reepicheep
Member
- Apr 3, 2009
- 670
- 2
In the ongoing saga of bringing the Craigslist 95 KDX-200 back from the grave, I pulled the head last night. There was no signs of any problems, but I have a broken radiator mounting tab on the frame I have to weld back on, and the head is awfully close to it. Not knowing the history of the bike, and visual evidence suggesting the thing was ridden really hard, I figured its worth looking in there to look for problems anyway.
I was shocked... the head was completely clean. Not just "not that bad", but wiping it with a paper towel made it *completely* clean, no carbon at all. The piston has a light coating of carbon over 80%, with 20% clean.
I pulled apart the carb, and the bike is still stock, which means its crazy rich, and probably has been since 1995. Gutted airbox, stock exhaust. The "stupid rich" diagnosis is backed up by precambrian layers of spooge I have dug off of every surface and out of every orifice... it was half an inch thick in places.
I'll still pull the jug, as it will make it easier to clean and check the rest of the top end (KIPS valve, etc). And because the jug is what's close to that tab I want to weld, and the paint I want to touch up.
I'm used to four strokes, and I would never expect a head to be this clean. So my question is if the head is always this clean on an ancient beat up KDX-200? Or does the cleanness suggest that the bike recently had a top end rebuild? The cylinder walls look *perfect* as well.
Since I have it apart anyway, I will soda blast the carbon off the piston. Any other suggestions while I am in there and have the top end off? So far, everything looks perfect.
I was shocked... the head was completely clean. Not just "not that bad", but wiping it with a paper towel made it *completely* clean, no carbon at all. The piston has a light coating of carbon over 80%, with 20% clean.
I pulled apart the carb, and the bike is still stock, which means its crazy rich, and probably has been since 1995. Gutted airbox, stock exhaust. The "stupid rich" diagnosis is backed up by precambrian layers of spooge I have dug off of every surface and out of every orifice... it was half an inch thick in places.
I'll still pull the jug, as it will make it easier to clean and check the rest of the top end (KIPS valve, etc). And because the jug is what's close to that tab I want to weld, and the paint I want to touch up.
I'm used to four strokes, and I would never expect a head to be this clean. So my question is if the head is always this clean on an ancient beat up KDX-200? Or does the cleanness suggest that the bike recently had a top end rebuild? The cylinder walls look *perfect* as well.
Since I have it apart anyway, I will soda blast the carbon off the piston. Any other suggestions while I am in there and have the top end off? So far, everything looks perfect.
