Rebuilding the Cannon - first (ATV) motor rebuild

Meet the Cannon:

The Cannon is a 2002 Cannondale Speed 440. Made in America...and fixed multiple times in America Cannondale made motorcycles and quads for two years, then sold off that part of the company to ATK since their motors had a nasty habit of self-destructing due to bolts backing out in the engine (cause it rattled so damn much!)

I picked this up from a friend's dad a year ago; it is the first quad I've ridden and I have a bit of a soft spot for it.

So, on the most recent dunes trip when it decided to not start anymore, I decided to rebuild it instead of selling it and getting something made in Japan that would be much more reliable.

From what I can tell, theres a 1 way clutch (looks more like a bearing in the engine schematics) that is broken, so when you hit the starter it just spins that gear freely instead of turning the engine over. Hopefully I'll be able to find parts for it, and not break anything in the process of fixing it. The current state:

I only get to work on it on weekends, so this tread may be slow updating! Edit: All pics here http://imgur.com/a/TB5R3

Finally got a chance to do a bit of work this weekend on the cannon. My camera flash decided to stop working, so forgive the bad pics. Mostly ready to pull the motor out, I'm hoping to get that done next weekend before it gets too hot.

View of the exhaust valves...not sure I like the look of those weird little white spots.

Another weekend finally, and I had time to get the motor out of the cannon.

I forgot one hose, the coolant return to the coolant reservoir. it stretched the poop outta the little barb it attaches to, so I'm going to have to figure out a way to rethread it with something else (i'm thinking jbweld will be my friend here).

Found another crack, this time on the subframe itself. The main frame "ear" where the subframe bolts in this pic has broken already, but that was on the other side.

Hopefully someone I know will be able to weld that back up. The dead carcass:

Got the engine in its new resting place...the apartment! I need to get a house so I have room to work on things haha.

I can take things a bit slower now, since its inside in the AC and not out in the really hot garage. Pics of the actual engine will be next, once I get into it!

I remember when Cannondale did this. Would have been cool if their moto story ended better. IIRC, the company founder lost the company (to investors) after spending too much trying to reinvent the motorcycle and compete with Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Yamaha.

Subscribed for nostalgia.

In reply to OHSCrifle:

Yea, they kinda started the 4-stroke sport ATV thing but went completely from scratch instead of using things already designed. They got a few things wrong, and ended up selling the division to ATK.

Made some decent progress this weekend! First step, drain the transmission oil. This is a sign that things might be broken:

Next step is the clutch cover and crankcase cover. Some pics: Next, crankcase cover. Took so long to separate it from the block, I was worried I was gonna break something lol. Also, the oil filter housing (on the left side) has an O-ring that seals against the crankcase cover. punch and a hammer took care of that!

Next up, set to TDC and remove the camshaft cover. Took awhile, since apparently the guy before me had the camshaft idler gear off by one tooth. Pics for when I put it back together, though i'll probably put it back correctly haha. Intake: Exhaust. There are really faint marks on there, not as obvious as the intake. I'm not sure why, maybe aftermarket camsahft? The factory pics show the same marks on each cam, so thats what I suspect. Flywheel, balanced aftermarket. Apparently they have a tendency to shear off the center bore which is steel.

Camshaft cover, removed coil and spark plug and checking TDC:

Camshaft cover off!
Some wear on the camshaft lobes, hard to take good pics with my E36 M3ty camera :-(

Well I finally made some more progress, timing chain off and I can see the top of the piston!!

Timing chain off; notice the long skinny allen key pushing the tensioner lock to remove tension.

Next, weird stain marks on the lower timing chain gera (don't remember the actual name).

Picture before I pulled this off, so I remembered how it went. Wiring was to hold these bolts in; from the factory they had a tendency to vibrate right on out! Was done by someone previously.

Got rid of that pesky tensioner idler pulley. Note the shiny bolt in the bottom left to the right of the oil filter housing; this fits into a hole in the crank to keep the piston at TDC. Had to take a bolt of proper length/thread and grind down the edge to fit into the hole. Already removed 2 of the 6 nuts that hold the head on here; this was seriously obnoxious without a vice and with no room for a real ratchet. Not sure how I will be torqueing them to the proper #s when I go to put it back together

The other cylinder head nuts; again I could have used a vice or 2 more arms to get these off. Wrenches and a hammer did the trick though.

One last less-fuzzy shot of the exhaust valves; both look about the same.

Success!! Head off, finally.

Some water damage to the head studs, on the water pump side.

Valves!

And, piston. First one I've ever seen, not really sure what to be looking for lol. Ignore the light colored stuff in the middle, thats just E36 M3 that fell down the spark plug hole.

http://www.fastech-racing.com/product.php?productid=2003&cat=133&page=1

^that's what you use to properly torque those cylinder head bolts.

That combustion chamber looks pretty normal to me. Using some oil perhaps, but nothing out of the ordinary.

