New guy, just picked up an 89 kdx200.

[julien_d]

Started easy, ran smooth. Rattles like no tomorrow! Scared me at first. I did a lot of googling and it sounds like kips rattle, although I'm afraid there may be a bit of piston slap going on in there.

Anyway, I ran through a couple heat cycles and then zipped up and down the street. I can tell the difference from work we did on the pipe and silencer. Much more power on the low end. When I hit WOT i'm getting a bit of bog. Probably lean bog. I took it easy on it, and then parked. I'll play around with the needle jet settings at the first opportunity. It's just after 4am now and I have to head into work for some after hours maintenance, then I'm working on a side job from 7 - 7 for the next 2 days. I probably won't have time to fire it up again until monday evening. :|.


J.

 

[julien_d]

Well, I'm sure I managed to irritate the neighbors this morning when I fired her up and zipped up and down the street a couple times. I dropped the needle one notch, and played with the airscrew. Now she's doin wheelies like she should! I bet my grin split ear to ear when that front wheel came up in second! NIIIICE :D. Sounds like the jug is full of gravel, but runs like a demon! I'll most likely pull the head and inspect the kips again ( read, more thoroughly). Will my head gasket be ok to re-use if I pull the head? It's a brand new gasket that I just put on. I'd rather not order another gasket kit if I can help it.

Anyway, I'm tickled one shade past pink!


J.

 

[sr5bidder]

if it is solid copper maybee (head gasket) if its like the modern silverish looking then nope, no-way, never these are a one time use they crush down and when you remove the head normally the gasket and material is stuch to both sides.

I don't think you should worry these engines sound pretty much like a desiel on crack.
if it's got down low torque and reves out decent when warmed up then you got the kips right.. congrats when you coming down to ride the plantation?
Day after thanksgiving about 4 of us are going!!

 

[julien_d]

Argh. I'm in the middle of this side job right now. Me and a buddy are finishing out a basement for this guy. Like a small apartment downstairs. Probably won't be done until just b4 x-mas. I'll have to settle on an hour or two here and there on my buddies land until we get done I suppose.

 

[julien_d]

oops. dbl posted.

 

[julien_d]

Just had a blast in the snow for about an hour before my fingers went numb. I got the old yamaha moto4 cranked up and my buddy tossed that around whilst I tried not to bust my butt on the KDX. In the snow I could just throw the rear wherever I wanted. The slush out in the street was a tiny bit scary. Locked up both brakes once and about slid into the 4 wheeler while the wife was lookin on, lol.

No injuries, and the bike is reeee-diculous. Very very quick and smooth. I liiiike! :ride:

 

[sr5bidder]

julien_d

I read somewhere in these forums that you can indeed reuse the headgasket by using aluminium pant or copper spray a gasket from the autoparts store sorry I didn't save it though

 

[julien_d]

Good to know. I'm not gonna worry too much. KIPS valve operates smoothly by hand, and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the bike. Plenty fast and very smooth. I think it's darn near perfect. I'm going to need fork seals, and to tweak on the suspension a bit, but it's running excellent. I'm going to take it out on the trails tomorrow. Should be able to get a good 4 or 5 hours on it. We'll see what happens!

J.

 

[julien_d]

Maiden voyage in 6 inches of snow was interesting, to say the least. The bike did great, and we had an excellent time. My buddy was on my 4 wheeler, and was able to spin up the trails pretty good so I could follow behind and at least have a bit of traction. We rode about 4 hours and I had no problems. Can't wait to get out again!!

J.

 

[sr5bidder]

i bet that thing really likes that cold air too all of my bikes feel alot more powerfull when its cold out esp. my magna feels like 20% more

 

[julien_d]

Pictures

Here's how I brought her home:

And here's how she sat this morning:

Still running well, no more suprises or anything. I think it's starting to come together pretty nicely. I just did a quick mask and paint on the plastics. Plan on replacing them next summer anyway, but I just had to break up all that green a little bit and at least TRY to make them pretty.

J.

 

[sr5bidder]

looks great for $400 + gasket set +seatcover and a bit of time

in that first pics where you draining the gas out?

Also what kind of stand is that holding the bike up?

 

[julien_d]

It's just some sort of home made stand the guy gave me when I picked up the bike. It works very well. You just roll the bike over it and then step on the back bar and it lifts the bike right up. It's made from 2 pieces of steel tubing that are bent into sort of the shape of some old high rise bicycle bars and then welded together.

And yeah, the first pic I was draining out the tank. Bike hadn't been cranked in 2 years and the fuel was at least that old.

I also replaced the bars and grips and threw on that old set of moose busters I had laying around.

