Wow, couldn't have seen this one coming a mile away.

First off, whoever your mechanic is, stay away from him. That was not caused by a "lean" issue. You couldn't make your bike even run that lean if you wanted to and if you did, it wouldn't happen right away or you would know something was severely wrong with it.

You have done more to your bike in the last 3 weeks than the rest of us have done in two years. I don't think you fully finished one project and flushed all the bugs out before you started three more.

I guarantee this happened because you rushed your big bore install and screwed something up in the timing or valve train. Or you never broke the thing in after you installed it. I am betting something came loose like a cam or chain and the timing jumped. The valve started hitting the piston and she was done. Didn't you say you advanced your cam and what not? Well this is what happens when you don't know what you are doing. I even remember answering a question you asked about where the block off plate went.

I highly suggest if you ever do get your bike running again, to sell it and stay away from bikes. Or at least let someone else do the wrenching for you.

If you must, just do one thing at a time. Hammer it out and then move on to the next mod. Have you even gotten to ride or enjoy your bike?

 

That piston use to belong to a car engine , most of the time itīs a failing injector on a car driven driven untill it stops . Iīm sure that failure was acompanied by lots of pre ignition and detonation but there was nobody home to hear the " trouble knocking at the door ".
Some people just donīt pay attencion to their missing , coughing engine untill it dies .

 

I'm not so sure lean can be ruled out. Do you know how many miles were put on it after the can was put on (before you got it)? If the exhaust was done and bike not rejetted, that should be a lean condition right there. Maybe not enough to cook the piston, but somewhat lean. Extended running like that could have taken it's toll on the head/valve/stem - then when you did your mods it took it to another extreme (red pipe?), enough to cause a valve to momentarily stick open. Throw in what looks to be a poor service history (if the wiring thing tells us anything), and possible lack of oil changes or even running low at some point, and I think it's quite possible an extended time of excess heat could have taken it's toll. I don't really think it would take a whole lot to stick a valve with extended heat & abuse, could be just your bad luck that it caught up when you were riding it.

 

And if you install the Vapor computer, you can set two rev trigger points that will light the yellow and red lamps. But it doesn't stop an over-rev, only blinks at you.

 

You better find someone who knows what they are doing when it goes back together, and you haven't found the right guy yet. Your jetting didn't cause this, an air leak, maybe but I dought it. But you do need to find someone good to redo this and make it right for you or your still just throwing money at a problem that won't go away. The cam mod by it's self won't require much if any jetting changes, they were necessary as at the time the mod was done the guy was also going to stage 2 from stock which will require jetting or a different map for efi.

 

I'm NOT an experienced motorcycle mechanic, like many here are.

BUT, I've not ever seen examples of 4-stroke lean running on a single cylinder bike causing a problem this severe. Multi-cylinder bikes? Yes. Thumpers that run lean? I've only seen eroded valve edges and/or seats.

It's very interesting to someone of my limited experience....

 

A little harsh, but yeah. I enjoyed my bike for a month or two. It's a lesson learned to make sure that I know what I'm doing the next time I do something out of my spectrum of know-how. I'll never sell this bike without intents to get another one. I've ridden bikes all my life since I was a little kid(I'm 21 now). It's just one of those things that I genuinely enjoy. I'm passionate about riding. I'm also a go-getter and it often times gets me in trouble when messing with things that require time and patience.

I know I'll get it worked out. And I definitely plan on taking it to a licensed mechanic(probably a dealership that services Kawasakis). The head is warranted if installed by a licensed mechanic. It's on my to-do list though in the future to learn the ins and out of engines.

While the bike is parked though, it's giving me a lot of time to do all the other little things that I want to do. I just dropped off all the plastics to get carbon fiber wrapped. I'll post pics when it's done.

 

jhoff, on finding a good mechanic, talk to some local riders who you feel are honest and know a little about their bikes. Even if they work on their own bikes, ask them who the guy is in your area who they'd feel confident in taking their bike to. There are some good mechanics around, but ferreting them out can take a little investigative work. And don't rely on the issue of a dealership necessarily having the right guy. There can be just as many numbskulls there as anywhere. The dealership I used to work at has two guys in their 40's and 50's who have even worked with a local road racing outfit at the 24 hours of Daytona for part time help during peak race prep times. These guys are wizards on just about any engine and have even done some highly outside-the-box stuff that was amazing. There are mechanics like this scattered around the country. You just have to find one.

 

"I guarantee this happened because you rushed your big bore install and screwed something up in the timing or valve train. Or you never broke the thing in after you installed it. I am betting something came loose like a cam or chain and the timing jumped. The valve started hitting the piston and she was done. Didn't you say you advanced your cam and what not? Well this is what happens when you don't know what you are doing. "

If this were the case then why only one exhaust valve broken, they are opened by the same cam. Also the broken valves bucket was visibly lower like the valve seized in the guide.

On another note cast pistons burn different than a nice forged piston.

 

Actually the broken valve is the one with the bucket sticking up in the picture. Thats why i was hoping that he simply had a collet or retainer failure as I posted in his original breakdown thread.