What Would Cardboard in Engine Do

B Murr

B Murr

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Did pushrod seal change the other day, used a 2"x4" piece of corrugated cardboard to rest conrod on after removing cylinder and piston. On reassembly I was too preoccupied with getting gudgeon pin in to notice that I'd knocked that piece of cardboard off its perch into the sump. Fortunately, after putting it all back together, valve clearances done torqued nuts etc I realised my piece of cardboard was nowhere to be seen. So quick disassembly and reassembly retrieved the cardboard, but what would have happened if I didn't twig? I'm guessing that cardboard sinks to bottom of sump or blocks pickup and I get a red oil pressure light or that it gets pulped and blocks all oilways and filter. Anyone ever come across that situation?
 
Just glad I didn't become a brain surgeon. Patient nicely sewn back up after delicate operation when I wonder where I'd put the swabs. Go on, someone else admit to such stupidity. It'll be good to get it off your chest. :D , call it therapy and I won't even charge you.
 
B Murr said:
Did pushrod seal change the other day, used a 2"x4" piece of corrugated cardboard to rest conrod on after removing cylinder and piston. On reassembly I was too preoccupied with getting gudgeon pin in to notice that I'd knocked that piece of cardboard off its perch into the sump. Fortunately, after putting it all back together, valve clearances done torqued nuts etc I realised my piece of cardboard was nowhere to be seen. So quick disassembly and reassembly retrieved the cardboard, but what would have happened if I didn't twig? I'm guessing that cardboard sinks to bottom of sump or blocks pickup and I get a red oil pressure light or that it gets pulped and blocks all oilways and filter. Anyone ever come across that situation?
Click to expand...

Brave man for admitting as said, and worse thing that would have happened, was 15 different threads, with 50 different problems...........:D
 
Put a piece of the cardboard in a saucepan with some engine oil and warm it up to 90degC. Attack it with a mixer with dough hook attached and take some photos. Let us know how you get on.
 
On the subject of muppetry when spannering, I narrowly avoided disaster several years ago and learned 2 valuable lessons.

I was replacing the starter clutch on the cbr1000 I owned at the time, a sizeable job which involves dropping the heavy motor out of the frame and splitting the crank cases. They split horizontally so it was an engine upside down job to remove the lower half.

My first misfortune was not totally my fault as I had been pretty thorough in preparing my workspace, even borrowing the hoover to get my shed spotless. Even so, just as I was finishing putting the engine back in the frame I came across an O ring on the floor. Funny because I was sure I hadn’t missed anything.
With the manual in hand I mentally went through the rebuild in my head but could not work out where the O ring had come from. Nothing for it but to strip the engine down again to find out where I had messed up. After a couple more hours of work I still couldn’t find the location for the O ring within the engine - all of the rings that should be there were in place and none of the sizes matched. It was then that I caught sight of a short length of chain sitting on top of my filing cabinet, left from when I fitted a new chain to my DRZ a couple of weeks before. Sure enough it was missing an O ring which must have stuck to my sleeve as I had reached to get something from the top of the cabinet.

Lesson 1. Always make sure you have a completely clear space to work in.

I had another more serious mishap during that job. At the time it was my habit to place fasteners back in their holes after a part had been removed, to ensure I knew where they had come from. Sensible enough you might think.
On the way to work the following week I felt the bike twitch on a slight corner. The road is slippery this morning I thought and rolled the speed off further before entering the sharper bend ahead, only to have the back end come right round on me. I still don’t know how I managed to bring the bike safely round the corner and to a halt at the side of the road. The problem was immediately obvious as the oil was still gushing out of the sump - I remembered then putting the plug back in the sump finger tight after I had removed the sump but not the vital step of torquing it properly.
Fortunately no damage was done - I found the sump plug back up the road and a passing colleague returned with an adjustable spanner and a gallon of oil. I wasn’t even late for work.

Lesson number 2. Never ever put a fastener back in place without tightening it properly. I let no phone call or shout from the wife etc interrupt this which has caused the odd domestic over the years as I returned late from the shed to find my dinner cooling on a plate.

And of course never ride off with your disc lock attached. Mine has one of those coily chords which you slip over the end of the handle bar just in case you forget. That was another lesson on another bike.

Confessions over.
 
Many years ago in Aberdeen, a Z1300 6 cylinder engine was sent off by local dealer to be bead blasted before respray. When they got the engine back, the customer said he liked it bare.

So dealer just put engine back, no checks to see if there was still any bead blasting sand still in the engine. After about 100 miles the oil distributing the grit of course destroyed the engine.

I never found out who took the blame, the dealer for not checking, or the customer who told them just to put thee gone back in.

:blast
 
Well feck it didn't I get one of those niggling doubts in my head just before going to sleep last night, not too different to the one you might get after walking out your front door and wonder did you turn the gas off, lock the back door etc. I wondered if I may have put the followers back in upside down :blast, I just couldn't remember me doing it, as if I'd done it without really thinking about it. So 650 miles later I removed the rockers ( I did consider pulling the sump to look at them from below) and pulled the pushrods out and peered into the abyss, all was well, correct ends of followers facing me so all back together without major headache. :comfort

I'm guessing there would have been an almight racket if they were wrong way around but I couldn't be certain.
 
I have a mental block when it comes to torqueing things. I often cant remember even getting the torque wrench out, and a day later have to dig it out again and check, and its always done, just something in my head must do that part on autopilot. Its really quite frustrating.
 
Gog

If you get a permanent marker and mark each bolt/nut once torqued up you will know its done.

Barny
 
Smug said:
Put a piece of the cardboard in a saucepan with some engine oil and warm it up to 90degC. Attack it with a mixer with dough hook attached and take some photos. Let us know how you get on.
Click to expand...
Better still, just look inside your last oilfilter after you changed it. From what I recollect, the guts are cardboard.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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