NEW basket case pics and a few tech questions

[i58829]

Hey guys i picked up this pretty rough 85 350X today. It was all rebuilt and then (my assumption) they didn't prime the oil cooler lines and it starved the top end of oil and ruined the cam/head. The machine has a Clarke tank, presentable original plastics everything appears to be there aside from the front caliper. I think it was a good deal because i needed a few of the parts.

A few questions i have are, this motor has a nearly new Wiseco 10.25:1 std. bore piston in it. The jug and sleeve look good, i was told it was running before being torn down to find the cam/head damage. So should i just ebay the jug/piston, the whole bottom end, or is it worth me keeping it to build a nice better and more powerful than stock motor for my 85?

Anyone know if the head can be machined to work? Does anyone make an oversized cam or one that will work with a bearing instead of just relying on the head for location? My head was worn from the cam rubbing on the area that would normally have bearings, but since the X's dont have that setup is it junk? I hope that makes sense, let me know what you guys think, or have done in the past. Thanks TC...

[tbirdscott]

I've rebuilt a dozen bikes without priming the oil cooler lines and never had a problem, maybe there was machining junk in the oil passage on reassembly.

If your cam journals are worn you can have the head and cover machined then align honed in most cases.

Looks like a good starting point though.


Scott

[ATCnut]

350X cam problems are common. May not be the fault of the rebuild. the cam rides directly on the aluminum of the head casting. You can have the kit where you have the head machined out and bearing installed for the cam.

[i58829]

When you buy the kit and get the head machined is there any issue with oil not getting to the cam and then causing an issue between the cam and the bearing? I dont know if that makes sense or not, but i plan to keep the motor and dump off the spare stuff and maybe someday i'll have a rebuilt X...

[DIGGER DOG]

Did you take the engine apart?I have found this at work numerous times on trx 300 and 350 engines.the owner of unit did their own oil changes and as a result did not READ the oil filter on installation, they put the oil filter on bacwards,the filter has writing on it saying This side and spring towards engine the other side says Outside ,If oil filter is put on backwards it will starve engine of oil circulation resulting in total top end failure as you describe that may have been the cause, the best fix would probably be cylinder bore ,piston rings and more than likely a new cyl. head.

[DIGGER DOG]

And of course cam ,valves may be salvaged?? I would keep engine and cyl.get a new head valves and cam .the only things I can think of for top end failure would be what i described in post above and the oil pump going bad and or clogged oil lines they can be clogged by too much Honda bond
or gasket sealer on cases

[i58829]

Thanks for the input i wasn't the one who tore it apart but i can see the issue with the head, its not terrible so maybe it can be fixed. I was also leaning towards teh starved for oil idea but i thought the cooler may have been the issue. I will be sure to pay attention when i change the filters to make sure they are in the right way so this doesn't happen on my machine. The bore and the piston dont have any damage that i can see, so this would lead me to believe that the valves and everything would still be good, TC...

[seadoo650]

Looks like my 250R when I got it. Gotta love the projects.

[honda250sx]

Hey man MegaCycle has the service your refering too. They have a cam that uses bearings. They do the machine work necessary as well. I believe it was around $395 last i checked. Well worth the money. Its a bear trying to find those cherry top ends anymore. Good luck my friend. Can i ask what you paid for the project?

[i58829]

Here's some pics to help show what happened. The head doesn't look too bad it just looks like it go hot and the valve cover took most of the abuse.

Also rooting through the stuff i found a nearly brand new valve cover, with great journals, and the rockers have barely any wear on them. It looks used but not very heavily...

[i58829]

Hey man MegaCycle has the service your refering too. They have a cam that uses bearings. They do the machine work necessary as well. I believe it was around $395 last i checked. Well worth the money. Its a bear trying to find those cherry top ends anymore. Good luck my friend. Can i ask what you paid for the project?

Thanks for the input i searched for them and got a phone number so we'll see how it goes, the website wasn't up to date. I think thats a great deal and most likely a great upgrade for any 350x whether its been starved of oil or not. I'll let you guys know what i find out...

[honda250sx]

i wouldnt advise using the damaged head and the "newer" found valve cover. These are line bored to match. You could cause damage.

[honda250sx]

Yeah i am actually considering having MegaCycle doing up one of my heads. I plan on keeping my SX for just about the end of time. So i think it too would be the best investment for anyone wanting a resilent head. I wonder how often you need to change bearings? Can you ask about longevity?

[i58829]

I will be sure ask about that, hopefully they use an otc clevitte 77 bearing so you dont need to get one fab'd when the motor gets rebuilt...

[DIGGER DOG]

I would seriously consider new head and valve cover,Ill check at work tuesday and see if the head and valve cover is still avail. I have 2 350Xs and have been researching parts availability for my projects I know the left inner case is avail but not the right and as honda250sx stated line boring issues
with matching pieces both my left cases are holed and just buying the left wouldnt match the right case half correctly so it wouldent work well.The only problem is that if the head and cover are avail is price $$$$$ even at my employee discount
I work at a Honda dealership.

[DIGGER DOG]

can you show pics of the head combustion chamber side and cam journal side ?

[honda250sx]

yeah i can imagine if it was avail. you'd be bending over and hanging on tight! I get all my honda parts at cost as well and still sometimes it is pricey.

[i58829]

I've got some guests here now but i will get the pics later, the one really close up is of the cam journal on the head...