How can I ensure that shards of the piston aren't in the crank case when they put this thing back together?

You can see the connecting arm through the piston if you look closely. I'm worried that a huge chunk of the piston may be in the crank case.

 

You really did a good job on that one! If it were me, I would't put it back together until the case was split and inspected/cleaned.
Precisely the reason I replaced my bottom end - I had a small piece of metal in the crankcase somewhere. I couldnt get the case split easily, plus it had a hole, so i replaced the bottom end entirely. I wasn't about to take the chance of being 50 miles into a forest and have a little piece of metal grenade my motor.
Good luck.

 

I'm just curious...did you replace the bottom end yourself? Places are quoting me like $800-900 just for labor to split and clean the bottom end.

 

+1

Bummer man. Looks like you're going to have to split the cases and inspect the bottom end for debris. It's time to be thorough and not take chances on this stuff. Put emotions and impulses aside and do the the job right. Let this be the last time you have to rebuild this engine.

 

$900!!! How about getting an owner's manual, a good torque wrench, and a clean place to work. I'd recommend doing this job yourself, but be methodical, follow every step in the manual, and cut no corners. If you know you've made a mistake in the process, stop, back up, and don't proceed until you fix it. I'd also recommend you try to find somebody more experienced to oversee the work if you can.
Good Luck!

 

Yeah, that's right - $900! I'd prefer to just do the job myself at this point after hearing the prices that mechanics are going to charge me but I don't know if I am willing to sacrifice the expertise and piece of mind in having an experienced mechanic to it. Regardless, I am SOL. I didn't even think about this being a problem until now when I noticed that the piston was holed through. This is bad, bad news. Is there a good way of checking to see if the bearings are shot without tearing the motor down(at least for now)?

 

$800-$900 sounds high to me unless that includes some other hard parts they think might be damaged by the other carnage. Does this price include them doing all your other engine labor replacing the blown parts? If this involves you bringing in the bike with the engine in place and the top end off, and they will open the cases and inspect for damage or debris, and then reassemble with the top end still off, then that is too expensive. It changes a bit if you're going to have them get it running again. Have you thought about just bringing in the engine alone? I know you've had some bad luck and some bad wrenching up to this point, but I get the impression that you're capable of pulling out the engine/trans as a unit and taking it to them. That should cut down on labor a great deal.

 

I may do just that. Do you know if the 2009 service manual is sufficient for an 06?


EDIT:

I just found a local mechanic that works in the area that used to work at a dealership that said he charges $50/hour. Debating whether I should pull the whole engine or just take the bike in broken down and let him put it back together.

 

buy a small compressor, get a couple gallons of WD40, and a weed sprayer. remove the motor from the bike and hang it upside down. fill the sprayer with wd40 and pump it up good so the WD 40 comes out like a jet stream and blow it into the upsidedown crankcase. turn over the motor by hand using the connecting rod and continue spraying wd 40 and when finished, use compressed air.
dont use the compressed air until you have flushed everything out.
If you put clean paper towels under the motor to absorb the WD40 you will see any aluminum that grenaded, on the towels.

I don't think you need to split the cases.
JUST MY OPINION and open for rebutall, or concurence.

 

Interesting idea Gary. I'd say it has a good chance of doing the job, but will not give the peace of mind of a full clean-out. If it were me, I wouldn't be willing to chance it, but still, maybe it's worth a try, just to see what comes out.