86 overhaul

[byron909]

about 3 years ago i aquired an 86 kx500. it was hammered in every way you could imagine. the motor was out of bike, had a busted up case, broken clutch cover, cracked/ broken clutch actuator/ chain guard, lots of little things. you name it, it wqas probably shot/ broken on the chassis. fork seals, shock seal/ bumper missing, shock preload ring stripped on body, frame cracked in about 4 places. there were no lower engine mounts, the swingarm pivot was loose, the upper mounts loose, front mounts broken. radiators tweaked/ smashed, etc etc. nothing on the rear wheel was usable. the swingarm looked like the chain came off a hundred times.
pic of bike. doesn't do justice to how wrecked it was



my plans originally were to use the motor for an 08 kx450f i had, but i grew up riding 80's kawasakis and couldn't scrap this thing.
so it sat untill last year sometime when i decided to overhaul it.
i started with things i knew i needed to do. never liked the mini footpegs, so i made some 02 up cr/f foot pegs work

then was the pipe. every old kawaskai i have ever owned had a pipe that rattled. this bike has one small mount under tank. so i started to weld more tabs here and there, but also beeefed up the one that was already there. used mainly honda mounts everywhere. my pipe had been repaired liek a zillion times, so i had to fix as well


new lower mount

started with hacking off the rigged stuff
 
new upper mount, made from 5/16
       
new rear mount
     
blasted, de carboned and ready for ceramic
                 
ready to mount
       
i had a 88 up silencer already, it bolted right up to the 86 mounts

silencer de carboned, 2.5" trimmed off, packed and ready for use


oem fuel tank, looked typical for old kx

found a smaller 86 kx250 tank, it was pretty bad looks wise as well, cleaned up and ready to mount

wanted a skidplate, had some 450 thing, hacked up to make fit.

made a new front hold down, notched hole for drain plug, fits the kx frame perfect now


cases coated with heat dispersant, ready to go together

shift parts moly coated


getting motor together, surf and turf racing balanced/ rebuilt the crankshaft


slotted clutch basket, drilled hub

hammered radiators

planned on using 88 up radiators, just a few things different than 86 model
the right side on 88 up is hair shorter, so lower mount tab needed to be lengthened, and middle mount on 88 up is on rear, 86 needed it in front. 88 up also has two shroud mounts, the 86 has one in center


the left side is exactly the same minus the midle mount and the shroud mount

radiators all welded up, coated with heat dispersant. need to drill the hole for shroud mount. these are some oversize jobs

for the motor i needed a new intake manifold, mine was cracked pretty good. could not find one, so i took a boyesen rad valve, re shaped to make right.
before, oem 86 on left, 87-04 rad valve on right


i had to flip the reed cage once the bend was cut off, then massage on inside a littlle more to get it to line up where the old one was. all welded up and good now. in the end the rad valve is a clamps width longer than oe, but my new carb is that much shorter than the old mikuni, so all is well


about the only good parts on my motor were the powervalves. when i went thru the engine, i moly coated the outside of drums, and used slik ceramic in exhaust port/ powervalves


cylinder got leaned on pretty good, ought to run pretty right

bike had a sleeve, needed a bore. piston got moly on skirt, ceramic up top.

completed engine

the head on this bike was pretty warped. cut a bunch off to make right. reshaped the dome, etc etc. had a compression release put on it. also made adjustable stop to make the powervalves right

rad valve incognito


i plan on putting motor in tomorrow, hope to race it this coming saturday.

[sandblaster]

Looking great so far, wow!

[Motorrad]

Wow... Get a good deal on coatings??   

[hughes]

that's going to be sweet.

[Goat]

Excellent work! It's gonna look sweet when done.

[1989kawasaki]

wow thats awesome

[iamsofaking]

Wow!  That looks so badass, Byron.  I'm the one that sold you that bike and i can assure people, you were kind in your assessment of it.  That was the first bike I ever bought and it was pretty jacked when I got it.  I can't wait to see what it looks like when you are done.

[byron909]

thanks guys, it didn't mean to put this much effort into it originally. but it should be a nice old kx when i am done.
iamsofaking, i actually think i still have your email, was going to see about going riding sometime. you still have your newer kx?
motorrad, i do all this coating stuff myself at my buddies place. he has oven that we do just that with. i do the prep, he sprays and bakes.

[traileater]

Thanks for saving this bike! I had one and it was one of my favorite bikes ever. Paid $3k for it in the crate 

[BacK.IN.THE.DaY]

WHAT DID YOU USE TO CLEAN UP THE FUEL TANK THATS LOOKS FRESH NOW ?

[byron909]

BacK.IN.THE.DaY, i used a 3m headlight repair kit. very teadiuos, but as you can see it paid off. that tank looked worse than what i had, had alot of oxidation.

got a little done on the bike today.
a few pics
about a year ago after all the fixing i powdercoated frame the oe color

took alot of work to fix. the lower mounts were gone, the side panel front mounts on both sides were broken, the upper pipe mount broken, frame tube was worn/ cracked from chain rubbing, bottom right corner of frame cracked, front seat hold down tab broken. also hacked off the kickstand mount






the lower shock mounts needed alot of work also, from the motor flopping around it basically wore about 1/8 off each mount were it rides next to motor. each case had about same worn off as well. lots of welding/ machining.
so after that powder coated the shock mounts and upper shock mount as well

my swingarm was hammered, the bearings were shot, from the chain flying off all the time or being loose it ate the swingarm to the point it was almost worn thru in a few spots. surprisingly though the front upper/ lower slider was perfect.
about a year and ahalf ago while looking on ebay for some junk i found 2 nos 86 500 swingarms. i picked up both for 50 with shipping. my 85 kx125 has a 86 250/500 disc brake rear, so i got 2 swingarms that were brand new!



