Staudacher FB Development (was: Engine failures)
I'm building an FB and will be doing my own engine work. I currently race DSR and do my own egines for that. What I would like to know is the common failure modes of the 07 08 GSXR in FB. I am most curious about connecting rods, connecting rod bolts, and valves.
Thank you.
Jon Staudacher
Well I did have 3 in 3 weeks
2 of which were my own damned fault (Runoffs), and one which was 15 minutes into a refresh of a low hour street bike motor which ate some intake valves at Barber just prior to the Runoffs.
Interestingly the failure of an engine, particularly of a dropped valve, used to be attributable to the driver possibly not down shifting correctly, but with a functioning Geartronics, and data aq - those days are long gone, and something the engine builder did, or didn't do is now as suspect as a part failure.
The Runoffs failures were having the clutch slave bolts come out, which allowed the clutch slave to come off, which allowed the clutch release pushrod to be pushed out, followed shortly thereafter by 6.5 quarts of oil at 60psi through a 4mm hole.
SAFETY WIRE ALL BOLTS THAT HOLD FLUIDS IN THE ENGINE!
. Engine oil drains
. Engine oil fill
. Clutch slave
. oil filter w/ hose clamp around base and wire the clamp to something solid.
. Oil check bolt - front of engine, #1 cylinder above exhaust header pipe, copper crush washer, 10 mm head
. fittings mounted to block or pan
, paint AN style fittings w/ witness paint to ensure they have not loosened.
. rad bleed lines
. rad clamps can be tightened and safety wire run through the screwdriver slot to keep from loosening.
"Etc, etc, etc" - Yul Brenner, "The King and I"
Failure to do any of this WILL eventually come back to bite you on the ass, most likely while you are in podium position at the Runoffs...
The one that failed next, race morning hardship warmup, was once again, self inflicted: while attempting to get some heat in the oil, I let it idle too long and water temp rose to 240 before I noticed and shut it down. Damage is done...
These engines will tolerate ONE overheat episode, and WILL FAIL the very next time you run it, which is exactly what happened in the race later that day.
As mentioned above, we really have a handle on engine life for the last few years, basically by lifing the component (engine). I do 8 complete race weekends, pull it and sell the core, one of which you got at Rd America...
The engine failure Brandon had at NJ was the 11th weekend on that engine as I recall - so it was a bit of a gamble to push it that far.
The cost of the mandatory to use stock Ti valves is somewhat prohibitive, anywhere from $75-100 each x 16 and you see why it's (so far) less expensive to go with a lower mile street bike engine.
Obviously the supply is damned near gone for 07-08 Suzuki's, so it may be less expensive now to replace all the valves, and do the regular rebuild - all bearings, rod bolts, cam chain, maybe even valve springs, which DSR guys may have plenty of low hour stock springs, etc...
Reliability is in your hands
Reliability for FB engine seems to reside in the hands, or right foot actually, of the beholden. As DSR allows mods and FB is a 'stock component' design for engine prep, remaining off of the factory rev limit is key to life. If you are a believer in 20 seconds of rev limiter time before failure, you can use up your time in one session, or remain in the safe zone and not use up your 20 seconds before the end of 10 weekends, and just freshen your still good engine. Suzuki for example has decided that they do not like to toss thier riders off, and as such they use a soft cut rev limiter. You can drive through the rev limiter, however it cuts odd cylinders every other revolution, and as a result causes the crankshift to twist. With bearing shells as thin as they are, you only have to hammer them out of round a bit, and one will climb the other, and BANG. Wet sump motors with the Rilltech pan seem the most reliable. Just ask Tom B how to go fast and still be reliable. He has the Mojo.
impression ratio.............