KX200 Hybrid Finished

[gn83tm]

Well, the hybrid bike I've been working on for the last few months is finally finished and performed quite well over the weekend. Hopefully it'll be in it's first hare scramble on the 13th.

This bike is a 2003 KX125 M1 chassis with my great running (thanks to Fredette) 1990 KDX200 motor. It's a blast to ride and so far I have no regrets. To my knowledge it's the first 03-04 chassis to be used for this conversion.

Here's a link to some pics - hopefully it works. I'm also willing to help out with any questions anyone has in regards to doing this conversion.

http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/gn83tm (fixed link)

 

[BucKat]

Link dosn't work brother.
Congrats on the completion of your bike. Fun aren't they.

Here's a LINK to mine.

Cheers and welcome to the club.


Buc

 

[gn83tm]

Sorry about the link not working. I wasn't sure if that would work easily. Does anyone know of a good site where I can upload pics so everyone can easily view them?

Buc, how's your bike working? Have you been able to get much time on it? It's not still snowing up there is it ;)

 

[BucKat]

Snow....echh!......Haven't seen that for months. heehe

Email me the pic and I'll upload it to my server then post it for you.

So far I've only log'd about 40hrs on it. As usual, I've been playing with needles and jets to get it running just right So far I've tried stock,CEL,CEK,BEL,DDJ,DDK..... etc. I'm liking the linear pull of the BEL so far.
I have it running real nice at this point. Need to place my attention on the suspension side of things. Sag has been set but I still need to play with the compression and dampening.
I do enjoy this project bike alot. I can throw anything at it and it just eats it up. Hills,jumps, tight trails,wide open fire roads,,,,,,you name it.

I do have a complete cylinder that's been punched,ported,plated at the 225cc mark. That will go in once I've had my fun with it as it sits now. I'd really like to get the RB carb mod but that will have to wait until next year. I try to do one mod a year but I'm finding hard to adhere to this year. Doh!


So far to date.
96KDX200 motor
Wiseco piston
FMF Gnarly pipe and Dynoport custom pipe.
FMF Turbine Core II Q series silencer
Some sort of carbon fiber reeds that came with the motor
Twinair air filter
Buttoned up air box with custom made cf lid. I inserted a snorkel off of a KDX. I want to keep this bike quiet to some extent. My air box and adjustable air port thingies on each side to assist in controlling the air intake. Kinda nice.

Here a link to my website. It's an attempt to detail the process of the conversion. Unfortanely...........it's not quite complete........
Here

Cheers
Buc

 

[KAY DEE EXER]

Try webshots.com

 

[GREENBUNCH]

Thats sounds like a great combo. I am currently looking for a 2003 KX125 to use for the conversion. I may call on your expertise once I'm a little further along with the project. Hope you get the link working so we can see the beast. :cool:

 

[gn83tm]

Here's another link which I hope will work. Sorry for my ignorance in getting this done!

http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/gn83tm

 

[GREENBUNCH]

Sweet. ;) Is the 2003 frame much different from earlier versions ?

 

[gn83tm]

I'm not sure exactly how much the frame is improved over the 2002 model but there are some notable differences if I recall correctly. Lighter but more rigid was one of the claims but exactly how much I'm not sure. I think they lowered the engine position and gave up an inch or so of ground clearance to lower the center of gravity. This is quite noticible in that the bike handles and changes directions very easily. The swingarm is hydroformed and is also lighter. There must also be some overall dimensional changes since the KDX clutch cables were all about 2" too short. I ended up using a 88-89 KX125 cable with a machined bushing to mate it up to the perch adjuster (diff diameters).

One of the main reasons I chose the 03 is that the head stay is on the rear of the motor which is where the 89-94 KDX is. That eliminated having to modify the head by moving the mount to the rear. I'd just as soon not cut and weld on a head. It also means that the gas tank is already contoured more appropriately in this area and fits without any mods.

The 03 also is very improved over the earlier models in that they eliminated all the areas on the frame and plastics where your boots might hang up.

 

[gn83tm]

Hey BucKat,
I see you also decided to add the little KDX style crash tubes to protect the water pump and mag. To me that's one of the good things they did on the DX. You can add a big old skid plate but they fill up with mud and add weight. I like the protection offered by the tubes and an MX glide plate. Of course I've been lucky and haven't really crashed the bottom of a motor yet. I probably just jinxed myself for the race in the Kansa rocks next week :ugg:

Does the FMF pipe fit without mods? I did spot the zip tie on the upper mount and wondered if it was ride-ready or not.

 

[bigpa]

Awesome bike! Great job and thanks for sharing with us. :cool: What exhaust did you use?

 

[gn83tm]

I called Dynoport for the exhaust since they build one for the earlier conversions. They hadn't done one for the 03 conversion and didn't have any of the other conversion pipes in stock for me to even try. They did sell me a box of parts that they use to build the conversion pipe. I used those parts to build the pipe from scratch. This was a long and tedious process and the hardest part of the whole job. I think there's 12 parts to the pipe not including mounts. Getting them all rotated right and fit together while maintaining smooth transitions is one of those jobs where you need way more than 2 hands. Once I had it all fit and tacked together I TIG welded it up. I also bought the silencer parts (and Sparky) from Dynoport and built the silencer.