 

[sr5bidder]

Julien_d

I just re read this entire post and 3000 ft stuck out to me ...I dont know about the winter temps but the jetting probably can use a smaller main and Idle once in gets warm in late spring or summer given the altitude.

Also do you think it was the pipe mod or getting it nice and warm that gave you the bottom end power?...my 98 is pigish till fully warm

 

[julien_d]

I'm gonna say it was the pipe mod. I think it only applies to 89-94 models though. Not sure if the pipes on 95+ are insulated. First nice warm day we have ill start playing with the jetting.

 

[sr5bidder]

Gotcha on that, I'm so ruined by the cold the only thing I did the whole weekend was repack that nasty nasty silencer w/ frost king!!

wow then if you found a used fmf or pc on ebay it would smack your A$$ bad
You ever do the Hatfield and McCoy in WV?
I've heard its huge

 

[julien_d]

Never been up there. I'll have to check into it. We normally ride Brushy Mountain Motorsports Park, about an hour from here. There's also a place just over the TN line we go ride, and brown mountain NC. Brushy is pretty much my favorite right now though.

 

[_JOE_]

Gotcha on that, I'm so ruined by the cold the only thing I did the whole weekend was repack that nasty nasty silencer w/ frost king!!

wow then if you found a used fmf or pc on ebay it would smack your A$$ bad
You ever do the Hatfield and McCoy in WV?
I've heard its huge

I've been thinkin about doing a weekend trip to Hatfield. The place looks cool.

 

[sr5bidder]

Joe you know Erie was my ole stomp'n ground in the late 80's
We would drive there from Corry and cruz the docks!

 

[sr5bidder]

Julien
Just looked that place up,Brushy Mountain Motorsports Park, and I would like to go there.... 5 1/2 hrs away. don,t care for the maybee we'll be open maybe not statement on there web page as I would have to drive up the day befor the ride.. whats the elevation there?
Durhamtown is open 364 days a year rain or shine

hopefully gas will stay reasonable and we can do some riding next summer

 

[julien_d]

Brushy is down the mountain from me. Maybe it's 2000' or a bit under? I'll check next time I'm down there. They havn't updated the site in a while. They changed to being open pretty much 365 days. Unless it's very muddy, icy, or rainy, they're open.

We're gonna be planning a trip to hatfield next summer for sure. One of my buddies bikes has been up there a few times. We can tell by the day pass stickers on the fender, lol. He has a yz250 a friend just "gave" him. :|. Why can I not get so lucky?? I'm not sure how far a drive it's gonna be, but I know a lot of guys from around here drive up there to camp and ride for a weekend.

 

[julien_d]

We just picked this one up for $100 in running condition. It's missing a few bits. Seller says he installed new rings and the two powervalve sub-ports. Starts, idles, runs, but has no top end. I'm guessing a problem with the main jet, or powervalve installation.

The trick is, it's by my buddies house down in FL. His dad picked it up for us friday. We need to make a trip down there to get the rest of his stuff this winter anyway. He's moving in with us semi-permanently. At least until he gets employed up here and gets back on his feet. Guess the trailer will be making the journey to FL with us!


Looks like we're heading to callalentee today and play in the mud. I went and got my moms Arctic Cat 400 and was going to run it today, but she was letting her buddies kid ride it and somehow he lost the oil fill cap, sloshed all the oil out, and now it sounds as if it's spun a crank bearing. That suxx hard. The cat is an 06 with only 160 miles on it! I'm not quite comfortable splitting the cases on that guy, so I'll take it to the shop tomorrow I guess. What a bummer. I'd like to wring the kids neck!


J.

 

[sr5bidder]

Kind of sounds like he should help out with the part to fix the cat at least! warranty maybe?
I may go up to hwy92 x secrete spot and get some riding in for an hour today

Thats a real good find there! you know the drill clean the carb, repack silencer, teardown the top endclean inspect, and mabee a rear fender once its running good.
is that a 1990-1993? looks like you can do the pipe trick too.

If you are coming up through atlanta and decide you don't want to haul it anymore I'll keep it hear or I'll trade you a 1970 mini trail project for it!

 

[julien_d]

If you are coming up through atlanta and decide you don't want to haul it anymore I'll keep it hear or I'll trade you a 1970 mini trail project for it!

LOL. It's actually belonging to my buddy, but I'm already trying to swap him my moto4 for it. Yeah, it's 90-93, but we're not sure which of those it actually is. I keep meaning to get them to get us the vin #, but I keep forgetting.

Good riding today, no troubles, and lots and lots of fun. Some of those trails are downright scary.

J.

 

[sr5bidder]

no riding for me except I took each and every one in my garage out for afew laps in the hood,,...you have to run them or they wil bitch later about starting!! my magna tried to bitch another few weeks and it would have been 45 bucks in spark plugs!