adjuster

Dude! That nanny system just could have saved your butt. Low tire, cold weather... High side or low side was in your Karma. I love that this bike keeps my agressive nature in check, it has saved my butt countless times, and I now depend on it to do that... Bad karma on my part I know.. but it's like anything in life, you push boundries right? LOL Years ago, on previous bikes, I'd have just slid out into a low side... Over corrected and then high sided or worse, ended up under a vehicle wondering how that just happened? And why am I still alive? LOL (And knowing that when the scare wears off.. it's really going to hurt.)

That's the guy, Kevtex. He's in AU, and does nice work. It works great. And he has much more details than I wrote up, but pretty much the same thing. I was off slightly in my AF numbers, but not by much, and the idea is richer about 13 and change v/s 14.7 at Lambda for emissions makes more power, runs smoother, and you can feel the smoother engine and bike. A side benefit to the power is better fuel economy too. Too bad I can't do this to my car, or have not found someone who's got a simple fix like this for my car.. Wonder if Kevtex could build one? That's not a bad idea. Slightly richer operation on your car, smoother running engine/car, and slightly more power and better fuel economy. On my 2006 FZ1, I had Ivan's pressure sensor dongle.. that pretty much did the same thing, richened up the closed loop fuel ratio, and smoothed out the fuel cut effect on that bike. And I cut the secondary throttles in half for more flow at all times, opened up the air box, and put on an Akrapovic slip on.. It was way more powerful than stock setup like that, and while everyone said I should have the ECU fuel map changed, it was running rich enough at that mod level, that raw gas was spit out, would fly around, and all my riding clothes smelled of fuel.

You are right. More threads is loose, fewer threads is tighter. Thanks for the edit.

From what I understand, and I'm not an expert on this by any means... The emissions controls on this bike, and all CP3 engines, are trying to get 14.7:1 air fuel ratio while at part throttle. This uses the 02 sensor in the exhaust to "monitor" how lean or rich the bike is fueled by the ECU. This version of the 02 sensor is like a switch, or "narrowband" style, and only tells the ECU when it's rich or lean. Not the ratio. Thus, the ECU "flips" from rich to lean constantly, and this signal is then returned back to the ECU by the 02 sensor. Rich/lean/rich/lean/rich/lean all the time you putt putt around at small throttle amounts. At WOT, or higher throttle settings, it defaults to a performance fuel map, and timing, that provides for richer than 14.7:1 ratios, and that make more power, and make the engine run smoother. Low RPM, or off throttle fuel cut is another issue. It is to improve emissions, so the fuel is cut and the engine nearly dies when you are off throttle, and slowing down, which you do around slow speed parking lots for example.. Making the bike feel very unstable and eratic. A flash that turns off the 02 sensor can fix this. But you have to create a fuel map that will run the bike, since the stock one has a map, but it has the 02 sensor, and others, trim the fuel to the conditions of the day. Air intake temp. Pressure sensors and throttle position are all parameters the ECU looks at before it decides how long to pulse the injector open every time it fires. And when to fire the spark plug. SO the timing is constantly up for change too. This is a good thing for the most part. Our bikes are smooth, and can run from sea level to high altitude without any changes on the riders part. It deals with hot days or cold ones. Changes in barometric pressure as well. Even grades of fuel are accommodated without any issue from the rider. The only way to have or keep the 02 sensor in play, and have all that ability helping the bike run it's best is to fool the ECU into thinking it sees 14.7:1 when the bike is slightly richer. Say 13.2:1 for example. (Best for power and mileage.) How can it be better for mileage? Well, at "stoichiometric or 14.7:1 it's low on power, so you need more throttle to maintain the same power, and more fuel in reality, since you are asking for more throttle. While at slightly richer, and more powerful ratio's, you need less throttle. But still go as fast as you would with more. And the fuel economy also is better when you want/need more power, such as off the line, or passing a vehicle, or just enjoying the bike's throttle/power. You always use less throttle for the same power, so you in reality use less fuel even at the slightly higher/richer fuel ratio. I have a "KEVTEX" unit that plugs into the stock 02 wires, and "fools" the stock, and flashed ECU's into thinking that 13.2:1 is really 14.7:1. This makes the bike smooth at all speeds, from idle to redline. But also makes any part throttle use such as just tooling along in traffic, 25mph in 4th gear very very smooth. No surges. Nothing like that, and power is much better when you roll on to go, it goes. No hesitation like it does stock.

