Well ,it finally happened. After 10 years of owning ATVs ,
The BartMiester was just slightly embarassed with his 2 trusty
steeds. Mrs QuadBart and I were at the BadLands to do our story
when after unloading the mighty 4 wheeled beasts the woes began.
The BartMan had a little problem lighting the fire in the hole.
After a little coaxing with a few extra kicks , the 4 stroke fires
up , but with a loud tapping sound comming from the top end of the
motor. I quickly shut the motor down and checked the oil , only to
find NO OIL in the motor !!!! QuadBart SR. will be speaking to
QuadBart Jr. about this upon his return to headquarters. I then
poured in a quart of oil and tried to make adjustments to the
valves , but to no avail , the cam was wiped. I was able to coax
enough life out of the motor to get Mrs QuadBart around long enough
to help me get the story.
I gathered up the 2 cylinders and dropped them off at the local engine rebuilder . The shop was local and it was the first time I used them because I am new to the Chicago area.
With a little negotiation , a price and completion date were arrived upon . Suprise Suprise.....Toto , were not in Kansas anymore.
The price was $50.00 each for the bore ( he was the cheapest , other places were as high as $80.00 apiece) plus the cost of the pistons and rings , AND a week to do the job. GULP !!! I know some of you guys don't mind paying that much to bore a single cylinder , but I'm from Cleveland where I was paying $23.00 a pop AND I could drop them off in the morning then pick them back up after work . Next time I'll ship them to Cleveland , pay the $10.00 shipping , save $40.00 and still have them back in less than a week. A week goes by and I stop to pick up my cylinders. Looks like they did a nice job so I pay the man start walking out the door. Then I notice .........He forgot to add a little clearance at the exhaust bridge on the 2 stroke cylinder. No problem , I turn around and tell him about it. Then he tells me he doesnt do that . When I ask why , he says he never does that part. I proceeded to show him the instructions that come with the piston that says to do it. He tells me "It's not necessary. I said to him ,"well,as long as you will gaurentee me it won't seize the piston when it swells form the heat". He says NO, he won't. Well finally after 20 miutes of jerking around with this guy, he does it. I finally get to grab my stuff and head home. After arriving home , I discover another little disapointment. The 4 stroke cylinder was supposed to bored to .010 over , it was bored to .040 over.
While this is not the end of the world , he did just remove half the life expectancy from the cylinder. Further inspection reveils that the 2 stroke cylinder that was supposed to be bored to .030 over was now at .080 over. That PISSED me off. He just bored ALL the life expectancy from that cylinder. He bored it to the MAX. SO now , the next time i need to freshen up the motor I would also need to have it resleeved. I was not happy. A phone call back to the shop was in order to correct the HUGE mistake. Upon calling the shop , at first he denied boring them to the wrong size. Then once I informed him that I still have reciept that has the part numbers for the correct sizes on it , but in my hand I hold the wrong size pistons . He fessed up , a mistake was made. I said great , I'll drop them off and you can fix them. At first he refused to take them back saying he couldn't fix them , I would have to use them as is. He claimed there was no way to fix them. I swear they must think most people are morons. I informed him that I knew he could resleeve them. He said that would be an expensive way to do it. I said thats OK , I'm not paying for it , you are. He refused at first , but after 15 more minutes of arguing about it , he agreed to fix them. WELL ...... with dozens of missed promised completion dates , several arguements, one time he threatened to call the cops on me one day in his shop , With legal proceedings started against him , I finally receive them back with new sleeves 7 weeks later. WHEW !!!! It was clear to me that while he said he would fix them , he wasn't really going to do it. That is untill he got a notice to appear in small claims court. Then all of a sudden, 3 days later , they're done. It's a miracle !!!
With all the components now in hand , the 4 stroke Honda goes back together without a problem. The 2 stroke Suzuki on the other hand has a few things we need to address. The first is new crank bearings and seals. We can fix that The second is to check how true the crank is. This could be a contributing factor to the bearings going bad. We can fix that. The third thing is the clutch. It's not as buttery smooth as it used to be. We can fix that The last thing is brakes. We need to make some brake shoes to stop this thing now that we have it going again.
Now with both bikes back together , it's smooth sailing for the rest of the summer. Or Is It ?????
