R6 Reloaded(Oil changes and Transmission surging)

I just recieved my ’01 R6 back from an engine rebuild and I thought I
might share some stuff with the community. The engine had 44,000 miles
on it when it was taken in for the rebuild. It was running like a
champ(not like new though lol) when it was taken in, the only reason
it went in was because a bolt came loose and the chain shot it into
the crank case.

So the first thing i’d like to share with you is the importance of
oil changes. When the engine was torn down the bearings wear all in
good order, the cylinders virtually damage free, valve seats seating
well. The mechanic said that if he didnt have an odometer to look at,
he wouldnt have been able to tell it had a third of that 44k. He
attributed that to the fact that the oil was changed ON THE MARK,
every time. This keeps the nasty metal particals that develop from
normal wear to a minimum. We all know this is important in any
vehicle, but with a bike that redlines at around 16k and an oil pump
that speeds up with the engine rpm, you want as little of that crap
racing across the surface of your internals as possible.

Second is a common trans problem to look out for on those uncommon
sport bikes with the odo approaching 50k. A sloppy or hard shift into
2nd(which is common due to the long throw and high rpm’s common at the
time of this shift) can cause one of two very bad things to happy.
A.) The dog teeth of the gear become slightly worn
B.) The fork becomes slightly bent
If either of these happen over time the dog teeth on 2nd will wear
more and more untill it will start slipping at times of peak torque
while under full throttle. This will seem like a sudden lose, then
surge of power. Its important that if this starts happening you STAY
OUT OF 2ND! The problem will only get worse till something breaks,
bends, or just generally f@#*$ up your trans. Skip 2nd gear untill you
can get it fixed. Generally 3 things need replacing, and here they
are-
1.) 2nd gear and the gear next to it(3rd?)
The dog teeth by this point are worn on one edge along with the
windows in the gear next to it.
2.) The fork that slides 2nd gear
Each time 2nd gear pops out it blasts the hell out of the fork and
continues to bend it causing it to allow the gear to slip out
even more frequently and things just continue to get worse.
3.) Shift Drum
Depending on how long the prob has been occuring, the point on the
drum that holds the fork into place while in 2nd gear will be
wearing down due to being continually blasted by 2nd gear popping out.
These three parts stock shouldnt set you back much more than 200
bucks.

With the transmission back in order and new rings, seals, and
gaskets the compression is back up and it responds and sounds like
new. After 250-300 miles under 6k rpm, a dozen heat cycles, and an oil
change i’ll be looking forward to reaming on it up to 100k miles with
the help of frequent oil changes!

 

I think the lack of bore wear can largely be attributed to "Nikasil"
and other cylinder bore coatings that the factories have begun to use
in recent years. I've had more than one engine builder tell me that
even with high-mileage engines, cylinders rarely need overboring as
part of a rebuild any more, unless something catastrophic happened to
gouge the bore, like a rod breaking loose or a piston breaking into
pieces. Usually, they just remove the bore ridge at the top of the
piston stroke that's left by the top piston ring, finish-hone the
cylinders and install new rings.

I've seen high-mileage engines (100,000+ miles) with treated bores
that still looked brand new. Sometimes the factory finish honing
marks are still visible in the Nikasil.

 

Yep yep, this ’01 R6 has ’ceramic’ coated cylinders, the cross-hatch
pattern from the factory is still visible as you mentioned it may be.
In fact over boring the cylinder will remove this coating and the
cylinders will wear rather quickly in comparison to leaving it be.

 

Since the coating is so durable, and boring out the cylinders removes
the coating, I think that's why overbores are reserved only for cases
where something has broken loose and scored up the cylinder walls.
Even then, it would probably be worthwhile to have the cylinder
re-treated after the overbore. If the cylinder walls were meant to be
treated, there's no telling how fast they'd wear without it.

I'm glad that your engine is still so fresh. It's got to be like
having a brand-new engine for you.