the first pic showing, I would say, a bit on the lean side. ... I think it's a bit lighter colour than it should be, and also a bit narrower than the suggested 2mm. I'll go on after this pic. ... ... But what's all this about? ... The rings are a bit fatter and darker at this point, but has that twist in it. Anyone seen that before and care to comment? Rare.

Curve 4 is the stock curve which doesn't alter timing at all. The other 3 curves have a maximum of 3 degrees advance at various stages in their curves. Curve 3 hits 3 degree advance @ 5,500rpm and then follows the stock curve, staying 3 degree advance all the way to the limit. And curves 1 and 2 only reach 3 degree advance @ 10,000rpm. ... You should have got a graph with your Dyna. With my mods, I'm going to add 2 degrees of advance over the Dyna. ... You'll have a maximum advance of 7 degrees if you leave your advance @ 4 degrees. Is 7 degrees ok with your mods. ... I've often read about 7 or even 8 degrees of advance being ok. But you're on the line here and your mods will decide what's safe. Rare. Rare.

Of the rare Scottish type? Rare.

That's exactly what I thought too! Rare.

Hope you had a good one! Rare.

Check that the valve in your fuel cap breather is working ok. If it's blocked this can cause a vacuum in the tank that stops the fuel getting to the carbs. ... Unlikely, but worth checking. Rare. EDIT: Just re-read your initial post and see that you're getting fuel to the carbs, so it's not the above. Rare.