Author Topic: KX500 Cylinder question  (Read 1654 times)

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Offline texranger

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KX500 Cylinder question
« on: December 22, 2021, 07:35:45 AM »
Hi folks,

I'm pretty new to the green machine; purchased an 1989 KX500 a couple of weeks ago that was parked due to a piston skirt giving up about 10 years ago. I've been slowly tearing up apart the engine to do a complete rebuild and I have a question about the cylinder. I'm not sure if the cylinder is steel lined, electrofusion or Nykasil. I have cleaned the cylinder the best I could and when using a magnet it stick in some of the areas. Can somebody help me out here?

Thanks!

Offline KXDINO

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Re: KX500 Cylinder question
« Reply #1 on: December 23, 2021, 07:56:28 AM »
Sleeves are easily seen from the joins top and bottom of barrel as around the ports were one that isnt wont have this , just imagin they have to bore the barrel out to press a sleeve in .i prefer to recoat a barrel over a sleeve as they transfer heat better , lighter , and will last a long time with regular air filter maintenance , another thing that wears top ends out faster is not warming the engine up before full power runs.

Offline texranger

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Re: KX500 Cylinder question
« Reply #2 on: December 23, 2021, 10:58:23 AM »
Thank you Dino; I've seen re-sleeved cylinders in the past and this one has definitely not been sleeved. Yesterday I've measured the bore and I get under 86mm pretty much everywhere. I'm wondering if I can send the cylinder to a company like Millennium for them to inspect and advise if a simple bore clean up and recoat is doable in order to keep it under 87mm.   

Offline KXDINO

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Re: KX500 Cylinder question
« Reply #3 on: December 23, 2021, 05:34:52 PM »
Go the whole hog , get a recoat you be better off in the long run , another thing to check is crank seals and rod play if the engine being sitting 10 years , seals minimun. if it was me i would get crank re balanced useing wossner rod kit ,seals , new tranny bearings and seals . i even polish the tranny parts for easier shifting well worth it .A bit more preparation at this stage resuits in a nicer bike to ride.

Offline texranger

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Re: KX500 Cylinder question
« Reply #4 on: December 27, 2021, 01:55:20 AM »
Yes sir! - I'm sending the jug to Millennium for a recoat. The crank is getting rebuilt as well. I ended up going with a Vesrah rod kit so hopefully that will work out OK. Pretty much the entire bottom end will get serviced...seals, bearings, etc. I was not aware about polishing the tranny parts but will look into that.   

Offline motorman455

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Re: KX500 Cylinder question
« Reply #5 on: December 28, 2021, 02:29:39 AM »
I put a Vesrah rod in mine and its a 525, ported and 14:1 compression.  No issues with a over a 100 hours on it so far.