I started tearing into the top end. First thing I noticed was the rockers and their holder were toast.
I put in new valve stem seals since the others were hard from being cooked.
I ended up having to cut the piston off because the wrist pin was seized in the rod small end from the heat. Luckily the cam is in the case on this motor or it would have probably been junk also.
Also had to press the pin out
I bought a Wiseco .50mm oversize piston kit and had the cylinder bored to match.
Now that I had the top end squared away, I needed to know what caused all this carnage in the first place. I pulled off the oil pump and noticed the shaft on it would not spin. Upon closer inspection I noticed a little metal shard wedged in it. You can just barely see it sticking up in this pic
I thought oh no big deal, a new oil pump is $80. I will replace it slap the top end back on and call it a day. Wrong. When the oil pump locked up it broke the tabs off the balancer. That ruined my day realizing that the case has to be split to change the balancer. Not hard, just a pain in the nuts and takes a long time.
So out comes the motor and onto the work bench to split the case.
Used balancer ($9 w/ free shipping on eBay) back in after having to press out the crank and press it back in.
I’m wondering if this is the culprit for that metal shard getting all the way to the oil pump. I don’t get why Honda made it so you have to SPLIT THE CASE to clean/check the oil screens on this motor. Normally you just have to pull the clutch cover.
Luckily Honda has been using the same screen forever so I already had another one in nice shape so I’m not stalled out waiting for parts again.
That is where I am at for now. I have to basically put everything back together and get the motor back in.
Stay tuned.
Rob