The best synthetic oil is the cheapest synthetic oil... LOL Rotella T Synthetic is pretty highly regarded by most motorcycle owners, and I've used in many of my cars. I'm running Mobil 1 at the moment, just because it was on sale at Costco for 27.00 for 6 quarts. But I have run WalMart branded synthetic oils in motorcycles and cars with zero issues, and what I consider good results for shifting feel on the bikes. Just avoid any "high mileage" blends, as it has too much zinc, and that can cause your clutch to have issues with chatter, release and make the bike interesting to ride. As an aside, the only time I've had that issue was after using some high mileage rated oil in my bike, and I pulled the clutch cover, hosed it down with WD 40, and then brake cleaner, and then changed the oil to Rotella T synthetic, and it was good to go again, shifting like butter...

Yes, let me add that addendum to this document: I'm not an expert, do not warranty any work or examples given forthwith and herefore. Accordingly, you should exercise good judgement and ignore everything I've written, or will ever write, said or will ever say. And place no value or substance upon these same such as to cause harm, even bodily harm or injury both physical, emotional or monetary. In short, ignore my every post, feeble attempts at humor, and especially anything that might be taken as racist, bigoted or otherwise misconstrued as adding, subtracting, revealing or hiding value to any subject at hand, foot or other appendage of person. In conclusion, I did not create that most foul body wind. I blame it on cabbage.

If you pull the "CP3" case, you can see the tensioner and cam chain. You can also see the oil pump drive chain too. Be careful, and the cover should come off without breaking the gasket. If you use a long razor blade, you can make sure it does not break, by gently slide it beween the case and the gasket to release it if it's stuck at all. If you break the gasket, you can use RTV, or the new gasket is very cheap from Yamaha. Remove the cover. Then either clamp or secure the chain/tensioner with a zip tie. (Do not want the chain to move at all.) LEAVE THE PIN IN THE TENSIONER. It might come out with the case cover, but put it back in to hold the tensioner in place on the lower end. The CP3 cover has the other side to hold it in place. Remove the stock CCT. It is a PITA, but you can do it with a common bent correct size allen wrench. You might need to remove the center bolt, and use a smaller allen wrench to back the CCT out so it's flexiable enough to remove, or not. INSTALL NEW GASKET for the APE. You might have to adjust the APE unit all the way "in" to get it to fit, then back it "out" longer so it's closer to the tensioner contact point. Secure with the two stock allen head bolts, they are much nicer than the black oxide ones APE includes I think. When the housing is tight, now carefully tighten the adjustment bolt/rod that extends the APE contact shoe to the tensioner. When it contacts, you will feel the chain and tensioner go tight, and the chain will not move side to side. Cut off the zip tie, or remove your clamp. Now feel the chain and tensioner. The chain is too tight when it can't slip side to side on the nylon. You don't want to try and move the chain up or down at all. Just check to see if you have any side to side "slip" movement. This is about perfect. Much tighter, and you will get wear. Looser, and you will get noise. Now, back off the rod 1/8th of a turn. This allows it to slide free, but should not slap or make noise. While holding the rod secure with the allen wrench, lock the nut tight so it will not move period. It does not need King Kong's own tourqe, but it should not be finger tight either. You don't want it to back off, and make noise. And since there is no spring in there anymore, it's not going to get tighter if it's loose. Now you can turn the bike over, and watch the chain move if you want, or if you have it on a center stand, you can put it in first, and have someone rotate the engine over. (Not easy, this bike has good compression.) You will see the chain slide, it should not change in tension at all. Check it side to side play while stopped, to see it stays constant. Put the CP3 cover back on with the gasket, and check for leaks with a quick ride around the block. Note any noise? If it's loose, it will make noise. Tighten up 1/8th of a turn, and lock it back down, and ride again. If you get noise, try another 1/8th turn, until it's quiet. But I would not go past 1/2 turn without pulling the CP3 cover again. You could get too tight if you do, and it should have about 8 threads or so sticking out as noted by others. If you have 6 or less, I'd pull the cover to make sure it's not too tight. If you have 10 threads showing, you might be loose, if it's noisy, and you don't want to jump a tooth on the sprockets, pull the cover and adjust as needed. BTW, I'm not responsible for anything you do with this information. Your bike is your own. Legally you should not listen to me at all.

As Depech Mode says, "Enjoy the silence"... LOL And peace of mind too. (Says Adjuster.... LOL) Nice that you used the stock bolts v/s the ones APE shipped with the CCT. It looks nice, and they are less likely to rust I think v/s the black oxide ones that APE included. Of course, the threaded rod is black oxide coated, but I think it's done better than the cap bolts they included. (And those are happy to be in my parts/nut/bolt/stuff drawer of the tool box..)

