All went well initially, but after the first ride beyond my neighborhood I noticed it running a little flat and when I came to a stop sign on a rural road near me, it stalled. It was really hard to start again and that told me something was up, but I was about 8 miles away from home. Finally got it running and rode it home and as I turned into my driveway it stalled again. Put it back on the rack and discovered the points were almost closed. I knew that was not possible without a good reason, and sure enough, there was a good reason. As I rotated the crank and watched the points, I could see the exhaust cam moving back and forth... obviously there was wear on the left exhaust cam bearing. So, into the first of 3 damaged moments that would be due to an unknown cause at the time.
Anyone familiar with the 450 engine knows that the
proper way to remove any part of the camshaft assemblies would require removing the engine and then the cylinder head. However, since I had just spent months and dollars assembling this expensively-finished machine, I was not about to yank the engine and gouge up my fresh powdercoat. I rotated the engine until the exhaust valves were both closed, then loosened the cam chain a bit by rotating it backwards just slightly with the tensioner lock bolt loose, then locked it and set out to remove the left cam bearing. Sure enough, excess wear on the aluminum bushing surface of the last piece in the top end to get oil flow.
So, to summarize the long string of events that followed:
I ordered a new cam bearing and polished it up, re-installed and figured I'd just not used enough pre-lube. Wrong. In about 22 more miles of riding, it happened again. Clearly there was something I was missing. So I broke the cam chain, took out the exhaust cam and after wondering about how and why this was happening, decided on a whim to look inside the cam with the inspection camera my Dad left me. Interestingly, I found this.
What you're seeing is small particles of foreign matter stuck in the left orifice in the end of the camshaft. I was not happy, and a phone call to MegaCycle produced a somewhat ugly conversation with Jim's wife - she immediately got defensive as if they never do anything wrong, and refused to let me speak to Jim until they had the camshaft in their hands. So, it got sent out there again (they don't have these cams on the shelf anymore, you have to send them your cores for them to weld up and grind your cams to the profile you want) and as the first time, I included a fully-descriptive typed note for them to read and requesting they call when they opened the box and read it. And of course, for the second time they did not call, requiring me to call them and get into another less-than-pleasant talk with her before getting to speak with Jim. Though they did not believe it was caused by the debris in the cam and said I should have been more thorough in checking the cams when I got them back - despite the cams being clean and in plastic bags covered in light oil, seemingly ready for install and no instructions to the contrary - they agreed to repair the damaged bearing surface by turning the ends down and pressing on torrington sleeves for half price, $50. Okay, fair enough.
So here it sat for a while
Then I got the cam back and decided to look inside it again to be sure...
I was shocked that once again there was something stuck inside the camshaft, this time looking like a piece of pencil lead. Never knew exactly what it was but I absolutely dislodged and removed it.
Sorry I don't have access to all of the pictures from that period, but needless to say it went back together again. Re-installed the exhaust cam and follower, another new cam bearing and finagled the cam chain around to the intake side for the master link installation since the exhaust cam sits still where you put it but the intake cam springs back unless you have the chain on it in place... with an assist from a big screwdriver and a zip tie.