The finish on the pipe was interesting. I polished the pipe up quite well - down to a Scotchbrite wheel and sprayed it with VHT clear header paint. The can said to bake it at varying temperatures for a certain amount of time to harden it up. I did this but for some reason it came out as kind of a purple/black/bronzish color instead of the wet polished look it had. Even some of the temp lines around the weld re-appeared. It actually looks pretty cool and is unique at the very least.

The pipe seems to perform similarly to the Gnarly I had on the old bike. The bike does have a little more power all through the range but that may be due to the 50 tooth rear sprocket vs the 47 on the old bike.

 

[kmccune]

Now that is what Kawasaki should be doing! :yeehaw: I...LIKE..it!

 

[BucKat]

Hey BucKat,
I see you also decided to add the little KDX style crash tubes to protect the water pump and mag. To me that's one of the good things they did on the DX. You can add a big old skid plate but they fill up with mud and add weight. I like the protection offered by the tubes and an MX glide plate. Of course I've been lucky and haven't really crashed the bottom of a motor yet. I probably just jinxed myself for the race in the Kansa rocks next week :ugg:

Does the FMF pipe fit without mods? I did spot the zip tie on the upper mount and wondered if it was ride-ready or not.

Ahhhh!...you have a sharp eye...
I do have a dynoport pipe aswell. In either case I just haven't had time to fab a couple mounting brackets. This I will do soon.
The FMF took a wee bit of convincing to get in. As did the dynoport. Nothing a little heating and bendology couldn't take care of.

Yes I opt'd for the frame guards...and why not. My buddy is a welding. All I had to do was make'm. I used my KDX220 as a template.

Soon enough I will finish my website and all will be detailed. There's a fair amount of info there so far but more will follow.


Buc

 

[BucKat]

The pipe seems to perform similarly to the Gnarly I had on the old bike. The bike does have a little more power all through the range but that may be due to the 50 tooth rear sprocket vs the 47 on the old bike.

I find the FMF has more mid than the Dynoport..This weekend I will play with both................jet accordingly and determine which is best.

Buc

 

[gn83tm]

I've added some more pics to the yahoo site. I also have a bunch of "in process" pics if anyone wants to see them.

 

[Timr]

Looks Great! I want one.
The pipe looks good.

Uh, on the left side close up, there's no shift lever. Is this an automatic? :)

Does the kickstarter tuck in OK?

 

[gn83tm]

That's a trick new lightweight air shifter ;) Actually, the bike hadn't been started when I took those pics. I rolled it back into the shop for it's first fire-up and soon figured out I wasn't going to be going very far stuck in neutral!

I put the stock shifter on and rode with it over the weekend but it's going to have to be modified or replaced. It seems like the tip is positioned too close to the foot peg and it's hard to get the toe of my boot under it. I think I'll cut it and add in about 1-1.5".

Good eye!!

 

[BucKat]

That's gotta be the nicest pipe I've ever seen.

I gonna have to copy you on that one friend.

Buc

 

[gn83tm]

Buc,
Copy away - but I don't guarantee the finish is repeatable. I'm wondering if the stamping lube that was left on the inside of the pipe parts when they were formed is what caused the funky colorization. There was a white stamping grease left on the inside of the pipe parts when I got them and I had some trouble with it when I was doing the final TIG welding. I wised up when I did the silencer pipe and solvent cleaned it inside and out before I did the final welding. It retained more of the cleat coat look.

My theory is that the stamping lube burned off when the pipe was baked and the gases from that combined with the clear coat to alter the finish. In any case it's a unique finish and would probably be hard to duplicate. It does seem to be holding up well after about 20 hours of riding although it has lost a little of the shine.

Have fun!!

 

[KansasKDX]

Your bike came out fantastic! Enjoy.

 

[BucKat]

Buc,
Copy away - but I don't guarantee the finish is repeatable. I'm wondering if the stamping lube that was left on the inside of the pipe parts when they were formed is what caused the funky colorization. There was a white stamping grease left on the inside of the pipe parts when I got them and I had some trouble with it when I was doing the final TIG welding. I wised up when I did the silencer pipe and solvent cleaned it inside and out before I did the final welding. It retained more of the cleat coat look.

My theory is that the stamping lube burned off when the pipe was baked and the gases from that combined with the clear coat to alter the finish. In any case it's a unique finish and would probably be hard to duplicate. It does seem to be holding up well after about 20 hours of riding although it has lost a little of the shine.

Have fun!!

I did polish mine and applied the clear header enamel as you did. I did not however bake the finished pipe. It stayed clear for the most part. Once installed the straight section of the pipe turned the same color as yours. I guess it just has to do with the heat. :think:

Buc.

 

[gn83tm]

Buc,
I think the finish color does have to do with the baking process. I extended my shifter 1.25" last week (there must be some differences in the footpeg location on the KX vs the KDX) and polished it and gave it the same VHT clear - baked finish. It came out looking about the same as the pipe did. Kind of a neat finish that seems to be holding up well. Luckilly I have an oven in the shop to do this in. I don't think I'd win any points by putting it in with the pizza in the kitchen oven ;)