Here is a reality check: What do you guys think the cost of Yamaha, with all it's in-house talent, to draw up a simple CAD blueprint, and have a supplier produce a manual CCT for this bike? And then offer the owners the CHOICE of a manual Yamaha one that the OWNER will be responsible to adjust and check if it starts to make noise, or is loose. Or get the latest revised version of the "automatic" one they have at least 4 versions of now that I know of? Someone already makes the alloy part for the stock CCT. It could be modified easy to a manual unit, and the cost? Pennies compared to what we pay for the APE or Graves units made from billet alloy v/s the cast housing Yamaha uses. I'd suspect Yamaha will use this CP3 engine on many bikes into the future. It would be AMAZING as a 600cc engine, de-stroked to nearly square bore, and stronger valve springs, lighter valves, and a RPM limit of say 15,000 RPM. Screaming power on top, while it would have class beating low end tourqe v/s the other 600's out there. And for more power? Bore it out, go to max stroke, move the piston pin up into the oil rings with longer rods and a total displacement of say 1000 or even 1100cc... Would be monster in a "touring" bike, Razors and Snowmobiles. Low end grunt is everything on most of those, and this engine is light, narrow and very powerful for it's size/weight. The bigger displacement would have a RPM limit of 9k or so, but who needs more with the low end power gains where most folks need the power in these types of vehicles/motorcycles? So, Yamaha, please wise up. Do the right thing. And for tech's who say they would remove a manual CCT? What an idiot. Sorry, but I'd never let that tech anywhere near my bike, even to do simple oil changes. Total idiot should be working on anything but high RPM and high power to weight ratio machines. Every, and I do mean EVERY race bike in this world that uses a timing chain runs a manual CCT. Period. Why? Because they work regardless of the RPM. They don't cause excessive wear. They don't put too much oil pressure on the tensioner. They don't break fragile bent spring steel clips. They don't have coil springs that can fail under harmonic loads. They don't bleed off oil pressure. They are lighter weight. They don't have parts that wear out. Once you set the tension, it remains at that setting until you loosen the lock nut, and change the setting. In reality, if you SET them TOO TIGHT, they wear the nylon/plastic slider till they are the correct tension, and then the wear stops. (I don't recommend this, but that's the reality. Just like a high spot in a bearing wears upon start up of the engine after assembly, and that wear then stops when the bearing has reached correct clearance to the journal.) Those wear particles are designed to be caught up in the first oil change, and filter. The soft metals used in the bearing journals, and the nylon 66 used for the timing chain sliders are all designed to wear into use, and then due to the oil in the engine, have very little wear from that point on. And folks, if 10, 20 or 30 thousand miles later, IF you do get any noise, you can just unlock the manual CCT, and adjust it slightly tighter, and lock the nut down again for the next XX,XXX miles. Why Yamaha has chosen to fall on it's sword over this CCT is beyond me. It's insane. But they are doing it. Must be a family member or some sort of "Saving Face" deal with the supplier/engineer who designed/built this cluster F'k of a CCT.

So the dealer is going to put your APE into the CP3 engine v/s the "stock" new part? That would be a good way to resolve this if Yamaha approved it. (I doubt they would, but it's cool that your dealer is going to get paid by Yamaha to do the work, and for the part they will just sell or use later for "Free" on some other CP3 engine.

I think in this case, the owner of the images passed away folks.

I think it's more about common sense than anything else. Sure, in theory, large metal bits will just sink to the lowest point in the pan, and not likely get sucked up by the oil pump pickup. But if you can catch and remove that metal, why NOT do it? And if putting a set of cheap magnets on the oil filter causes all the metal passing through with the oil to attach to the inside wall of the spin on filter that you then remove and throw away, thus removing the metal from the engine, why NOT do that as well? And everyone knows chemtrails are just water vapor, the #1 greenhouse gas. One more thing. Most motorcycles have the oil shared with the transmission and the engine. The dog engagement type gears most motorcycles use do have small metal particles worn off and that ends up in the oil. The gears themselves can wear, and that metal ends up in the oil. The aluminum and other softer metals are not as wear inducing as the hardened gears, but it's not magnetic either, so the filter media is going to have catch it. All the hard bits that could cause wear will eventually get caught up in a powerful magnet if you have them there to catch it. Common thought is that wear particles are 10 microns or larger. Can you even see 10 microns? Most spin on filters only catch stuff down to about 20 microns. The smaller particles just get pumped around the engine and gears, and causing wear. So, the best option would be a magnetic drain plug, magnet in the oil filter and depth filter media that catches particles do to 10 microns or better. And we have not even touched on the bypass valve in most spin on filters that when cold, can and does allow oil to bypass the filter till the oil warms up, flushing any debris in the filter right back into the oil. (Of course a magnet would still have the wear causing metals attracted to it, so even with the bypass open the oil will not flush out debris as dangerous as a system without the magnet present.)

