1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Discussion specific to the 1989 - 1994 (E Series) KDX200 model sold in the USA
User avatar
criggs9901
Supporting Member
Posts: 38
Joined: 09:43 pm Jun 03 2017
Country: United States
Location: Southern California, USA

1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Post by criggs9901 »

So instead of making a new post every time I do something new with the KDX, I figured I'd just compile everything into one thread, and keep updates here. Can't really call it a build, more of a refresh or a makeover, but I hope this thread helps anyone who could use any of the info/experience I've gained working on this bike.

Bought the bike for $750, ran great but was clearly not really cared for beyond basic oil changes. The plastics were faded, wiring poorly repaired and wrapped in many places, levers broken, grips falling off, and it leaked oil... the list goes on. The first thing we did was a basic oil change/tuneup, and threw on new grips and levers.
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

We rode it as it was for a little while, but eventually the oil leak got so bad it had to be addressed. It would dump oil from the clutch actuator arm seal when the clutch was engaged. I figured it needed a new seal, so I ordered one. When I pulled the cover off and removed the lever and arm, I found this:
Image

The seal was so badly worn that the actuator would rub metal on metal with the clutch cover and wore that lovely groove into it. I couldn't find one for sale at the time, so I carefully filled in the groove with JB weld, and filed it smooth. Unfortunately I didn't think to get a picture of the repaired product, but this was over a year ago and it's held perfectly so far.

Next I wanted to try and address the bikes cosmetics a bit. The plastics were terribly faded, and replacements were very expensive (at least compared to other bikes I've worked on), so I figured I'd give restoring them a try.
Image
Image
Image
Before sanding:
Image
Image
After wet sanding with 400, then 1000, then 2000 grit:
Image
Image
Next to the front fender, for comparison:
Image
The rear fender was the hardest, by far:
Image
Image
Image
I also threw on a more modern fender to update the look a little:
Image

Ultimately I think they came out pretty good. Far from perfect, but much better than before, and the only thing I had to spend money on was sandpaper:
Image

Now that the plastics looked better, it was time to address the torn, faded seat cover. The lady really wanted her seat in black, and we wanted to shave it down a bit to better suit her height (she's 5'2", the KDX is a bit tall for her). We ended up having a custom seat cover made for it, since nothing I could find would fit the super curvy trimmed seat. Came out great:
Image
Image
Image
Image

Not long after that, I found a set of forks off a 92 KDX250 for a really good price, so I jumped on the deal and swapped the set onto the 200:
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

Getting the forks mounted up was pretty simple, but there were a few mods to be made. I made a thread specifically for the fork swap, check it out here for more pics and the specifics on how it was done.

Still need to make a bracket to attach the brake line to the fork guard, but otherwise the forks look and work great. After all that work, I decided that I didn't like that basic white number plate on my pretty new forks. The time had come to repair and restore the front headlight.
1990 Kawasaki KDX200
2001 Suzuki RM250
1999 Suzuki RM125
User avatar
criggs9901
Supporting Member
Posts: 38
Joined: 09:43 pm Jun 03 2017
Country: United States
Location: Southern California, USA

1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Post by criggs9901 »

So that brings me up to my most recent project: getting the headlight working. The taillight shines nice and bright, so I knew the lighting coil was working. However, the headlight bulb socket had been zip-tied out of the way since we bought the bike, and the front number plate/headlamp assembly was badly cracked and broken. Also, the light switch was stuck on, so it needed a new one of those as well. Firstly I decided to remove the white paint (or whatever it was) from the number plate and repair the cracks:
Image
Image
Image
Image
I "plastic welded" the cracks back together, then sanded them down smooth:
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

Doesn't look perfect, but the repairs are strong, so the cracks won't get worse. Next I had to check the wiring and make sure it all looked ok. It didn't:
Image
Image

The pics aren't great, but the wiring had been damaged and poorly repaired in several places, plus the ground wire had broken off the light bulb socket. I cut the socket the rest of the way off, re soldered the ground wire back to the housing (poorly, but whatever it held =P), then re-wired the socket back to the harness with heat shrink crimp connectors. I also ordered a new headlight switch (cheap aftermarket one, but nice and simple), and swapped that wiring over as well:
Image
Image
Image

I think at some point in this bikes history, someone had disconnected a lot of the wiring in a hurry, because several of the bullet connectors were either damaged or just plain missing, with the wiring wrapped together in its place. The switch was no exception, so I had to add in a male and female bullet connector to the yellow wire (as seen above). By the time I had gotten all the wiring sorted and repaired, the new head light bulbs arrived in the mail (thanks to the bulb replacement info sticky). I installed the bulb, connected all the connectors, bolted up the number plate (just by the bottom two holes for now)... and then there was light!
Image

