Not the fault of the cams, I either (a.) didn't tighten the cam gear bolts tight enough (also didn't know to loctite them) or (b.) the bolt sheared off. Honestly at this point I don't care how it happened. It happened and now I need some supplies which I ordered to get her back together again. Here's a pic of the damage. It only appears to have damaged the cylinder head housing as shown in the pic. I didn't pull the cams yet, because I'm waiting on a response from Marthy about setting TDC before pulling them. The bolt is stuck between the gear and housing. So I can't turn crank to set TDC. I know from removing the cams before that setting TDC is very important to make sure everything lines up and works properly. My thought is to remove chain and cams, line up crank to TDC and put gear back together and loctite both cam gears and reinstall with timing marks lined up at TDC (flush with cylinder head). I'm glad I talked to Marthy before ordering a new cylinder head. I don't think I bent any valves.
Bike stalled and won't F'n start!!!
Marthy confirmed what I thought about just pulling cams and setting crank to TDC and then reinstalling cams as they should have been (TDC flush with cylinder head). Just got to get them out clean up area so I can JB weld it and then reinstall everything (with Loctite of course...LOL). Marthy suggested dumping oil first and then putting cheap oil in for about 25-50 miles to get any metal shavings out and then put the good stuff and new KN204 in there. Martin aka Marthy is earning his sainthood for sure. Man just touched down in America and responded to my emails. Welcome home Martin and thanks for all the help! You're a lifesaver. Definitely owe you a few beers, or cases. LOL!:iconbeer:
Wish me luck, gonna rip the cams out here in a few and hopefully not find any further damage. Only damage I could forsee would be to the bolt holes on the cam gears which would suck. I have my original cams, but don't want to have to go back to stock. Hoping before I go back to work Wednesday to get all the work done. Already have the bike apart, just didn't take cams out yet. I wanted to make sure I got all the parts and supplies I needed before really getting going. Wish I could set TDC before tearing down, but that's not in the cards since the bolt is holding my cam gear from turning. Have to get the cams out and then set TDC and put all new bolts and loctite them in good. Then I need to drain oil and prepare cylinder head for JB weld. Once I JB weld it I will wait at least 1 or 2 days to fully cure. Then just need to reinstall everything put some cheap oil and run her for 25-50 miles and verify no leaks and then put the good stuff, Mobil 1 Synthetic and new KN204 on there. I'll try to take some pics at the very least at the end when reassembling for people that may not know how to tear down the bike that far. It was much easier this time, that's for sure.
Does the fun ever stop?!? So got the tensioner and chain off and then got the cams out. The holes for the bolts on the cams are boogered up. I am not sure if I can just rethread them or if I should just throw stock cams back in there. Hate to do that after all this, but I wanna be able to ride. The cam swap isn't that hard so maybe it will be best to go to stock and just get another FZ6 exhaust cam. I can do the swap pretty quick now when I have the time to dedicate to it. :surrender::surrender::surrender:
Yeah, that's what I decided. Not worth missing more riding. I will reinstall when I get time later this season or during the offseason.
Still going to try updating with pics during re-install for anyone wanting to possibly do the cam mod.
Well finally got the time this weekend (skipped working on homework all weekend) and got her JB Welded and back together. Wasn't too hard, just haven't had the time until now. Sorry for those who wanted pics. I was in a time crunch to get done today since I have to work on homework tomorrow. She fired right up after reinstalling the cams and getting everything back together. Had to refit the valve cover gasket once since I had to dremel out some of the JB Weld after I filled the hole and didn't have it perfect. Would have been simple if I pulled the engine out. Didn't have time to get out for a ride today so hopefully tomorrow I can log some miles. Need to run 25-50 miles and then dump the oil for fresh Mobil 1 synthetic. Needed to run new oil through to get any metal shavings out of there, plus the brake kleen I used to prep the cylinder head. Will feel good to get out and ride again, seems like forever since I rode.