PS: One more thing. The stock CCT has a roll pin to secure the tensioner contact pad to the shaft. All the load through a cheap .02cent roll pin. A pin that has to survive thousands of miles of vibrations and loads. The manual CCTs all have sold shafts that bell out into the pad. Sold metal. No roll pins to fail. Big sturdy lock nuts and solid shafts in a alloy housing that's designed to block off the oil port. (Since you don't need oil to a non-moving part.) Just saying, hello Yamaha, is it really that hard to do this right, or would you rather keep on painting the fancy turd, put a shiny bow on it, and tell us it no longer stinks? How about you pay back those of us who had to buy Manual CCT's or lost a few grand due to engine failures and the desire to actually ride our motorcycles in the same year we bought them in? That's what I would do if I was running Yamaha. Show some good faith. You build great bikes, and I love my FJ09, and loved the FZ09 too. And my FZ1 before that. But I don't like being told I was a liar, idiot and did not know what I was talking about, and then have the TSB come out and prove me correct. (And Yamaha resolutely trying to "save" this flawed, fragile design?) Hello, insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and thinking you will get it right this time.

Looks like Greek to me... LOL But it's the same TSB as what's posted up in the front of this thread. Note on the page where you see the "O-Ring" and "Non-O-Ring" style. The two CCT's in the examples are not set the same. When you turn the shaft in the CCT, it retracts or extends the base pad that contacts the tensioner frame. The cam chain slides on a nylon pad that is attached to the aluminum tensioner frame. So, the stock arrangement is constantly under spring pressure, pushing the tensioner tight to the chain. The "base" setting is to keep that tensioner in theory from just bouncing in and out against the spring. (the big spring, not the tiny one or the flat bent metal spring that holds the toothed nut parts in place until it breaks.) So, you have excess pressure on the tensioner all the time with the stock setup. With a manual CCT, you set the tension to where it's snug, and then back it off a quarter turn. The chain is now free to slide, but since their is NOT a spring, the tensioner never can move back up away from the chain at all. It also is not under undue pressure of a spring all the time causing wear. The changes in tension and load on the chain are still there, and the tensioners on both the intake and exhaust side of the chain do their job, and keep the chain from flapping around, while allowing enough clearance to not cause excessive loading on the cams or drive sprocket. Indeed, if you do adjust a manual CCT too tight, the nylon sliders will swiftly wear to the point that they are no longer too tight, and the chain will be perfect. And the wear on the sliders/tensioners will nearly cease. Again, with the stock design, you can't ever wear the sliders to the point where the spring tension is not always pushing it tight to the chain, causing undue wear on the tensioners. And if the fragile parts that are now supposed to get more oil fail? (And trust me, they are fragile, many broke due to folks trying to limit the pogo-effect of the flawed design backing out too much by putting a bolt down into the CCT, and locking the ratchet parts down, so they could not "back off and make noise." This resulted in a TSB from Yamaha to watch for a bolt and lock nut, and if they found that, to deny warranty coverage for the failure. Others broke with nobody putting anything in there. They are just small parts, one of them is a cheap flat metal spring clip to hold the ratchet teeth to the "cone" end of the shaft. This is simple metal reality. You bend spring steel 90 degrees and you work harden it at that bend. Now put it under stress and vibration loads, and it fails in short order. What Yamaha has to do is not flow more oil to this device, but to re-design it so no fragile parts are involved, and reduce the spring pressure on the tensioner as not to cause excessive wear over time there as well. But I digress, a manual CCT solves all these problems, and only presents one problem. It has to be adjusted if the cam chain starts to slap the tensioner, and make noises. It should not do this for many 10's of thousands of miles or more, but when you do need to adjust it, you just loosen the lock nut, and tighten the shaft a 1/4 turn or so. Should fix the noise and you lock the shaft with the nut again and ride another 10k or more. But that's way to complicated for Yamaha right?

