MONUMENT TO THE 2-STROKE 2000 KX500

[delphipro5]

O.K. here we go
 

THINGS ON THIS BUILD HAVE CHANGED A LOT SINCE THIS FIRST POST! READ ON. - (ADDED 02/25/11)

 I am in the process of rebuilding my 2000 KX500 and would like some input if yall wanna be a part of it. It's in excellent shape and is worthy of having some nice stuff done. i was thinking about going all pro curcuit on this build and just send them my forks, shock,engine, and carb. to them to have them do as much work as they could to them. have a pro curcuit full mod. but they don't seem that willing to take it on, and i don't like having to send everything to Cali. to have it done. I do not trust anyone when it comes to packing and shipping! I live in Maine and Factory connection's head office is in NH which is like a few hours away so now I'm thinking have them do my suspension, and have my Carb. modded by Dick's racing they look like they really know what they are doing, but thier in Cali.. and I am not sure about the engine itself, ethier send it to pro curcuit or Dick's, or maybe do it myself or a local shop I can trust to do it right! any way that is all I think I need to have sent out, the rest I can do myself. but I am not quite sure what it is for carb. and engine mods. I really need to get done? I don't think I want to big bore it but I want a wiesco piston put in, would these places do things like that? like putting Vforce reeds in or use thier own stuff? What would they do with the engine i could not do myself? I already have a pro moto billet kickstand, sunline shift lever, D.I.D. ERV3 chain, renthal twin ring and chainwheel, pro curcuit sparky(pipe coming soon), going to get a magura hydro. clutch, rebuild the clutch with barnett plates set, get a steathy flywheel weight(woods riding), scaryfastracing intake thingy (if needed), replace ALL worn bearings with new, Vforce reed kit. I AM ONLY DOING THIS ONCE! So I want to go ALL OUT! Any advice would be cool, I am getting renthal twinwall handle bars soon and am wondering how to pick out a bend for this bike?? any advice?? thinking the windham. Also, FASST company makes these vibration damper inserts for the handlebars? think they work?(this thing is a vibrator) What else oh yea' I am thinking about having the triple trees polished, they are that stock cast aluminum right now except for the machined surfaces and in spots they did not even fully deburr the tree!!(around the bolt area's). I would like a shop to polish them to a ultra shiney surface before reassembly, What do you think? I actually would like to get as much of the dull grey cast aluminum polished as I could! imagine what the cylinder and head would look like polished!! any way that is it for now. P.S how do you put pics in your posts??? This is what the guys at Dick's racing suggested I do:

I suggest:

fork/shock mods - 610+parts
fork/shock black dlc coating - 650+r&r+shiping
rubber mounted triple clamps - 475
carb mods - 350
cylinder porting - 300
power valve cleaning - 175
intake system - 175
oversize front brake - 295
fatbars/handguards - 250
exhaust system - 400

What do you think? 
 
ALSO I would like to get the compression release mod i heard about and the kips bolt everyone is talkin about. ani ideas on where to get it? i am also threading this on TT too. i will have pics. soon. thankx, P.

[tharden]

I see you made it over here.  Welcome.  I feel with a good repair manual you can do most of this yourself.  Depending on how many hours is on the engine you may need to do more than clean the power valve, also you can do a lot of mods to the engine to get power without porting the cylinder.  Furthermore,  you want to keep the plated bore in the cylinder.  Search the engine modifications forum and find a wealth of knowledge.

[martinfan30]

Welcome to KXRiders!!!!

As far as cleaning the engine, try this... Makes parts look amazing! Read about soda blasting.

http://www.kxriders.com/forums/index.php/topic,8161.0.html

[kaw rider]

I would have the head cut before porting. Also what kind of riding are you doing.

