KX500PF

[cutting torch]

The PF is for perimeter frame, since I could build a stock KX500 and it would be an SF.

I finally got to the point where I could start this project.

The chassis is a '92 KX250 which was my primary ride for over a dozen years. I scored an '08 KLX450 front end for it on Ebay. The engine donor bike was an '87 KX500, but I have since gotten enough stuff to make the engine an '89 to '04.

This bike will be used for trails, not MX, and since I am about a 7/8 scale man, I will mod the clutch cover for a Rekluse Pro.

Enough with the background. I started the basic engine mounting a few days ago. I bored for the swingarm bolt as a starting point to get a baseline. Obviously, the front mounts were not even close:



Before and after them being cut off:





The mockup before welding:



After the welding:









The lower mount was so close to where it needed to be that I decided that it was a waste of time to try to move it like I did the front mount. I could have left it alone and used an 8mm bolt, or shave it a bit oval (.020") to use a 10mm bolt. I went with the ten.

I have learned a bunch from this site, and now is the time for me to start contributing! Any questions for me will be answered to the best of my knowledge. Any suggestions that I get are welcome as well!

torch

[ZETTNORCAL]

COOL!!!!

[junk man]

looks like your off to a good start. 

[WRXBRUMBY]

Ok just hang on a minute while I go and get the popcorn  . I will be watching this one closely.

?and since I am about a 7/8 scale man? (is this short ) soz im in Australia and we have only metric system jokes hehehehe

Also Rekluse Pro......I assume this is the Z-Start pro with full clutch override at all rpm?

Please classify what parts of what clutch kit will be needed to do this, or is there one complete kit that will fit for KX500 after the cover mod has been done to use the Relkuse Z-start Pro?

Don?t mean to bust your balls bud, just I would really like to see the Z-start Pro work. Its just that I have read that only the Z-start has been used in the past and even this was a miss match of parts from I think the DRZ400 kit???

Posted by gortex http://www.kxriders.com/forums/index.php/topic,6250.15.html

?To use the Rekluse - you use the stock kx500 clutch, and buy the Rekluse start for the Drz400/Klx400.  These bikes use the same plates etc as the kx500.
The biggest problem is you need an extra 10mm of space to fit it in, that's one of the reasons for my custom clutch cover.
Hope this helps?.

Hope to see many pics of this conversion and good luck

Cheers 

Dan

[cutting torch]

The Z-Start pro is my goal.

The 7/8 scale thing has two parts to it:

1) So many people joke about someone being less of a man if they use an auto clutch, and

2) At 5'4" (162cm) and 140 pounds (62kg), I AM less than your average man, at least in the sence that I take up less space.

torch

[Danger4u2]

2) At 5'4" (162cm) and 140 pounds (62kg), I AM less than your average man, at least in the sence that I take up less space.

torch

Less weight = faster acceleration.  Less height = Less wind resistance.

[cutting torch]

2) At 5'4" (162cm) and 140 pounds (62kg), I AM less than your average man, at least in the sence that I take up less space.

torch

Less weight = faster acceleration.  Less height = Less wind resistance.

There are perks to being a little runt!

However, the penalty that happens most often is falling over at a dead stop when you can't seem to find the ground with your foot.

torch

[skippyhenry]

hay mate am also doing a 1992 sf conversion with a1989 kx 500 motor.Ive stuck the motor in its a very tight fit just got to change carb boot.Theres not much room between the frame and shock so am hoping there wont be any restrictions

[ToomanyKaws]

I admire the enginuity and projects guys do on this site and share their info.  Its cool. 
 Question on the Rekluse though.  Having talked to a lot of desert racers from the 1990's who ran 500's.  Many have said the Rekluse is a little hard on the tranny.  Due to the TQ the engine puts out.   Often wondered about running one.  Ride with a lot of guys who use them in other brands of bikes.   I myself like a standard clutch.  But if I rode in the woods a lot my thinking would probably change.

[don46]

 . The engine donor bike was an '87 KX500, but I have since gotten enough stuff to make the engine an '89 to '04.

 

How do you get enough stuff to make the engine an 89 to 04? did you get newer cases? if not it would be very difficult to make 87 cases fit the 89 cylinder.

[cutting torch]

hay mate am also doing a 1992 sf conversion with a1989 kx 500 motor.Ive stuck the motor in its a very tight fit just got to change carb boot.Theres not much room between the frame and shock so am hoping there wont be any restrictions

I'm sure that's one of those snags that I'll run into down the road, along with many others I'm sure.....

torch

[cutting torch]

I admire the enginuity and projects guys do on this site and share their info.  Its cool. 
 Question on the Rekluse though.  Having talked to a lot of desert racers from the 1990's who ran 500's.  Many have said the Rekluse is a little hard on the tranny.  Due to the TQ the engine puts out.   Often wondered about running one.  Ride with a lot of guys who use them in other brands of bikes.   I myself like a standard clutch.  But if I rode in the woods a lot my thinking would probably change.

I would like to hear those guys give a real world explanation of how an auto clutch could hurt the tranny. I would bet that they couldn't!

The auto slips the clutch as the engine comes up to the full engagement rpm of the clutch, after full engagement rpm, it is fully engaged (no slippage). The difference is that the auto does the slipping much more consistently and predictably than your left hand. The Rekluse site explains it in much more detail.

I'm wondering if the guys that told you this were under the impression that the auto clutch works like a torque converter in an automatic transmission. It does not.

You CAN ruin your clutch with one, though. You won't if you ride in the right gear for the speed you are going, which I would guess that 99.9% of us already know how to do!

torch

[cutting torch]

 . The engine donor bike was an '87 KX500, but I have since gotten enough stuff to make the engine an '89 to '04.

 

How do you get enough stuff to make the engine an 89 to 04? did you get newer cases? if not it would be very difficult to make 87 cases fit the 89 cylinder.

I got cases, jug, and head.

The '94 jug I have slides right onto the '87 cases, however, there is no provision on the older case for the PV idler gear on the newer jug. No huge deal to weld up and machine that area, but my '87 cases needed more work than just that as far as welding repairs, so I just decided it was easier to get newer cases.

After I got the jug, I learned that there was more difference between the old and new head than just the bolt-on water outlet..... The bolt pattern! DOH!!

Oh, well. I now have a new head that is currently being molested.

torch

[cutting torch]

Now you see it:



Now you don't:



How I got there:





The above work was the roughing in part, and I got to the after part with a die grinder. I'm going to sand blast the area soon to try to make it look like the as-cast surface of the rest of the head. My goal is to make it look like the factory cast it that way (without the rear headstay).

torch

[ZETTNORCAL]

I am a little confused to why you have to use a front headstay?  Is it so you can get the engine in and out of the frame with the head still on? is it just because that is how the frame was set up for the 250 two strokes? Is it because the bottom rear of the fuel tank will not allow the use of the rear mount headstay?   I would think that it would be much easier to just fab a mounting location for the rear mount. On my KXF 250-500 conversion I just moved the rear headstay mount on the frame.

Looks good though