Here you go. Chrome plated even. http://www.qcsupply.com/140820-heavy-duty-cow-magnet.html?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=QC%20Supply%20Products(BSC)&utm_term=1100310941975&utm_content=Products%20Ad%20Group I should re-brand these as "Don't have a cow man!" automotive filter magnets to save your engine.

LOL, works great on your spin on automotive filters in your cars/trucks/farm equipment as well. I use the rare earth magnets, and some of the best can be found at the farm supply stores. (You feed them to cattle, and it catches the barbed wire and other metal cows eat, and they then crap it out.) But the magnets are very powerful, as you might expect, and smooth, so they don't scratch your bike. They are long too, so they sit along the side of the filter body very nice too. I've never had one fall off either.

As noted, the ONLY sure fix is a manual APE or Graves unit. The stock design is flawed, and will eventually fail. It's just a matter of time and wear depending on the bike/CCT production. As noted in the TSB, Yamaha changed the machine work internally during production to supply more oil to the stock CCT to try and negate the wear issue. But you have a metal part made of a stamped spring steel basket, holding a small ratchet mechanism into a bore with grooves machined into the ID of it. The "teeth" of the small parts are supposed to lock into the grooves machined into the bore, and it's all under spring tension from a coil spring, and the small stamped spring steel basket. These parts are supposed to limit and lock the tensioner into the correct point depending on wear over time and use of the system. As wear happens, the ratchet clicks down to the next setting, keeping tension at the right point. But the flawed design allows the ratchet to bounce in and out of being locked or not locked, and as you might imagine, these SHARP by design interlocking points swiftly become worn smooth and no longer work at all. It then becomes a spring without any sort of dampener. Imagine riding your bike with just springs, and no pistons to control the oil in the shock or forks. It would pogo up and down and be impossible to ride the bike. Now consider that there is only a small trickle or oil to this area, that's now increased by the TSB or newer production CP3 engines, but still you have small metal sharp edges holding only by the reality they remain sharp. When they wear, they will slip, and then they will move up and down depending on load to the timing chain. (And it loads and unloads every time you change RPM up or down... so you get the point, this part is CONSTANTLY UNDER CHANGING WEAR/LOAD.) To illustrate this another way, imagine a bolt with a nut on it. Now imagine that nut cut into 3 parts, held in place by a cheap stamped spring steel clip. Under pressure, the parts of the "nut" can be forced apart, and slide up or down a few threads on the bolt and then lock back into position. This in reverse is how the stock CCT is designed. And now put this under loads that exceed what the small, cheap stamped metal spring can hold.. allowing the nut to be bounced up and down on the bolt threads with every loading and unloaded force.. You ride your bike, you load the timing chain one way when you roll onto the throttle to accelerate, and it loads the chain the other way when you back off the throttle to slow down or stop. Over and over. And over and over and over and over. Every time you change RPM up or down, you bounce the spring loaded nut up and down the bolt... And what's going to happen to those nice sharp threads on the bolt and nut? You will get wear. And the "threads" on the stock Yamaha CCT are very small. Nothing like a real nut or bolt. If you tried to thread a nut and bolt with the small, shallow "threads" on our CCT's the bolt would strip out if you tried to hold anything in place/together with it. And since they are not very deep, the wear would be nearly instant.... Oh my. What a image there Yamaha. Perhaps you should really do something more than just add more oil to this flawed design? So, any version of this design is going to fail. It is only a matter of time. Period. It might not be for 50,000 miles, but it's clearly also happening much faster than that, and some just make noise from the very start. Yamaha has been revising this part since 2014. And folks, it takes awhile to get a revised part into the parts supply chain, it's not something you do overnight. So, that means Yamaha has known about this problem since introduction of this bike to the market. And it's been working on a fix since that point. Now, the CP3 engine is an absolute gem. It's combination of low and top end power and size/weight are perfect for a street bike. It's going to have a long life, and I'm sure in various forms, going to thrill owners over many years with it's performance. But Yamaha has yet to remedy this CCT problem, and the fix is so very simple. It's often the basic and easy choices that big companies can't make. And this is a good case study. It would be the perfect thesis for a MBA/PHD in business management and how companies are limited by the choices of those in charge, and how often the idea or desire of a leader tends to ignore the simple easy fix, in an effort to please the boss's desire for a ego driven result. A manual cam chain tensioner is the simple, easy and proven way to solve this problem. It's the cheapest to make. Easy to install. Easy to adjust, and as every race team on the planet will tell you, the dead nuts reliable way to assure a chain will not be too loose or too tight. Period. Want to avoid this problem? Buy a manual CCT. Set it and forget it for the future of most owners of this motorcycle. If you are one of the VERY FEW who ride their bikes more than 40,000 miles, you might have to adjust the tension, but it's more likely you will need a valve shim adjustment by that point, and doing it all at the same time will be easy. (Should be included in the valve adjustment if you think about it.) With the use of synthetic oils, and good filters, the reality is the engine, including the valve shims, cam chain sliders/tensioners and other moving/wear parts will go the life of the motorcycle without needing any adjustment or replacement. Spend your money on chains, sprockets and fun Farkles for your bike. Come on Yamaha, get it right, and just put a manual CCT in there, and then man up and pay those of us who have had serious issues with this bogus design what it cost us to fix your failure. Thanks in advance, I doubt I'll ever see any compensation from Yamaha, but I still love the bike.

