Differences in Years?

[KX4Life]

Gentlemen I picked up my 90 KX this past weekend and I am very anxious to begin modifying it to suit my tastes. Also the person who owned it before has let the over condition  slide a little. The motor feels extremely tight, but needs some inprovements both cosemtically and in certain other areas. The question I have being how in the he$$ do you know what years that parts or gonna fit. It seems every site you go to has different years listed as far as what parts will fit. I am basically looking to udgrade such things as the exhaust, foot pegs, chain and sprockets, plastics and various other things. Such as the kick starter, intake boot and so on. I am sure that many of these items I will have to settle on getting raped by a dealer. But is there any real way of knowing what will fit and what will not. Any help would be great.

     Also there seems to be a lot of mechanical noise coming from the front of the motor. Are the water pumps noisy on these bikes or is this something I should be concerned about?

Thanks in Advance
Ken

[Rick]

Wow, now there's a lot of questions.  To start, congrats on the new purchase.  You are now the owner of the best ride ever made.

There have been very few changes over the last 13 years since your bike was made.  Most years, the only change was BNG (bold new graphics).  One major change that was a welcome sight came in 2002, when Kawasaki improved the kick start lever.  I have broken many of the old levers, but have yet to have a failure on the 2002.  

Here is a list of what I beleive is the same from your 1990 to current:

- plastic
- seat
- chain
- sprocket
- swingarm components
- motor
- gas tank
- handle bars
- various other minor items.
- exhaust system

I believe the suspension compenents are not the same, specifically the forks, as I believe the fork diameter has changed, but I am sure someone else can confirm this with specs.  If there has been a change since '90 as I believe, this would also lead to a change in tripple clamps.

Essentally, you will find that parts books will list the same parts all the way up to the newest model year.  I have seen several 2003 books that didn't even bother to change the year listing, and still lists 2001 as the top, while the parts really fit to 2003 (probably through 200? when you can no longer buy a KX500.

Because of the commonality of parts, I think you will be able to find parts for some time, so you should be able to enjoy your ride for years.

Enjoy...

Rick

[Hogwylde]

I can let you in on a trick I use.  I go to Kawasaki's web site (www.buykawasaki.com) and I go to the exploded parts diagrams and I check the part numbers for my model year (93) against the part numbers for newer models.  If the part numbers match, then I'm 99% sure things will fit.  If the part numbers are different, then I check the part drawing and double check if I want to get the newer part or not.  
Sometimes, it's an updated part that still fits.  Sometimes it's a new part AND number that won't fit.  But, generally.....it's a good way to get a good idea what fits what.

It's also a good way to see if other MODELS parts interchange too (KDX,KLX, and KX125,250 models).

For example, most people don't realize that the subframe for 88-89 kx125, 88-89kx250, and 88-present kx500's are the same part!  I've picked up a couple CHEAP subframes off E-bay because of this.

[ctodd]

Another site with a interchabgeble parts list is, www.planetklx.com/techtips/interchangeable_klx_parts.htm