trying to make a hybrid - narrowing the cases

[Tedh98]

One other question related to the cases. How do you guys drill the cases out? Take it to a machine shop or get a 17mm drill bit and do it yourself?

I have a drill press, but there is no way I'll be able to get the engine to sit on the table perfectly so I can use the press.

If I were to use a hand drill, I wasn't sure how well the 17mm bit would track or follow the 15mm hole so that I don't end up out of alignment.

[jc7622]

One other question related to the cases. How do you guys drill the cases out? Take it to a machine shop or get a 17mm drill bit and do it yourself?

I have a drill press, but there is no way I'll be able to get the engine to sit on the table perfectly so I can use the press.

If I were to use a hand drill, I wasn't sure how well the 17mm bit would track or follow the 15mm hole so that I don't end up out of alignment.

Drilling the cases was, for me, the worst part of the whole thing. It sucked! I thought it would be soft aluminum but it was really hard stuff. I don't know how many bits I destroyed and it wasn't pretty. You might could use a drill press if you build some kind of a cradle out of wood to hold the motor in place. Compared to drilling the cases everythign else was easy.

On the swingarm I cut it a little over size with an air cut off tool from Harbor Freight. I think they're on sale now for $6. I use mine all the time now. Once I got it cut close I finished it up with a belt sander. I would hit it with the belt sander for a few seconds and then re-measure with the calipers to see how close I was getting. After I was to the correct width I finished it up by hand sanding with a finer grit to get it looking good. Cutting the swingarm was the easiest task for me.

I didn't move my headstay mount on the frame. I used longer bolts and spacers to make the connection. I just put an IMS tank on it and will have to do the angled brackets like in the pictures a few posts up so that I have enough clearance up under the tank.

I cut two pipe brackets off my KDX frame and had them welded in the correct place on the KX frame. A KX250 silencer mates up perfectly.

I mounted my electrical boxes to the underside of the subframe at the back of the airbox. The KX airbox sucks, by the way, if you ride through mud or water puddles. I am thinking about building a complete new airbox out of fiberglass or something that is more sealed like the KDX box.

[Tedh98]

I gave in a dropped the engine off at the machine shop. They are going to charge me $50 to drill out the cases. That seemed like a reasonable price to pay to keep me from trying it myself and potentially screwing up the cases.

[SVandal]

Not a bad idea since a drill is 20 and a ream is 30.00 for the 17mm. For 20.00 its worth not having the stress.

[SAPPER]

lets get sum pics

[Tedh98]

lets get sum pics

Pics of what? I've got two threads with my builds.