got rid of pinning by ceramic coating piston tops

[Guest ratchethack]

Yeah, and no, I did not go to Mark, but rather I sent the heads to Mike Rich. Originally, I had a shop in SoCal - the name of which I probably should not mention - simply clean the heads and valves and put it back together, but they did such a poor job - 3 times I shipped the heads back and forth with problems - and I finally shipped them to Mike. The oil seeping through the guides was result of their work, and not a problem I tried to fix. When they arrived at Mike's, he had to re-seat the valves seats, install new guides.

Hm. Sorry to hear. $ound$ expen$ive.

 

After all the carnage, was it possible to determine the original cause of all the oil in the heads at 5K miles?

[arek]

Hm. Sorry to hear. $ound$ expen$ive.

 

After all the carnage, was it possible to determine the original cause of all the oil in the heads at 5K miles?

 

Yeah. The oil was getting into the combustion chamber through the guides - I posted pic in the original thread - but that is after the SoCal shop damaged them. I did not run the engine with this for any period of time, but rather shipped it back to them, and later to Mike. Before all this happened, there was no oil in the engine, and plugs were golden-brown.

[Guest ratchethack]

Yeah. The oil was getting into the combustion chamber through the guides - I posted pic in the original thread - but that is after the SoCal shop damaged them. I did not run the engine with this for any period of time, but rather shipped it back to them, and later to Mike. Before all this happened, there was no oil in the engine, and plugs were golden-brown.

EGADS, I remember seeing your photo, but seem to've missed the "back story". Sorry for all the Q's and repetition.

 

But now I just gotta ask -- how did you happen to have the heads off in the first place at 5K miles?!?!

 

FWIW, oil in the combusion chambers leaking in through a butchered valve guide job with wobbly valve seats would tend to make it detonate like a Banshee. Simply having this corrected would account for the sudden absence of ping by itself -- piston coating or no.

[arek]

EGADS, I remember seeing your photo, but seem to've missed the "back story". Sorry for all the Q's and repetition.

 

But now I just gotta ask -- how did you happen to have the heads off in the first place at 5K miles?!?!

 

FWIW, oil in the combusion chambers leaking in through a butchered valve guide job with wobbly valve seats would tend to make it detonate like a Banshee. Simply having this corrected would account for the sudden absence of ping by itself -- piston coating or no.

 

 

Well, I installed pods without oiling them, and riding around here in coastal area (live in Oceanside) sand got into the intake quick. I took the heads off right away to clean them out and prevent damage. I learned that you must oil foam filters the hard way

 

The bike was pinning well before installing the pods however. I did maybe 2k miles after I got the bike, and before installing the pods. It is in that time that I got concerned about the pinning issues. I certainly did not ride with "oil in the combustion chambers leaking in through a butchered valve guide job with wobbly valve seats."

[gavo]

A friend of mine had the pistons in his mk1 lemans ceramic coated mainly for size. had no problems with pinging before or after , and after 40k kms no problems also he asked around and speedway riders say they get a full season out of them

[Dan M]

Well, I installed pods without oiling them, and riding around here in coastal area (live in Oceanside) sand got into the intake quick. I took the heads off right away to clean them out and prevent damage. I learned that you must oil foam filters the hard way

 

YIKES! Cylinders OK? Does not take long for sand to do damage.

Not to hijack or start a debate but for my money it's paper filters on road going stuff.

[Dan M]

Well, personally... seeing as your bike was pinging with 5k miles on it, if your bike puts another 5k miles on it with out pinging again and no signs of coating degradation (I doubt there will be as ceramic coating is tough stuff) I would say it is a valid option.

Yep, that's the "if"

 

.......But what it should reduce is the combustion chamber temps right before combustion takes place.

How so?

 

That is where detonation happens and lowering those temps can reduce detonation. It is not after the the charge is burnt that detonation happens but right before and during combustion (in the parts that have not combusted yet). Preventing the piston from absorbing some of the heat from combustion and passing it along to the next charge as it is compressed can and will reduce the temp of the mixture and thus help reduce the chances of detonation.

Yes, cooler is better but the piston is one of the ways out for the heat. It certainly varies with piston design, many manufacturers are spraying more oil at the underside for that reason, to pull the heat from the piston. I'm not sure insulating it helps shed combustion chamber heat. Like I said, it probably depends on the piston design.

[arek]

YIKES! Cylinders OK? Does not take long for sand to do damage.

Not to hijack or start a debate but for my money it's paper filters on road going stuff.

 

I caught it very early, so there was no damage to cylinders walls.

 

I agree paper is the safe way to go, but I just love how the engine sounds with the pods ... that gargle tune is priceless As you can imagine I monitor the filtration very carefully now, and I do not see any evidence of what happened before with a well oiled pod. I am a believer in them, as long as they are properly maintained. People have done 100k miles with them, without problems. I just did not know better when I bought them, and, unfortunately for me, there were no instructions in the bag with the filter.

 

All in all, it was not too bad. I did all work myself and got to know my V11 a lot better. I also like to think that I got rid of pinning along the way. We’ll see …