P
portgrinder
Well-known member
Been on a kx5oo 4 seasons now. here are a few things learned both the easy and hard way, for anyone else considering a build:
-The easy stuff, you need to heat carb with coolant, carb jacket, primer if you dont have a lectron. decompressor is nice.
-they like being cold. 80F is no big deal.
-A piston will last around 60hrs or a season for me. starting to look rough at that point.
-crank seals and brg look like they need to be changed after 4 seasons. runout was getting a little out there, color of the bearings was turning, stator side crank seal leaked a bit.
-The stator side engine cover leaks around where the wiring comes in. goop this up real good and check often. i put a drain plug in the bottom of my stator cover for checking. If the stator gets wet, it will run fine until the next time you get the engine temp up high around 150F, then it will lose spark and you need a new stator.
-The design of the head is terrible. there is lots of additional power by cranking the timing way beyond what is advised. at your own risk obviously.
-the teeth that engage the kickstarter are cast, not machined. sometimes the kicker wont engage too well when cold. you can take the shaft out and clean up the teeth by hand
-design of the exhaust in the cylinder is terrible. watch for cracks in the thin spots. The nicasil will start wearing first above the main exhaust port.
-dont get sucked in to a high $$ cylinder job if you are keeping the stock pipe, timing and carb. it wont change anything.
-with cylinder work, pipe, timing, the lectron 44 made 3-4 horse thru the whole rev range.
-the whole powervalve setup is quite shoddy. you can shim them up to work better.
-they are very good on fuel as they can be lugged most of the day. They make more torque at 4000rpm than most bikes do wide open.
-tried all the reeds. they all make about the same power. VF2, VF3, spacers yadda yadda. splitting hairs.
-The easy stuff, you need to heat carb with coolant, carb jacket, primer if you dont have a lectron. decompressor is nice.
-they like being cold. 80F is no big deal.
-A piston will last around 60hrs or a season for me. starting to look rough at that point.
-crank seals and brg look like they need to be changed after 4 seasons. runout was getting a little out there, color of the bearings was turning, stator side crank seal leaked a bit.
-The stator side engine cover leaks around where the wiring comes in. goop this up real good and check often. i put a drain plug in the bottom of my stator cover for checking. If the stator gets wet, it will run fine until the next time you get the engine temp up high around 150F, then it will lose spark and you need a new stator.
-The design of the head is terrible. there is lots of additional power by cranking the timing way beyond what is advised. at your own risk obviously.
-the teeth that engage the kickstarter are cast, not machined. sometimes the kicker wont engage too well when cold. you can take the shaft out and clean up the teeth by hand
-design of the exhaust in the cylinder is terrible. watch for cracks in the thin spots. The nicasil will start wearing first above the main exhaust port.
-dont get sucked in to a high $$ cylinder job if you are keeping the stock pipe, timing and carb. it wont change anything.
-with cylinder work, pipe, timing, the lectron 44 made 3-4 horse thru the whole rev range.
-the whole powervalve setup is quite shoddy. you can shim them up to work better.
-they are very good on fuel as they can be lugged most of the day. They make more torque at 4000rpm than most bikes do wide open.
-tried all the reeds. they all make about the same power. VF2, VF3, spacers yadda yadda. splitting hairs.
