I think I found my oil burning issue (pics)

[Road_Clam]

WEll took the initive to tear down the Clam bike, and I have previously had an issue of excessive oil burning from the #3, and #1 cylinders. I found this in the #3 cyl:



This was the top ring that was broke in half ? All the top rings were worn pretty bad. The rings seem to be hammered in the grooves as the rings fit real sloppy. So I scored a almost new set of stock bore pistons from Steve of Riff Raff racing. I mic'd the cyl bores and they are still right withing spec. The original pistons were .001" under the min spec, so they are junk. Should be all back together in a few weeks. I need to replace the fork seals and bushings as well.

[Larry D]

AHHhhhh......surgery in progress. Keep posting the pics with your progress.

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. Road Clam,

Wow, that's unfortunate. But it looks like you've got it handled. Nice work. Thanks for the pictures. I hope all goes well with your top end rebuild.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[chef1366]

I'm helping a friend put together an 1168 kit and a worked head on Sat and Sun on an 83 GS1100ED. It'll be fun.

[bwringer]

What th'... how'd that happen?

[SqDancerLynn1]

Any sign of the rings seizing in the bore? They look like they got very hot.
Maybe just very low oil level by previous owner

[Road_Clam]

Odd thing was I had about 140 psi of compression. My bike seemed to have good power, and run good as well. I was shocked when I pulled off the cyl., and pieces of rings were falling off the pistons..... I was going through about a quart of oil every 1000 mi.

I am anxious to see how much of a difference fresh pistons will make. I will post up my findings after re-assebly.. stay tuned for an update...

[Nessism]

How are the cylinder bores? If that broken ring scratched the cylinder, the engine will burn oil. Also, I trust you are honing the cylinder. What grit hone are you using? I need to get a hone for my 1000 and not sure what is best.

[skip]

Odd thing was I had about 140 psi of compression. My bike seemed to have good power, and run good as well. I was shocked when I pulled off the cyl., and pieces of rings were falling off the pistons..... I was going through about a quart of oil every 1000 mi.

I am anxious to see how much of a difference fresh pistons will make. I will post up my findings after re-assebly.. stay tuned for an update...

how about the clam bike vs that pesky sportster for a re evaluation

[Jethro]

how about the clam bike vs that pesky sportster for a re evaluation

Sweet, the race talk begins...

[Road_Clam]

How are the cylinder bores? If that broken ring scratched the cylinder, the engine will burn oil. Also, I trust you are honing the cylinder. What grit hone are you using? I need to get a hone for my 1000 and not sure what is best.

Surprisingly the cyl bores are all perfect. I already did a hone using a 3 finger type, and I am good to go. Just waiting for gaskets.

[Road_Clam]

Bumping this thread for an update.

Today I did about 60 miles on the fresh top end (and new for seals). My bike ran perfect ! I observed no poofs of blue smoke (knock on wood), so at this time I think I have my past oil usage gremlin solved. My bike's throttle response seemed way crisper than past as well. Too early to tell about more power than before as I took it kinda easy and let the new pistons seat in. I had a sweet ride, and I also noticed way better fork action. (I drained a large amount of grayish skank thick oil out of the forks. I definately need to change the fork oil more frequently. The last time I did the fork oil was '05.( Shame on me)