There's this thing with personal records, if it's about good stuff and personal bests they are absolutely awesome. If it's a personal worst... I mean in that sense how does 67km from rebuild to destruction sound? That's quite outstanding I think.
Let's start where it somewhat ended, in a layby close to the Danube, very scenic. Unfortunately, in order to get there, I first had to push the sidecar for easily a kilometer or so and got nearly run over by various people including some which were angrily sounding their horns at me, instead of maybe lending a hand...
As the picture indicates, I lost all my oil. I noticed that the 88mm piston I used in the rebuild was a bit on the smokey side, but I was secretly hoping that it would clear up once it had gone through a few heatcycles. Yet there I was stranded in the middle of nowhere. Out of oil, with a slightly seized engine. That being said, it's a sidecar and for some weird reason I had next to 5L of fresh oil in the luggage compartment.
The oil feed to the pump had also come slightly loose and after finding this, I was pretty convinced that this was the reason for the oil-loss. Tightened up again and tried my luck.
... and that's what separates good bikes from outstanding bikes. Yep, made it all the way to the workshop. Even though we needed all of those 5L of oil to make it those last 25km. Smoking? Oh you bet. Like an old 2-stroke being run on 1:25 instead of 1:50, because you got the maths wrong.
There wasn't much oil left to drain, yet what was stuck to the drainplug didn't look too bad, so there was a glimmer of hope.
Engine out, quick, fast and in a hurry, but this time with the sidecar left attached. Works just fine, only the front upper sidecar mount has to be removed in order to clear the engine.
But the really pleasant surprise came, when I opened the engine. Don't get me wrong, it needs a MAJOR service. But only the exhaust valve rocker was slightly burned up.
Camshaft shows no signs of damage at all. Which means, the oil supply worked pretty much until the very end.
Classic 4-point seizure. (This is some textbook stuff really.)
Small end of the conrod looks dubious
Yet still passes the gudgeon pin test with flying colours. As I have a "like new" crank coming in, this one will be retired in the spare engine. Maybe I'll actually get a conrod kit and overhaul the crank.
Which left me scratching my head quite a bit on where all the oil had gone as I couldn't find any substantial cracks in the engine cases or the like. Turns out, I had lost the complete gearshift ratcheting mechanism and there was a huge hole on the bottom of the engine.
With the cylinder being in the machine shop, I also took the time to improve a few more things around the bike, one being reinstalling the lower fuel tank support and another one will be to alter the two lower front sidecar mounts so I can take off the oil-line coming from the frame with the engine installed.
Just to end the whole drama on a slightly more uplifting note - ever wondered what close to 700 Euros in SR500 parts looks like?
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