UPDATE

Bought the bike. Put about 50 miles on it around town, going to and from work. One day on the way home from work, the tapping seems to be getting louder. At a stoplight I hear other noises coming from within (like things vibrating). I take off slowly and the noise is definitely louder, then I hear a poof inside the motor (kind of like air comin out of the spark plug hole when you put your finger over it), and then dies. Cranked it briefly but no start. Got the bike at my indy right now.

The tapping was not normal. I dont think the damage is serious, maybe a valvespring or rocker, we'll see...

 

I had an 88 Evo that sounded like 2 coffee cans filled with rocks when over 3K rpms.
It ran great.
I had an 89 Evo that was pretty darn quiet. Ran great.
I currently ride a 90 1340 Evo that is in between. It makes upper end noise. Especially at idle. Again.. it runs great.
The noise an Evo makes is just the motor talking to you!
When its a bad noise.. you will know it!

 

UPDATE 2

Well found the cause of the noise and engine dying. It appears that the cam bearing went out (a fairly common issue with Evos from what I understand). Makes sense now. Bad bearing, cam movement, tapping noise. Anyways, tooth broken on the cam gear and particles galled on the pinion gear and breather. Worse than expected but at least I know what happened now.

 

Hey Fester....it's a bummer that it was the cam bearing ....it sounds like it chewed up a few parts when it destructed... you are lucky that none of the bearing parts ended up at the bottom of the case...that would have really been ugly.

You sounded like the bike was mostly stock so now could be a good time to upgrade the cam if you're not set on keeping it stock. Good luck with it...I hope it doesn't cost you an arm&leg since you just dropped a chunk to buy that pup.

 

Yikes! Well at least you found the problem... hopefully things in there are not too chewed up. If it still had the stock cam, losing the stock POS INA cam bearing would not be unheard of, but if it had an aftermarket cam then it would be totally expected with the stock INA bearing... you said it was stock though. Hopefully your indy is going to put in a good Torrington bearing. That should last as long as the engine.. and you! Might as well look at a better cam, too!

Next time I'm in the cam chest, I'm also going to dump the stock breather gear and put in an S&S reed breather. Since you will need to replace the breather gear anyway - you might consider that while your indy has it opened up. They cost around a bill.

 

Wow! 22,000? I have 23,000 on mine, and now I am starting to worry. Mine is quiet so far, but hey, I guess it can happen at any time. Sorry yours went. Hopefully it did not hurt to much else. Be sure to check the oil pump.

 

My 1996 was purported to be a stock engine but when I opened it up to do a cam swap, I found adjustable pushrods and a Torrington bearing! Stock cam was still in it though. Somewhere on the forum there is a picture showing a INA bearing and a torrington. Very easy to see from the picture why the Torrington is the better bearing!

 

First, thanks all for the replies. It is very helpful to hear from others who know of or have gone through the same problem. As for the bearing, I only know that the new one is a Timken. Is this the same as Torrington?

This was an unexpected expense but I want it right. And yes, a perfect time to upgrade. Going with either the EV13 or 23 cam.

An S&S breather is already on order.

I saw the oil pump come off. Very good advice as a large piece of the missing tooth was in it!

 

Timken has a good name in the beearing business, the main issue between the INA and the Torrington is that the INA has about half the number of rollers that the Torrington has. As long as the Timken shadows the Torrington in design it should be a vast improvement over the INA.

 

I too am familiar with Timken as a quality bearing. I sure would like to see or know more about the Torrington versus stock INA. If you happen to recall where that comparison photo is, please post a link. Thanks!