Posts
347
Joined
9/23/2014
Location
Murrieta, CA
US
Fantasy
2954th
Edited Date/Time
9/19/2022 9:43am
Hi guys,
Just bought my 2nd K5, a 2000 to go along with my ‘02 that’s being rebuilt. Low hours, original motor, never been opened up. Compression excellent; piston, cylinder and head look great with an exhaust port inspection.
When I went through the carb, I dropped to a 55 pilot, N82M needle stayed on the 3rd clip, and I richened the main to a 170. SoCal @ 1200’.
Haven’t yet gone through the cooling system, just topped off the coolant level - was a tad low. I’ll plan to go through the system, preventatively rebuild the water pump, and likely buy a new impeller as well.
Took it out for a quick trail ride earlier this week, and it seemed to be running pretty hot. Last night I rode it again with a Pro Circuit thermostrip on the cylinder, which topped out at 193 degrees after maybe 10 minutes of riding. I opened it up a good amount in the wash, and checked right after. Then I putted it back home, and it had dropped to the 170s.
I’ve never really run thermostrips before this, and wanted to know what is a normal operation temp for K5s? I’m new to the 500 in general, and don’t have a lot of big bore 2 stroke experience. Do the big Kwackers tend to run a touch hot? If so, what can I do to mitigate that?
Oh, and of course - obligatory pics of the sisters
Just bought my 2nd K5, a 2000 to go along with my ‘02 that’s being rebuilt. Low hours, original motor, never been opened up. Compression excellent; piston, cylinder and head look great with an exhaust port inspection.
When I went through the carb, I dropped to a 55 pilot, N82M needle stayed on the 3rd clip, and I richened the main to a 170. SoCal @ 1200’.
Haven’t yet gone through the cooling system, just topped off the coolant level - was a tad low. I’ll plan to go through the system, preventatively rebuild the water pump, and likely buy a new impeller as well.
Took it out for a quick trail ride earlier this week, and it seemed to be running pretty hot. Last night I rode it again with a Pro Circuit thermostrip on the cylinder, which topped out at 193 degrees after maybe 10 minutes of riding. I opened it up a good amount in the wash, and checked right after. Then I putted it back home, and it had dropped to the 170s.
I’ve never really run thermostrips before this, and wanted to know what is a normal operation temp for K5s? I’m new to the 500 in general, and don’t have a lot of big bore 2 stroke experience. Do the big Kwackers tend to run a touch hot? If so, what can I do to mitigate that?
Oh, and of course - obligatory pics of the sisters
I never had any overheating problem with the 3 KX500s I had through the 90s, totally solid that way. Watch the motor mounts (all the bolts really..) because when they come loose it’s gonna vibrate and break parts. Pipe mounts are basically disposable.
Great scooters! I loved racing those things, nobody liked them in the mid 90s and I was buying them slightly used for $1200-1500 with original tires still mounted. It’s cool to see them finally get popular!
Just trying to be conservative and read the cues the bike is telling me. I’m confident of the bike, and I probably need to just let go some of the hypersensitivity to what it’s doing.
The Shop
The word hypersensitive in relation to a KX500 made me laugh! You’ve gotta enjoy physical abuse at some level to truly make that beast behave, it’ll beat you up if you let it!
Enjoy!
Ended up dropping 2 sizes on the Pilot - 52, 2 turns out, N82M needle on the 2nd clip as opposed to the 3rd, and dropped back to a 168 main. Runs cleaner, still gets warm when ridden hard (upper 190s / lower 200s CHT), but I’m not a WFO kind of guy. Flushed the coolant and replaced with some new Peak 50/50, and have a 1.6 cap on the way, though I don’t think it needs it.
Anybody have experience with oversize water pumps on these? Looks like the kits just consist of an oversize impeller and a spacer.
Taller gearing really helps calm the savage beast and makes them more rideable.
I’m not a fast, wide open desert guy. We live in SoCal, but I grew up in the Midwest, so I much prefer technical woods riding in 1st or 2nd gear to 5th gear sand whoops. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll grow a pair.
As I remember, the easy to check the crank seals was to plug the intake and exhaust, and use a leak down rig to put about 3 psi into the motor. Then use soapy water spray to find any leaks, look for bubbles.
That’s a great looking pair of bikes, it’s so cool to see these things still getting ridden!
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