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| The next surprise was MY trusty steed. It would not start, at all. I put a new plug in the hole, nothing. I primed it with a little liquid fire in the hole, nothing. Now, the utmost in embaressment come when I need Mrs QuadBart to pull start the iron horse. This does the trick and she fires right up. Whew !! Now with both the quads finally running (barely), we begin to take pics of the park and talk to people for the BadLands review. After about an hour , I begin to notice that the 2 stroke starts running pretty BAD and no longer wants to start again so we decide to wrap it up a little early and take the crippled wheelers home. | |
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I started with the 4 stroke. After a little diagnosis , I dertermine she's gonna needs a cam , so I figure that while I have her apart I might as well do it right and drop in a fresh piston and rings along with a fresh bore. | |
| Upon dissassembly I make the determination to also regrind the valves and drop inn some new seals. This will make the whole top end good as new. Sounds like a PLAN . Keeping in mind the cost is more than doing an oil change , it's not the end of the world . | ||
| So now with the 4 stroke torn down and ready to go to the machine shop for its makeover , it's time to dig into the 2 stroke. A simple compression test tells me the top end is toast. The real question is WHY ? Well after pulling the head off , I see why. The piston is melted. This can mean only one thing ......... I have an air leak. Question is where ?? |
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| SOoooooooo a little more investigation tells me it's the crank seals . You say "how do I know that?" I say , because when I grabbed the end of the crank , it had WAYYYYYY too much play in it. That tells me it time for new crank bearings and seals. | ||
I gathered up the 2 cylinders and dropped them off at the local engine rebuilder . The shop was local and it was the first time I used them because I am new to the Chicago area.
With a little negotiation , a price and completion date were arrived upon . Suprise Suprise.....Toto , were not in Kansas anymore.
The price was $50.00 each for the bore ( he was the cheapest , other places were as high as $80.00 apiece) plus the cost of the pistons and rings , AND a week to do the job. GULP !!! I know some of you guys don't mind paying that much to bore a single cylinder , but I'm from Cleveland where I was paying $23.00 a pop AND I could drop them off in the morning then pick them back up after work . Next time I'll ship them to Cleveland , pay the $10.00 shipping , save $40.00 and still have them back in less than a week. A week goes by and I stop to pick up my cylinders. Looks like they did a nice job so I pay the man start walking out the door. Then I notice .........He forgot to add a little clearance at the exhaust bridge on the 2 stroke cylinder. No problem , I turn around and tell him about it. Then he tells me he doesnt do that . When I ask why , he says he never does that part. I proceeded to show him the instructions that come with the piston that says to do it. He tells me "It's not necessary. I said to him ,"well,as long as you will gaurentee me it won't seize the piston when it swells form the heat". He says NO, he won't. Well finally after 20 miutes of jerking around with this guy, he does it. I finally get to grab my stuff and head home. After arriving home , I discover another little disapointment. The 4 stroke cylinder was supposed to bored to .010 over , it was bored to .040 over.
While this is not the end of the world , he did just remove half the life expectancy from the cylinder. Further inspection reveils that the 2 stroke cylinder that was supposed to be bored to .030 over was now at .080 over. That PISSED me off. He just bored ALL the life expectancy from that cylinder. He bored it to the MAX. SO now , the next time i need to freshen up the motor I would also need to have it resleeved. I was not happy. A phone call back to the shop was in order to correct the HUGE mistake. Upon calling the shop , at first he denied boring them to the wrong size. Then once I informed him that I still have reciept that has the part numbers for the correct sizes on it , but in my hand I hold the wrong size pistons . He fessed up , a mistake was made. I said great , I'll drop them off and you can fix them. At first he refused to take them back saying he couldn't fix them , I would have to use them as is. He claimed there was no way to fix them. I swear they must think most people are morons. I informed him that I knew he could resleeve them. He said that would be an expensive way to do it. I said thats OK , I'm not paying for it , you are. He refused at first , but after 15 more minutes of arguing about it , he agreed to fix them. WELL ...... with dozens of missed promised completion dates , several arguements, one time he threatened to call the cops on me one day in his shop , With legal proceedings started against him , I finally receive them back with new sleeves 7 weeks later. WHEW !!!! It was clear to me that while he said he would fix them , he wasn't really going to do it. That is untill he got a notice to appear in small claims court. Then all of a sudden, 3 days later , they're done. It's a miracle !!!
With all the components now in hand , the 4 stroke Honda goes back together without a problem. The 2 stroke Suzuki on the other hand has a few things we need to address. The first is new crank bearings and seals. We can fix that The second is to check how true the crank is. This could be a contributing factor to the bearings going bad. We can fix that. The third thing is the clutch. It's not as buttery smooth as it used to be. We can fix that The last thing is brakes. We need to make some brake shoes to stop this thing now that we have it going again.
Now with both bikes back together , it's smooth sailing for the rest of the summer. Or Is It ?????
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