2003-1990 KX-DX Hybrid Build

Post by **dfeckel** » 07:33 pm Mar 18 2010

BobbyZ,

I had the swingarm and cases done by Hercules Weld and Machine in Palmyra, NJ. Talk to Ted, he'll set you up.

618 W 5th St · Palmyra
(856) 829-1820

Post by **dfeckel** » 03:45 pm Mar 31 2010

BobbyZ, I had the initial machine workd done at Hercules, but I had the welding and headstay fabrication and pipe mods done by Bob Kasper. He has a well-outfitted fab and machine shop. If I do another of these, I'll let him handle all of the work.

5 miles west of great adventure

Bob Kasper
524 Rt 539
Cream Ridge,NJ 08514
609-851-2810

Post by **dfeckel** » 04:00 pm Mar 31 2010

A couple of picture-free updates.

The frame will hopefully be back from ye olde powdere coatere this week. Probably just in time for me to go out of town for Easter.

Boingers are with the legendary Drew Smith at Works Enduro Rider having free-flowing enduro valving done on them, in addition to new seals, fluids and linkage bearings. Probably have them early next week.

Back wheel is at Mt. Holly Kawasaki being trued and torqued. Hopefully early next week. I have a Tubliss ready to go on the new rim, and a Dunlop D8whatever trials tire on order. I got a free Dunlop MX51 intermediate from the ECEA for going to their annual awards banquet, but I had my heart set on trying a trials tire. Since this will be a rocks bike, anyone have an opinion on how the MX51 would work in those conditions?

Finally dug into the top end of the motor today. I had a bit of trouble getting the powervalves out, but figured it out in the end. However, there was some serious KIPS carnage in there. All carboned up, right and left valves broken, gear on the left one all stripped, the pushrod teeth are pretty worn, and the gear on the center valve very worn. Idler gear teeth all worn. In summary? All three powervalves on order, pushrod, bushings, orings, ...good stuff. I'll get pics up soon.

I spent an hour and a half cleaning up the cylinder with brake cleaner and brushes, Simple Green and the power washer. Still have carbon deposits here and there. I need to get a good bottle brush to clean down into the powervalve recesses.

Crank certainly seems solid, but I need to measure the rod big-end play--seems a little loosey-goosey. Am I headed for a full rebuild? Probably. Oh, well.

sr5bidder · Post by **sr5bidder** » 10:56 am Apr 01 2010

defeckel

did you ever tear down the kx125 engine?

I may be in the market for a good cylinder but the price would have to be right as I am on the fence about giving my kdx200 an upgrade if I can talk Tedh into some help, he lives about an hour and 15 min away.

Post by **dfeckel** » 02:44 pm Apr 01 2010

I have not gotten around to tearing down the 125, yet. My son and I are going to rebuild it as a father-son project to either sell or put in a shifter cart.

sr5bidder · Post by **sr5bidder** » 08:03 pm Apr 01 2010

if I recall you may have crank problems...let me know if you need the crank or whole bottom end mine seems fine but I have not torn it down yet

Post by **dfeckel** » 08:04 pm Apr 01 2010

As promised, here are some pics.

Cases cleaned up pretty well with just a wire wheel on a corded drill--probably won't paint after all.

Swingarm gets a pretty, new chain guide.

Some piston pics. It's a bit scuffy, but not too bad. Going to be replaced with a Wiseco shortly.

KIPS Carnage

Check out the gear for the valve on the right--totally stripped of teeth!!

Lots of wear on the toothed pushrod.

Main valve is in good shape except for some wear on the gear. I plan on replacing it with a new one since I'm replacing the pushrod. New gears all around!

Head has a couple of irregularities in the domed portion, but I can't tell if they are from the original casting or from trauma.

And here are some angles of the cylinder.

No detectable grooves/gouges/scrapes. However, I'm a little surprised at the orange patina. It almost looks like rust. I'm definitely no expert, but I can't detect the presence of a liner, so I don't know what the orangey coloring is all about. It certainly doesn't look to Nikasil-y--I'd have thought it would be shinier.
Any experts want to chime in on whether I need to get the cylinder replated? Those little irregularities in the head going to be a problem?

There's JUUUST about enough room for one more bike in there. Let's make it green...

Post by **scheckaet** » 09:29 pm Apr 01 2010

did you grenade the piston or something? cuz that head doesn't look like casting marks...looks more like pieces were in there...
I get the same "rusty" stuff in my cylinder if I clean and leave them for a few days. Good or not I've run them with no issue .... so far.

Post by **dfeckel** » 09:36 pm Apr 01 2010

Grenade the piston? Dunno. Maybe on a past top end. I have put a grand total of ten minutes of running on this engine before tearing the bike apart for my project.

Probably sending the head and carb to Ron Black for him to work his magic--hopefully those defects aren't bad enough to make the head unusable.

Post by **Julien D** » 05:41 am Apr 02 2010

I think the head will be fine. I'd like to see the cylinder scrubbed down with scotchbrite and wd-40 or some such. Might be easier to see the condition of the plating with the orange scrubbed away, lol. The nikasil will get a rust like coating if it's left sitting clean for a while, yep.

Post by **dfeckel** » 01:38 pm Apr 02 2010

juliend,

Good to know. I'll scrub it down and measure it up before I decide whether to have it recoated. As a precaution, I took out the head studs today over lunch. A little penetrating oil and the double-nut trick got them all out cleanly.

Bike Bandit as well as Cheapparts.com both are telling me that the toothed pushrod is no longer available. Put an offer on a used one on eBay today. Hopefully it comes cheap and in good condition.

Post by **Julien D** » 01:48 pm Apr 02 2010

Odd, check service honda.

BobbyZ · Post by **BobbyZ** » 09:19 pm Apr 02 2010

I too think that head had some past carnage,but to me it doesn't look like anything a reshape wont clean up.If not let me know as I have a few spare heads

and thanks for the info

Post by **dfeckel** » 12:56 pm Apr 07 2010

Update: Cylinder in the mail to Powerseal. I sent the Wiseco piston along for them to get it all matched up.

Frame still not back from the powdercoater. Maybe Friday this week, likely Monday.

Pressed in new bearings for the shock linkage on the swingarm. I used my vice with several different length sockets and a cheater bar. Having a little trouble getting the new Pivot Works seals seated in there, but I'll get them--just ran out of time today.

Come payday, I'll send my carb and head to RB for some magic.

I was really hoping to have the bike ready for the Deleware State Enduro on April 25, but it's looking like that won't happen. I don't want to have to rush to finish it and not do any shakedown runs before racing it. I'll likely have it done around that time, however. Racing debut will be on May 30 at the Broad Mountain Enduro in PA.

Can't wait!

Post by **dfeckel** » 09:09 am Apr 17 2010

Verbal update. FINALLY got the frame back from the powdercoater--it took him three weeks instead of one. Oh, well. It looks super nice, but there are one or two spots they forogot to plug, so I'll have to do a bit of dressing (specifically, my damper tower). Overall, it looks awesome.

All bearings except for the lower steering stem bearing have been replaced. I'll be cutting off the old and pressing on the new this weekend. Tubliss is installed with a Dunlop 803 on my trued and torqued 18" rim. New handguards on Moose XC woods hi bars, Boysen Shockout left side grip, WER revalved suspenders, fresh plastics with cheapie graphics (oh, how I hate applying graphics!!!!!). I should have a nice rolling chassis by the end of the weekend. Then a little engine assembly and I'll be ready for a few test runs.

Woot!

Don't worry--I'll get some fresh pics up soon.

Post by **dfeckel** » 11:47 pm Apr 17 2010

As promised, here are some pics!

Don't get too jealous, little Husky--I'll still ride you sometimes...

It's starting to look like something! (finally...)

Tedh98 · Post by **Tedh98** » 05:11 am Apr 18 2010

Looking good.

Doesn't it feel great to finally start putting it together for the final time?

What kind of kickstand is that? That is the type that folds up behind the side panel, correct?

Post by **dfeckel** » 06:07 am Apr 18 2010

Pro Moto Billet. Very nice piece of engineering.

Jupiter2 · Post by **Jupiter2** » 09:03 pm Apr 18 2010

That looks great. I really like that color too. Very nice.

Post by **dfeckel** » 03:43 pm Apr 20 2010

The graphics I got for the shrouds have a bit of that hunter/british racing green in them, so I figured, why not? It'll make me stand out even further from all the orange bikes.

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2003-1990 KX-DX Hybrid Build