Maintenance & Technical > KX500 Aluminum Frame Conversion (AFC)
My 2009 KX500AF [picture heavy] (SHE'S DONE!!!)
FL_Sharpshooter:
I ended up buying a 2000 KX500 from my neighbor almost a year ago. I rode it one time and decided to turn it into an aluminum frame build. Sadly, I won't have much basis for comparison between the steel frame and aluminum frame, but that's ok :), it's for the better! This is a project that me and my dad decided to take on, knowing not entirely what we were getting ourselves into, but that's the challenge and fun of it, right? Luckily, I am able to do research and use a lot of ideas from this forum! If I can, I'm going to break my posts up by about 5-6 pictures at a time. Starting off from the beginning with a 2000 KX500 and a 2009 KX450F (please ignore my messy garage - it is clean now :D).
My neighbor's wife made him get rid of it. Lucky for me, bad for him :D. He said he could only ride it for 15 minutes or so before his hands went numb - maybe old man syndrome? :lol: He is interested to see what the end result is though. This thing came loaded with goodies - oversized tank, fmf fatty exhaust and silencer, e-line pipe guard, e-line stator :-o, talon hubs/excel wheels, etc, etc.
First thing was first, the engine was pulled, and the frame was stripped.
..and the donor 2009 KX450F
FL_Sharpshooter:
Sadly, I didn't get engine disassembly photos, but you've seen one, you've seen them all. The cylinder definitely needs replated, the piston is the original piston, the base gasket also had coolant blowby, which allowed some down in the crank area. The power valve assembly was 90% frozen, it wasn't even opening up correctly! It had rock solid carbon build up on it, wish I would've got a picture of it before I cleaned it. Oh, and the trans oil was the nastiest thickest black sludge I have ever seen. It's like it was painted on there, made a total mess in the garage on disassembly. No worries, we were able to get everything spotless. It's safe to say that he never changed the transmission oil. The crank is in great shape, but I decided to have it rebuilt (more on that later). This engine will see an entire rebuild - transmission clips, all bearings, seals, etc, etc. Back on to the build!
Couple of things we did notice on disassembly. Not sure what the scuffs marks are around the bearing - looks like the crank may have rubbed?
Previous owner installed a heli-coil, shouldn't be a problem.
Was able to buy some JFAB frame rails and a CR500 pro circuit works pipe with a 304 silencer. Should've ordered the frame rails straight instead of bent, but we got them to work (more on that later).
With the new parts, it was off to boring the cases for the larger swing arm bolt. Thanks to you guys, I was able to determine that a 43/64 bit was the way to go. Some high tech stuff here, we only have basic tools - drill press, table saw, drum sander, grinders, etc. We'll make it work - luckily my dad was a woodworker for over 20+ years, so him working on metal is not much of a transition.
Chopped up the original kx FMF pipe and blued it out in an effort to match the PC pipe. We need this part to weld on to the CR500 pipe. It'll be a pro fmf works pipe when its done :-D. We'll look at this part later in the build.
FL_Sharpshooter:
The engine was fitted into the 450 frame. We can now see how big of a challenge we have ahead of us.
Luckily, I have a friend that was able to help with some beginning welds and frame surgery. Unfortunately, he was just too busy with other work obligations to continue with the build, so we will change pace later on the build.
Here it is, ready to be brought over and cut up.
I had to order a pile of aluminum for this build - I had to order some other pieces as well, but you get the idea. Most to all of it is 6061, but there's some pieces that are lower grade for such things like the airbox adaptor plate (we'll cover that later). Let's get started with cutting up the frame and fitting the engine first.
FL_Sharpshooter:
The frame was cut and we got to work.
Sorry for the dark lighting, it was late at night. Here's the engine in the frame. This was all we got done for the night, it ended up getting too late.
A couple of days later, I get a text from my friend that he worked on the y piece (we're using the stock one). Not bad, not bad at all - but we'll have to clean it up some more (more later on that).
FL_Sharpshooter:
Since the frame was at a friend's house being mocked up and tack welded, I decided to remove the stuck bearing on the crankshaft. I went ahead and ordered a Tusk puller for this, which worked absolutely perfect.
Meanwhile, the frame was welded. Everything was tack welded in place, everything seems to fit reasonably well.
A shot from the exhaust port.
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