Maintenance

[Rick]

FYI.
There has been some problems in the past with engine detonations, The causal problem or weak link seems to be the crank journal and rod bearing.
Looking at failures from a statistical stand point that is the point of interest. Focusing on that area and the last few engine rebuilds I've noticed wear on the rod bearing & cranck journal increasing dependant on the hours of motor run time, 6,10, and 15, Hours.
My self I'm checking engine run time on the MyCron and replace the rod bearing between 10-15 hours. A fifty dollar rebuild seems to be cheep insurance........

[brad42]

Mar 3, 2009 19:17:18 GMT -5 Rick said:

FYI.
A fifty dollar rebuild seems to be cheep insurance........

So we crack open the sidecover, undo and DISCARD the rod bolts, slip in new bearing halves, replace rod bolts and torque to spec. 5 Hours? Are you sure? I figure I do 1.5 hrs per race day (sprint) and maybe 1 hour practice between races, so 5 hrs would be every other race weekend.

To be honest, that's how often I changed my oil last season.

My #1 motor has not been apart since 15 races ago. I guess it's time.

[Rick]

Hey Brad,
That doe's seem a little excessive. What I was thinking 10-15 hours of run time, at 1 to1.5 hours per session: using 1.5 hours 10-15 divided by 1.5 equals 6-10 sessions. If you are Randy that would be considerably less (LOL). I think inspection is the "key" to preventive Maint. If you tear down the lower end and see scoring on the crank journal and excessive wear on the rod bearing beyound the 2 thousands clearance, Its time to be replaced.

[Brad Wunder]

Great stuff there Puddles. I wish we would have been doing that sort of analysis the past few years. Might have saved me several thousand $s, and who knows, I may have still been running F200s.