strange 701 engine noise

[superjetincairns]

hi all
I have recently acquired a 97 model 701 superjet and am in the process of stripping, cleaning, tidying up the engine bay. im fitting new spark plugs, airfilters, builge pump, waterlines etc and decided to pull the river red pipe off to give it a bead blast and repaint as its starting to look a bit ratty and corroded. while I was tinkering around i have noticed a strange scratching sound which appears to be coming from the front of the engine area when I rotate it over by the coupling slowly with my hands. it sounds like there is sand inside the front engine cover or something like that. the ski has seen its fair share of work and is getting a good going over and to me I doubt this sound is right. how do superjets charge the battery, is there a dc generator with a commutator and brushes that could be making this sound or are my main bearings simply on their way out. im definitely not going to start the motor again until I work out what this noise is. it was going fine when I ran it on the flusher before I started to pull it to pieces.
Any advice I can get would be much appreciated.
cheers

 

[Kohldanielzimmer]

Open up the flywheel cover and check it out. It could be shrapnel from a old/partially grenade bendix. It could also be serious corrosion from water intrusion.

 

[Mike W]

To answer your question about how a 701 charges the battery, this is done with the flywheel spinning around the stator which is behind the front cover. Definitely take the cover off and see what is going on.

 

[superjetincairns]

ok I pulled the cover and it sounds like there is something rubbing behind the flywheel, very gritty feeling so I guess that will have to come off too. any tricks or things to watch out for? there doesn't seem to be any corrosion inside but there is a bit of greasy grime and what appears to be a very small amount of oil laying in the bottom of the housing but nothing obvious.
thanks again for any advice.

 

[superjetincairns]

flywheel is off, no debris anywhere or or signs off anything rubbing but the lower coil is munched pretty bad, id say from a previous incident, the gritty sound is still coming from behind the timing plate that holds the coils though, im trying to deny it but I think I may be up for a full rebuild, gulp. gonna pull the coils out and see if something behind it is rubbing but im not very hopeful at this stage

 

[Tyrant1919]

Get a flywheel puller. Harbor freight has them for like $15. Or any hardware oriented place really. Put it on straight and torque it off. The flywheel tends to jolt off the crankshaft fairly violently, that's normal.

 

[Tyrant1919]

Rebuild away!

 

[superjetincairns]

hmmmm, ebay here I come. The ski already has a riva red pipe, k & n filters, msd ignition and a yamaha black head machined for higher compression, worx ride plate, and scoop grate,The pump has been freshly rebuilt/new liner and it has a solas impeller,(not sure of pitch/part no. yet) Ive just finished shortening the pole and replaced throttle cable, grips, billet trigger throttle, filters, plugs, new bilge pump and switch, yada yada yada, i was kind of hoping the engine would be something i wasn't going to need to do straight up but it looks as though its in line for a blinging internally too. Im the kind of person that will have to go the whole hog while im in there. I try, but cant force myself to do things by halves. Im thinking a modest overbore and maybe some mild porting while im in there, apart from the usual- all seals, gaskets bearings etc. is there anything else you guys would recommend doing? im definitely gonna have to part with my r1 now dammitt!!!!

 

[Kohldanielzimmer]

I would suggest sourcing used/new OEM electronics (if needed) on the X-h2o classified vs buying new aftermarket electronics from ebay.

 

[iangdesign]

You may not need to do a full rebuild. Did you yank the flywheel and see what the noise was? I would do this, if nothing is wrong...test the compression and go from there. If you yanked the Red Pipe...yank the manifold and take a look at the pistons and cylinder wall and check for wear.

 

[superjetincairns]

Yeah i pulled the flywheel and found 1 munched coil, the bottom one, but no evidence of what caused it, it's pretty well chewed with broken wires hanging out of it, must have been a previous incident & not repaired. The motor is very notchy to rotate by hand, it kind of feels like its stuck at first then breaks free and turns but not smoothly, I'll pull it out and have a look with it on the bench to eliminate the pump & shaft bearing but i dont like the noise its making, very gritty sound coming from front bearing area

 

[88kawi5fiddy]

either cylinders are rusty, or crank bearings went byebye

 

[superjetincairns]

My guess is crank bearings, it has that notchy bad bearing feel to it. may as well start fresh and do the lot then i shouldn't have to swim home with the sharks and crocodiles where i live