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desperately seeking camshafts

D

dclifford652047

Guest
Guest
While resetting valve lash on my '01 Connie I noticed some major pitting of the cam lobes. Bad enough that I want to replace the cams. Kawi no longer offers them and I am not familiar with the aftermarket. Can anyone help me locate replacement cams that will work for this application? I am willing to use good used cams if I can locate them. Perhaps from a wrecked bike or a retired one.
 
I think you will find the C10 had a ever lasting run (so it seems) of bad heat treated cam shafts. Personally, I don't believe this was just a C10 issue. I would set the valve clearance and keep an eye out for some perhaps better looking cam shafts.
 
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dclifford652047 said:
While resetting valve lash on my '01 Connie I noticed some major pitting of the cam lobes. Bad enough that I want to replace the cams. Kawi no longer offers them and I am not familiar with the aftermarket. Can anyone help me locate replacement cams that will work for this application? I am willing to use good used cams if I can locate them. Perhaps from a wrecked bike or a retired one.
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I don’t think the condition you are seeing the cams in is anything new, probable the condition you see now for a long time, possibly half their life or more..

How many miles, when is last adjustment you did?

My one and only C-10 adjustment was at about 40K miles, PO did at 12K when I purchased. At 40K the cams were surprisingly pitted, consulted previous owner (maintenance guy at my place of employment) stated they were pitted when he did the valves but nothing he would worry about.

I set it and forget it, ran like a top until I sold it at ~65K, positive still running….
 
If the pitting doesn't go all the way across the cam width equal to the width and path of the follower so it no longer follows the intended profile of the cam you are ok. Usually the pitting is sparatic and you can see the shiny cam profile in between the pit marks that will give the follower enough surface to do its job
 
Read this discussion;
forum.concours.org

Opinion please

I bought my 2002 C10 in 2004, new. I still use the dealer/mechanic and trust him to a large degree when it comes to mechanical skills. My bike has 61,820. miles on it, last Valve adjustment was about 25,000.00 miles ago. The mechanic at that time told me of some pitting on the cams but said it...
forum.concours.org forum.concours.org
 
2andblue said:
I don’t think the condition you are seeing the cams in is anything new, probable the condition you see now for a long time, possibly half their life or more..

How many miles, when is last adjustment you did?

My one and only C-10 adjustment was at about 40K miles, PO did at 12K when I purchased. At 40K the cams were surprisingly pitted, consulted previous owner (maintenance guy at my place of employment) stated they were pitted when he did the valves but nothing he would worry about.

I set it and forget it, ran like a top until I sold it at ~65K, positive still running….
Click to expand...
I just bought this bike in the fall with a bad fuel leak. It only has 18k. It ran rough with what appeared to be a dead cylinder and I attributed it to the carbs. I fixed the fuel leak (no hose clamps on the main line from the tank) and it still ran poorly. Upon removing the carbs I found #3 to be very dirty but wet. I did a compression test and found #3 had only 90psi. The rest have around 170psi. That's when I noticed the cam pitting. Since I found out through this thread that this is a common problem (thanks to all who responded) I just adjusted the lash and did the test again, no change. Put some oil in the cylinder and did it again, no change. Next step is to remove the head and inspect the valve seats. With only 18k on the bike I hope to have it for many years to come. The connie14s are beautiful but not in my budget.
 
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Oh-ohhh, have you done the hydro lock damage test?

With a leaky carb to boot I would suggest you start with the hydro lock piston height test.
 
2andblue said:
Oh-ohhh, have you done the hydro lock damage test?

With a leaky carb to boot I would suggest you start with the hydro lock piston height test.
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yep, Steve Sefsick has a video on YouTube with a very simple but very effective test.
Do it first. If you have a bent rod, that can be a game changer
 
dclifford652047 said:
didn't think of that, I'll check it out. Thanks. (joining COG was soooo worth it).
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Well... I checked the piston height and found that there is almost a quarter of an inch difference in rod length! Major connecting rod damage. This explains the engine vibration that I was experiencing. Bummer. Now I have to decide what to do with the engine. Possibly the whole bike.
 
Does anyone remember which rod can be changed without pulling the engine? Seems like it was number 3?
 
Stasch said:
2 and 3
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So I finally got around to tearing into the engine. I was amazed at how much a rod can bend without breaking (1/4"). Looks like no other damage. So now I am going to look for a thread that explains how to remove the center rods without pulling the engine. Do you know of one?
 
I couldn't find one, but here's the gist of it:

You need to remove the head and drop the oil pan.

A bunch of other things have to be R&R'd to get at both these areas including (there may be more that I am not recalling):
- Fairing / mid fairings / belly pan (might be able to leave main fairing in place)
- radiator / oil cooler
- exhaust header
- valve cover
- airbox
- carbs
- cams

With head and oil pan removed, you can rotate the crank to get to and remove the bottoms of #2 or #3 conrod(s), then pull the respective conrod / piston assembly out of the cylinder to R&R the bent conrod from the piston.

You need to know the weight of the conrod being replaced, as well as the color coded conrod bearing needed. You'll double check that with plasti-gage to make sure its within tolerance with the crank.

A shop manual will be a huge help.

I have a used Clymer available for $22 shipped, and a used Factory Service Manual for $27 shipped.
 
Stasch said:
I couldn't find one, but here's the gist of it:

You need to remove the head and drop the oil pan.

A bunch of other things have to be R&R'd to get at both these areas including (there may be more that I am not recalling):
- Fairing / mid fairings / belly pan (might be able to leave main fairing in place)
- radiator / oil cooler
- exhaust header
- valve cover
- airbox
- carbs
- cams

With head and oil pan removed, you can rotate the crank to get to and remove the bottoms of #2 or #3 conrod(s), then pull the respective conrod / piston assembly out of the cylinder to R&R the bent conrod from the piston.

You need to know the weight of the conrod being replaced, as well as the color coded conrod bearing needed. You'll double check that with plasti-gage to make sure its within tolerance with the crank.

A shop manual will be a huge help.

I have a used Clymer available for $22 shipped, and a used Factory Service Manual for $27 shipped.
Click to expand...
Great! I'm most of the way there. I didn't realize you could drop the oil pan. I'll get on it this weekend. Thanks
 

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