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150 Posts
There is considerable misinformation provided by a certain member in this thread. For those that don't know, the original guy that came up with the ThermoBob is WattMan. He is a real life aerospace engineer. HE is also a gear head, built his own twin turbo fuel injected 1966 Mustang fastback that made the cover of a major car magazine, long before all the big guys were doing this.
He did a very large number of runs collecting data during testing on his KLR650. At this time he has over 180K miles on the original bore, rings, and piston. At 142K miles a 3rd gear dog broke in his engine. He took it all apart, and replaced the gear. He put it back together, using the original rings and piston, to see how long he could go. He's monitored his oil use, balancer and camshaft chain wear, doo movement, etc, since he got the bike. I measured the bore with a dial bore gauge when it was apart. The total deviation was .0011 top to bottom, and left/right. At 142K miles. As a side note, I've measured a OOT of cylinders, and never seen one without a ThermoBob gauge close to that unless it was under 10K miles. Most would gauge .0035 to .0075.
The ThermoBob isn't a band-aid. Cars adopted this idea sometime during the 1950's. This is one of the reasons engines last longer than they used to back then. (other reasons too of course).
We've had a ThermoBob 2 with a port for a temperature sensor for about 5 years. It's usually not needed on the current KLR's because they have one. People that have used a TrailTech dash asked for one with a port, and we did it long ago.
Another extremely important point - if someone tells you the bypass hose needs to be smaller, you should know they don't understand the system, and/or they haven't done testing. A smaller bypass hose will result in increased thermal cycling.
I'm very frustrated when people say stuff as valid facts, when it just isn't so.
I always try to be very careful to be sure I'm accurate when I provide information. I wish everyone else would do the same.
Disclosure - I make the aluminum parts in the ThermoBob kits.
WattMan's data speaks for itself. His support and dedication to the KLR community also speaks volumes.
He did a very large number of runs collecting data during testing on his KLR650. At this time he has over 180K miles on the original bore, rings, and piston. At 142K miles a 3rd gear dog broke in his engine. He took it all apart, and replaced the gear. He put it back together, using the original rings and piston, to see how long he could go. He's monitored his oil use, balancer and camshaft chain wear, doo movement, etc, since he got the bike. I measured the bore with a dial bore gauge when it was apart. The total deviation was .0011 top to bottom, and left/right. At 142K miles. As a side note, I've measured a OOT of cylinders, and never seen one without a ThermoBob gauge close to that unless it was under 10K miles. Most would gauge .0035 to .0075.
The ThermoBob isn't a band-aid. Cars adopted this idea sometime during the 1950's. This is one of the reasons engines last longer than they used to back then. (other reasons too of course).
We've had a ThermoBob 2 with a port for a temperature sensor for about 5 years. It's usually not needed on the current KLR's because they have one. People that have used a TrailTech dash asked for one with a port, and we did it long ago.
Another extremely important point - if someone tells you the bypass hose needs to be smaller, you should know they don't understand the system, and/or they haven't done testing. A smaller bypass hose will result in increased thermal cycling.
I'm very frustrated when people say stuff as valid facts, when it just isn't so.
I always try to be very careful to be sure I'm accurate when I provide information. I wish everyone else would do the same.
Disclosure - I make the aluminum parts in the ThermoBob kits.
WattMan's data speaks for itself. His support and dedication to the KLR community also speaks volumes.
. Every mechanic in the world has sworn at the "engineers" which come up with solutions that work on paper or even in controlled circumstances but when it is transferred to the REAL WORLD it doesn't work.