In reply to tpwalsh:

Thanks!! I figured there was something along those lines, I just didn't have one haha. Either I'm lucky, you're a genius, or motorcycle cylinder head bolts are somewhat standardized since the two sizes I need are 12 and 14

I dunno, but that's what came with my shifter kart, and I needed it to torque the cylinder down. Pro tip: if you keep that adapter at 90 degrees to the torque wrench, there's a 1:1 relationship between the wrench torque and the actually torque applied to the nut.

Huh, thats weird I would have thought you want the torque wrench in line with the other wrench. I guess if I go get my physics books I could figure it out. I'll take your word for it

In reply to Brokeback:

If you keep the wrench and the tool in line, then the torque applied to the nut is more than what the wrench will show/click at since your lever arm is longer.

This week, I tackled the crank plate which is on the left in this picture:

A bunch of the bolts/nuts holding it on are safety wired, so had to undo all that junk first.

Next up, remove sleeve and piston. some pics of the sleeve with some wear marks on the front/back engine sides. Front Right Side Back side

To remove the sleeve, you clean it out, put at BDC, put a layer of 2" masking tape around the circumference of the sleeve, and rotate the crank back up. Turns out it worked pretty well (I had my doubts)

Removing the piston without using the "special tool" consisted of removing clips (one fell into the sump to be retrieved later), using some rubber-handled pliers to hold the piston steady and a socket extension/hammer to gently knock the pin out through this hole: Some wear on the pin and piston:

It looks empty inside!
So final step before crankplate removal is taking off the oil pump on the bottom right of the crankplate, and then taking off all the nuts/bolts holding it on. gentle prying/tapping got it removed! Before: After: Le crankshaft and balance shaft: Had to pay attention to the thrust washer on the right side of the balance shaft, which you can see here. And this is where the sprag clutch is that led to this whole teardown! Lets take a look - After a hit or two on a hardwood block and pulling it out: First one I've seen, but I'm fairly certain its bad (hopefully!). Heres the associated washer and wear spots on the OD of the thing that rides on the sprag clutch: Felt smooth but clear line of wear: Didn't feel super smooth, so I'm not sure if I'll need to replace or just polish this: Some wear inside the gear where the sprag clultch sits:

And, real quick, shot of the flywheel connection side of the crank shaft:

Thats it for now, gonna figure out parts and need to decide if the crank bearing should be replaced and then have the crank balanced (common wear item on these engines, but fixing it properly is somewhat expensive at ~300-600)

I finally got around to pulling the transmission plate and all that stuff out, expecting to see that everything looks pretty good. This is what I was greeted with (4th gear on mainshaft): 4th gear on countershaft (kind of a E36 M3ty picture; its the one mostly in the frame on the far left):

Fairly deep pitting, only on one side of the gears (and the corresponding side of the matching gear) but it goes all the way around it. Probably not going to buff out

Looking to hopefully get new to me gears for these both before I put it all back together. Still waiting on results from the crank shop on whether or not it needs a new pin or just a new bearing and balancing.

Wow, its been a long time since I updated this. I was waiting on parts until last week; the main issue was getting the crank done. They had to machine a new rod and wristpin, installed a better main bearing, and then dynamically balanced it. This is a known issue on these motors so hopefully I don't have to do this again anytime soon!

Also got new sprag clutch (The actual problem that started this all), had some mods done to increase oil pressure/flow, new fourth gears, and new gaskets/seals along with a few bearings.

New fourth gears, installed:

Transmission cartridge, installed: Safety wire to keep those pesky bolts in place, along with red loctite:

Getting the crank ready:

One goes in the freezer, one goes in the oven!

New race installed, with woodruff key:

Cartridge plate in, and timing chain and head all done:

Cover on, and ready to install it! This is after I realized that I left out a bolt on the timing idler gear....so I got to take it back out enough to get the cover off and add the bolt Sometimes I hate myself lol

Adding the missing bolt; see the big ol' hole there?? lol

Gotta finish installing tonight hopefully!

Hello, I have been looking high and low for parts and can't seem to locate a crank, can you please send me a link where you purchased this crank and the model number. Also did you replace the cylinder well also and piston or just hone it down and replace the ringer with a larger size.

Thanks Jeff Townsend

In reply to tdog69:

I sent you a pm, if you didn't get it pm me your email address and I'll get you contact info.

Also, realized I never updated this with the motor running! Checking compression: http://youtu.be/xRc9O1coDbw

And, it finally runs! http://youtu.be/2FWbmMVwZBg Excuse the strange noises, turns out being in a garage filming with an iphone makes things sound really weird!

Bad news for the cannondale, and me:

That would be a crack in the lower case, just below the coolant line around the cylinder. I guess I'm gonna get to swap cases, if I can find a used case that will match mine.

Dang! I had to zoom in to see the cracks on my phone.

Cool build, looks like you did good work, bummer to see that result...