Exhaust Cam Journal Wear
#11
05-02-2019, 08:15 AM
ha ha... me too. AP/AI for 40+ years. did time in a 145 engine shop... taught 147 for over 20 years. private SEL SES since '74... 160hp PA 18 on Edo 2000. aircraft all day, every day. but... grew up is rural AK... fix it or walk, and thats why I know the old ways. there was a time when every engine was built by hand by one guy... I studied that stuff. ps... I went to school too.. AAS,BST, MS
Last edited by dogmeat; 05-02-2019 at 08:18 AM.
#12
05-02-2019, 08:35 AM
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: Gustavus Alaska Sea-Level
Posts: 86
ha ha... me too. AP/AI for 40+ years. did time in a 145 engine shop... taught 147 for over 20 years. private SEL SES since '74... 160hp PA 18 on Edo 2000. aircraft all day, every day. but... grew up is rural AK... fix it or walk, and thats why I know the old ways. there was a time when every engine was built by hand by one guy... I studied that stuff. ps... I went to school too.. AAS,BST, MS
#14
05-04-2019, 04:04 AM
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: Gustavus Alaska Sea-Level
Posts: 86
cap is looking good, one spot left. oil clearance is .004 Limit is .0059 or .006 in my book. head looks almost the same but its gunna hit 5 thou by the time I am done. Maybe less. Cant decide if I want to mess with the IN journals and do the cap with a surface plate. My buddy has a surface plate and he said he can make a round lapping tool at .904" Right now the intake cam and journals are perfect so there is that to consider.
#17
05-04-2019, 07:10 PM
looks like oil starvation to me. common on the KLR. I fixed a few, mostly by replacing the head but it is also possible to hand fit a cam... done a couple of those too. I have smoothed down the roughest spots with sand paper taped to the cam, then lapped fine with compound on the cam. to keep things in line you have to do both journals. then, to bring the clearance back I ran the caps on a surface plate to remove some of the parting surface. that makes the arc of the circle a little out of whack, so then some more lapping on the cam to the cap. repeat until you make the clearances. if you don't have a surface plate use a piece of glass & sandpaper. and BTW, this is easier to do with the valves out. check the shim thickness & see how much room there is to work with (like, is there a small enough shim to make valve clearance when you are done) you may need to tip the valve (grind) to give a decent service life
ENGINE DYNAMICS
Running on low oil is death to these Kawasaki engines. The KLR is splash lubricated and the right, front cam is last in line to get oil. I haven't had my KLX engine apart yet, but I am sure there are similarities.
This is what my KLR cam journal looked like when it happened to mine.
#18
05-05-2019, 01:22 AM
the KLR is pressure lubed on the top end... an oil galley in the case feeds a steel line up the back of the cylinder. it ties to the intake cam boss with banjo fittings. the copper colored pipe is the passage from intake side to the exhaust cap. the cams are hollow.... plugs in the right side and the gears cover up the left side. thats how oil gets to the right side journals. and ya.... they are the last place in line to get oil pressure, and the first to lose it when the oil is low. the Exhaust side is the most at risk. the KLX head is a better design with passages direct to journals & does not depend on filling the cams
#19
05-05-2019, 03:02 AM
the KLR is pressure lubed on the top end... an oil galley in the case feeds a steel line up the back of the cylinder. it ties to the intake cam boss with banjo fittings. the copper colored pipe is the passage from intake side to the exhaust cap. the cams are hollow.... plugs in the right side and the gears cover up the left side. thats how oil gets to the right side journals. and ya.... they are the last place in line to get oil pressure, and the first to lose it when the oil is low. the Exhaust side is the most at risk. the KLX head is a better design with passages direct to journals & does not depend on filling the cams
Glad to hear the KLX has a better design though.