[alward25]

I have not heard anything good from the magura clutch for the 500.  I have a MSR pro raptor lever and it made a ton of difference. It has three spots to put the cable end to change the pull ratio.  Worth the money.  PC 2 pipe makes the most power with the 304 silencer, it is something that is much debated here.  It comes down to rider.  Compression release is a decent mod to do to and the kips bolt mod. Contact JFAB and he can hook you up with that stuff.  I would rather buy a Sudco 39mm PWK for $250 than send it out for a $350 mod. I run the 41mm and it is awesome, mileage suffers a little. The V force 2 still out flows the new V force 3.  But the 2 has screws on the petals and some find that as a minus.  Either is a major improvement over stock.  Some like the RAD valve from Boyeson. Dyno numbers still show the V force 2 as the better choice for overall power. The engine is a very easy engine to work on.  It is more fun to build it yourself, buut if you are uncertain of your skills, best to have someone else do it.  Pro Circuit would do a great job building your engine but there a lot very talented engine builders on this site that would do it and charge a lot less and be every bit as good if not better. Good luck and keep us posted! and post some pics of the build!

[delphipro5]

Thank you alward25, awsomme info back gotta say, GOOD SITE! SO what bad have you heard about the magu hydro?? I have heard the stock pipe does a pretty good job all on it's own, but as you said debateable. Jfab does the Kips bolt mod? what does that entail exactly? the comp. re. that weichman does looks so smooth comparably to the Jfab one, and I don't need it remote. Button on the head is adequate, just a looks thing.  on the carb. and engine I am still figuring what I really need done! I need some direction! head cut? windowed piston? porting? boring? jetting? I am going to say it, and I'm not happy about it, but these thing are still a mystery to me and I have been a bike rider for years(what is wrong with me?). I am over going all PC with this already. I think fac. conn. will do the forks, shock though. pics soon more to come I have been very busy latley @ work so have not had time for the build. SOON
all of you have already made a differance in this build, keep it up!  P.S. it's kinda kool it's the millenium model (2000) I have. Maybe I should theme the build to that somehow?

[delphipro5]

I just want to say that the type of riding I am doing is mostly trails type north woods recreation riding(live in Maine), twisty luggy in the woods and all out straight shots on the fire roads. For me the stock motor is enough, I just want to do improvements to the eng.carb. that are solid mechanical improvements, I do not want to gain anything like MORE speed or HP, by having to tear down my engine completly every season because it's modded to the max!! I am looking for a happy medium between power and reliability. I just want to smoothe it out and let it breathe, I want to have a solid, reliable, POWERFULL mill. Without haveing to check for engine damage after every ride! This thing will only ever drink from the local gas pumps too! It's not like i'm runnin racing fuel! If there is any shop out there that want's to take it on let me know, I would like to have the work done professionally and have some parts put in while it's open, Also I would like to buy a completly rebuilt engine for this bike if any are available. What about service honda do they sell the refurbed KX500 engine?
Many more q&a's to come so I hope you guys are still with me here!
Let me also say, I have learned a lot since my first post and am now working on a more level head. BUT not too much more! the DLC coating I may still get on some parts!

[Polar-Bus]

Me personally, I think you will be spanding WAY too much money with all the shock fork dlc coating mod. The KX500's suspension is late 1990's as far as technology and effectiveness. However I do agree on the INTERNAL suspension upgrades, that money WELL spent ! Good luck, and enjoy !

[delphipro5]

Going to get started on the engine rebuild soon hopefully this is what I got figured so far, To Do:

Complete engine rebuild/cleaning(Bearings,seals,ect.)
Crank trued/balanced
Weichman treatment(Comp. Re./head polishing and cut gasket surface)
Kips bolt mod.
Thick head gasket
Double base gasket
Barnett clutch kit
Flywheel weight-(optional)
Reed spacer-(optional)
v-force2 reed kit
Dick?s carb. Rebuild-(stock 39mm pwk, reworked)
New ignition-any suggestions???
Wiesco piston-windowed?
cylinder replated

missing anything? I would like to keep the cylinder stock bore. any real important porting or polishing I should do?
Is it o.k. for me to run just 91 octaine pump gas in this thing??(premixed of course!!32-1!)

[kaw rider]

if you are doing a complete rebuild spend the extra money on plating.

