ssanddemon

I'm running a stock shaved head, works great. The Noss head would be my choice if I went that route however. They are a sponsor of this site and provide a great product. As Sand Rocket said, beware running high compression domes or a shaved head on an unwelded crank.

Be ready for massive modifications. Got to fab up a transmission setup & etc. I have seen the sled engine transplant done, but it was done by a pro welder and fabricator.

It's gonna be for sea level to 1500 or so feet, that's what most of the dunes are at. As with almost everything as relates to jetting, this will be a baseline setting only. If the bike runs good and plugs look fine, then great. But most likely, you will have to do some more jetting work from the basic recommended settings.

Put the plug in a bench vise, electrode facing up. Then hacksaw the plug open, cutting parallel to the ceramic insutator, all the way to the bottom of the plug threads. Then make another hacksaw cut along the threads at the base of your first cut to remove the piece. What you are doing here is cutting an access port in the plug in order to view the insulator all the way down to the base.

Good question. I put the thing on right after I bought the bike in August of '02 and the name escapes me, but it may well be a TM DesignWorks standard size; it came from Rocky Mountain. It seems to be of decent quality, fits in the well just fine. I do know that it was a tight fit around the 14 tooth sprocket, obviously a much larger gap with the 13. Therein lies the problem- in order for the saver to work, it must fit around the sprocket fairly closely to hold the chain on the front sprocket if it breaks. This then causes the broken chain to be 'spit out' rather than to ball up at the case causing damage.

.028-.032 according to The Good Book.

Thanks! I will check out TM for the new saver. Yup, I knew the cheapo stuff was lame, just wasn't thinking about the possible ramifications at the time. Only the good stuff from now on!

Hey guys, first of all, let me say BEWARE of the cheap chain & sprocket sets on Ebay. I bought a Yaz set and it screwed me over. Had only like 20 hrs. on the set (with good adjustment) when the chain snapped under load. Due to the fact that I have a 13 tooth front, my case saver did not keep the chain from balling up at the case- the gap between saver and sprocket was too great. Luckily, even though I ended up with some cracks in the upper case, they are minor and don't go thru to oil. I ended up smearing J/B weld on to keep it sturdy for the time being; later I will pull the top case for an easy weld project. My qustion is if anyone knows of a case saver for the smaller sprockets, or do I need to go back to a 14 with something like a 48 in the rear? I sure don't want to go thru this again!

This is true and good info up to a point- if a person backs off the throttle and quicky snicks the shifter into the next gear, the damage is minimal. I do it every now and then and don't worry about it much, but not very often. It won't break the trans, but it's not the best thing for it.

I have used enamel engine paint for this kind of thing, using the good prep tips supplied above. This kind of paint is inexpensive, is durable, and sticks well.

Yep, I know what you are talking about, but it still needs the frame-to-engine connector fabbed up and installed. The engine is going to be a stressed member of the frame, and until this piece is welded in, the bike is like a piece of rubber- real flexible. I do have a plan to get everthing straight and lined up before this piece is finished, as it will be the main factor in keeping the bike tied together and sturdy. I am held up right now waiting for some repairs to my wirefeeder, but will post pics of the finished product when it is done.

Here's the one I have been playing with for a little while...an 89 LT650. Looks a lot nicer with all the plastic set on, but I'm too lazy.

350 sounds awful fat for those mods. I would expect the 290-310 range. Also sounds like bad spark plugs. They new?

The only thing I would add to DUNEDEMON's list is to retorque the head nuts. Heard that some of 'em will end up being loose after the heat cycles causing head gasket seepage. And it wouldn't be a bad idea to pull out every screw you see and reinstall with anti-sieze. Lots of guys are finding over tightened & seized bolts straight from the factory, though they were all OK on mine when I got it home in '03.

Huh! That's some crappy oil I guess. Sounds like it was foaming up like a bastard. Probably did you a favor by knocking loose a bunch of clutch sediment from the bottom of the case with the bubble action though. I second the tractor oil, it's been working great for me for years. It's cheap so I change it very often, keeps clutch sediment from building up. Heard good things about ATF too, I think whatever you use, just change it after every few rides and the trans stays happy.

Gotta be coolant. May as well ditch that bottle, they won't allow the rad to cycle back and forth, they're a catch can only. It will stay full as the radiator empties itself into the trans. Sounds like you got it nailed- it's gotta be the feed tube o-ring (upper middle of clutch cover) or the water pump impeller seal. Either way, that clutch cover is coming off!

Sounds like you haven't swapped carbs and reeds side to side yet. I would definitely do that before anything else. Plug the choke tubes and the carbs will work fine. Edit: My bike was running just like that this winter. Swapped EVERTHING side to side and rebuilt the top end, still ran like crap on the left. Desperation move was the stator side crank seal, fixed it.

OK, here ya go, no one seems to like that blue writing. It is normal for chains to be somewhat tighter in one area than another.When you set up adjustment, make sure to roll the wheel around a few turns to make sure it's not real loose in one area and too tight in another. If you have much of an extreme difference as you roll the axle through the complete length of chain, then you need a new chain.

Let us know what your'e already getting, that'll help. Hopefully pipes and air filter mods to start...

I can't remember if the manual specifies or not to set the adjustment with the suspension compressed. It is important to do this! I will kneel on the grab bar and reach down to feel the free play, but doing this you can safely get it tighter than 1". I get it pretty snug (not banjo- tight of course) with the susp squished; when you let the bike up, you will have considerably more play due to the arc of the swingarm travel. I have heard guys rave about sidewinder sprockets, but take a look at the price! I don't go thru sprockets quickly, so I would never spend that kind of money. Spend your cash on a good o-ring chain like the DID gold and a good set of sprockets, set it up nice and snug and you will be done with the problem. As Ducman said, non o-rings are for racing, they won't live in the sand or dirt.

O-ring chains are specifically designed to be used in just those conditions. My factory chain lasted thru 2 years of big time sand abuse, and I never use chain lube. Are you tearing up sprockets? The reason I ask is that I have seen a lot of chains/sprockets wear out quickly due to loose adjustment. I rode with a guy (friend of a friend) at Glamis who was always bitching about how his (stock) shee tore up chains & sprockets. Sure enough, he went thru a set in 3 days. Took a look at his adjustment, and there was like 3 inches of chain play with the suspension compressed. We got him set up with a new set of sprockets at the right adjustment, and he is running strong 6 months later, no more problems.

Maybe a squirt of oil in ea. spark plug hole? Then cycle the kickstarer to spread it around. & grease the fittings in case some water is in there from the last wash/ ride. Maybe W-D 40 the chain (or chain lube) real good to keep it from geting rusty. And change the oil.... and etc... I do all this stuff every time since I don't ride her as much as I used to.

All TORS wires should be left disconnected, then the box can be pitched. Easy deal!

Because they work REALLY good. If you ran Boysen then V-Force, you'd know why we use them despite the cost. And only a very small minority of us has had problems, like 5%; most times they run forever in any circumstance. For my part, I had them installed wrong, on the front side of the spacers. Found out thru testing that the spacers are unnecessary for my application anyway and pitched 'em.

Nope, won't fit. The 20 is height, 11 width and 10 is rim diameter. You have a rim that is 8" diameter. Both 8s and 10s are the most common size in the aftermarket, so you should be able to find some 20-10-8s for your bike no problem. Edit: The t-9 and Doug .190 are comparable rims. The t-9 has cutouts at the wheel center, so has a bit more of a 'fancy' look.