Here's a pic before and after I repaired the cylinder head. They're the only pics I really took, because I sent those to Marthy. He recommended Jb welding the head instead of replacing. I am glad I listened, because it was pretty easy. The JB weld is at least as strong as the aluminum that the cylinder head is made from. Just need to prep the area good. I prepped by cleaning with Brake Kleen and then used duct tape on the inside and outside to keep JB weld from running. Pealed off easy enough after I let it cure 24 hours. Then used a grinding stone attachment on my Dremel to shape it the way I wanted since I filled in the cutout in the side of the cylinder head somewhat. That was a pain since it's hard to get in there with the Dremel, but just tedious to get it perfect. Very happy with how it turned out. Working on some homework now and then going for a ride in a bit. BRRRAAAAAP!!!
Attachments
Got a quick test ride in tonight (only 16 miles) before the storms moved in. She ran like a champ again. She's running a little on the hot side compared to normal, but think that I may have air in the radiator. I disconnected the two lines coming off the top of the radiator which run across the top of the valve cover since they were in the way to work on cams and cylinder head. I did lose a little too, but not too much. Gonna order some engine ice and change out coolant this week when I clean chain, change oil and filter
(Mobil 1 4T full synthetic and KN204). I put regular 10w40 motorcycle/atv oil in for a quick clean of the system after the work I just did. Wanted to make sure there were no metal shavings or brake kleen left in there. One good thing about all of this is I can disassemble my bike and engine pretty easily and quickly now. Cam swap and this BS has helped me learn alot about my bike not to mention all the other mods. Think I can disassemble her blindfolded now.
Edit: By hot I mean even when moving at speed she stayed at 198. I expect to see 200+ stopped since it was almost 90, but usually once I am moving she drops to 180's, maybe 190. She ran great though, sounds good and pulls hard. Just checked on her to make sure there are no leaks where I repaired the head and she looks great. Win one for JB weld. Could also be the different oil. I definitely prefer full synthetic, but wasn't paying $11/quart x3 to flush after 50 or less miles.
(Mobil 1 4T full synthetic and KN204). I put regular 10w40 motorcycle/atv oil in for a quick clean of the system after the work I just did. Wanted to make sure there were no metal shavings or brake kleen left in there. One good thing about all of this is I can disassemble my bike and engine pretty easily and quickly now. Cam swap and this BS has helped me learn alot about my bike not to mention all the other mods. Think I can disassemble her blindfolded now.
Edit: By hot I mean even when moving at speed she stayed at 198. I expect to see 200+ stopped since it was almost 90, but usually once I am moving she drops to 180's, maybe 190. She ran great though, sounds good and pulls hard. Just checked on her to make sure there are no leaks where I repaired the head and she looks great. Win one for JB weld. Could also be the different oil. I definitely prefer full synthetic, but wasn't paying $11/quart x3 to flush after 50 or less miles.
Last edited:
ksk operator 1
New Member
:rockon::rockon::rockon::rockon::rockon::rockon::rockon::rockon::rockon::rockon:
Making a run for that top spot, good job man,you sound pleased. well done sir!
Making a run for that top spot, good job man,you sound pleased. well done sir!
Just happy to have my bike rideable again. Really missed riding the last month. Missed lots of good riding days.
So the fun never stops. I had the day off and was going to change my oil/filter, change over to engine ice coolant, clean and lube chain and wash and wax my bike. Well while taking right fairing off I noticed a little bit of spray on bike (barely any, but since I was close I noticed) and when I checked the valve cover sure enough the gasket failed where I repaired the cylinder head. So I tore her down yet again. I can do this $h!t blindfolded now. So instead of trying to get the area dremeled out to match the valve cover gasket since it's nearly impossible while on the bike I decided to go with Marthy's idea. He said in the beginning he's just fill the whole area with JB weld and then cut the gasket to be flat there. Well fudge it, I am waiting on JB weld to cure now. Got the old gasket sealant off the valve cover and got her all clean and ready. Not hard work for me anymore, but pisses me off, because I should be out riding, not wrenching. If I have one more F'n problem I'm buying a new cylinder head and calling it a day (well used off Freebay). Under $200 for low mileage used heads on there. Hoping once the JB weld is cured this problem is ancient history and I can Braaaaap till the break of dawn! LOL!!! Glad I decided to do this today and didn't take her out again. Not that it would have caused catastrophic damage from the little she leaked, but who knows when I would have noticed. Oh, apparently for those of us that haven't worked on engines our whole lives the cutouts in the side of the cylinder head are there for milling during assembly of the engine. I asked Marthy one day why the fudge they were there, because a flat gasket would be soo much easier. Learn something new everyday. LOL! Hope everyone else is riding. Hopefully I can ride by father's day so I can truly enjoy my day.