The light and switch all work perfect. Still have to figure out some kind of new upper bracket for the number plate. Also, the front fender blocks more light than I'd like, I have to figure that out. Not sure if it's because of the newer style fender, or if that's just how the bike is. Either way I'm happy to have it working.
1990 Kawasaki KDX200
2001 Suzuki RM250
1999 Suzuki RM125
User avatar
KDXGarage
KDXRider.net
KDXRider.net
Posts: 14047
Joined: 06:45 am Nov 01 2004
Country: United States of America
Location: AL, USA
Contact:

Re: 1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Post by KDXGarage »

LET THERE BE LIGHT! :boogie:

Look on the parts diagram. There is a screw and spring that one normally used to adjust the lighting angle adjustment.

The plastic cracks look a lot better. What tools / technique did you use for that?

Keep up the good work. :bravo:
Thank you for participating on kdxrider.net. :bravo:
To post pictures from a device: viewtopic.php?f=88&t=24128
jjavaman
Supporting Member II
Supporting Member II
Posts: 342
Joined: 11:20 pm Jul 23 2013
Country:

Re: 1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Post by jjavaman »

That’s how you bring back to life! Great job, love that seat!
97-220 with a PC pipe. 2015- RB carb and head mod
User avatar
criggs9901
Supporting Member
Posts: 38
Joined: 09:43 pm Jun 03 2017
Country: United States
Location: Southern California, USA

Re: 1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Post by criggs9901 »

Thanks for the compliments =]. It definitely feels good giving this bike the treatment it deserves, even if it's just little things.

To repair the cracks I used a cheap soldering iron to carefully melt the plastic back together. In a few spots the gap was fairly large so I used some strips of plastic from what was left of the old mounting tabs on the back to fill those in. It was my first time trying this so it didn't come out perfect, but it's much better than before and didn't cost anything, so that's a win win as far as I'm concerned.

The adjuster for the headlight is still there, but I think that the '07 fender has a higher angle on it or something, because it blocks some of the light no matter how or where I adjust it. Either that or it's normal, I'll try and snap a few pics next time I pull the bike out. Still works great, though.
1990 Kawasaki KDX200
2001 Suzuki RM250
1999 Suzuki RM125
User avatar
criggs9901
Supporting Member
Posts: 38
Joined: 09:43 pm Jun 03 2017
Country: United States
Location: Southern California, USA

Re: 1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Post by criggs9901 »

Alright guys, I know it's been a while, but I finally broke down and started a much more in depth rebuild of this bike. Been wanting to do it for a long time, and the only thing thing that was holding me back was space and money (working on saving up to pay off student loans), but an opportunity recently came my way that I couldn't pass up. Long story short I have about three months, from Jan 15th to April 15th, to get this bike fixed up as good as I can. I set a max budget of $1000 and tore it down to the frame.
ImageImage
Image

The first thing I wanted done was the engine, but unfortunately it was very stained/corroded, so I dropped it off for soda blasting and they ended up having it for much longer than anticipated. While I waited I refurbished the swing arm and linkage assembly. The bearings were totally shot, and the swing arm itself looked horrible after years of rocks chipped away at the factory coating (not to mention the chain nearly cutting through it in one spot).
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

I forgot to snap a picture of it all once the bearings and sliders were replaced, but I ended up giving the swing arm a brushed look with 150 grit sandpaper, I think it came out quite nice. I'll try and grab a pic soon and add it in here somewhere.
1990 Kawasaki KDX200
2001 Suzuki RM250
1999 Suzuki RM125
User avatar
criggs9901
Supporting Member
Posts: 38
Joined: 09:43 pm Jun 03 2017
Country: United States
Location: Southern California, USA

Re: 1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Post by criggs9901 »

By the time I had the swing arm and linkage done, I got the engine back from soda blasting. They did a pretty good job, but the engine still looked terrible. Here is before and after power washing, but once again I forgot to grab a pic of it after soda blasting.
Image
Image
Image

Once I had it back I tore the top end down to inspect and order parts. Due to time and budget limits, I had originally planned on doing a top end kit, and only intended to do the bottom end if it absolutely needed it. The piston looked surprisingly good, and the crank and rod had no play (as far as I could tell, anyway).
Image
Image

