I am building two nice motors right now, and recently read about someone Turboguzzi knows who blew up their 650 engine at a race. (
LINK) I felt some serious sympathy, and thought I'd toss two stories out there.
I threw a rod through my cases on my CB750 last fall. What a thrill! IT was not an especially specal motor or anything. I was out on a 100 mile-ish ride, and on the way home it started quietly ticking. Then knocking, then rattling, then whacking, them BOOM! It was the kind of thing where it started making a racket 30 miles from home and I decided to try to drive it in instead of just calling someone and trailering it back.... The funny thing is that it actually kept running after the rod failure, and I was able to limp the last 2 miles home, all covered in hot oil and metal, with the motor blowing and spewing all kinds of crap. I drove it home and pulled the motor and put it on the shelf, figuring I'd tear it down some day when I either had nothing better to do , or when I was desperate for something that might be inside.
Then, earlier, this March, I was on the same CB750, this time with a fairly nice big bore motor (an early VIN 1969 die-cast engine). I had just got a replacement riveting master link for my DID x-ring chain from a local bike shop,
Napalm Motorsports. I was actually on my way to a local vintage bike show, when the master link broke! I was about one mile from home and only going 35mph.... It threw the chain right through the expensive motor more violently than any other I have previously seen (and I have sen many). It completely smashed those cases really, really bad. I recovered the master link, and it was still riveted, but it broke on the other side --
It looks like the kid at the parts counter gave me the wrong master link, but I guess that's just my loss. I was able to push my bike the 9 blocks home.
So after many years of riding CB750s and never personally damaging a set of cases, I lost two motors in the last year. Who wouldda thought! Not including the smashed ones, I now have two additional sets of hot-rod, bored-out cases (for big cylinders) sitting around. I am currently building one of them in to a good motor, and the other is complete enough it could be assembled and driven now -- and it would even be a nice big bore motor -- but it would be lacking the expensive bottom end and head work that puts the finishing touches on these baby elephants. I can only afford one at a time, so I will do the best I can, I guess.
peace and grease -- and don't smash your motors!
-Fang
