Finally back together after hell.

[vtkdx]

So I finally got the old 96 KDX back together up and running. We had tore it down like I talked about in my original post, cleaned out the KIPS which was full of black gold. I ordered a new piston and gasket kit from motosport.com. Well it turns out it would have taken them 2 weeks just to get the part, and THEN send it to me. Ok, scratch that idea two days after I'd placed the order. Then I order from denniskirk. So I get the piston, and it slides in perfectly. We start putting the gaskets on, and it turns out that long story short, denniskirk actually mixed up the numbers for the 200's and 220's. (Yes there is actually a difference in the reed gasket and the head gasket) So I finally get the right gasket kit (no help from denniskirk unless I wanted to wait 2 MORE weeks) I ended up getting it from a local guy. Bought a new pipe, silence, and cleaned out the carb. Fired up on the third kick, let it warm up and down a couple times. And the bike has been running strong ever since. I'm really happy with the bike and glad I did all the work, just wished it hadn't taken three weeks for all of it to come together haha.

 

[glad2ride]

Congratulations on getting it all back together.

 

[reepicheep]

Ugh. I just ordered a Moose top end gasket set from Dennis Kirk... do you know the good part number versus the wrong part number? I have a 95 KDX-200...

 

[vtkdx]

I'll be honest I got the Cometic gasket kit. Moose was a lot cheaper, but I think in the long run just like with everything else, you get what you pay for. I don't have the number on hand though, but when you call just tell them the story, and check to make sure that they have made that correction. The *******s wouldn't just send me a full kit for the same price, they wanted me to pay the extra. Just check with them first.

 

[reepicheep]

Ironically, that's what I used to think as well. I had great luck with Cometic gaskets on a couple of Buell's. The Buells were air cooled unbalanced twins making 100 HP, are so are about as hard on gaskets as any street vehicle will ever get. They work great.

But then I rebuilt a KLR-250 top end, and got the Cometic head gasket, just because I had such good luck with them on the Buell. The gasket was a copper gasket, which failed quickly.

Later research had knowledgeable people suggesting that it is insane to use a copper head gasket on a water cooled streetbike. Switching to the Vesrah steel head gasket cleaned it right up, and it worked perfectly.

So I'm a little more skeptical at this point... I guess I'll be a good data point. I'll let everyone here know how it holds up and what kind of quality it appears to be...

 

[vtkdx]

I can see where you'd be dissapointed in that for sure. Luckily it was just your basic gasket kit on the KDX. Nothing too impressive. But the bike is running strong and after 3 tanks of fuel through it, still running well. Really well. So far I'm happy. I'll let you know if things changed with that.

 

[duson]

I've used Cometic for my top-end rebuilds on my 2000 KDX200 twice, without problems. Part number is C7242.