Lesson learned the hard way.
Well, I guess I was one of the ones not informed of the dangers of running an engine at WOT while holding it off the ground. I was driving a friend's car around the street and it seemed like something was binding up in the drivetrain, so I pick it up and give it a few blips to check. Then for some reason, I decide to hold down the throttle for a few seconds. All of a sudden, CLINK and all I hear is the wheels spinning. So, I start wondering what happened...I'm fairly positive I wasn't running it too lean. I try pulling the pullstarter, nothing...won't budge. I try turning the flywheel, still nothing. No movement whatsoever. I'm driving this to my girlfriend's house you see, and I didn't want to carry it the remaining mile. I prayed it was a flooded engine, although after trying the flywheel, I was in some serious doubt. Unfortunately I had decided I wouldn't need the glow plug wrench and left it at home to lighten my load.
So here I am stuck with a car that doesn't run, a mile from my house and an equal distance from my girlfriend's...
I get to her house and her dad finds me a wrench and pulls out the glow plug. Full of hope, I tug on the pullstarter. Nothing. It may as well have been full of epoxy. So then I start thinking that the one-way bearing has probably blown (though after taking apart the engine I realized that would've been impossible as the shaft it rests on doesn't even move). "Well that's easy to replace," I thought to myself. After getting home, I decide to pull the engine apart. I was a little wary as this was the first time I'd ever done this, but it (and the following rebuild) was a success. I get the pullstarter off, and the one way bearing.....works perfectly. Well damn. Now I knew it was serious. So, with my promises of replacing anything I broke still bouncing around in my head...I take off the backplate...
Holy #$@!, is all I could think to say.
Turns out that the engine either turned so many RPMs or got so hot that the conrod MELTED and was torn in half. The crankcase was FULL of metal shavings, as the pictures will attest to. I call my LHS and ask if they have the parts in stock...and they don't, so I have to wait a week (turns into 2) for the parts to be shipped. To add to that, although the sleeve looked in perfect condition, the only way to obtain a new piston was to purchase a set including it and the sleeve. Total cost? 70 dollars. All because I held it off the ground for 3 seconds. After getting the parts and reassembling everything I took it out and prayed...and amazingly, it started on the second pull. This is right after putting in a new sleeve and piston. Broke it in and it runs perfectly. After giving it back to my friend I talk to him an hour later, and he broke the front right swingarm (which I spent an hour sanding and cutting to make it fit onto the MT2, since I had to order an MT swingarm) doing jumps on the PAVEMENT.
ARGH. But now it's in his hands, so oh well.
So in case you ever feel yourself getting the urge to throttle your car off of the ground...pull 70 dollars out of your wallet and ask if it's really worth it!