Ok, had a CCT rattle issue around 5.5k rpm,like so many others. I had read another forum post where a gentleman had run a longer bolt than the stock sealing bolt into the back of the CCTL to push the shaft tighter against the chain tensioner, essentially acting like a manual CCT, with the stock ability to slide forward when needed. He used an additional nut to lock the bolt in place.

I installed the bolt last evening in my dad's shop, a bit tighter than finger-tight, threw the bike back together, and took it for a test run. The rattle was still there, unfortunately. So I drove 30miles back home. Tonight, I pulled the bike apart again. I checked the bolt, and after loosening the locking nut, I noticed it seemed kinda loose. So, I inched it forward a bit, till I felt resistance, then locked it in place.

I fired up my motor in idle, and everything sounded great. No unusually whiney sound--anymore than a normal F4i whine--so I figured it wasn't too tight. Left the bike naked, and took it out for a second. Everything sounded great! Damn rattle was gone at 5.5k rpms, and it ran normally.

So, I'm putting along in about 2nd or 3rd gear, and over the span of about 10 seconds the engine starts becoming noiser. It settled into a machine-gun-loud rattle, and I killed it. At this point I'm panicing, so I get off the bike and start pushing it home. I realize that I'm too far away, so I start it up and putt home in 2nd at about 2-3k rpms. I loosen the tank up again, and tighten the bolt slightly. Start it up in idle, and the machinegun fire starts again; I kill it immediatly.

My question is: What the hell would cause that loud of a sound? Did the timing chain jump timing and the pistons are hitting my valves? If so, how the hell did it jump timing by *tightening* the chain?

 

Wait, you made your own manual cct? or you bought the APE manual cct? I've been hearing people having problems after installing the ape cct, but that's was due to their own installation error.

 

In a sense, yes. Made a bunch of sense while I was reading it, but now I'm not so sure....you know, that whole hindsight thing...

I've already ordered a manual CCTL, but in any case, I'm in the process of popping the head cover to check the timing.

If anyone has heard such a god-aweful noise before, I would appreciate your input. If it helps the diagnosis, I did forget to mention that the engine seemed to idle steadily, and what I could hear through the clacking sounded fairly smooth.

 

Update: *Whewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww* [sm=wootwoot.gif]

Got the head cover off, and the camshafts are both still in time. The timing chain looks pretty good, and I retracted the CCTL to have a look at the CCT sled. It's not showing any damage that I could see with the limited visibility I had.

My hypothesis is that the bolt I inserted got the CCTL out of a bit of a rut. I don't think that the stock CCTL was scooting up properly, and that the new bolt got it moving. After running the engine for a little bit, the stock CCTL creeped forward even a little more of its own accord, and created a tiny gap between the stock CCTL shaft and the new bolt. I'm guessing the super-loud noise was from the shaft and bolt clanking together. It's really unbelievable how loud it was; I was half-expecting to see crooked valves or a non-existent CCT sled.

Anyway, in my *infinite* wisdom, I've decided to wait for the manual CCTL to show up before firing up my 400lb. girlfriend again. It's possible that the hybrid stock/manual CCTL idea could work, but my bike isn't going to be the guinea-pig.

It's a good time to take advantage of the machine's current state and check the valve clearances, anyway.

 

lol you're pretty gutsy for trying to ghetto rig your own manual cct. I would've just went with the ape manual cct all along. at least nothing was damaged.[sm=gobble.gif]

 

You could have made the cam chain too tight. Throw the APE one in there and let us know what happens