Farm Vehicle → Mountain Goat

[mobile chernobyl]

On the front fork - here is my plan. Critique is appreciated with supporting reasons even more appreciated!

• Rider Weight with gear: 180
• Fork Springs: .38 kg/mm FRP Springs
• Oil Weight: 5wt
• Base valve mod: Minus 2 shims (8 shims vs 10 as stock)

I have read around this and a few other forums and can't find where Fredette recommends 7.5wt oil for the H series - only the earlier series bikes. I'd prefer to keep it 5wt and not have a sluggish fork in either compression or rebound. Does the base valve mod for H series have a dependence on switching to heavier weight oil? I'm trying to find the relationship between heavier weight oil, base valve mod and heavier springs - I can understand with heavier springs you may need more damping to control the force the same as stock... but I'd like to hear people's experience with a similar setup and riding weight.

Thanks!

[KDXGarage]

How fast are you? .38 sounds a little soft perhaps

5 is what I would suggest. You can change if you want to play around with it.

A NOTE FROM YOUR WALLET:

BE CAREFUL when gently filing very lightly on the tops of the aluminum base valves, as you cautiously proceed with great care.

They are peened over. DO NOT just go cranking on them.

[mobile chernobyl]

Base valve mod complete. I actually took one apart, saw it only had 7 shims (or so I thought) then put it back together. I almost didn't do the other one thinking it probably had also been modded but I did take it apart and found after much more diligent shim shuffling had all 10 shims. So I then took the first one back apart and shuffled the shims to find it did not have 7 but in fact 10! Damn sticky shims... So now I have 8 shims in each base valve.

I also stripped the forks completely down and carb cleaned and "gun barrel" swab cleaned em. So shiny now! Here's all the parts (minus the .38 kg/mm springs) ready to get re-assembled tomorrow.

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After the forks were at this point I decided to get the other side ready for re-assembly as well. New swingarm bearings were in order (the ones in it were rusty and pitted). RMATV Tusk swingarm bearing tool claims it can only be used for assembly - but I found a way to use it to disassemble as well which made this task pretty easy. The linkage bearings were not pitted or rusty so I just cleaned the old grease out and put new moly red bearing grease in... smooth as silk!

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I also started cleaning the engine a bit - some genius thought it would be a good idea to paint parts black and it looks shitty so I am just selectively abrasive sanding them to get them aluminum colored again.

Hoping to start bolting **** back to the frame tomorrow after I get the forks re-assembled. Ready to start the up-hill climb back towards a complete bike!

[KDXGarage]

Good job!!

[mobile chernobyl]

FRP spring on left, whatever was in it on right.

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Looks like I will need spacers.... After some research, 1" sch40 pvc works well it seems... so I happen to have that. Should I cut it to the delta value (~70mm) or maybe a bit more then reduce to get 5-10mm of preload? My other bike (beta 200rr) has 6mm of fork spring preload and seems good... im not an expert here if anyone can tell haha

At least the math checks out - FRP comes out to 37.6 Kg/mm vs the current springs at 35.5 Kg/mm. Phew!

After the springs were investigated I proceeded to start the reassembly process... Progress!

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I'm thinking of starting with 150m/42p jets and needle (DEK comes standard on this airstriker) on 2nd clip from top. I have the 35mm airstriker carb and typically ride between 6k and 11k feet so im thinking while those jets would be on the lean side at sea level (from what I've read) they may be perfect for my elevations? I also have the FMF woods pipe, vforce3 reeds and turbinecore spark arrestor for reference.

Jetting critique is much appreciated!

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[KDXGarage]

The springs on the right are not stock.

A few mm of preload would be good. PVC pipe makes a good spacer.

[mobile chernobyl]

It's lookin more like a dirtbike now!

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If anyone that's reading this can help - looking to go out for her maiden voyage tonight but needing to fine tune the carb.

Symptoms:

1) Won't idle for more than 5-10 seconds without a touch of throttle. Air screw is 2.5T out and idle adj knob is just about all the way in - don't want it to idle too high (it will idle if I crank it all the way in but then it's too high of an idle for my style of riding).

