V-Max 4 engine rebuild

03wiperguy, thanks but I havent cleaned it yet :).
I plan to put it together on Tuesday, but I maybe have to work because one of the employes (infact the guy who ownes this V-Max 4) just quit working there, so.. you see.

Wellwell:)
 

cranks

When you mesh your cranks together ( the gears ) make sure the cyls are 90 degrees apart, not 180 degrees like I did first time. Verify with degree wheel and depth micrometer. Presssing gears on improperly will put the two cranks out of phase. Critical gears are pressed on properly! If I remember right there were two timing marks on the gears, for timing 90 or 180 degrees. At 180 it has some serious compression. I've heard of some people running them at 180 in race form but can't verify.
E mail Super Dave at Powder Lights, he is an authority on those.
 
wow, just a clean motor I guess! I just did some cleaning on my old merc trail twister, and it came out looking about like that! I discovered that oxisolve aluminum cleaner is about the best thing ever lol!!
 
03viperguy, aha ok I see:). Well I did clean it roughly before I tore the engine apart, it did look alot messier before but I didn`t think of that as "cleaning" since it`s a part of the job.

I just used degreaser and water:). Will take a look at your trail twister thread now:).
 
I would be concerned about the fuel/oil flow. The fuel mixture goes to the bottom of the case then back up to the top for combustion. It needs a smooth flow under the crank/rod. Having that weld build up there will cause the same problem then a plugged up carb.

I would grind and remove the aluminum inside this area. Then re-weld the outside again if needed.

I would recommend taking it to a experienced tig welder. The mig was set to high and loaded it up with aluminum...typical job shop weld!

I would recommend cleaning the carbs yearly, they havent been cleaned for some time...or it sat for a long time. If the carbs were cleaned the motor would still be running.!



Please dont think I am busting your b**s, I just dont want to see you put this thing together after all that work. Think about what I said and do what you want!

Familyman.
 
familyman thanks for the long reply! :). But I must say that I don`t quite understand your concerns since there is no buildup inside the crankcase, the surface inside the crankhouse is just as smooth as before, except for the crack that I can feel with me nail, but there is no buildup.
The guy who welded it is a professional welder, he said that the best would be to heat the crankcase in an oven before welding, and then slowly cool it down in an owen, but he didnt have time to that. But I am sure the weld is good enough.
Do you think the engine vibrations good make it crack again?.

Do you really think that the carb was the reason for the seize?. The main jet was clean when I took it out, the carbs were very clean except for the jet-plugs.
The carbs hadn`t been touched since the guy bought the sled, 3 years ago or so.

Wellwell thanks again for the nice reply.

Going to start rebuilding tomorrow.
 
There is no qestion about cleaning the carbs. if that was the reason for it to seize then there is a damn good chance it will do it agian. It is such an ez thing to do to. it is well worth your time.

silver
 
I agree with cleaning the carbs. such an easy thing that by not doing can cause such an expensive fix and a lot of trouble! if that didnt make any sense, then here are the cliffs notes.... CLEAN THE CARBS!!! lol! time WELL spent :)
 
guys i think he said he cleaned the carbs already. he was just commenting on how they seemed to be clean already before he cleaned them.
 
Hi guys !
Thanks for the replies:)
When it comes to cleaning carbs I totally agree with you, even more from now on. I remember a neighbour who had an ET 340 for gees I don`t know how many years, but every season he just pulled it out of the shed and fired it up and rode. No maintainence and the sled still runs.

But why risk it.. .

Well anyway, this morning I went down to my workshop, really excited since I was finally going to get this motor rebuilt. I started cleaning the crankcase that I got welded, scraped off the old gaskets and everything, then I sprayed some degreasing solvent onto the area where the crack was (where it had been welded). I cleaned everything... and then I turn the crankcase upside down.. the degreasing solvent leaked through the crack that I got welded.. . ("#¤%"#¤"#¤!"¤#%%¤&¤%&)

At first I kind of didn`t realize it, I was so disappointed. I thought of putting some kind of silicon on the outside of the crack but I knew it wasn`t the right way to do it.
Then I called a guy in town that has a welding company (the guy who rides the Exciter with the 121" 2" track that I replaced all fuel lines on + etc. maybe you remember), he`s a professional welder, more professional then the guy who welded it the last time, even though the first welder was suppost to be experienced.. I dunno what went wrong.

My friend said he didn`t have time to fix it today but he could fix it tomorrow. He said he would tig weld it with a "Silisium" electrode.
I drove the 70km to town and delivered the crankcase to him, hope it will be OK now!. Hopefully I`ll have it back until Friday so that I can start rebuilding it and finally actually do it.
So Familyman, you were right !. I`m kind of impressed that you could diagnoze that so well only after looking at a picture. Awesome.

I shot a few pics of the guys at the iron/welder workshop, looks kind of messy hehe, but they are really good.

HPIM2090Medium.jpg

Kind of "good old atmosphere" :)

HPIM2088Medium.jpg

A pic of a friend of mine who works there (not the one who`s going to weld the crankcase tho).

Wellwell that`s all for today.. .
Only good thing today is that it`s snowing !! :)
 
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Familyman was right, I kind of don't like to comment on other's workmanship, but that was NOT the correct way to fix the problem. The mig process introduces WAY too much heat on the thin crankcase material. The guy was wrong about the new cracks appearing. They were not there previously, he was causing them by the amount of heat he was introducing, versus the transfer/cooling rate of the aluminum. TIG is the way to go. You will be all good now!
 
Man nice shop you cant beat the natural light from winders.Are those mounting plates for hydrallic cylinders?Have you ever used jv weld before?I would grind the weld down flat and use jv weld on the inside after the outside cracks are repaired.
 
Oh yeah my bad.........lol jb great stuff repaired a coolant jacket on a bulldoser that had cracked about 20 inches long from water in the winter thing!!Ground it out with a grinder and filled it up.Goes steel hard and is good to drill.The only downfall is it likes to run if not laying flat.
 
That case will be fine. Just double check that crack doesnt appear on the inside. Most likely the weld cracked on the cool side. Check the inside surface for cracks.

If there are any signs there then re-weld with a tig!

Good Luck.

BTW, the case I shown with the BIG hole is being welded and fixed.
 
Hi guys! Thanks for all the replies:).

SRXer, yeah I have to admit that the weld seemed "rough" for such a fine engine part. But I was confident that the guy knew how to do it, and I know he has welded som Cat crankcases before. TIG must be the way to go.
I still remember when I went to "GK Mekaniske fag" ("basic mechanic course", one year) , I was welding TIG for two hours and I was only wearing blow torch glasses. As I welded I felt kind of uncomfortable, but I somehow didn`t realize that it was the lack of welding mask that caused it. My eye region was all white and the rest of my face was red. Hehe.

Bluewho: That`s not my workshop.. :). It`s a workshop in the nearest town Harstad, a friend of me runs it. I don`t know about those hydraulic cylinders.

Daman: Money talks, I`ll get welding for free, new case will cost:).

03viperguy & sam88: Yes I`ve heard of JB weld but it`s not for sale in Norway.. sucks.
Is it some kind of chemical metal?.

Familyman, yes I hope it will be good this time. When looking at the crack from the inside, it looked un-touched, just like nothing had happened to the outside.

I doubt that the crack will be 100% gone when looking on the inside, should it?.
If he welds it from the inside then I`m sure it will be gone but I think he planned on welding it on the outside. We`ll see.. .

I still havent heard from the welder, but I hope to have it home by Friday.

Gees it`s snowing !! :)
 
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