So if you notice, that piston measurement is a little off... the piston measured about 71.9mm, the bore measured about 72mm. After a bit of research I found out that it most likely has an LA Sleeve 240cc big bore kit. As cool as it sounds, this bummed me out hard. I knew they wouldn't make parts for this any more, and I didn't really have the time or money to go any further into it. The piston was in pretty good shape (other than the carbon build up), and the cylinder bore had almost no wear, so ultimately I opted to run the same piston with a new wrist pin bearing and hope for the best. I had to hand-cut the new cylinder head gasket to fit the over bore, which I wasn't happy about, but was told by LA Sleeve that it would be fine. On the plus side, I was able to get a beautiful custom engine fastener kit from Bolt Motorcycle Hardware, and after some fresh paint I had the engine back together and looking better than ever.
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

I wish I had the budget for powder coat or cerakote, but the paint will have to do for now. It looks great but chips easy. Time will tell I suppose. I have a lot of before pics of areas that are now complete, but not many after pics. The exhaust is completely cleaned and re-built, and the radiators are straightened (mostly) and cleaned, just gotta get some pics and I'll toss em up here soon. Hoping to have the rest of the painting finished this weekend, as well as the suspension and steering complete. The plan is to start re-assembly at the beginning of April. Wish me luck =P
1990 Kawasaki KDX200
2001 Suzuki RM250
1999 Suzuki RM125
User avatar
KDXGarage
KDXRider.net
KDXRider.net
Posts: 14047
Joined: 06:45 am Nov 01 2004
Country: United States of America
Location: AL, USA
Contact:

Re: 1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Post by KDXGarage »

Congrats on getting to rebuild it.

When I saw the measurement, I thought, is it not supposed to be 66 mm?? :-) Get a micrometer for proper piston measurement. A caliper ain't the right tool, exactly.

The swingarm and linkage parts are looking quite snazzy! Throw some primer and paint on the steel parts and maybe some clear coat on the swingarm. Cleaning bare aluminum off the nooks and crannys of a dirt bike can be rough when assembled and ridden.

Good luck and keep up the good work!
Thank you for participating on kdxrider.net. :bravo:
To post pictures from a device: viewtopic.php?f=88&t=24128
User avatar
jaywylie
Supporting Member I
Supporting Member I
Posts: 93
Joined: 09:35 am Jul 23 2013
Country: USA
Location: New Orleans
Contact:

Re: 1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Post by jaywylie »

Looking good! :pop:
kdxsully
Supporting Member
Posts: 739
Joined: 08:28 am Apr 21 2019
Country: United States
Location: North Cackalack

Re: 1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Post by kdxsully »

Very nice. That’s why I avoid big bore kits.
I like turtles
User avatar
SS109
KDXRider.net
KDXRider.net
Posts: 5770
Joined: 05:11 am Aug 23 2009
Country: USA
Location: Tucson, AZ, USA
Contact:

Re: 1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Post by SS109 »

It's awesome that you have stuck with it. Can't wait to see it run!
Youtube Channel: WildAzzRacing
AZ State Parks & Trails OHV Ambassador - Trail Riders of Southern AZ
Current KDX: '98 KDX220
Old KDX: '90 KDX200 -White/Blue
'11 GasGas EC250R
User avatar
criggs9901
Supporting Member
Posts: 38
Joined: 09:43 pm Jun 03 2017
Country: United States
Location: Southern California, USA

Re: 1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Post by criggs9901 »

Thanks for the kind words everyone, much appreciated. I do have a mic set to check piston size and cylinder bore, the caliper was just for a quick measurement to verify OE size... which obviously it wasn't, haha. I too don't much care for big bore kits for the exact reason mentioned, but unfortunately I didn't know this bike had one until I saw the numbers on my caliper. The PO didn't seem very knowledgeable on the bike and what was done to it. I'm just glad the piston and bore looked good, otherwise the project would have been basically scrapped (for reasons I'll get into). Here are the latest updates...

I got the frame painted. It took longer to find an affordable spray paint that matched the bike than it did to actually paint it. I checked all the local paint supply stores including Home Depot, as well as auto supply stores, and eventually found "Rust-Oleum Custom 'Gloss Neon Green'" that matched very close at Autozone (literally the last place I thought to check before turning to the internet). Took 4 full cans to coat the frame, removable side bar thing, and left side foot peg mount.
Image

I haven't taken any up close shots yet, I'll make sure to get a few before I start re-assembly. I also wanted to re-spray the shock spring with the same green, but the shock is the one thing I sent out to have done (for a lot of reasons), and I hadn't gotten it back yet at this point, so all I really had left to do was cleaning (and a LOT of it). The air box alone took me almost a full day.
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

