Rebuilt my engine about 300 miles ago, already changed the oil and filter once about 100 miles ago... hadn't had the bike out for a real long ride since the rebuild but finally got a chance yesterday....

first I noticed that after the bike was fully warmed up, some white smoke was coming from the crankcase breather hose,  figured this was oil... probably not a good sign... anyway I pulled off the road to check my oil after about 30 miles of riding, and it was reading full... but the bike was damn hot...  so i decided to turn and head back for home just in case the white smoke was a potential problem...

well about another 10 miles and i started hearing a noise from my engine which was gettin louder and louder (normally cant hear nothing but the hindle, but now i heard metal) so I just rode easy until i could find an exit off the parkway, and i pulled off and listened to the noise.. sounded like a metal clank which changed frequency w/ the rpm's... seemed like it might have been absent at higher rpms, but maybe thats just cause the exhaust is a lot louder...   i had my valves too tight once and I remeber that ticking, and this is NOT that, sounds like something is gonna bust...

so I rode to my in-laws house cause it was much closer than home and parked it in the garage until i can figure whats wrong.. does this mean I have to tear the engine down again, or is there a way to diagnose whats going on here?  does burning off oil mean its not circulating correctly and that something overheated and bent?? thanks for any advice... this sucks cause i've spent what little free time I've had this summer fixing the bike instead of riding it... i'm getting to the point where i just want to sell it or part it out.... but that would hurt so much after all the $$ and time (and sweat) i've put into her.....
thanks again

bumpy bumpy bumpity bump shameless bump...

How long does it take to seat the rings properly and is it normal for oil to be burning off through the crankcase breather until this happens??

White smoke from breather vent is usually blow by, mostly steam, gas and maybe a trace of oil. Normal till seating of rings... The rest... maybe cam chain tensioner... maybe some else...no idea.
Cool.
Srinath.

ok so how long does ring seating take?? 20 miles? 2000 miles?

600ish?

depends on methode of break in
some say 500ish with easy break in technique

some say about 1 hour of hard but not FLOGGING run with oilchange mid way. there was a thread and a URL to a chap who uses the hardrun breakin methode and sposivly has his engines lasting better, longer then the soft break in's.

Sounds like a rod bearing spun.
You DO need to tear it down!!
Pull the plugs and use a screwdriver on the piston to feel it move. The side that's bad will stop at the top and bottom of the stroke until the crank rotates enough to move the rod again.
You can also drain the oil and pull the pan to see the bearing bits.
Since it was ridden like this, the crank and rod are toast.
Not sure what could cause this at 300 miles. Usually happens sooner on a rebuild if it happens at all. :dunno:
I just rebuilt my race motor with new Carrillo rods and spun a bearing right away. Turns out they didn't notch the sides of the big end of the rods for oil evacuation :x .
I just put another crank in and notched them myself. I also went with the thinnest bearings (green) for more oil clearence.
If the oil doesn't flow out of the bearing area quick enough, it can overheat and the bearing will fail.

doh!  :x  :x  :x

Thanks Bob. This weekend I'll head back up there and have a look to see if I can confirm this... Don't know what I'll do if I find out its true.... won't have time to do another rebuild until I finish writing my thesis so maybe its time to buy a new motor and keep this as a spare to work on....  :dunno:  :dunno: