Hello from Maine

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stansama
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Posts: 13
Joined: 03:10 pm Mar 13 2013
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Location: Maine

Hello from Maine

Post by stansama »

Hey all! My name is Stan, glad to be part of the site. I grew up on an island off the coast of Camden/Rockport, I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures to share! It's quite beautiful. Anyway, just wanted to introduce myself and get started on showing you all what's going on with my project. Ive had a 1990 KDX200 for a couple of years now and didn't have time or money to work on it. Well now I have the time, not so much the money, but I'm spending it anyway :D Here's what I'm working on:

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I apologize, all of these pictures are done with my ipod it's all I have :/ Anyway, that was before teardown. Discovered this beautiful looking piston:

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Unfortunately the cylinder had been scored, so I hemmed and hawed about it until I finally sent it off to powerseal usa for a replate. $381 later I have this (would have been closer to 320, but they found a crack that needed welding):

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Annnnd....

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A new wiseco piston :D So I'm super pumped about that. I wish I had done a before and after of the cylinder, it blew me away when it arrived and looked brand new!
I still need to order some parts to get going. I was planning to remove the engine and get the crank seals done as I believe they are leaking a tiny bit, but I've run out of money at this point. During my struggle to get the engine out I had to saw the swingarm pivot bolt off, here's the result:

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Bearing had seized to the bolt, what a pain that was to remove! Took me a few days of cursing and trying different methods, but I finally prevailed.

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This is the left exhaust valve, three of the teeth have stripped so that needs to be replaced. The right side one is fine, so that's good. I have a question about the center valve, it has two teeth on it that look shorter than the others, almost as if they had been stripped but the edges are smooth, unlike the broken teeth of the left powervalve which are sharp. Here's a picture:

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Is it supposed to be this way? From what I can tell the powervalve rod never even reaches this spot?
Two more questions and I think that's it for now, phew! Do these reeds look ok? Probably hard to tell from the pictures, but there's no cracking or splintering anywhere, just looks like one side has burn marks on it?

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And finally, the kickstarter was giving me troubles when I was last trying to troubleshoot the bike last summer. It wouldn't catch all the time, so I'd have to kick and kick and kick slowly until it finally caught, sometimes only giving me half of the stroke to try and kick it over. I expected some of the teeth were stripped but when I got everything apart it looked just fine. I had read this could be related to the spring, should I go ahead and try replacing this?
Wow, long first post! Thanks in advance to anyone that can help me out with my questions. All advice is appreciated! Looking forward to getting into the woods this summer, it's been too long since I've spent some time on a dirtbike (hmm, 10 years now?) wow!
stansama
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Posts: 13
Joined: 03:10 pm Mar 13 2013
Country:
Location: Maine

Re: Hello from Maine

Post by stansama »

Oh I have another question regarding the swingarm bearings. Should the swingarm mounting holes be completely free and flush? As in, no ridges inside? I'm not sure if the outer sleeve of the bearing "cage" is still stuck in there, I've never seen these parts out of the swingarm so I'm not sure what to remove. Most everything disintegrated when the bolt came out, there were a lot of roller pins and small metal bits, on one side the whole cage did come out as one piece, the cage that holds the roller pins I mean (looks like a bird cage), but the metal is very thin and I'm pretty sure that the outer sleeve is still stuck in the swingarm. I just don't want to try cutting into the sleeve yet without being certain I'm cutting the right thing, as I've tried hammering with a socket and sledge for a while after a week's long soak in a cup of PB blaster with no results.
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turtle
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Re: Hello from Maine

Post by turtle »

stansama wrote:Oh I have another question regarding the swingarm bearings. Should the swingarm mounting holes be completely free and flush? As in, no ridges inside? I'm not sure if the outer sleeve of the bearing "cage" is still stuck in there, I've never seen these parts out of the swingarm so I'm not sure what to remove. Most everything disintegrated when the bolt came out, there were a lot of roller pins and small metal bits, on one side the whole cage did come out as one piece, the cage that holds the roller pins I mean (looks like a bird cage), but the metal is very thin and I'm pretty sure that the outer sleeve is still stuck in the swingarm. I just don't want to try cutting into the sleeve yet without being certain I'm cutting the right thing, as I've tried hammering with a socket and sledge for a while after a week's long soak in a cup of PB blaster with no results.
Stan, welcome to the site! IIRC, my swingarm bearing bores were smooth, no ridges. Sounds to me like the outer sleeve is still there. Hopefully others will chime in on that because I admit I am not 100% certain. I am really surprised you have not been able to beat them out of there given what you have tried already.
Bill
Central IL
2004 KDX220R
2011 Triumph Tiger 1050 SE
stansama
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Posts: 13
Joined: 03:10 pm Mar 13 2013
Country:
Location: Maine

Re: Hello from Maine

Post by stansama »

I'm pretty sure they are too. From the pictures I've seen of the replacement bearings they have a thicker shell than what I've been able to remove. I'm also surprised they didn't come out, I expected the PB blaster soak to really loosen them up. I don't have a vice or press to get them out that way, so I guess my next plan of attack is to cut a slit in them to relieve some pressure.
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turtle
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Re: Hello from Maine

Post by turtle »

stansama wrote:... so I guess my next plan of attack is to cut a slit in them to relieve some pressure.
I think that'll work, slow and easy with a Dremel?
Bill
Central IL
2004 KDX220R
2011 Triumph Tiger 1050 SE
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