Don wrote: Mon Feb 07, 2011 3:48 pm
Since it was bored and honed, I suspect some 'ferrous material' collected on a magnetic drain plug would have to be considered normal - The rings are seating and some cylinder wall material will be worn away in the process . . . . it usually goes in the filter when there's no magnetic plug, so few people ever see any evidence of it
One thing Dave McMunn taught me is that no matter how meticulously clean you are during reassembly, you're going to find all sorts of particulate matter collected in the sump screen after then first couple oil changes - Dave is about as 'clean' a mechanic as I've ever observed and he got quite a bit of 'crud' out of the screen on my bike the first oil change after he rebuilt it and I got a little more after the second oil change. What did your sump screen look like at the first change?
Don
Also, the CBX Alternator metal clutch plates, brushes, and slip rings produce some 'ferrous material' that can get circulated in the oil.
per Mike Nixon
-Scott
Mike Nixon:
"The stock alternator's shortcomings are actually few and minor. First, its too-short brush life. This is obviously due to the brushes being positioned at the outer edge of a large diameter rotor, resulting in a fairly high surface speed, certainly higher than the brushes found in the Kawasaki alternator that are rubbing against a similar but much smaller diameter copper ring. Let me add here that I do not like Rick's aftermarket brushes for the CBX. They appear to be modified electric tool brushes. Whatever they are they are considerably harder in material, which results in unnecessarily rapid wear of the factory rotor's slip rings. Avoid them. The factory brushes are still obtainable, though like all OEM parts they are expensive.
The stock alternator also eventually fails its bearings, both the inboard and the outboard ones. As with the brushes, I don't consider this a defect either. It is to be expected, but some folks experience it prematurely in my view. My CBX never needed them in more than 50,000 miles. In any case, bearings are easily replaced.
Another eventuality is the leaking of the stock alternator square ring that seals it to the engine. Such is the case with almost every CBX that comes into my shop, though I believe it is due to rough handling more than anything. It's a very delicate seal. Again, this is a maintenance item, and note that the same square ring is required when fitting the Kawasaki conversion.
Naturally, we can't ignore the drive discs, or alternator clutch as Honda calls it, the most famous of the CBX alternator's glitches. I may be the one who first pointed out the manufacturing defect in the engine-side disc that promotes slipping and rapid wear (I once worked for Honda corporate). In any event, reconditioning of the discs is necessary on every CBX, sometimes even replacing them, though they are long discontinued from Honda and even good used ones demand a princely sum. The bigger problem is so many folks labor under the misconception that the discs are supposed to slip. They are not. The design function is a once-in-a-blue-moon give, and just a quarter-turn at that, under extreme conditions, not repeated rotational slipping. I say shim the assembly until the discs give only in that manner. The spring preload is correct when the alternator attaching bolts will barely start on one thread with a good push on the unit. Better yet, shim even more, until the discs won't give at all, and it won't matter what condition they are in. This is functionally no different from the Kawasaki alternator which eliminates the clutch."
https://www.motorcycleproject.com/text/ ... rsion.html
Also, as far as I understand, the engine is not "new" but rebuilt. Unless you took the cases completely apart and had those and all internals commercially washed, you will alwyas find some residue in the sump. And the combustion process produces carbon that mixes with some of the oil until the rings have completely seated (and still afterwards, to an extend) which will cause your sump look like this. Imagine you had a brand new engine from the factory and did your first oil change at 500-800 miles. You would most likely see the same thing.
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