2002 Blaze engine failure during race

[Bags]

I have owned my Blaze for about 3 months and just started racing it. I used to ride a z400 and thought that the C-dale was a much better bike until this past weekend. The bike only has about 15 hours on it if that. Was at a TT track and made it through practice and all was good until the 1st heat. I jumped everyone off the start and was in the lead until about 250 yards and the bike shut off. It now makes a fierce clicking sound when attempting to start it. There is oil coming out of the air filter and the exhaust seems to be a little oily feeling instead of dry like it use to be. I started to tear it down last night and had to stop to get some sleep. Anyone else had any problems like this or know what might have happened? Where do I get parts to fix this problem at? Got me all in a bind seeing that I still have about $8960 left to pay on it ( I checked a bit ago to see how much was left). Now all the fellows I raced with are hitting me up with "You should have known better to buy that thing." Thanks alot for any info.

Bags

[Ryanstones]

Start with the easy stuff, yea?
sounds like battery dropped a cell or something. She won't run without proper voltage. Have you changed anything lately? Check the oil/filter for shavings and quantity from each compartment.
I wouldn't jump to the conclusion of massive failure yet.

[jcv440]

Bags,

If you get her figured out, or need any help in figuring it out, call my shop we can help ya with parts. I have almost a complete stock of parts, and anything I do not have I can get in 2 day. 814-929-5332. Scott is the mechanic. Or you have a real good dealer down in Florida to talk to about Cannons. Terry Marcum at Marcum Motorsports. 386-325-6060. He's in Palatka, FL.

[Bags]

Thanks alot. Well I called several people today and they all told me the same thing that the crank is shot. The engine will still turn over fine, but makes a terrible and very rapid clicking sound. I will find out more tonight when I tear into it. Looks like I may have an expensive fish attractor when I get done with this thing.

Bags

[jerrygomez2002]

Maybe bolt came loose, locking the engine???

Have the stud update done?

[jcv440]

Yeah, sounds like the crank. I have 4 of them on the bench right now with bad cranks. It's def. one of the few weak points of this engine I've found. We had one with a crank broke in half! Dang thing would sit there and idle until it ran out of gas...un-believeable...

[Bags]

This evening I took apart my motor and found that the cap that holds the intake camshaft in was cracked. This allowed the gear to rise out of track and the drive gear was slipping off of it and is what the terrible clicking sound was. Now I must find out what other damage occurred and why this event occurred. Anyone have any ideas? Just a weak part or did something hit the valve and push it up at the wrong time? Does any one have any suggestions on the southbay moto setup? I must get this fixed before I miss much of the FTR season. Thanks alot.

Bags

P.S.---I will post pics of it tommorrow if I can.

[jcv440]

yeah, check the cam chain shoe. That usually cracks when the cam cap breaks. Also the de-compression mechanism. When that breaks, it will out a cam cap. The head still looks good? Didn't crack the side cover? When the cam lifts like that, it will crack the cover 9 times out of 10. Check it over real good. I have all the parts you'll need if you want to get her running as soon as possible.

Make sure you didn't bend a valve, and make sure your valve buckets are still good also. And while it's apart, check your crank cartridge plate for loose bolts. Might be a good time to do the stage 8 update while you have it apart. Just good insurance.

[Bags]

What could have caused this to happen all of a sudden?

Bags

[jcv440]

I do not know yet. At first, I thought it was from switching oils. We run Redline in our race bikes, and once we where out of Redline, so we used Belray. 2 weeks later, one busted the de-compression mech. and the cam shoe and 1 week later, the other motor went. But, the next week another guy that only runs Redline in his motor called with the same problem. So I'm still dumfounded by the cracking camchain shoes. Maybe Paul can shed some light on that. But the aluminum cam caps makes sense, I'd rather replace a cap instead of a cam.

I think maybe over-revving the motor or running it WOT for a extended period of time, might be a factor. And I also wonder about the un-balanced cranks. Could it just be from the vibration. I don't know yet. Still trying to figure it out.