Hello to all! As I said, I am from Portland Oregon, and some other nearby places. I've lived in the northwest all my life. Grew up in the woods riding two strokes on gravel roads and dirt trails with my friends and neighbors. I haven't had a bike for several years, but found what looked like a good deal on this 88 KX500, and didn't want to miss out. I have a couple friends with big bore two strokes that are kind enough to share the excitement on a regular basis. We have a lot of places fairly close that are great to ride. Mountain recreation areas, sand dunes, MX tracks, and fire access roads with tons of trails to play on. Of course these are all different elevations, and may require a bunch of different jet sizes.
I am a heavy duty diesel bus mechanic, and work for our local transit company. Nice place to work, and access to some resources that many people may not have. Been there for three and a half years now, and plan to retire from there in about 25 years or so. Yikes!
The bike I got looked a lot nicer than it actually was. It kicked over a lot easier than I thought it should have. Atleast compared to my friend's KX. After I noticed this, I pulled the air filter and saw sand in the boot between the filter and the carburetor. went a bit deeper and saw scuff marks on the skirt of the piston. Then I called Arlen Lehman (a local ledgend), and decided it was time to go through the motor. The bad news was that the KIPS valves had broken teeth and were not functioning, base gasket was blown, and the dogs on six of the transmission gears were rounding. Oh, did I mention that we have an anual ride November 6th? So now we are on a mad scramble to get this thing ready for my ride. I have bought a KN filter with outer ware, V-force delta two reeds, Pro circiut platinum pipe and PC silencer so far. Our plans for the motor include, boring the carburetor, boring the existing sleeve, porting the cylinder, adjusting port timings, and reshaping the combustion chamber. As well as new bearings and seals in the bottom end. The transmission is off at R and D in florida for repair. Some of the gears are discontinued , and they can actually repair them, undercut the dogs, and cryogenicly treat them for max hardness. They really know their stuff, I hear they build funny car tranny's. This thing should scream when it is done. I put a street tire on the back for now as we plan to do the break-in and tuning on the dyno.
I am so excited I can hardly contain myself!