Dang, I just bought the Mazda plug and a washer.... LOL Uro parts has a nice magnetic version with many washers for 11.00 and about 8.00 shipping. Not too bad for what you get, and the magnet would catch some metal particles that the filter might not get. I have run filters with a few strong magnets slapped to the side of the filter can/body. works just as well, and you pull all the metal out and throw it away with every filter change, and just slap the magnets back on the next filter. Easy peasy and cheap.

Yeah, who knows? Perhaps the TSB photos of the cut open and worn out CCT are from my bike? (Since they clearly paid to repair my bike, and due to the large amounts of noise I made, would want to see why this POS CCT design failed?) Yamaha clearly KNOWS there is a problem, and this oil supply change is just the cheapest Band-Aid they could come up with v/s admitting it is a FLAWED DESIGN, with very brittle parts that can fail, and in very short order, allow the ratchet mechanism to push your cam timing chain tensioner on the slack side to it's untimely death. But hey, that's never going to be known, because if they admitted who's CCT is in the photo, they would be admitting it's a flawed design... But really, we don't need to know who's CCT is in the photos on the TSB, the clear proof is Yamaha is telling the service departments/techs/advisors that the ratchet area groves machined into the CCT can become worn, and then it does not work correctly. And their fix is flowing more oil over the failure prone design, in hopes it will not wear out, break or fail while they have any reasonable warranty responsibility. Very uncool for all us owners. But hey, I've only lost more than 2000.00 changing bikes and suffered their insults that I don't know what I'm talking about... Whoops, they had to put out a TSB that proved me right... Whoops, I'm correct. ! I seriously love that they have had to do this. It's still not completely right, but it's a nice move in the right direction. Now how about paying everyone who's had to go buy manual CCT's and/or lost money on this bike due to the CCT failure? How about it Yamaha? Or I can keep on poking you in the eye I suppose...

Actually, you can adjust the "base" setting, but be VERY careful, the spring metal parts in there holding the whole ratchet mechanism together, are VERY brittle. And when you adjust it to the right setting, it can "un-adjust" just as swiftly by it's self. See, the TSB notes the WEAR to the ridges machined into the housing that the ratchet is supposed to hook into while it self adjusts. But without more oil to that, it wears out very fast, then the stock CCT just pogo's up and down wearing the machine marks faster and fast and faster... Think about breaking in a new pistol or rifle. All guns have machine tool marks. So do engines. These marks break in, and wear against each other, smoothing out and even polishing the contact/wear points. This is why you use non-synthetic oil for break in, you want the parts to "mate" or machine themselves to each other, then change the oil and remove as much of the metal particles as you can after the wear has happened. But on the STOCK CCT, it's worn out swiftly, and will never ratchet correctly again. (In my opinion, a totally flawed design.) And in the case of my 2014, FZ09, it destroyed a motor with less than 3000 miles on it. Just past 2000. And the second oil change I did on the bike to try and limit wear and tear on my bike. Changed the oil just before 600 miles, then again about 1800 miles. Then about 500 miles later, the CCT failed. I had an APE on order, it arrived in the mail the afternoon my bike's engine crapped out and nearly killed me. Nice eh? Yamaha should replace this entire CCT run with a MANUAL CCT of their own design/production for free, for every CP3 engine made/in service now. Set it and forget it. And for those of us who lost money/time/safety? I'd think paying at least a fair price for the APE unit and any lost value of trading out bikes would be nice. In my case, about 100 for the APE, and 2000.00 for the lost value on the FZ09 when I traded it for a 2015 FJ09. It would not cost Yamaha very much, not many engines failed like mine, but there were more than a few, perhaps 50 in the world? And all the owners who have had to buy the APE/Graves manual CCT's should at least get that money back now that Yamaha is "fixing" all the CCT's out there with a defacto recall. It's called good will Yamaha. Or I can keep on reminding folks what a joke your Warranty process is till the end of time I suppose?

