'05 ZX-6RR race engine: blown (help!)

[JeredH]

I'm not sure what constitutes a "blown" engine, but i thought it would get some attention from you guys.

Here's some basic information on my bike:
-less than 6,000 miles
-since 1/2007 this has been a track-only bike, with the last 1,500 miles all from track time

The bike has been well cared for by myself..

This weekend i took it to Barber. Brand new to the bike for this weekend: I put on a full Akra Race Exhaust and a PCIII with custom map by Kyle Racing.
I put fresh oil in the bike before this weekend. i put fresh water wetter in the cooling system.

The bike was great all day Saturday. I ran 7 sessions with no problems. Sunday the bike messed up AFTER the 3rd session.
I completed the third session with no problems. I rode the bike to the pits and pulled into the pits with no problems, no loss of power, no strange noises - no indicators that the bike was about to blow up.

I rested the typical 40 minutes waiting on Advanced group to go out. The "blowout" happened when i started the bike. The bike cranked, but started with a loud clanking noise. Immediately i shut it off. I tried starting it one more time just to hear the noise again, and it was really bad, so my day was over.

Here's my observations. On the first session of the first day, I ran into the rev limiter about 5 times or so, but nothing major....nothing extreme or for too long.
The new Akra race exhaust/PCIII mapping gave a 'healthy' backfire when i downshifted entering turns at speed. I hear this from a lot of race bikes on the track.

Also, i checked the oil levels sunday morning before i started my sessions, and they were fine. after the incident, there is very little oil in the view window. there is no sign of oil leaking from the engine in the bellypan. the reservoir that collects oil from engine overflow is barely filled (typical).

Please comment with ANY suggestions on what's happened. I know diagnosing an engine problem in a forum like this must be difficult.

For what it's worth, I run this bike pretty hard. At Barber i run 1:43 consistently; and at TGPR I run 1:07 consistently.

Thanks for your input guys - I really, truly need it!

Jered

[JeredH]

upon draining oil, i have found aluminum shavings in the oil. going to replace the motor.

i've found a 636 motor. what are the details on fitting a 636 motor in my zx-6rr bike?

any hyperlinks or info would be great. i am about to start researching...

ARGH...i lost my motor and now must replace!

Thanks - Jered

[ducatiryder89]

Well if the motor is blown anyways fire her up. If the loud noise goes away with the revs it most likely ar the rod bearings and you're getting rod slap. But its hard to really determine what the culprit is. If it were me I wouldn't bother with the 636 motor and just build the crap out of the RR motor. Better revs which is great for the track.

[JeredH]

pulled the motor yesterday....thought i would share the findings with you guys.

It appeared to be the result of severe heat in the combustion chambers at high RPM. The damage was light and almost undetectable, but did result in 2 of the 4 cylinders not holding compression due to valve damage. One piston top had some very light melting, aluminum debris stuck in the valves and washed around inside the cylinder. the pistons showed wear indications of an engine that had 20k plus miles on it, when in fact it only had maybe 6k. Synthetic oil would hot have saved this one, but it certainly could have reduced the wear on the piston skirts, and cam bearing and lobe wear. This wear was the result of very high rpm for extended periods of time, and high combustion temps.

I also wonder about valve clearances here too, as one intake valve out of the bunch was not closing completly... with combustion evidence up into the intake runner.

Damage was light and had just occured prior to shutdown.... another lap would have finished off the other cylinders or presented a serious lack of power. As it stood 2 of the cylinders were incapable of holding compression.....

Very simple engine, and easy to work on....

I just installed a new exhaust system and Power commander with custom map. Was this a contributor to the failure..? it seemed a little lean with backfires.

[coastiepete]

the PCIII USUALLY richens the mixture. as fitting an aftermarket exhaust lets the engine breathe better, it needs MORE fuel. bikes are tuned very lean from the factory to halp it pass emissions. most people add PCIII's to richen it back up and regain some lost power and throttle response. so i can't see the mods making it pop the motor. i know my old R6 backfired a lot on decel with the pipe only. PCIII fixed it. If the map in the PCIII was way lean, it COULD cause the engine to run hot and melt itself.

see if you can squeeze a zx-10 engine in it!

[socal]

Cooked motor due to lack of oil is my guess. Cheaper to replace the motor with a used stock motor fr a salvage.