aja

I replaced my front cct today. It went out a few days ago while riding and started making a loud tick. I immediately shut it off and pushed it home. I followed the steps of putting it to tdc at the line under FT (i just read in the manual it should have been lined up between the letters). Well I installed it and I'm stilll getting the same tick. I know the oem one failed because the spring was broken. Also, it backfired once when trying to start, but it won't start and sounds terrible when it tries. I did fire it up once right after the tick started to make sure I wasnt hearing things and it started fine but I shut it off within a second of starting it.

So my questions are:

1. Does this sound like a timing issue? Could the cct not be tight enough? I tightened it by hand, backed it out 1/4 of a turn and locked it. Should I put it back to tdc and retighten it?

2. Should I have changed the rear first? I did the front because I am making my own ccts, and I have to drive to my shop 20 minutes away to drill and tap. Since I can't remove both at the same time, I figured I would do the front, then ride to the shop and do the rear.

3. If it does sound like a timing issue, do the chain and sprocket have notches or alignments that should be aligned when in time? If so, what can I look for when I pull the cam cover to check timing? I'm trying to do all this myself but I am having to learn it at the same time.

7moore7

There are timing marks on the cam sprockets to line up TDC. Look in the service manual in the section for checking/shimming valves. It runs through all of the steps for lining up the timing and setting TDC with the valve covers off...

That'll get you started at least

aja

Thanks, I looked in the manual under replacing the sprockets but I didn't find anything. I'll give that a shot

nath981

while you have the covers off, see if you can finger tighten the ccts to the correct adjustment. I had to use a small wrench to find out what tight was, then marked the bolt head, loosened and tightened a couple times before I felt confident enough to back it off and know that it was in the ballpark.

aja

The manual is pretty vague about checking the timing, or I'm just not understanding it. All I could find is that the FI and FE marks will either be pointing out or in, but it doesn't say which is correct. So what i am assuming is that when I pull it off I will see on of those two configurations, and if one is off (according to calitoz ape thread it will be the intake sprocket) then I need to rotate the sprocket to realign it and put the chain back on.

If that is correct, should the sprocket he rotated clockwise or counter clockwise?

If that isn't correct, can someone help me out with what to do to reset the timing? I need to have it running by Tuesday for work, I know its not enjoyable to spoon feed people answers, I just keep hitting walls and have questions I can't find answers for.

7moore7

Yes, that's right... the FI timing mark will be at the intake side of the cylinder and the FE mark will be at the exhaust side of the cylinder.

If your valve cover is off, it's fairly easy to check for TDC as well... your cylinder hits TDC twice per cycle (once on the intake stroke and once on the exhaust stroke). You want to line up TDC when your cam lobes are pointing up and outward for the front cylinder:



Then, line up the timing on the sprockets. I use a flat edge, the pic shows lining up the FI timing mark. Note that the timing marks may not line up exactly, but they are very close. It is pretty obvious if the timing is off.



You will be able to tell which direction you need to rotate the sprocket to get the timing correct if it's off. To do this you need to loosen the CCT all the way and take the cam chain cover off (3 bolts).

Also, while the cover's off, you can set your CCT tension pretty easily by tightening it till until there's 1/4" play in between the sprockets when you wiggle the chain.

Wicky

Try following the step-by-step timing instructions given in the CCT Workshop knowledge-base thread, as this will give precisely the correct marks required for front and rear cylinders, and where the cams should be pointing.

https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...pe-ccts-11275/

7moore7

If you're doing both cylinders, the cam lobes point up and INWARD on the rear cylinder at TDC (whereas they are up an outward in the front cylinder in the picture). The FI and FE marks only line up correctly once in the front cylinder to achieve this, on the rear cylinder they are RI and RE.

aja

Awesome thank you guys. Are there any marks on the chain that I will be able to determine how many teeth it jumped or is it just trial and error?

7moore7

The chain is just a chain, so no marks on that.

Just make sure your FI and FE on your sprockets line up when you're at the FT timing mark. If those three marks line up, your timing is correct for the front cylinder. And likewise for the RT timing mark on the rear cylinder.

When your timing skips, usually one of your cam sprockets rotates relative to the other one, so look for that.

7moore7

Just to let you know what's going on (if you do already, my apologies for the added text ), the valves need to open and close relative to when the cylinder is moving up and down. This is achieved with the cam lobes, which push the valves down.

The cam chain runs over your exhaust cam sprocket, intake cam sprocket, and crankshaft. All it's doing is turning the cam sprockets when the crankshaft turns, which makes the valves open and close relative to when the cylinder goes up and down. So when one of the sprockets doesn't line up (skips a tooth on the chain, say), the cams aren't positioned to open the valves when they're supposed to. If it's one or two teeth off, your motor just runs very poorly. If the timing's way off, with this engine, the valves touch the cylinder and high speed and this is the self destruction that the CCT failure eventually causes.

aja

Thanks for all the help guys. I will be tearing into it tonight after work, I have to work on it outside so hopefully its not too cold.

I have a basic knowledge of how engines work, just never done much on my own, usually someone was doing it and I learned what I could from watching.

I asked about the chain having marks because my xr80 I had as a kid had a mark on the chain, but I don't remember if it came like that or if my dad punched it for his own reference

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