[Adrian II]

Posted elsewhere, but for those not on UK forums, here are some post-mortem pictures of my old Electra-X's failed big end from 2015. I finally had the old crank rebuilt as a spare with an EFI con-rod and pin, this is what came out of it. Note that the piston skirt has picked up some of the debris, and that the overall mayhem has had the wrist pin trying to bash its way out past the circlips. Not a pretty sight. About 17,250 miles when it happened, 2005 model.

A.

[motoguzzibill]

Adrian,
   Was this result from normal use and care? Every picture tells a story what's behind these? Was the EFI crank pin and rod a direct fit?
Bill N

[Adrian II]

This was my old commuter bike, Bill, serviced and only occasionally thrashed. 

There was a whole spate of premature big-end failures (under 20,000 miles, sometimes a lot less) on early model (2005) Electra-X engines, due to a batch of sub-standard crank-pins, which kept the previous UK importers busy fitting replacement cranks. My AVL hybrid uses one of those failed cranks rebuilt with an Alpha Bearings crank-pin and the rod bored out and fitted with a hardened outer track insert. That would have been my preferred option this time but Hitchcocks' are currently out of stock.

But yes, the EFI rod and big-end are direct replacements.

A.

[AVL Power!]

17250 miles converts to 27761 kilometers, that's not bad at all. I don't see 500s lasting longer than this or at times they make it to 30k kms or so. In the last 3yrs I clocked around 26k kms and finally I see signs of my Asbo's big end giving up.

Are you planning for a lighter crank? I think during my rebuild I will lighten my crank and do what BW did. Hopefully another 10k kms to the big ends life? 

By the way A, good to hear from you and I hope you're doing good

-Sanket

[Adrian II]

Hi Sanket,

glad you're still OK and persevering with ASBO13. 30k km isn't very good compared to the Japanese stuff! Watch out for tiny but abrasive steel fragments from the big-end pin getting through the scavenge-side filter plug gauze and scoring the oil pump chambers in the timing cover, if you think your big-end is heading for the exit. ASBO12 has a couple of 5mm diameter neodymium magnets on the end of a 1/4" thread set screw fitted into the scavenge filter plug, which was drilled and tapped to suit.  If I can find the photo I will re-post it here.

I'm not sure about the weight of the 500 AVL crank compared to the iron barrel Bullet's version, it might already be light enough.

A.

[ringoism]

This was my old commuter bike, Bill, serviced and only occasionally thrashed. 

 My AVL hybrid uses one of those failed cranks rebuilt with an Alpha Bearings crank-pin and the rod bored out and fitted with a hardened outer track insert. That would have been my preferred option this time but Hitchcocks' are currently out of stock.

But yes, the EFI rod and big-end are direct replacements.

Ahhh, I should've scrolled down a bit... Yeah, your failed pin looks exactly like the ones I've seen here in India.  Obviously just not good material. 

So would you happen to have the RE part numbers for the later EFI rod/pin?  Is there any difference between that and the carb'ed UCE bits?  And do you feel that in a case like mine (with the engine's being a bit more spunky across the rpm range [higher compression, bigger carb, freer-flow intake/exhaust, but not hyper-modded]) that the EFI pieces would holdup okay vs going the whole Alpha/Hitchcock's route (in terms of the insert, I really don't know who could do it properly here)?  I don't need 100,000km's out of them, but 30-40,000 would be nice, at least. 

[Adrian II]

I have replied in the other thread. The Hitchcocks' modded rod and UK pin is probably the way to go, their complete performance crank is more the double the price, and I dread to think what shipping to India and Indian import duties would add to that!

A.