It's still pretty beat up, one of the PO's did some weird stuff to it, but it looks 100% better, and it'll have to do. The next thing I worked on was a bunch of misc stuff. I cleaned up the engine mount bolts and brackets, the front sprocket (still like new but was super rusty/stained), kicker, and rear brake lever. I forgot to snap pics of most of those, but here are the engine mounts.
Image
Image

This week I finally got the shock back. It ended up needing a lot more than expected. All of the seals and bushings were shot completely (of course), the bump stop was missing entirely, and apparently the shim stack was fairly damaged. Most of the parts were available, a few weren't, but they were able to bring it back to basically brand new. Ended up costing me $315, which sent me way over budget, but I couldn't put a trash shock on a bike with the rest of the suspension completely re-built.
Image

As soon as I brought it home I pulled the spring off, took it to work with me the next day, and stripped all the old blue paint off. Lemme tell ya, that factory paint is somethin' else... took half a can of paint stripper and several different sizes of wire wheel to get it all off.
Image

I already have the shock painted in the same green as the frame (can #5), I'll post a pic once I have it re-assembled this weekend.

I still gotta get pics of the exhaust and a few other things that are already done, but mainly I just have more parts cleaning left and it's time to re-assemble. The only other thing I have left to "repair" are the brake lines, going to try and pretty them up a bit. I'm also missing rear brake line guides, but they are a weird design on this bike and I can't find a replacement, any ideas are welcome :mrgreen:
1990 Kawasaki KDX200
2001 Suzuki RM250
1999 Suzuki RM125
User avatar
KDXGarage
KDXRider.net
KDXRider.net
Posts: 14047
Joined: 06:45 am Nov 01 2004
Country: United States of America
Location: AL, USA
Contact:

Re: 1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Post by KDXGarage »

Looks very good, especially the:

frame
and the subpipe
and the footpeg mount
and the shock
and the airbox cleaning
and the brackets
and the bolts

:mrgreen:
Thank you for participating on kdxrider.net. :bravo:
To post pictures from a device: viewtopic.php?f=88&t=24128
rbmiles
Member
Posts: 1
Joined: 08:58 pm Apr 09 2020
Country: United States

Re: 1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Post by rbmiles »

Great thread! You are ahead of me, I've got an 89 and being stuck in the house I decided to finally go through the KDX and give it some love. Just yesterday I sent the lower end of the engine off to get new bearings and seals pressed in and I it stripped down to the frame . I'm waiting for some abrasive for the sandblaster. I'm going to take your advise on the "Rustoleum Neon Green" Your frame looks great. What kind of paint did you use for the engine?

Can't wait to see yours all back together.
User avatar
criggs9901
Supporting Member
Posts: 38
Joined: 09:43 pm Jun 03 2017
Country: United States
Location: Southern California, USA

Re: 1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Post by criggs9901 »

Thanks for the compliment, I appreciate it. The neon green was lucky for sure, it matches well and is holding up ok so far. It does chip easy, but that seems to be kinda consistent with rattle can paint. For the engine I used gloss black engine enamel, and it look fantastic, but also chips very easy. Painting an engine (as opposed to powder coat or cerakote) is tricky in my experience, because too little paint will chip way too easy, but too much will flake off when it gets hot. It's a good alternative that's way cheaper, but you pay for it with reduced durability.
1990 Kawasaki KDX200
2001 Suzuki RM250
1999 Suzuki RM125
User avatar
criggs9901
Supporting Member
Posts: 38
Joined: 09:43 pm Jun 03 2017
Country: United States
Location: Southern California, USA

Re: 1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Post by criggs9901 »

So like I mentioned, I did get the shock spring painted to match the frame. I think it came out pretty good:
Image

I also wire wheeled all the rust off the pipe, cleaned and re-packed the silencer, and hit both with scotch brite until I was satisfied with the finish:
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

As always I forgot to get a pic of the pipe all cleaned, but I have a few of it mounted to the bike that I'll share a bit later.
Next up was the brakes. I had already replaced the pads in the front, and the rears had plenty of material left, so since I was already way over budget at this point all they got was a good clean and grease:
Image
Image
Image
Image

I also re-coated those hideous brake lines with 16mm heat shrink tubing to make them all black instead of dingy brown. They came out great, but didn't bother to snap pics till they were installed and bled, so I'll also post a few of those down the line.
1990 Kawasaki KDX200
2001 Suzuki RM250
1999 Suzuki RM125
User avatar
criggs9901
Supporting Member
Posts: 38
Joined: 09:43 pm Jun 03 2017
Country: United States
Location: Southern California, USA

