After climbing the 100,000 steps to the Holy Temple of the Savage, HillSavage throws himself at the entrance to the cumulative stores of knowledge that the human collective consciousness holds.  Please Sages of the Savage help this humble shade tree wrench monkey see the light!
       
       The Bike:  97 Savage 650, VerSlavy chain adjuster, lancer white spacer mod (haven't rejet the carb yet), some kind of shorty muffler, that's all she wrote.

     After a valve adjustment, and VerSlavy chain mod I was amped and ready to ride down to pick up m'lady two hours away.  Twenty minutes into the ride after fueling up there was a loud pop after I fired up my savage and smoke started emitting from the ruptured signal relay.  Pulled it and figured I would have a chance to catch up on my old times hand signals   and continued the ride.  About forty minutes later I heard another small pop, and my bike started losing power.
     
     At that point, I took the next exit and tinkered on the bike for a minute.  Whitish smoke was wafting from under the seat maybe around the starter solenoid.  Now my bike is only clicking, lights seem to be working (I'm trying to fire it in neutral). When I get home, I'm going to use jumper cables and check to see if I can get started to turn.  When I bypass terminals with screwdriver at starter solenoid I only hear a click or two.        
     Any other suggestions, or ideas towards the plan of action I should pursue?  Thank you for listening ye gods of the Savage, may you have mercy on my sophomoric knowledge.

Gary_in_NJ wrote on 06/11/17 at 19:32:24:


Does that mean those sections of the harness are burnt toast?    

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 06/11/17 at 19:38:08:

 Seat came off immediately, I'm pretty sure the smoke was wafting out of air box, but I think that the starter solenoid sitting there blew and the smoke gathered in the box.  Fuses are all good, connector for the starter relay seems a little on the beginning to melt side...

Pulled starter off,  it works when powered with jumpers from my car battery.  Would a faulty battery cause the electrical shortages and surges?  Many thanks!  Greg from Jersey, gonna get battery load tested in the a.m., then will be purchasing a new battery perhaps.  Any thing else I should check on?

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 06/11/17 at 23:26:26:


Both pops occurred while bike was running, first pop which was the signal relay popped at idle, and an unknown pop occurred while riding that lead to loss of power and ultimately a no start.  Just bought a new battery and a voltmeter to start checking numbers.  Sorry, don't know the lingo, electrical is new to me.

Serowbot wrote on 06/12/17 at 09:46:17:


So this just turned into a whole new project, pulled the spark plug as I was going to check decomp adjustment and found this dun dun dunnnnnnnn....(see attached foto)

I was like oh no!  Piston is shot I suppose, any other thoughts?  Perhaps would y'all mind directing me to the best course of action.  Thank ye sage monks of the Savage.

Serowbot wrote on 06/12/17 at 15:17:50:


 Apparently, you were partially right, the fuel definitely didn't combust! I guess it's time to break down the upper part of motor and see where the damage lies?  Any advice?
 I usually use cardboard and trace out where all the bolts are going so I don't lose anything or get confused.  Sorry, this is well beyond the scope of anything mechanical I have had the pleasure of dealing with up at this point, and know nothing.  
  I've read about Lancers wiseco 97mm (I believe) piston and cylinder bore from bore-tech.  Should I also go ahead and start locating all the gaskets for the top end?  Any one know of a kit?

Also, can anyone point the way to a post that discusses pulling the piston?  Trust me, I'm trying the search function.  All that pops up for me is how to change front brake pads  :'(  Many thanks!

If you can pull the Oil fill plug and blow compressed air in the plug hole, it will show you if the piston is busted. The air should go out the intake, or exhaust, or push the piston down. If it's coming out the fill hole, that is a bad sign.
But either way, the look of your Plug says
Eyeballs inside to me.
Why you signal relay gave up is beyond me.
The report of white smoke out of the air filter is making more sense though..
Super Bummer deal, man..
As you already pointed out
Scientific approach to Dis Assembly makes going together much easier.
Especially considering that you have no idea how long you will need to Remember everything.. You better make it easy on yourself.