Going to take a look at a KX500SF tomorrow - What should I look for?

[jcm3]

I found a 1999 KX500SF conversion that I'd like to go take a look at tomorrow during lunch time.  I plan to swap out his motor with mine, and then know that I'll probably have to do lots of upgrades to match what I've done to mine, including:
- suspension
- new bearings
- new chain and sprockets
- new plastics
- upgraded brakes
- the list goes on

To make sure that I don't buy a clunker, any input on what I should look for specifically?  Here's the listing, and he has sent me pics.  It will need some cosmetics for sure, but I'll hopefully see it in person tomorrow if someone hasn't bought it by then.

I'd love some input on what to look for specifically, what questions to ask regarding how the conversion was done, etc.  I'll check for the obvious things like weld quality, but don't really know what I don't know.   

Thanks for any input.

[sintax]

Check out the welds on the engine tabs
Check out the how the head stay was done
Check out the pipe / silencer setup
Check which radiators were used ( i used 500 rads, which required fabing mounts but they fit well )

since you wont be using the engine or anything else, aside from those 3 items, its not different than any other bike purchase.

[jcm3]

Perfect, thanks for your input!

jcm3

[umberto]

Did you buy it?  Any pics?

[jcm3]

Did you buy it?  Any pics?

I think it has some good bones, but is priced a bit high for its condition.  Let's just say I'm seriously considering it.   

I will probably make a decision by tonight and will either go or no-go it.  I had already planned on putting about $2k into it, as I wouldn't want to go from my primo 2000 KX500 with all of the upgrades to a bike that looks like it's been beaten to death and put away wet. 

With $2k put into it and offsetting some of that cost by selling my current bike (with the engine swap, of course), I could probably limit it to about $1k or so out of pocket.  I could stomach that and it would be a pretty sweet KX500SF! 

[jcm3]

One thing I forgot to take into account with the engine swap between bikes is that the cases on the engine in the SF would have already been bored for the KX250 bolt/shaft.

If I was to try to put that engine into my current KX500 to sell it, could I bore out the swing arm hole and frame of the KX500, use KX250 bearings and install the engine into the KX500?  I don't know how much material there is in the swing arm for that, although I know it wouldn't need to be enlarged much...

[jcm3]

Bump...Still considering the bike but curious what I'd need to do in order to retrofit the old motor into my K5 to sell it.

[Kwackerman]

Hey jcm3,

I just saw your thread and All American patch and wanted to say - THANKS FOR SERVING, AIRBORNE! 

Are you putting your K5 motor in a KX 250 frame?  I'm building a KX500AF right now, you can look at my thread - It's in the 500 AF section (1990 KX 500 to 2006 KX450F).  I'm almost finished with mine.  I hope to get it running by this weekend. 

I served a few years (33) in the Army too, and was deployed to AFG under the Eighty-Deuce in 2007.  I was in Kabul at Camp Eggers.  That was a fun year!!!  I did get to ride a KLX 650 the US was providing to the Afghan Border Police.  It's was funny, the screening criteria to be a rider was that you had to be able to pick the bike up off the ground unassisted.  They had 10 gal. fuel tanks on them and weighed a ton.  Most of the Afghans couldn't lift them off their sides... 

Anyway, when I was stationed in Germany in 2004, I rode MX with the lead R&D rider for Kawasaki Motor Corp. (KMC) Europe, Alex Michael. He was a member of my club and we got to be good friends.  He helped me a lot with my bike.

I bought a complete 2001 KX 250 roller off Ebay and asked him to help me make a SF conversion with it.  He told me not to do it because they had tried many different set-ups using that frame and they always broke.  He said the 250 frame is just not made for the brutal vibration and torgue of the K5 motor. 

I'm sure there are guys on here who will disagree, and there are ways to gussett that frame to make it work, but I wanted to share that with you before you dive in and spend a lot of hard earned money.  That's why I waited and went for the AF.

Keep your feet and knees togerther!!!  Howie

[jcm3]

Hey Howie,
Thanks for your response and for your service as well!  Funny about the feet and knees together, it's been a while since I heard or said that.  lol  I was in from '86-'89, great times and memories.

Good call on the AF, but in the Communist Republic of CA we can't go the AF route since the bike would not be green sticker legal.  Look that up sometime if you want to read about bogus environmental rules and regulations.  The average parking lot full of cars probably puts more pollution into the air than all of the old bikes putting around the state parks on any given weekend.  But, it is what it is.

I'll probably have to go the SF route 'if' I still decide to go that route.  The better thing to do is to buy a track-specific bike and keep my K5 the way it is, but I think the SF bikes are cool and still allow me to have a track bike that handles ok while keeping the green sticker registration so that I can ride whenever I want to.  A bit of a conundrum...

If anyone knows how to deal with putting the engine from the SF conversion back into my frame so that I can sell the current bike, I'm all ears!