Last edited:
I'll drink to that!You should change the thread title to " FZ6R Wars, Episode 13- The saga continues"
That's how it feels lately. Got the Jb weld done and valve cover back on. Just need to throw everything else back on tomorrow and do my oil/filter and coolant change. Hopefully that will be the end of the saga. LOL!You should change the thread title to " FZ6R Wars, Episode 13- The saga continues"
FZ6R Wars-Episode 14 "The Phantom Menace"
:surrender:So got bike all back together and oil changed and coolant changed and went for a ride. Realized a few miles in when I went to put my foot down at a stop that I had oil on my foot. So turned around and went home and pulled the fairings off. The f'n thing still leaks between the valve cover and cylinder head and sprayed back onto my foot and even onto the back tire. I was worried bike was gonna go down with oil on the tire. So guess I'm doing a head swap when I can. Saw some under $200 on ebay. I was trying to avoid that, but I'm out of ideas. I don't even want to fix it again at this point because it probably won't work. Not much more teardown then I had to do for cam swap. Just need to take radiator off (which I didn't have to do) and remove throttle bodies/fuel rail. It was most of the way off just had a connection or two left. FML! Maybe I'll get a full ride in by August! :surrender:
:surrender:So got bike all back together and oil changed and coolant changed and went for a ride. Realized a few miles in when I went to put my foot down at a stop that I had oil on my foot. So turned around and went home and pulled the fairings off. The f'n thing still leaks between the valve cover and cylinder head and sprayed back onto my foot and even onto the back tire. I was worried bike was gonna go down with oil on the tire. So guess I'm doing a head swap when I can. Saw some under $200 on ebay. I was trying to avoid that, but I'm out of ideas. I don't even want to fix it again at this point because it probably won't work. Not much more teardown then I had to do for cam swap. Just need to take radiator off (which I didn't have to do) and remove throttle bodies/fuel rail. It was most of the way off just had a connection or two left. FML! Maybe I'll get a full ride in by August! :surrender:
Got the new head for $160 with only 1600 miles (super clean) and ordered head/valve cover gaskets too which still haven't gotten here from partzilla. They did ship finally though (been 2 weeks due to back order). Gonna go drain oil and coolant and rip her apart to prep. Didn't want to do that until parts were on the way. Been having trouble with my 05 hemi ram. Been making a ticking noise and found broken exhaust manifold studs. So now I'm gonna order headers instead of ripping everything off and cleaning and replacing bolts and gaskets. Found shorty headers with gasket and bolts for $300 (Hedman Hedders). New manifolds would run that plus new bolts and gasket even more. Got 99 problems, lol
edit
Wife gave the go ahead so I ordered the header. Should be here Monday as well since they were Prime shipping on Amazon.
edit
Wife gave the go ahead so I ordered the header. Should be here Monday as well since they were Prime shipping on Amazon.
Last edited:
Got my cylinder head off and everything transferred over to the new cylinder head. Just need to clean gasket residue and clean carbon off the cylinders and gasket residue on the lower half. The valves on the head are nice and clean already. Either from light use or seller cleaned it up a bit. Just need the gaskets to get this thing moving now. Man those head bolts were f'n tight. I had to hold the bike from moving while trying to break the bolts loose.
