Kablooey! (and also: sorry for not being around)

[Dr.Sparkie]

So first order of business... sorry for dropping off into oblivion. Stuff like my masters thesis and then a metric luckton of work kinda got in the way of talking about the bike and all the sweet times I split lanes, passing cumulative thousands of stopped vehicles with a certain pride and feeling of entitlement.

second order of business... Karma. Seems like the gods of shiny side up decided I must be punished fr my flagrant disregard of internet forums and the Highway Traffic Act (all sections except the ones about red lights and stop signs, I respected those)

Problems first became apparent when i was riding northbound on the 427 when some chick on an R6 zoomed by me and split the pair of vehicles in front of me. Now I'm pretty much married, so I'm not terribly interested in biker chicks, but I'm not dead, and can't resist the urge to race anything which thinks (rightly so) that it's faster than me.
So I pin the throttle and give chase, though I'm not ballsy enough to lanesplit at speed so I fall somewhat behind. Traffic conspires to keep my quarry in sight however, giving me hope, and my poor little mutt bike soldiers on until *plunk* happens - I lose the majority of my power, and it's obvious (to me, cause I'm used to it) that the bike is running on one cylinder again.

After a particularly terrible crawl home on one cylinder from the Basketweave to Brampton, I pull the plugs and find that the left plug shows mechanical damage. SCARY! But there's nothing visible inside the cylinder,  so I fix the plug with a pair of pliers, put it back in and test it for a while, no further damage, so I shrug and vow to buy new plugs the next day.

The next day I buy new plugs, install new plugs, ride downtown (no worries yet!) and ride back home when (and I'm not pushing it this time!) *plunk* happens, and the bike is, as usual, running on one cylinder. This happens in nearly the same spot as it happened yesterday, so I'm starting to get worried about miniature black holes, solar flares, Illuminati, you name it!
blah blah ride home blah blah bent plug blah blah no obvious reason is how it goes again. So I vow to buy new plugs the next day, and a pair of washers.
The next day I exchange the plugs I bought (after straightening the one) and buy the washers, with a pleasant but confused look on my face that says to the teenage girl working returns "This is completely not my fault, and I need these washers for an unrelated application". That goes smoothly, I feel somewhat more evil and it makes me smile.
Riding out the rest of the week the two washers underneath the left plug keep the plug from becoming smashed. Park the bike for the weekend, and when I go to start it monday it cranks with a sickening *plankplankplank* and then stops.. the motor seized and won't turn again.

Disassembly shows that the piston cracked from the face down to the 1st ring land, and there's bits of steel/iron embedded in the head and piston.

Pictures will follow, as soon as I figure out where to post and link them.

So yeah... Uhh, WTB: motor.

[The Buddha]

Yes I've been in that spot. Right where east bound 407 I believe it is takes a long down hill before entering vaughn - definetly a black hole that sends my O2 sensor crazy and the power curve kablooey.
You have a rod bearing go on it ? probably, I dont blame vaughn and 407 I blame the dr sparkie.
Cool.
Buddha.

[007brendan]

How many miles did you have on it?

[reload]

  ...trying to imagine how and what it looks likes lol

[Dr.Sparkie]

Don't imagine, have a look see (go imageshack for not wanting me to register!)
http://img230.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=blockm.jpg

rod bearing on the left side is probably flat-spotted from from banging, left barrel is almost certainly knackered, left piston is pooched, head is probably pooched (though im ghetto enough to grind it down and put it back on...)

the mileage is low on the bearings in the bottom end and the rings, the pistons however are as old as time itself.. old wiseco 79mm pistons they don't admit to making anymore.

[Dr.Sparkie]

---UPDATE--
with some prodding from JamesG, I managed to pull apart the motor some more and root cause the explosion.

Turns out the valve guide on the left intake valve gave up on life and enriched the mixture in the left cylinder. I'm not sure what the stoichiometric ratio is for iron and oxygen, but I doubt the valve guide got it right. This also explains the little metallic bits embedded in the piston quite nicely.

anyways, as it stands the head is chewed and needs a new valve guide, the left bore is ruined (deep scoring), the left piston is ruined (and its rarer than hens teeth), and the play in the left big end bearing seems high compared to the right (I haven't split the cases yet) so it's safe to say that bearing is knackered as well.

[The Buddha]

You ran a 555 till it ate a spark plug, then put a new plug and ran it more WTF ... the stock gs eats these often enough for me to walk home @ the first instance of trouble.

BTW canadian chicks are usually german/eastern block ... and remember they do have something in the water over there ... they put the Ggggggerrrrr in German ... or dudes with long hair.

Cool.
Buddha.