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chart

What do you mean?

I actually had the shop install the cam along with the piston in the first place. I don't have a garage to do allot of work in and I wanted it done professionally the first time around.  (I think it was a pop top. It's the 95mm one that lancer sells)

According to them they did all the timing correctly and checked the clearances you mentioned. They said it had ample clearance between piston and valves. It's hard to say how much to trust their word. It doesn't look they hit the piston strongly since there are very weak marks (pic below). The guides are what seems to have taken the biggest beating. (pics below)

It was working pretty well for a while, on about the fifth or sixth ride after having it back from the shop (after another problem with the chain gear shattering, it started slowing down and dying, and then it wouldn't start.

When the shop checked it they said they found oil in the carb and when they checked further they said the found oil leaking in from the valves. Initially they thought it was a bad gasket but they say now that it's the guides/valves letting oil in. They suggested that maybe I had let the engine over-rev (which I can't remember ever doing but it's possible) which had caused the valves to float and thus hit the piston.

You said that I chose the wrong cam if all I care about is low rpm torque. That might have been a sliight exaggeration, I care mostly 80% about low rpm torque, and about 18% about mid range torque. and maybe 2% about high rpm torque.

I'm a bit dense with all these numbers ect and I will be the first to admit I didn't really understand what I was doing when I had these parts installed. My thought process was mostly Stock=Bad, Mods=Good.

If you would help me understand the differences in the cams and what the numbers mean. I would greatly appreciate it.

I have a little understanding of the properties of cams now, in that higher lift lets in/out more air/fuel. And that longer duration is bad for low end torque but good for high compression and high rpm torque.

When I bought the parts I didn't even know that there was more than one cam option aside from the stage 3, let alone several, let alone that I might actually like the stock profile more.

When I rode it for the brief while it was operational the midrange and high end felt very powerfull but the low end felt "smoother" than stock. It didnt feel like it pulled quite as hard right off the line. That could be the jetting which I'm still getting dialed in, but it could also be the cam.

what do you think?

guides

Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it.

Unfortunately, the shop has been the ones to do the work from the beginning.
When I initially took it in to get all the parts installed they told me that on the first test run of the parts installed along the first block or so they heard the shattering and took it back. They then replaced the gear, chain, guides, and tensioner (at my expense might I add, I know I know, I'm an idiot.)

After they replaced all the parts, they said it was finished and told me to pick it up. A few rides later and this happens.

I don't think I took it anywhere near 7000rpm but without a tach it's hard to say. If it helps I can say I've barely taken it full throttle. The longest I've been at WOT is probably 7-8 seconds. I don't know if that's long enough to put it into the 7000's.

From what the shop has told me the valves are not bent (although they say they're replacing them anyways. I don't think the exhaust has struck, but ill double check anyways when they re-open. Are there any more pictures that you think would help clear up this dreadfull mystery. For reference my bike has been in the hands of this shop for nearly a year now getting these mods done.

The cam is almost definitely a stage three since I bought it directly from lancer along with the piston, and at least according to him he doesn't sell anything else.

Ill double check with the shop what the exact toleranes where again. I recall them telling me that there was more than enough, but I can't remeber the exact numbers so ill double check.

Also could you elaborate on the different cams and their results. If I wanted to go back to stock or some other cam, now would be the best time to pick one up I imagine. What effects should I expect with this cam vs the DR650 or stock? What do you reccomend?

Thanks again!

I suspect you are right. So far every time something has gone wrong the shop offers up nothing more than a shrug and it ends up taking months on end to fix.

What was your experience with the stage 3 cam? Did you feel a loss of power or an increase in smoothness in the very low rpm torque.

I can't tell if it was because I was still getting used to it but when I first bought the savage, the power down low felt, for lack of a better word choppy. Like it came on really fast and strong. It actually made low speed driving and shifting down from second slightly scary and exilerating.

When I got it back after the cam/piston I don't know if it's because it was set up poorly,  or the carb not adjusted well, or I had just gotten better at driving it and new how to shift it, but when I started driving again it didn't have that same scarry impulse of power from the get go, it was suddenly smoother and easier to shift between 1sts and 2nd and back.

Do you think the new cam explains this behaviour, or am I imagining it ect? I don't know what's going on.