'99 KX250 Rehab (Budget Rebuild)

[ecdeyzel]

I wouldn't be too concerned, oven cleaner has a tendency to do that to some extent. As long as there's no pitting on the cylinders deck surface, it'll be good.
I would pull the studs though, and lap the cylinders deck surface, and the head as well...just to be sure everything is nice and flat, so you don't have any blown/leaky head gasket issues.

Hey Fox, thanks for the suggestion and sorry to get back to you so late. There is no pitting from what I could see. Is there a way I can lap the cylinder surface at home?

[ecdeyzel]

Also a little update. I got new steering stem bearings and seals. Installed the races successfully, packed the bearings with waterproof grease and on they went. Used 2 halves of a close fitting PVC pipe to drive the bottom bearing down. It worked well. Will set the tension correctly once the bike has the wheels back on.

[Foxx4Beaver]

Hey Fox, thanks for the suggestion and sorry to get back to you so late. There is no pitting from what I could see. Is there a way I can lap the cylinder surface at home?

yes there is...

you want the yellow label which is the "100N Very Fine"

http://www.ws2coating.com/100n.aspx


shop around the web...you may find cheaper shipping to your area through someone else.

[ecdeyzel]

Hey guys, check this out. I have an issue with the kick starter. The boss and the kick start arm are a miss match. I'm not sure if it's the boss or the kick start arm thats the incorrect part, but they clearly don't fit. The boss fits onto the engine though. A new OEM boss is heavily overpriced, as well as the whole kick start mechanism.

Any advice?







Ed

[SOHC]

Could you get the kick start leaver welded up and grind and file it back to match the steel part?

[Foxx4Beaver]

A new OEM boss is heavily overpriced, as well as the whole kick start mechanism.

what's "overpriced" in your neck of the woods?

here in the U.S. a new boss for the '99 250 lists for either side of $55 USD...
and a complete kicker mechanism lists for either side of a $100 USD...

[ecdeyzel]

Could you get the kick start leaver welded up and grind and file it back to match the steel part?

Hey SOHC. Thanks for the reply. Thats kind of what I thought of doing, but the top part of the boss that goes into the kickstart is a bit of a weird fit. Its very difficult to get in or remove, but swivels on the boss ok, which I guess is all that matters at the moment. Guess if I am not willing to spend like $65 on a new boss, thats the only way for me to go. Unless I can find a kickstart off another bike, like Yamaha, that will fit the Kawi.

Any idea which bikes and years are interchangeable?

Ed

[ecdeyzel]

A new OEM boss is heavily overpriced, as well as the whole kick start mechanism.

what's "overpriced" in your neck of the woods?

here in the U.S. a new boss for the '99 250 lists for either side of $55 USD...
and a complete kicker mechanism lists for either side of a $100 USD...

Hey Foxx. I see its more or less like $65 for a boss and $1300 for the whole kickstart mechanism. It's a lot for me to fork out when there is so much more important things to spend my money on, so guess I will just try and make the parts I have work for me. I am seeing my dad in 2 months so will ask him to weld up the boss for me to make it stop the kickstart arm in the right places. That should work.

Ed

[SOHC]

You might be able to get a good used one off ebay, I have got a few parts from ebay in like new condition,   

[Actionman]

The kx boss is a piece of garbage. Strips wayyyyy to easily.

[ecdeyzel]

Hey guys. So a guy on a local forum gave me the number for a shop in Johannesburg who could get me a new boss for like half the price of the dealers, but was still a bit out of the range of what I was willing to spend. I guess if the bike had no boss at all I would have just bought it. But I thought about it and decided to try and make what I have work for me.

I built up the kick start arm with metal epoxy putty and filed it down to size to accommodate the small size of the boss. I got a new OEM bolt from Kawi and seal for under R80, which is about $14.

I had to tap the tread for the bold in the kickstart arm and drill away some metal debris (not in that particular order ). Not sure if someone tried to modify it and make it smaller, but things where very messed up in there. Then I had to modify the boss and cut away some metal to take the OEM bolt because the bolt really didn't want to go in with the boss in there. I managed to make it work with my tools and space available and its working great now. No play or rattling. Very please with the outcome and glad I went this route.

















Ed

[ecdeyzel]

While I am here, here is the top end. Squeaky clean. Power valve system nice and smooth.

[ecdeyzel]

Hi there everyone. It's been a while since I have been able to do some work on the build. Today I managed to get some fork oil, dust and oil seals so I am ready to give the forks a good clean and rebuild.

On page 4 of my thread alward25 suggested I go with 10w fork oil, so I got me some 10W Motul fork oil. Can anybody else confirm that this will work for me? Not sure if it matters but I weigh about 220 pounds and will mostly do a good mix of sand riding and off road technical riding. I can still go change it out for something else, but just thought I'd double check and maybe get a few more opinions on this.

Ed

[Foxx4Beaver]

as alward25 suggested, 10w should do you just fine.
you can always play with oil level heights(to some extent),and the rebound/compression clickers once you get some riding time on it to see how it feels.

[ecdeyzel]

as alward25 suggested, 10w should do you just fine.
you can always play with oil level heights(to some extent),and the rebound/compression clickers once you get some riding time on it to see how it feels.

Awesome, thanks Foxx. Will post pics soon.