The APE unit, and the Graves both "block" the oil feed hole with the body of the unit. There is not much oil in the early designs, thus the reason they modify it to get more oil flow, and the changes done without telling anyone about it during production do increase the amount of flow, but the manual CCT's both block that flow enough to make it a non issue. You will have oil seeping/leaking past the housing, but not enough flow loss to cause a problem with low oil pressure. If you change to a manual CCT, you would not want the valve cover bolt/spacer change, since you don't need any more oil to the APE/Graves CCT's.

Have had Scorpion, Bell and others in the past, but have 3 HJC's now, One that I use for drag racing in the Supra, when I used to do that, it's open face, and DOT/SNELL rated and my size, so very rare with the SNELL for that size.. Just picked up a IS-MAX II, and I think I like it. The price was excellent. I absolutely love the flip down sun screen/shades so you can run your clear with a pin-lock that will not fog up, but on sunny days, or riding into a sunrise, or sunset, flip down a nice shade. Perfect. And it fits with my glasses on, just touches my nose, but that's fixed easy with a few seconds of dremel work. I've always had to get 4x helmets, I have a large head. (Abnormally large they have claimed, but I figure hey, gotta fit my brains in there somehow right? LOL The HJC I've been riding with for a few years is the last of the non-flip down sun shade types, has a clear and shaded visor that I can swap out, have a pin-lock the clear, and I have prescription sun glasses, so normally ride with the clear shield year round and use my shaded glasses when I'm out in the nice weather. The fit is longer on the full face. The flip face IS-MAX II feels shorter, and my mouth is nearly pressed into the chin bar. I'm hoping it wears/breaks in looser so I'm not feeling so "fitted" into the helmet. It's not a deal breaker, but I'm going to modify it soon if it does not break in over time. I always modify or remove some cheek pads, and Have not done this yet on this new for me helmet. If it does not break in there too, I'll pull some foam, and trim it to fit my face/head better without losing any of the crash protection I'm wearing the thing for in the first place. Speaking of that, the SHARP ratings are good for the prior version of this helmet. 4 out of 5 stars. It's pretty quiet, but on the FJ09 quiet air is very subjective. Riding on the FZ was an absolute pleasure with no screen v/s the vortex/turbulence generator they call a windscreen on the FJ. With the GIVI touring, it's not bad. But for summer use, I'm going to cut down the stocker into a GIVI bracket fitting fly screen, and paint the backside to make it opaque. I can't say enough how much I love the flip down sun shade. It's in the top of the helmet, has a soft/quiet flip up feature, has two settings for use, and a third for removal/swaping out shades. In the past I've used Orange tinted screens year round, found them very cool at night to cut glare, and the "blue blocker" effect it has on sunny days is excellent for reducing glare, and stuff in the shade suddenly pops out and it's easy to see. (And it works in foggy weather too, but not as well as yellow of course.) So, mods are this: Slight cutting/grinding of the flip down shade so it does not hit my nose. Possible cheek pad mod/reduction. Modify the chin bar for a mic and install Bluetooth/Sena unit. Add some reflective high viz to the already high viz stripes. (Can't be too much of an eye catcher, especially at night, I like my life, and don't want to be run over.) Add a Orange visor with pin=lock. This is what it looks like. https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=hjc+is+max+2&view=detailv2&&id=0E641F75ED76A14EC49C1C23C055EC080474905C&selectedIndex=9&ccid=NIbMFM%2fJ&simid=608014134317354538&thid=OIP.M3486cc14cfc99e43eefe6d2608eef292o0&ajaxhist=0 Ride more.

