looks like im gonna be down for a while!!

riding this crazy offroad place a week or so back and blew my **** up! Ran the bike for 4 or 5 hours hard all over the place and some how or another I managed to toast the 88 kit I just installed 6 weeks back or so. Not sure what the hell happened to be honest. Looks like lubrication failure. here are some pics:

 

That sucks, weren't you trying to sell it too!

that cyl look like my 80 did when the main bearings went out!

 

nah id never sell my baby!!!

in all honesty the cylinder isn't too bad.. it looks weird but to the feel you can barely notice any of the scratches. The piston is where the biggest damage was. Definitely sucks though!

 

I did the same thing when i replaced the rod bearings, just new piston. those scratches you cant feel will eat up that new piston and rings, mine lasted bout 10hrs of riding time. if you can get a new sleeve or cyl.

 

damnit. lol im gonna stop by a race shop down the street from me. full machine shop, i'm thinking the cylinder might be able to be honed out? The piston is toast but I'm hoping they may be able to work some magic.. I can't afford a new cylinder right now! sucks ***. whats worse is I am not 100% sure of what caused this. And I don't want it to happen again.

Fab5 had me check and I found out my vent line was pinched, which I am guessing caused it to get too hot and break down the oil. and then caused it to grenade. When I was riding it after about 4 hours or so, it started making some clanking noises when it was in low end of 2nd gear in the trails and climbing hills. then it started loosing power and dying out. and then **** got bad fast. We left to try to get it back to the truck and about a block away from the truck it was going a block or so then loosing power real bad then dying out. I started it up (it ran in nuetral just fine and seemed to run in 1st gear just fine too) I shifted to first went about 20 feet shifted to second and went about 4 feet then just stopped. *Chirp* tire locked up bike died. I think it siezed at that point. So I walked it to the truck. Checked the oil and when I removed the dipstick smoke just started pouring out of the case cover! It never smoked out the pipe though. I let it cool off and it started right back up but after about 5 minutes would start to smoke again in the case cover. I rode it the next day for 2 or 3 hours but i stopped alot and let it cool off and it rode ok. still had smoke in the cover but never smoked out of the pipe. When I drained the oil to dissasemble it the **** just poured out like water wasn't thick at all. Im pretty sure it got boiled! I'm guessing too much pressure and no vent cooked the oil and after riding it hard for 4 hours straight with hardly any breaks the oil just stopped doing its job.

The rod is not bent, everything else seems just fine. I dunno what the hell happened.

I ordered up the super oil pump to put back in and already drilled out the passage. I will put it on this next go around. Thinking about switching to synthetic oil this time too.. I also whipped up a valve tappet vent to put on. Its a Trail Bikes 88 kit. Im just running the cyl & piston though everything else stock.

 

hey derek... were u running an upgraded oil pump at all when u first put the kit on?? if not the stockers ive heard dont supply enough oil to efficiently cool/lube an 88cc kit.. as we all know more power= more heat. u could hone out that cylinder yourself.. its quite easy.. just go to a parts store and buy a smaller cylinder hone, put it in your drill.. and go at it.. just use a "up and down" motion with your drill.. ( it puts the pretty crosshatch pattern on the cylinder walls that the machine shops do) ive honed out a couple myself.. not hard at all.. oh. and keep the hone oiled... good luck with that.. hope it works out for u.

 

Bro, the crankcase vent was pinched?

Clue me in. Mine is running fine. I am still worried about the longevity of the TB kit. I am the test mule in our group for the TB kit. Well,one other bike has it but I don't think he rides much.

I beat the holy living hell out of mine too. I rode last saturday for about 5 hours straight just parking lot stunting. I prolly should change the oil. Damn rear tires aren't lasting for crap either.

 

Zach, nope no super oil pump. I was told it wouldn't be needed on the 88light kit. So I didn't put it in. I dunno if that had much to do with it or not. Fab5 doesn't think so, he says he has alot of 88's that don't have the oil pump and have run just fine for a long time.

I went ahead and got one that will go in now though. Since I have it completely broken down there is no point in not doing it. its only $30.

I will check into the hone at the parts store. I figure I will run it by these guys at the shop anyway I just want someone to tell me its not tore up so bad that I have to get a new one! If they thing its toast then I will if not Ill either have them do it if its fairly cheap or I'll try doing it myself..

Freak, yup thats the one. I was talkin with fab when this all happened we have been trying to figure out what the hell went wrong. With all the symptoms I was telling him he said it sounded like the crank case vent was plugged or pinched. I kept sayin no no its not it. So I finally went and checked and when I grabbed the line I have on it to pull it out to where its visible, it wouldn't come out. I had to tug the hell out of it to get it out. When it came out you could see where the tube was pinched together it warped it.

