Serious Help Needed

[chef1366]

I'd JB it also.

[almarconi]

The bike was rear ended by a pickup truck. If the impact was hard enough to crack the engine case wouldn't it seem just the tiniest bit plausible that the bike may have suffered some other damage?

This whole attitude of "slap some filler on it and ride it" has me baffled. I could understand if the crack was on the stator cover but this is a structural mounting point on the engine block. Without inspecting the block how can you tell the extent of the crack? The cases may very well be paperweights.

[BadBillyB]

I am going to have to agree with Almarconi. No epoxy of glue is even going to slow down the leak. It's in a high stress, high vibration area. The guy in the pick-up truck owes you an engine. A professional aluminum welder can fix it but it would require completely stripping the cases and dipping that area in acid to remove every trace of oil......Might as well shop for some new (used) cases and fix it right........Billy

[isleoman]

The insurance company for the pick up truck paid me 2850 last year when they totaled the bike. $2850 is pretty close to what I paid for the bike brand new in 84. Plus they let me keep it. Truck was doing about 7 mi/hr when he hit me and punted the bike about 20' out from under me.

I had started the engine briefly after the accident and never saw the leak but wasn't looking for it either. Engine builder never saw the crack either.

So I'm considering all options now. Don't have anything to loose by trying JB weld but I'm not optimistic.

I work with skilled aluminum welders and to do it right you still have to split the cases, and you run the risk of warping the mating surface by welding the crack.

Best option seems to be looking for a used bike with decent cases, or cases by them selves.

I'm waiting for Rapid Ray to get back to me about the condition of the trany in a set of cases he has. Biggest problem there is Ray and I are about 3300 miles apart.

In my life bad things always seem to happen in threes. I'm on #4 for May 2010 so hopefully things will turn around. The good news is money its not the issue other than I could have bought a used ZX14 by the time this all gets finished

So yea I'm disappointed, but I will prevail in the end. Thanks for the input guys.

[blowerbike]

the engine builder should have caught the cracks when cleaning/prepping the cases.
if i had done the assembly and been paid the going rate i would eat the labor and do it for you again.
your crank is not going to jump out of the cases.
prep and epoxy the crack and see what happens.
if it will work for you...find a nice set of cases and prep them and have them ready to swap internals when the riding season is over.

[TheCafeKid]

The bike was rear ended by a pickup truck. If the impact was hard enough to crack the engine case wouldn't it seem just the tiniest bit plausible that the bike may have suffered some other damage?

This whole attitude of "slap some filler on it and ride it" has me baffled. I could understand if the crack was on the stator cover but this is a structural mounting point on the engine block. Without inspecting the block how can you tell the extent of the crack? The cases may very well be paperweights.

Andy I am not putting you down for your concern. It's valid. But here's he deal ; if that were an ear type mount, with just a shoulder bolt or whatever I wouldn't chance it at all. Like I said I know what would happen if that would come loose just from being stupid enough not to put the front mount in my old 750cafe. Like I said it tried to Jack the motor back in the frame. But these mounts aren't designed like that. It a through bolt. There is substantial meat built into that setup, plus the lower mounts and the othe side mount and the rear mount. IF he can get the weep to stop, which may not happen, I wouldn't be super concerned about it's structural integrity. The motor isn't going to come apart go flying backwards or the crank go busting out the bottom of the cases. There are too many other mounts in it. I am simply saying best case scenario, try to stop the weep and or deal with it, find another set of cases, prep and paint em and make em look all pretty and ready to rock and then swap the stuff over. Parts have already been bought, at worst it's another set of gaskets. In the mean time, check it out and if it seems ok, ride the snot out of it. Just my .02. I've seen people ride or do things to their bikes on this forum that have much more substantial integrity issues than this.

[salty_monk]

I have used a product they sell everywhere with great sucess bet it would work here. Temp resistance vibration and adhesion are great.
It's called something like househould glue but it's a silicon product that's highly adhesive.
I think it's GE branded. I will get some info or a pic of it later if you want.
JB weld would prob look better but this stuff seals better and stays flexible too

[WilliamGLX81]

Here are my 2 cents:

Why did the crack appear there? Because that point was under stress during the collision. Which probably means it's under stress in general... And it's an engine mount bolt.

The oil presents a problem - if it's not cleaned out. I've taken a welding class, and the oil will cause porosity in the welds - porosity = weakness. With enough solvent, you can get it clean and make a good weld.

With the time it will take to pull the engine, crack the cases, clean it, weld it, reassemble it.... That's some time and money.
The other problem is that you can see this crack. Aluminum is cast, which means it's very rigid, and consequently brittle. I would bet there are more cracks you can't see.

I think it's going to save you time and money to replace the cases than to try to put out a bunch of small fires. It may be that you have found the only cracks, which are visible to the eyes, and can be welded up.
It may be that there are more, and what will you do if you weld up these and still have leaks, or worse - you have weak spots in the cases you won't see for 1,000 miles or 50 heat cycles.