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I agree, you are making really fast progress. The bike is looking amazing, keep up the good work!

That will have to be all for at least a week guys. Heading out to the "winter home" in Arizona tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get to meet up with SS109 this time and check out his build, maybe exchange some pointers! I'm trying to line up all my remaining parts deliveries for right when I get back so I can get this thing hammered out in less than a week or two. Stay tuned!

Back home last night. Time to work on the bike again! While I was gone, I recieved my plastic kit, and my radiators. Made a quick call to my Kawi dealer this morning, should have the "misc" parts by Thursday (I put a rush on them.) He also informed me that the KIPS governor shaft has been discontinued! Looks like I'll need to weld that one up and machine it back down to proper length and size. It will be a LOT of work. Of course, pics are forthcoming of all my new goodies, but I had to unpack and do some laundry, then a quick "hop and pop" flight at noon then I'll hit it hard this afternoon. I'm tired of looking at this thing in pieces. Time to get this whore back together!

I should have the KIPS shaft you need, if you would rather replace it.

Please email me at nick dot holinski at shaw dot ca with your PayPal details and I will pick that up from you.

Will do. I will check its condition when I get home and let you know.

Bled both brakes. The front was a see you next tuesday without the use of a vacuum bleeder. Thankfully I have one!

Installed the new UFO rear fender:



The stock fork guards are fugly. Had a couple extra sets of the '99 style, they bolt right up.



Got to work on the KIPS shaft. Here you can see it's broken. Yes, even Slick_Nick goofs sometimes and has to fix his mistake! ;)



Found some steel rod that was about the right size and cut a piece down:



Ground both ends flat:



Welded up. Its not pretty, but I was more concerned with good penetration (as I ALWAYS am) than how it looked:



Cleaned up, looks a it better:



Tapped the rod to M6x1.0



Cut the rod down to lengeth and chamfered the end:



Removed the old chunk from the nut, it threads on perfectly:



And THAT'S how you fix a broken KIPS shaft

Nice work on that KIPS shaft!

Good job!

coming together great

could i ask what exactly was wrong with the stock fork guards?
(i just bought a KX 125 front end for my KDX and it doesnt have them, so im exploring all options)

diymirage wrote:coming together great

could i ask what exactly was wrong with the stock fork guards?
(i just bought a KX 125 front end for my KDX and it doesnt have them, so im exploring all options)

He put on what yours takes.

diymirage wrote:coming together great

could i ask what exactly was wrong with the stock fork guards?
(i just bought a KX 125 front end for my KDX and it doesnt have them, so im exploring all options)

They just looked dumb. I put the "most common" KX fork guard style that worked with the retard brake line under the caliper. I run the '04 up style on my KDX as it's got the nice brake line routing inside the fork leg.

Installed my newly fixed governor shaft after cleaning the side cover and inside the case. I inspected the clutch and all the other parts, all were in great shape. Everything got flushed out (the old oil was gross) and after some fresh ATF it will be super clean in there.





Got a little more done tonight. Pulled apart the KIPS to clean it, MORE broken parts from the PO... Awesome... No wonder the bike had no top end hit.



Got it welded up:



I didn't take any pics, but I cleaned up the weld nicely and installed and lubed all the KIPS parts after a thurough cleaning. Here is the cylinder all cleaned up and put together with new gaskets:

I kinda get the impression that you wear a lab coat while doing work on your bikes. Like a mad scientist.

Haha I guess it beats wearing nothing!

Just went to put the engine together. I threw out the small end roller bearing, thinking that the piston kit (Pro-X) would come with one. Nope. Wiseco sends you a bearing, but not Pro-X. Ok, onto plan B. The wristpin bearing is shared with a bunch of other models, including the my KDX. Into my parts cache, I seem to remember having a few kicking around down there. Nope. As I dug through stuff, I remembered throwing them out when I last moved. The dealer called and said my parts are in, but now I'll have to check availability on the bearing and add that to my list. It's a pretty common item, I hope they have it in stock.


Cleaned up the new radiators, cleaned all the hoses, and took care of a few misc. items. The piston ring is gapped and on the piston, I'll just have to put it all together once I have that bearing.

Picked up my parts from Kawasaki. Replaced the countershaft seal, and put a new sproket on. Still have to figure out something for the case saver:



New wristpin bearing. Nice $17 mistake... Thankfully they had a few in stock!



Pro-X piston on and circlips seated. New base gasket installed.



Cylinder mounted. The Piston moved easily with no binding.



KIPS shaft nut tightened to 74in-lb. My repaired shaft worked!



Flywheel torqued to 18ft-lb and a new cover gasket installed:



I took apart and cleaned the reed block. The carbon fiber reeds checked out and will be reused. The head was installed, and with a spark plug, good compression was had. The completed engine!

Engine insalled in the bike. All bolts and the swingarm were torqued to factory spec:





New footpeg springs. $15 EACH!



New clutch lever dust cover. Its small details like this that make a difference in the long run. A simple step like this can add lots of longevity to the lever.



That's it for tonight!

I have to ask, how did you get the engine cases to be so clean?