[doctord]

Consider installing the reed spacer.
I installed it with a rad valve and it really smoothed out the power delivery.
Great for trail riding.
I modified my kips stop bolt myself by drilling the back side and JB welding a 1/8" nut with the hex rounded off. Length at .52 inches (13.2mm).

[delphipro5]

Still, to this day no one has filled me in on what this KIPS Bolt mod is or the reasoning behind it! I know the mod has something to do with altering the way the valves turn by machining the operating rod in some way but that is all I have been able to decipher from it. Everyone just says you need to do it. 

[doctord]

There is a long thread on the subject and it can be accomplished in several ways, but basically there is a cover bolt (black allen head) on the left side of the head that can be lengthened to stop the kips shaft from fully closing and in turn keep the kips sub-valves from over-closing and reducing compression at low rpms. It is theorized that this over-closing was purposely designed by Kawasaki as a compression release for easier kick-starting.

[delphipro5]

I found this while reading thru threads all over and it is about DETUNING a 500.. NOW I know what you are thinking, who would want to detune!! BUT, I can glean a little knowledege I think from some of this!-- I post it here so hopefully you guys will pick it apart a little with me. so here goes, and i quote

 "There are a few things you can do to make the bike more enjoyable and work better for you. I have riden, tuned, and modified KX500's for years, if you look at my avatar you will see a KX500 in what seems to be a 250 chasis (it's actually a custom frame) so I know a little about the bike. First the bike isn't jetted properly from the factory and has the wrong needle . Let me know your elevation and outside air temp and I can get you really close on jetting which will actually give you more power but will smooth the rough transition from low to the midrange. Next, I would retard the timing. There are 3 marks inside your mag cover on the stator. Loosen the three phillip screws and turn the stator counter clockwise to the last mark on the right. The 89 has a really small flywheel, so I would send it off to moose or get a add on one from stealthy off road products. This will also smooth the power and add much needed lugability for trail riding. Then I would change out the stock aluminum clutch plates to moose racing steel plates. This will do two things...it will add fly wheel effect, do to the heavier rotating mass on the clutch and it will add to the clutch life itself. Again this will smooth out the power. I would then go to the optional thick head gasket. This will reduce the compression and again reduce the hit in the powerband. You could take it a step further and put in an extra base gasket, this will again reduce compression slightly and raise the port timing, it will again slow or smooth the transition of power and give you some top end over rev. Next, I would chuck the stock pipe and buy a FMF Gnarly pipe. Before installing the pipe there is a crush ring that goes up into the cylinder...buy four of them and install them with the pipe. This is one of the best mods you can make to the bike. You'll have stronger power but it will be smoother and more controllable than you would ever believe! If your still not where you want to be...then cylinder porting is next. Through porting an experienced engine tuner can create just about any type of power delivery you would like. MY motor on my KX500 is fully built and tuned. It puts out over 70 h.p. on the dyno at the rear wheel at fairly high elevation and is the best trail bike I have ever rid'in. The power delivery is much smoother than even my CRF450 I just sold....and way way way more power! The KX500 when properly set up tuned is just about the best all around do it all bike there ever was!"-end quote..

SO What do ya' think any sense here?

[don46]

In all your posts you never mention doing anything to the bottom end, you do mention serious vibration, and while they do vibrate, they will vibrate much more with a crank that is not true. If your going to stick all this money into it the first place I'd start is the motor. Pull it down, install new bearings and seals, install the wiesco windowed piston, the comp release with the head cut, V force reeds, and if you want bottome end then install the reed spacer. I like the 38mm air striker carb bored to 40mm or maybe the 44 Lectron, the Lectron I've not used as a trail bike so I'm not sure exactly how I feel about it, its awesome on a competition bike. Like said earlier stay away from the Magura Hydraulic, I've seen bad things happen when you least suspect it. Suspension mods would be good, but remember even though your bike is a 2000 it has 1995 technology, you might be better off updating to something newer.

OK reread, you did mention complete engine treatment, make sure that includes a crank alignment and that it is installed by somebody that knows what they are doing, i've seen many a true crank become un-trued by somebody that didn't know what they are doing.