1997 501

I have seen other ones with a broken case in that area, but dont think it is a really common problem, i would guess its from bolts getting seized and being stubborn when removing, people prying on the engine case to remove from the frame or swingarm, or broken when splitting the cases for bottom end repairs.

if it is a kick only engine in a estart frame i beleive that the engine mounts are different, a kick only would have two plates at either side on the front of the engine and the swingarm pivot bolt, an e start engine has one 12" or so long smaller bolt that mounts toward the front of the engine like the swingarm bolt would at the back of the engine and does no have the plates, i would guess in your case the front engine plates would need to be custom made and could hold the engine in the frame under tension and could have caused the breakage but in my opinion more likely it was already broken prior to it being installed in the frame.

welcome to the site, be sure to change your oil and filter very frequently, you have a nice bike it you take care of it :cheers:

wait a sec, if you just have the bolt under 2 long mount bolts are you sure that it was a estart that was converted to kick only, maybe i am wrong about how they mounted with the estart/kickstarts being different......
you could check the vin number on the right hand side of the steering head and find out for sure then compare to the infor in the owners doc. to get to the owners doc there is a button on the top left side of the home page, although its kind of irrelevent info as to why the cases broke, you may find out its not a true kick start only engine but actually just had its e-start parts removed.

All,
I've a 2002 Fe400e which had the same cracked cases issue as described. I cannot speak for what the former owner had done (he just said it started to leak oil and he'd had enough... starting problems, naturally), but when it came to me with a leaking case nothing was siezed and there were no signs of butchery in the area. Once clean, the crack welded up a treat.

Someone must've had a serious 'off' at some point in the past on mine as the subframe has been straightened and welded. I don't know if this had anything to do with the cracked cases. The cases remain perfectly oil-tight five years after the repair, so I wouldn't be chasing a set of cases for no reason.

Cheers... Paul

Yes.
That`s a common problem with the cracks, have 3 engines 400-501 99-00 that all are welded there.
Regards
Jampe

Also,
I have 2 engine with the same problem, both welded, one is olding, the other is opening again ???

[attachment=0:1rr9uci8]400_02_case_weld.jpg[/attachment:1rr9uci8]
[attachment=1:1rr9uci8]470_01_case_weld.jpg[/attachment:1rr9uci8]

:cheers:
ZAGA