Went back over the TSB. 1) The oil mod is NOT needed if you go with a manual CCT. 2) The "worn" pics provided by Yamaha are going to be interesting for them in court, assuming that some of the failed engines ended up there. (Mine was headed there, but they finally agreed to warranty the engine failure, so I immediately traded the 1214 FZ09 in for the 2015 FJ09 that I have today, but it cost me more than 2000.00 in lost value, not counting the higher price of the FJ over the FZ. I wonder if Yamaha will agree to pay me that lost money? I doubt it.) 3) They have two versions now of the CCT, appears that they changed the case machine work/design to get more oil supply to the CCT, so if you are lucky, and have the new machine work/design you only need a replacement CCT, but if you have the older original engine case, you will need a different CCT with a "seal" or ring seal on the body and a cam cover bolt and spacer to allow cam shaft oil galley supply to the CCT below it. (Or increase the amount of oil flowing to the CCT at least.) 4) It's still not a "hydraulic" unit, but now with the added oil, it does appear they have realized that wear is a problem on the ratchet, something the owners of this failed/flawed design would be quick to remind them fails on bikes with a few thousand miles on it, or worse, as folks have ridden them failed later out of warranty, and APE has made a ton of money selling the best fix possible. Come on Yamaha, man up and make it right with ALL the triple owners out here, man up and provide a manual CCT, and for the folks who had to buy their own, cover the cost of that at least. (And in the cases where engine failure cost us thousands? At least give us something to compensate for the loss?) Free set of hard bags in Red would be nice... Figure 2000.00 of my lost money is worth a few hundred in bags right? RIGHT. I expect nothing from Yamaha, and ONLY because this is an awesome bike did I buy another one. It sure is not because I'm happy with how Yamaha treated me, or the others who like me, had massive engine failure as a result of their failed/flawed CCT design.

Well, Holly Heck, I'm TOTALLY VINDICATED in my correct viewpoint that the DESIGN OF THIS TENSIONER IS FLAWED. Period. You guys have no idea the hoops Yamaha had me jump through on this deal. I started out with a 2014 FZ09, that died when the CCT failed in epic manner, ultimately resulting in the bike locking up the engine, and rear wheel at over 60mph, when I'd just passed a very large, lifted Ford F350 Powerstroke that was spooling his sewer pipe exhaust and right on my ass, mad because I'd just passed him and about 10 other vehicles on the way to work.... When CHAAASSSIIPPPIITTTTT! It made a huge noise, lost power, and locked up solid. The dealer had told me they would look at it, but it would take a few days. They told me it was normal noise, not to worry about it. I had become so disgusted with Yamaha, and my local service department, that I had just bought the APE unit to replace the very common for 2014 CCT failure prone design. But the engine failed before I could put the manual set and forget it design that never fails. (Sure, the cam tensioner slider can wear, and you have to re-adjust the tension, but unless you fail to lock the nut on the manual unit, or adjust it too tight? Even then, you would only have a slight amount of wear, and it would be "adjusted" correctly when the wear resulted in the correct amount of chain tension. (Worse case example, adjust it as APE recommends, and you will be fine, thousands of race engines run these manual CCT's and they don't fail. Period.) So, I see Yamaha has a new "oil" system to help lubricate the cam chain. During my many, and very long arguments with Yamaha "warranty" EXPERTS, they told me that the design was a oil pressure piston.. Laughable, it's not, never was on this engine design, and one of the reasons I think they finally agreed to warranty my bike's engine failure at less than 2000 miles. The "ratchet" mechanism in there is brittle, and failures due to it breaking are commonplace in the FZ09 community. Many folks originally tried to put a set screw in to limit the ability for the plunger to "back out loose" and this caused many CCT's to break, and those parts were thankfully trapped inside the CCT, but it was totally useless at that point. Others had complete engine failures like mine, not hundreds, but enough that on a new bike, with an absolute jewel of an engine design, we were very unimpressed with Yamaha that they would allow such a great engine to falter on such a POS CCT design. We are talking about a part that might cost 30.00 to source, if that for Yamaha. A manual CCT supplied to a large builder like Yamaha would be much less than 30.00 cost per unit, and it's about as easy to design as anything mechanical. It's a BOLT AND A LOCK NUT fixed into plate/bore fitting? Hello, high school CAD CAM here folks. Anyway, I'm happy to see that Yamaha has done the right thing finally. It's taken a few years, and I'm sure they have many other owners like me who just wanted a bike that's reliable, and fun to ride. They got most of it right. But on this little detail, EPIC FAILURE YAMAHA. Give us all mechanical CCT's and the oil mod please. No charge, and Yamaha should pay me back for having to buy my APE unit to solve their $HITTY CHEAP A$$ design.

Purolator or Wix filters whenever possible for me. But the best option, and I'm considering it, is a Canton Racing filter adapter, that puts a full flow, depth media filter canister system on the spin on mount. You really get the best filtration from this setup, down to about 8 microns, and it flows more dirty than paper ones do new. So better oil flow for your engine from start to finish. Most spin on filters don't trap stuff much below 20 microns, a few get down to 10 or slightly better depending on the media used. The gold standard is wear is caused by particles bigger than 10 microns, smaller than that, and the "particles" are just suspended in the oil, as tolerances in the engine are generally much wider than 10 microns or so. (Depending on the engine of course.)