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Piston to cylinder clearance
Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 9:29 am
by Duke
My SB50 cylinder is at the machine shop and I need to know what the clearance should be. I bought the RIK 44mm kit from Taz. Anyone that has done this before please chime in, the sooner I know the sooner its done!

Re: Piston to cylinder clearance
Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 7:42 pm
by Duke
Bueller, Bueller... Seriously , no one has any input on this one?
Re: Piston to cylinder clearance
Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 9:03 pm
by paulpauly7
tye clearence on o stock cylinder shoul be the same for the over size piston so check the manual and go with that
Re: Piston to cylinder clearance
Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 1:05 am
by patthesoundguy
paulpauly7 wrote:tye clearence on o stock cylinder shoul be the same for the over size piston so check the manual and go with that
Yup the manual should totally have the clearance in there. Its a pretty crucial number t have before you bore the cylinder. Too tight and the piston won't have enough room to expand when it gets up to operating temps.
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Re: Piston to cylinder clearance
Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 7:50 am
by Duke
The manual specifies .004 as a service limit but does not mention what the initial clearance should be...what do ya'll think?
Re: Piston to cylinder clearance
Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 2:10 am
by bakaracer
Sb50 .0014-.0020 is what should be the clearance.
Re: Piston to cylinder clearance
Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 5:07 am
by Duke
Thanks, Baka!
Re: Piston to cylinder clearance
Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 12:29 pm
by Duke
Ok so my Elite ended up with a .003 piston-cylinder clearance and it heat seized at 30 miles in the break-in period. I pulled it apart and found marks on the piston either side of the exhaust port and some scratching on the cylinder walls. I gave it a quick hone and lightly sanded out the piston scuffs . I rode it around yesterday and it seemed to be fine but today it won't start.

Both of my scooters with larger bores are becoming nightmares! Wish I had left them stock...
Re: Piston to cylinder clearance
Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 12:39 pm
by tazland001
What is your compression?
Taz
Re: Piston to cylinder clearance
Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 1:13 pm
by Duke
I have 120 psi...
Re: Piston to cylinder clearance
Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 4:10 pm
by tazland001
120 is fine. You might have fouled your plug.
Also did you rejet the carb on the 44mm?
Taz
Re: Piston to cylinder clearance
Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 4:47 pm
by Duke
Yeah I put an 82 main in there, plug looked ok. After the seize I got it running but it just sounds awful, kind of rattly and has a big vibration off throttle. I replaced the crank bearings during the rebuild including the small end conrod one. I believe its fubar

Before the seize it was nice and quiet and smooth-running...
Re: Piston to cylinder clearance
Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 5:28 pm
by tazland001
The 82 sounds a bit lean. I will chime in on this thread a little later tonight again.
Taz
Re: Piston to cylinder clearance
Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 5:38 pm
by Duke
I think I messed up because I didn't have the clearance figured out before i went to the machine shop. He said the final clearance came in at .003 which is close to the max tolerance (.004) I think instead of a heat seize the piston was slapping and got stuck...
Re: Piston to cylinder clearance
Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2013 10:42 am
by bakaracer
usually to tight a clearance would cause heat siezes easier. piston slap from to much clearance just cause faster piston wear and blow by easier. sounds more like you had either a lube issue from not enough oil and fuel or motor wasnt heat cycled enough and broken in properly or you have a leak somewhere.