Still have more teardown to asess ALL the damage. SOMEHOW the tappet on the rear jug exhaust valve is spun 90% and it really messed things up.....The peices are from the bottom skirt of the tappet guide. None of the gears are chewed up, maybe the breatrer gear is but it's only plastic. I don't know if anything in the topend is damaged yet. SO....... IF I can afford it this winter I might pull the plug on a major rebuild and possibly a big bore kit. But for now it's DEAD. I was able to ride it about a mile to the house when it started acting up. LUCKILY I wasn't that far from home....probably wasn't the best thing for it but the damage was contained (so far) to the cam, tappet, and at least 1 rocker box. It's not pretty but could have been a WHOLE LOT WORSE!!
The funny thing is that it gave NO WARNING SIGNS. It was running fine.....and then WHAM. Any ideas by looking at the pictures on what might have happened?? AH well, at least I didn't have to walk home....

Just found this add http://anchorage.craigslist.org/mcy/1888301305.html
I'm going to call the guy tomorrow to see IF it's still available. I do have questions: If he never installed it, how did it run great before he put it in storage? $1500 or LESS if he's desperate to sell sounds like a good deal, or is it?

 

was that an oem lifter? cam? cam bearing? looks like the cam gear got leaned on hard, could the cam bearing have failed first? dam bad luck.

 

The motor WAS all stock OEM parts, around 52,000 miles on it. It had never been apart since 92.

 

Don't know what you are looking at in dollars, but the Harley reman program is pretty affordable.

 

yea, problem with metal is, it doesn't always show any signs of it failing until it fails completely... that's what happened to u... as far as the motor goes... it seems like a good bargain, new evo engines go for around 3000 from the H-D and remanufactured by h-d goes from 2k - 2.3k...

 

Well the $1500 EVO is GONE! So it's back to a rebuild. Hopefully.

 

Looks like the cam bearing **** the bed and the cam walked. The face of the gear is gouged up pretty good. The lifter block is now a paperweight, but you need to get the pushrods out and free up that cam to see the damage behind it.

 

It could have been a failure of the inner cam bearing or the collapse of the needles in the tappet roller, allowing the roller to wobble and catch on the lifter block. That's similar to what happened to my '94 at 48,000 miles. The problem will be where the needles (and pieces of needles) went, and what damage they caused on the way there.

Unfortunately, the tappet rollers and the INA inner cam bearing (used since '92) are the Achilles heel of the Evo engine. They simply will not run forever. The updated lifters (with a larger axle and no inner race) are better, but I still replace them every 40,000 miles. I also install a new Torrington inner cam bearing, just to be sure.

I also notice a lot of varnish in your gearcase for 52,000 miles. I had my gearcase open at 50,000 miles on the rebuilt motor, and mine was clean as a whistle. What kind of oil are you using, and how often are you changing it?

If it was my engine, I'd have a hard time trusting it again. I'd be afraid there would be to many hard pieces in places I couldn't reach which would migrate and cause trouble later on (like maybe damaging the oil pump). If it were me, I'd strongly consider a factory remanufactured engine.

 

I don't know guys, my buddy's 87 fxr did the exact same thing, broke the skirt of the lifter block and only differnce was his rear exhaust lifter didn't spin but we did find same parts ( pieces), I think your luckier than you think, once you pull the pushrods and get the cam out of there you'll know for sure if bearing went but I think unlikely . I doubt if you have quick install pushrods but I think most your looking at there is 1 lifter block and like you said a breather gear and don't forget to locate the shim for the breather gear, probably still on the cam cover. If you got the bucks get some andrews qiuck installs and cu out the old pushrods it'll save you stripping down the top end, your going to have to wait for lifter block to come in anyway. If you doooo have the bux get new oem lifters along with the block.
Just to be sure match the broken pieces you have there with the skirt of the broken block.

 

you could probaly get away with a new lifter block,lifters,cam and gears.. would be less then 4-500 and take 2 hours to fix..clean as much of the shavings out.. the rest if any will just end up in your oil filter,