as far as brakes go, i have never liked the 88 down kawi calipers. when i was a kid i always had pad issues. i'm sure there were other things wrong, but i remember always jacking with them. this bike runs same caliper front/ rear. for the rear i am running a 87-01 honda caliper, or basically same as 95 up kawasaki. my 86 wheel was shot, typical 86 rim cracked in like 50 spots, spokes rusted/ frozen/ broken, hub cracked at sprocket mount, left bearing holder part cracked, rotor dead. i also am not a fan of the steel wheel collars, and the fact that the 86-87 rotor was a funny bolt pattern that it seems noone makes anymore. a 89-01 cr500/ 89-99 cr250/ 89-99 cr125 hub bolts right on. nice thing is has better wheel collars, rotors are plentiful, hubs look like old works kx stuff. the kx and older crs had same 220mm rotor. 86-87 kx had 190mm rotor. 97 up crs have 240mm rear rotor. 97-99 had the 240, but used the smaller axle, just like this 86. so i am using a honda rear wheel with a 240mm rotor from 97-11 honda. since i wanted to use newer cr/ kx caliper i needed to change the caliper mount guide.
here is the oe

a 95 up kx or 87 up cr have almost identical calipers/ mounts. only real difference is kawi mount has no disc guard mount, and on outboard side the pass thru for axle is about 1/4" wider.
so i took a caliper mount guide and welded on this 86 arm/
mocked up, needed to space it in 1/4 due to using the honda hub

all welded up


i put the motor in, and put suspension on. the bike needed all new bearings in everything, so did all that. the shock got new lower bushing/ upper bearing, strut/ linkage, swingarm, stem. this bike also will use a 46mm front end from 89 kx.
my shop is so packed i have no room to build this bike. basically being assembled on plastic fold out table. pretty ghetto

tank isn't mounted
the seal savers work, but sure do look stupid. i wish i could find those old plastic covers i used to have.
i originally rebuilt the suspension myself, but later sent out to mx tech to make the valving right.

46mm kayabas


i have noticed a few problems today.
first, not too big a deal but i always use sunline shifters. they make a nice part. i bought the one for kx125/250/500, but went to mount today and the shifter has bigger hole than the shift shaft. i checked my later kx motors and they were the same as the 86.
2nd, i have had a few 46mm front ends laying around for 6 or 7 years. planned on installing on my 85 kx125. about 4 years ago i found a few braking 260mm oversize rotor setups for 89 up kawi. the bolt spacing on new caliper bracket was 100mm. rotor mounted to my 89 wheel fine. went to mount caliper today and noticed the 89 fork has a smaller bolt spacing than 100mm. it is like 78mm or something. all these years and i never thought to double check until today when i finally decide to mount it up. had i of know, when forks apart would have welded new tab. haven't looked to hard but i can probably figure it out. this 260mm rotor setup will be on this bike one way or other!!

last problem, kinda big, with tank on bike you can't turn the forks to stops. the top triple clamp hits the tank before the lower clamp hits the stop. when the clamp hits tank, i have about 3/16-1/4 gap between lower clamp and stop. i thought at first it was the 250 tank i am using, but in that part of tank the 250/500 tanks are identical. i thought i measured the fork offset, i haven't double checked but i thought it was same as oe 86.
it kinda sucks, i can just weld up the stop on frame, but not sure how many degrees less  steering i would have either way. maybe i can notch the upper clamp, it does have a ton of meat in that area, but that sounds little sketchy. if i was good at plastic welding it would be easy to trim the tank a little. but the times i have tried to plastic weld i failed terribly. tomorrow will look at everything harder. i saw that at end of work today.
another small thing that is fixed now is that i bought a later style clutch cable for it. turns out the 86 had small pilot on case that clutch cable sits in. the later motors were bigger. so at first the newer cable would not work. so i just drilled the pilot out to the size of late model. have nos old terrycable cable that fits perfect now.
 

[Goat]

Great progress. Coming along very nicely. Good job.

[traileater]

Great thread. I have a complete front end off an 89, maybe I'll keep it for future use!

[Friar-Tuck]

Hey Ron The bike looks Grreat!
 You surely have done this kind of resto work before.  I think I would be too afraid to ride a bike with that much TLC involved...
   You are the only other person I know of that drilled/slotted the oem clutch basket.  Most guys who opt for the open basket buy a billet piece already done.
  I don't have the tools to cut out the slots, so I just drill two holes in place of the slots.
 I have drilled five different baskets on various machines with no ill effect...Yet!
     I also like the use of the engine coatings.   There is a coating for just about all the engine parts now, it's just a matter of how much a guy can afford.   
  The piston has a different "window(s)" than I'm used to seeing, is that KawRiders design?
Here's what mine looks like.




 Top, side and oil dispersant underneath, I hope the underside wasn't a mistake. I may be retaining heat, I guess I'll find out!
  Tuck\o/

[BacK.IN.THE.DaY]

Bike is looking great. im getting jealous . I have a 87 k5 im slowly rebuilding/restoring. i  will post pics when i eventually get my self in gear.

Thanks for the plastics cleaning/polishing advice to.