What I did when I changed it all up was I took the pinkish colored tube that ran off the stock airbox down to the ground with the plug in it, I moved it to the vent niple on the case and ran that tube down the back of the cases between the bottom frame block and the lower engine mount. Some how or another it moved over and pinched off back there. at least it was pretty squished down. not 100% sure it was pinched completey but you can see it was pretty smashed.

Up until that weekend it had been running fine. We put the hurtin on the bikes on the night ride in dallas and I never had a problem then. But that was all pavement riding. Up until this last weekend all I have ridden the bike on has been pavement or cement of some type with the 88motor. This was the first off road outing I have had since I installed it. We were climbing hills and doing trails and ****. Lots of 1st gear and low end 2nd gear stuff to get up the hills etc. and I really put the beating on it. 4 hours later it starts making these noises and loosing the power.

I was real carefull installing everything. I am pretty sure I didn't do anything wrong on that end of it. I'm pretty competent with a wrench. It's a pretty easy install really since I didn't even change out the cam or anything.

Definitely stay up on the oil changes! I think I'm going to go synthetic this time. From what I can tell the damage just looks like it wasn't getting enough oil, or the oil was completely broken down from the heat, or the oil was just shitty oil. It was castrol tho.. I think it might be a good idea to make sure and give the engine a break every couple hours too.. maybe 20 minutes to cool off..

I don't think it was just a bad product issue. I think it was kind of a snowball effect. I mean other then this the TB kit F'n rocked! I loved the power. I wish I could get some of that 93 octane gas they had in TX up here tho after I ran out of the can I brought back the motor was pingin a bit louder again hahah we only get 91 here.

 

That's harsh D. You need to get it up and running asap so we can get back out there!!

 

hey derek.. when u change your oil.. get 20-50 castrol activo... its what my local mechanic here in st. joe told me to use.. thats what i always use in my fiddy... and its even specific bike oil thats meant to work with our clutches... it worked great to me.. sounds to me like u just ran her dry on the oil.. probably got way to hot, with all that extra power i bet it does heat up pretty fast.. and the oil broke down and u had some serious friction... which would cause a loss in power and scarring of your cylinder like it did... as long as there are no deep gouges u should be able to hone it out.. just check your ring gaps to make sure they will still seal good..good luck with it all..

 

Derek, you saw at the stuntlife store how bad I was beating on my bike to stay in front of that SDG.

I hate to lose a race. I was willing to sacrifice the motor to prove a point.

When I did my TB BB I went with the race head and H/D oil pump. I also have the tappet breather. That mother blows out a crapload of oil all over the back of my bike from the tappet breather hose. It gets so bad that by the end of a stunt night my foot has a hell of a time staying in the 12 bar for those kind of tricks from all the oil back there.

I have yet to go out in the dirt with it for an extended period. Just riding with my kids on trails so that is slow speed stuff. I usually just end up riding 1st gear wheelies behind them.

Good luck. Hope you can just hone that baby out and get out of it cheap.

 

lol no doubt i thought that sucker was gonna go!

no such luck on honing. Its toast. lol sucks but im just gonna try it again and go with a new cylinder! Just hope it don't happen again.. hopefully the steps i take this time will keep this from happening.

thats kinda harsh about the breather blowing oil all over hahah that could get nasty fast! Do you run the hose open at the end or put a little filter deal on it? I was thinking about trying to find a little filter to put on it so it doesn't drip all over..

 

damn.. that sucks about your cylinder d... ya. that sounds weird about the breather blowing oil out.. it really shouldnt do that.. u might try going to an auto parts store and gettin a pcv valve.. if i remember right they only let air come in.. not out.. i could be backwards on that.. either way they only let air go one way.. (whether its in or out) either way its small and would help in any regard. and thier cheap.. hope things work out better for u next time around

 

The whole point of the tappet breather is to relieve pressure. With that pressure oil is going to come out to. Just no way around it. Oil is splashing around the tappet so what are ya gonna do?

I had a little filter on the end of the hose, but it seems the gauze filter material that was jammed in there has gone AWOL. Have to go buy some new stuff today.

Sucks about the cylinder. Hope mine holds together. :YEAH

 

No doubt! Bikefrk, do you have to constantly add oil back in b/c of this?

 

Keep us posted on the cylinder-cost of new replacement. I scored a red anodized jug for an 88 off ebay. You can still see the cross hatch marks inside, just don't know if I'm gonna install it yet. If ya get in a pinch and I don't use it I'll hook ya up on a $.

 

Thanks 2bit I appreciate that offer! Good lookin out! I went ahead and ordered a new one from fab though.. so I am set. should get round 2 in the next few days! you need to put that sucker on and check it out!

 

Yeah I know, but I'm kinda stuck waiting on my buddy. He has new parts to put into his bike and I get the leftover 88 piston and rings, so I'm at his mercy.
I can only imagine the fun if and when I do it.

 

No. Oil level stays fine. I change it often though. Less than a quart each time gives me peace of mind. :YEAH

 

freak what oil you runnin in yours?