So far, all I have observed is magnetic sludge typical of a motorcycle engine with an integrated crash box.  I wipe the plug off on a clean paper towel and examine at 5X magnification to make sure there are no chunks.  Going forward, I’ll only be doing this at an oil change.  No more interim drain plug checks.

Top gear looks great.  I have inspected it at each oil change, and it remains unchanged.  No pits or spalling.  This picture was taken at the 10,000 mile mark.  The gear looks like this all the way around.  I have no idea how many miles are actually on this gear set.  I bought it used off eBay.  I personally have logged about 16,000 miles on it (6000 prior to this oil system upgrade).

This is the intake cam lobe.  You can see the oil hole.  I wanted to give you a better idea of how much detail you can expect from one of these cheap endoscopes.  A little blurry, but good enough for my purposes.

Compression has remained about the same for the full 10,000 miles.  It’s always about 200 to 210 psi.

The clutch bushing looks great.  Seems to be getting lots of oil.

The oil pump drive gears work great.  There is no unusual noise.  The wear pattern looks fine.  No pitting, scoring or spalling.  All is well with the pump drive.

The engine is running well.  With this new oil system, every component in the engine gets more oil, all the time, and my problem gear is continuously bathed in cool oil.  I’m very pleased.

My plan is to set up a test gage in the pump discharge and try to figure out if the bypass relief is continuously open.  If the pump discharge pressure approaches 35 psi when the oil is at normal temp (200°F) and the engine speed is at cruise (3500-4000 rpm), then I can enlarge the jet to the cooler, install an aux bleed jet, or switch to 10W-40 oil.  Just depends on how high the pressure is.  If it’s borderline, maybe all I have to do is switch to the lighter oil.  I’m not concerned if the bypass lifts occasionally, I’m just not fond of it being open all the time.

Now that I have good confidence in the engine and transmission, I can forge ahead with some carburetor testing.  Can’t wait to fool around with that PWK with the emulsion tube.

I hope some of you find this report informative.  Maybe it will help you with your project.  As always, I invite your questions and comments.  I spent a lot of time on this project.  I am humbled.  I learned a lot of new things.  I thought I understood this oil system and I didn’t have a clue.  If you think I got some of this wrong, please speak up.  I don’t wanna find my drain plug covered in chips again.


Best regards,

Mike