2) After power band hits, it does not seem to wind out/keep building power... KIPS is engaging as expected (as per the left inspection port - it turns the normal 1/4-1/3 turn). Seems like it should have more power up top but it will get to a high rev then just kinda 'burble' in a way that seems like it's not burning "clean" or hot - so rich in my mind. One caveat possibly is that I do have the early edition of the woods pipe - aka a skinny tiny pipe that was made for torque but does this mean it sacrificed top end and over-rev? I've experienced this effect with other Gnarly pipes on other 2 strokes...

My hypothesis: Rich all around.

2000 KDX 200 - stock piston/porting
Elevation: 6000ft-10kft
PWK air striker 35mm carb
Main: 152
Pilot: 42
Needle: DEK, middle clip (3rd out of 5 total)
A/S: 2.5T
Fuel mix: 50:1

I intentionally started erring on the rich side since this is a new bike to me and a new carb... I've seen others at my elevation running 150/40 with their needle on 2nd clip from top (I'm on 3rd currently, so richer) so I'm going to bump down to that starting with just Main and Pilot jets. The off-idle and 1/4 throttle response is currently pretty good but the fact that it won't idle and it will start without any choke tells my amateur carb tuning mind that it's rich down there.

[bufftester]

At 2.5 turns out on the AS you should go down a size on the PJ to a 40. Very rich which is why your idle adjust screw needs to be almost all the way in to idle. Once that is corrected then run a couple plug chops to dial in the MJ. After that its needles and clips for the mid range. I agree that you are rich all over. The woods pipe is going to rob some of your top end, though part of your loss is likely jetting related.

Also, IIWM i'd get rid of that inline fuel filter, or at least shorten your tubing up. You've got a loop of tubing that extends below the float line of your carb, possible that you could vapor lock your fuel flow (admittedly very low risk, but...)

Bike is looking very nice tho!

[mobile chernobyl]

I am now running a 40/150 jet setup. I dropped the needle (DEK) to clip #2 as well. It idles much better and revs pretty cleanly. It's lean though - plug indicates it and there were a few situations where a lean hesitation was noticeable so I'll have to figure out where to richen it up with the tuning manual now.

I'll address the filter in a bit - it didn't cause any issues on tonight ride and is more just of a means to an end. I got rid of the filters on the petcock side as they were destroyed anyways and filled with junk from the PO. My solution for having a filter was to use the inline for the time being.

So onto tonight's ride. The bike is a bike - it does dirtbike things. It was fun to be out after almost a month hiatus waiting on my Beta to be serviced with back-ordered Italian electrical parts... The suspension felt pretty damned good for a DIY front rebuild and rear basic rebuild (no revalve). Brakes were perfect - glad I replaced and rebuilt the front with a galfer line - one finger braking no problem. The elephant in the room however was the impression that the bike had a CVT for power transmission. It basically just would rev up after powerband and slowly collect more speed after that - it would audibly hit the peak rev then after a while it would physically keep pulling in speed/torque to match that change in engine sound. I started to have the impression that maybe the clutch is slipping? It just didn't seem right and not inline with what I've read about the KIPS system not working 100% (which is appeared to be during my tests both engine off and on).

So first, the glamour shots!

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And now the clutch... I guess you could call the basket grooved? </S>
The clutch friction plates have matching grooves in them as well - just as deep.

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And the springs were also compressed under spec...

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So my question to the gurus on here - would this scenario cause the clutch to not engage as solid-ly as it should? The bike sounded like it was running great - reving clean and up pretty high... but the engine sound to rear wheel traction feeling that I know oh so well with my Beta 200RR 2T just was not there - not even in the slightest. It felt like I was on a snowmobile with a slipping belt...

The engine oil has a silver glimmer to it - but it's non-metallic (tested with a magnet wand, did not change motion of the fluid like you would expect like a 'ferrofluid'). I suspect this is aluminum being worn off from something?

I've never replaced a clutch on a dirt bike - and never fallen victim to a slipping clutch for that matter - call me lucky or just not one to own a bike long enough to deal with it.