Re: 1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Post by criggs9901 »

At this point it had been a few months and I was ready to start re-assembly. There were a few things that I did without taking any pictures (completely cleaned the wheels, torqued spokes, re-greased wheel bearings, cleaned/sanded rotors, mainly stuff with the wheels) and a few other things I wanted to address on the bike:
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

I finally got to install the new steering stem bearings and NOS Tag aluminum handlebar on the bike (YZ bend, but whatever they were free). I was really looking forward to this, as the old steel bars were bent and rusty, and the steering bearings were... sticky, to put it lightly.
Next I had to get the radiators and hoses figured out. The old rads held coolant, but were extremely bent and twisted, and the right side was missing the lower bracket that the shroud attached to. I was able to find a decent used set on Ebay that were slightly less bent and weren't missing any brackets, but they were missing some of the rubber grommets and inserts. Also, I could not find a set of new radiator hoses for this bike anywhere. Not on Ebay, not on RMATVMC, not on Amazon... nothing. So I ordered a really nice neon green set for an H series and figured I'd try and make em fit. They were only 20 bucks, figured it was worth the try:
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

Long story short, I was able to get the hoses to fit with a bit of trimming, and there was one that was not used. If it's not obvious, the old rads are on the ground, the "new" ones are on the bike. I had enough grommets and inserts between the old and new ones, so now I finally had a solid cooling system bolted up.
Next was the wiring. If you've been through this whole thread, you saw how many repairs I had to do just to get the lights working. The ignition wiring was barely better. During soda blasting of the engine, the stator wiring was bent and taped out of the way, but it was so brittle that it broke all the way through all 3 wires flush with the stator cover. I tried to remove the stator to repair the wires, but naturally the 3 phillips screws that held it in were so rounded they needed to be cut out. At this point I had run out of money (and then some) and was almost out of time, so I tried to pull the wires out as far as I could to try and repair them. I was successful, fortunately, but that was far from the end of it. The wiring harness only had one original bullet connector, the previous owner had for some reason removed them, poorly soldered the wires together, and simply wrapped them in electrical tape. There were also numerous, equally poor repairs throughout the rest of the harness, and it had never been installed in the correct orientation on the bike. I wanted to fix as much of this as possible:
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

I re-installed bullet connectors where they are supposed to be, properly repaired and insulated broken wires with crimp connectors and heat shrink tubing, and routed the harness based on the factory repair manual. I know wiring is kinda boring to look at, but I just love a proper, good looking harness.
Then lastly (for this post) I installed the brakes and bled the lines:
Image
Image
Image

I just love how clean those lines came out compared to before. Five bucks worth of heat shrink tubing basically made them look new again. At this point I had also installed the carb, new grips, and most of the controls. Since the bike was ridden last october the clutch cable had seized inside its sleeve, and part of the rubber insulation near the engine had melted. So after soaking the cable in penetrating oil for a few days I had it freed up, I cut away the melted insulation, and re-wrapped it with heat shrink tubing as well. Unfortunately... you probably guessed it, forgot to snap a pic :bravo:
1990 Kawasaki KDX200
2001 Suzuki RM250
1999 Suzuki RM125
User avatar
KDXGarage
KDXRider.net
KDXRider.net
Posts: 14047
Joined: 06:45 am Nov 01 2004
Country: United States of America
Location: AL, USA
Contact:

Re: 1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Post by KDXGarage »

MAN! Great continued work! What a shame on a previous owner's butchery of the harness.

I like the look of the swingarm. It looks somewhat like my YZ250, sorta brushed.
Thank you for participating on kdxrider.net. :bravo:
To post pictures from a device: viewtopic.php?f=88&t=24128
kdxsully
Supporting Member
Posts: 739
Joined: 08:28 am Apr 21 2019
Country: United States
Location: North Cackalack

Re: 1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Post by kdxsully »

KDXGarage wrote: 11:32 pm May 06 2020 MAN! Great continued work! What a shame on a previous owner's butchery of the harness.

I like the look of the swingarm. It looks somewhat like my YZ250, sorta brushed.
Terrible electric repairs seem ubiquitous on used bikes. How hard is it to use a soldering iron and heat shrink??
I like turtles
Selectah
Member
Posts: 6
Joined: 07:51 pm Nov 14 2019
Country: United States
Location: Maryland

Re: 1990 KDX200 Project Bike

Post by Selectah »

Your restoration project looks like it has been coming together real well! I was wondering if the H series hoses could work on an E series. Im ordering a set now.
Post Reply