What did I do to my bike today

[kylepeterson]

I installed a new tow rig this morning. Well, "poor man's" new...it's an '07 w/ 24k miles.

While not earth-shattering, it is significant for me. I just realized that before today, I'd fathered more children (two) over the last 17 years than number of 4-wheeled vehicles bought. I bought my current Expedition 9 1/2 years ago in 2008 when George W. was still President. Before that, I bought my previous Expedition six months before my first child was born in 2000. 

Hopefully I'll get 10 years worth of picking up new bikes out of this one.

what the hell ? how the hell do people find 10 year old trucks with no miles ? i know you usually have to pay a premium for low milage, but damn, it's amazing anyone can NOT drive a car/truck for a decade. :-|

congrats, dats nice if it's anything like mulley's

[KevinB]

what the hell ? how the hell do people find 10 year old trucks with no miles ? i know you usually have to pay a premium for low milage, but damn, it's amazing anyone can NOT drive a car/truck for a decade. :-|

I didn't even have to pay a premium for the mileage/condition...it was listed on Facebook Marketplace at the same price as similar age trucks with 150k - 200k miles.

Even a blind squirrel trips over a nut every now and then. Pretty sure I've used up all my luck for the next couple of years, though.

[DonJuan]

While waiting on some parts in the mail, I was tinkering around and decided to clean up casting fins in my kdx cylinder. Not a port job, per se, but just smoothing things out a little. Probably 0 performance gains, but working in casting quality all of my life, I couldn't resist cleaning up the core lines and removing burrs...



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[LawnmowerRG]

Nice work
You may get more than you think. You have probably added 10%+ to the port area.
My experience has been that little things like that can make a big difference.

[Mulley]

While waiting on some parts in the mail, I was tinkering around and decided to clean up casting fins in my kdx cylinder. Not a port job, per se, but just smoothing things out a little. Probably 0 performance gains, but working in casting quality all of my life, I couldn't resist cleaning up the core lines and removing burrs...



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I find this very interesting. What did you use to polish with? Dremel tool? I love 2 strokes and I know all of the pro teams polish and check everything for perfection. I'm always afraid that if I touch it somehow it will get worse instead of better.

[IceCold4x4]

I find this very interesting. What did you use to polish with? Dremel tool? I love 2 strokes and I know all of the pro teams polish and check everything for perfection. I'm always afraid that if I touch it somehow it will get worse instead of better.

A basic port cleanup and knife edge of the vanes shouldn't ever hurt. Just don't go too far and hit water or change the port shape and it should only be gains

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[DonJuan]

I find this very interesting. What did you use to polish with? Dremel tool? I love 2 strokes and I know all of the pro teams polish and check everything for perfection. I'm always afraid that if I touch it somehow it will get worse instead of better.

Well, I used the predecessor to the Dremel, a single speed Craftsman rotary tool. Same premise, just louder and less control than a Dremel.  28000 RPMs of destruction. Used abrasive cones and cylinders, then a stainless brush to clean it up.

I figured if I messed it up, I could justify a cylinder from Eric Gorr or some other specialist.

Not that this body of work reflects it, but I've worked around machining and pattern and tool making for a while. I doubt it'll amount to much performance wise, but I know it'll reduce turbulence in the intake.


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[Fencejumper09]

I found some rust and why my swingarm wouldn't rotate through its range of motion!!

[merc16]

Ehh, probably could have sprayed a little WD-40 on it annnnd it'd be fine.  : D

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[jrobinson]

You have to be careful of those grease worms getting in the bearings and eating all the grease.   :)

[merc16]

Out with the old, in with the Rizomas !

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[IceCold4x4]

Installed the last bit of the duc fairing.

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[Nice Goat]

Completed carb mods

[DonJuan]

Lots of scraping gaskets off,
New top end
Boyesen reeds
new coolant
New Rotella
Inspected wheel bearings (all good)
A few craft beers
Got 'er all put back together, and didn't have any leftover parts. Just so my neighbors will continue to like me, I'm going to wait until tomorrow to fire it off.
...and new grips



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[Fencejumper09]

So it was Saturday but got all new swingarm, linkage and shock bearings installed in the YZ!