[qbury]

Sorry if I missed this but what kind of head light is that? It looks good.

[mobile chernobyl]

Sorry if I missed this but what kind of head light is that? It looks good.

I got this one from amazon. I ended up drilling two holes in the front fender spaced for the lower studs on the light so I could set elevation and give it a solid mount - I have the option to put screws through those studs for a rock solid mount but I don't really need to right now.

[KDXGarage]

"So my question to the gurus on here - would this scenario cause the clutch to not engage as solid-ly as it should?"

A tisket, a tasket,
you're gonna need a new cltch basket

and plates and springs

Someone got their money's worth out of the clutch along the line.

[qbury]

Cool. Thank you.

[mobile chernobyl]

"So my question to the gurus on here - would this scenario cause the clutch to not engage as solid-ly as it should?"

A tisket, a tasket,
you're gonna need a new cltch basket

and plates and springs

Someone got their money's worth out of the clutch along the line.

Yea the search is on now... In reading other motorcycle forums about the downstream effects of a heavily notched clutch basket - it does seem that it can cause power delivery to be robbed because the plates "can't slide together smoothly" per say... So I'm hoping at this point that the bike will be delivering power as expected to the ground after I get this situation sorted.

Someone got their money's worth out of this whole bike... it's been a journey to get to this point and all the "WHY DID YOU DO THAT SO JANKY" discoveries along the way... I guess I'm a better bike mechanic than I give myself credit for haha.

[KDXGarage]

Yes, sir! This man gets it. (posted after reading "can't slide together smoothly")

This man has also used "JANKY". That is a very descriptive and accurate way of putting it. I can see the previous owners half-assing it in my mind right now. :-)

http://www.wiseco.com/ProductDetail.asp ... ppID=43331

I suggest you check into the Wiseco basket. I think a few people here have bought one in the past. Read up on drilling out the rivets and such. Unless I am wrong, no aftermarket basket comes with the gear already mounted, one just re-uses his own gear.

[mobile chernobyl]

Ordered a very lightly used (compared to my saw blade basket) OEM basket and a pro-x kit. I couldn't find any bad reviews on the pro-x kit like those that have ordered the EBC kit and found the springs to be wonky.

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Someone also pointed out on the KDX facebook group that the first friction clutch plate on my post above is not inline with the rest of the clutch plates - should it be? It's placed off-clock in the extra groove...

[bufftester]

That is probably the worst looking basket I've seen, definitely going to require replaement

[mobile chernobyl]

So I just checked the guide online as well as my Clymers manual... seams that the last plate is supposed to be offset. That is certainly weird - seems like every other clutch I've ever seen does not do this - I wonder why Kawasaki chose this method specifically for the H-series KDX?

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Would it hurt if I didn't do that temporarily for a ride this weekend so I can put all friction plates (flipped as well) into the basket and keep it in one central groove? I guess I'll try and see what happens... getting a new basket next week anyways haha.

[KDXGarage]

File the heck out of it if you have another one coming.

[mobile chernobyl]

Well I filed the heck outta it! Have a ride lined up this weekend that is too good to wait for my replacement parts next week so I figured I'd do my best old skewl clutch basket salvage job. All in all I opened up the slots from what appeared to be a factory width of 14mm to a nearly groove free width of 15mm - so 1 extra mm for the plates to bang around in. Groovy!

The basket pre-filing is on top in each image.

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I put it all back together and flipped the friction plates so their flatter side would ride the newly flattened basket edge. The plates are intentionally all inline. Why would kawasaki have wanted the last plate to be staggered? If anyone knows of a valid reason I'll go back to that method with the new basket and plates...

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And to top it off I used 4 used spark plug washers to preload the springs since they were about .5mm under spec. The washers weren't placed where they are in the picture during assembly - that was just for fitment check.

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I put ATF F in the tranny after all said and done. Hoping the detergents that it may have in it do a little cleaning before the new basket and plates are installed, then I'll probably switch back to normal oil.

The spark plug was showing a little on the lean side so I raised the needle one clip as well.

Just need to wire the tail light and headlight and this bad boy is nearly done!