BradZ

Rebuilding my bike soon and needing advice for what brands to go for and what to avoid. Found a kit which is a wiseco top end and hot rods bottom but I also need a new bore which they don't come with. The only bore I can find is made by cylinder works and I dont know anything about them. Has anyone used their products before and if so, how are they?

Hey guys, my big bore kit has blown a head gasket again so its time it went back to a 450. Decided while I'm at at I'll do the bottom end aswell. Which has me thinking, while its all apart I may put some stage 1 or 2 hot cams in it but first I'd like to hear from you guys. Has anyone ridden one of these bikes with cams who can comment on how much of a difference it makes?

Hey guys, was thinking about cutting a few inches off my stock exhaust. Not only is it really long and at risk of getting damaged quite easily, its fairly scratched and dented at the end so cosmetically it doesn't look great. Im aware it'll make the bike a bit louder which isnt an issue for me, I've read mixed reviews on it altering performance and can't get a definitive answer. So will cutting 4 inches or less off the end make any performance drops?

Turned the nut another turn and a half, leak gone. Must have gotten lucky And my fuel issue still hasn't returned so I'm having a good run for now

Okay, new day new headaches :/ Took the bike for a ride just before and the fuel issue seems to have corrected itself for now. But it only used to do it every now and again so I don't know if its 100% fixed yet, time will tell. My main issue is the bikes leaking oil from the drive sprocket where I put the new seal in. Now I was pretty sure I did it all correctly, is there a certain trick or procedure to doing it that I've missed? Perhaps I haven't done the nut back up tight enough, would this cause the leak? Thanks again.

Im jusy going to piss the breather valve off and see what happens lol. Then ill go from there. Thanks for all the advice guys

Yeah the breather is installed correctly but I just have a feeling thats the problem. Fuel tanks need to breathe both ways and that one way valve I think is stopping it from breathing in so the more I ride the more of a vacuuk lock im getting. I hope its the problem. Anyone heard of anything similar?

Going to check it tomorrow, the breather line has some fancy one way valve in it to let positive tank pressure out without letting fuel spill out. In theory its a good idea but what I suspect is happening is my tank is getting negative pressure, locking this valve shut thus getting an air lock. I guess having a fuel pump instead of gravity fed carby would also make it worse. Fingers crossed this is the problem.

Also, just had a thought, I cant exactly recall but I THINK these problems started after putting a new breather on the fuel cap so that could be it? Perhaps when im filling the bike up after this problem has occured its releasing the pressure and solving my issue

Before we go any further, my bike is fuel injected so no petcock to play with, and I only have one fuel line. It might be worth noting that the day it played up big time, earlier that day when it was running better, it didnt feel like it had anywhere near as much pull as usual but it still ran okay. Im leaning toward fuel issue but at $500 for a new pump I want to make damn sure thats actually what it is

Hey guys, after sorting out my last couple of issues with the bike, 2 more have sprung up. Number one is that every now and again the bike would bog down like it had no fuel, even though it did. This used to happen once it had around 1/4 of a tank, filling up would fix the issue. Then it happened slightly more frequently even whilst full, seemed to be when the bike was hot. Today, it cracked the sads big time and I barely managed to baby it back to the ute. Then, after a trip home I decided to try and ride again to see if it was still carrying on. Nope, ran great, pulled hard and revved out happily. My guess is fuel pump but can anyone confirm? This leads me to the 2nd problem. Flying down the track, top of 4th gear, all of a sudden the bike free revs like it's in neutral, try and select a gear, they were all there but the bike just free revved. Look down to see the nut holding the drive sprocket on has fallen off and the sprocket has come off the spline, also spraying oil everywhere in the process. Is there just a seal behind the cover the drive sprocket sits on thats caused this? Obviously the nut is to blame but will the oil be spewing out because its stuffed a seal in the process? Thanks in advance

Update! Swapped out iridium plug for standard ngk. No choke, first kick starts every time. Who would have thought

Did some research into pros and cons of iridium plugs. Have heard they cause some starting issues in high performance engines and that oem plugs are the way to go. Shall swap it out tomorrow and see where that takes me

What do you mean about the carbs for racing? Just went for a ride then, bike still hard to start, after a few kicks without firing it lets out a rather large backfire. Not sure what this means. Changing a standard plug to iridium wouldn't affect this would it?

Unfortunately im on a slight budget at the moment so shelling out 300 for a tuner is a little out of my price range at the moment. Pretty sure they're only 220 round here anyway. I can get it dynod and tuned for 150 so I think ill go for that option for now and look at a tuner down the track. Plus I want to know the AFR's the bikes producing for peace of mind. Yeah the wiseco gasket fits perfectly and makes me feel a little more confident in the bike, the less athena the better haha. Next on the list is picking a new slip on pipe. Thinking fmf. I know the yoshi and akrapovic are the best but they will blow the budget out of the water so ill steer clear of them.

Airhead- No the bike didn't behave like this prior the filter change. That being said I didn't just change the filter. Pulled the head and sleeve off to do gaskets, replaced spark plug with an iridium one and put a new filter in. New filter is a slightly different design, wavy for more surface area so I dunno if that will make any difference. I'm 100% sure my bike is timed right and all bolts were torqued correctly as per manual. Dt502001- thanks for the info, currently waiting to get the bike on a dyno to do a few runs and check afr and whatnot. Might just put up with it until I get it tuned and sorted. I know its running a tad lean as it has slightly white intake valves, obviously has never been remapped since becoming a 500.

Just cleaned and re oiled filter lightly. Still hard to start. Hopefully a tune will sort it out unless anyone has any other ideas

Ahhh just replaced air filter. Could possibly have oiled it too much?

No red parts on my bike whatsoever. Im taking about the knob on the throttle body which also adjusts idle when turned. My bike is fuel injected so I might need to get it tuned? No jets to change lol.

Anyone know what this could mean? If you try kicking it without choke whilst its hot it just refuses to start. Choke on, first kick..

I've got a top end gasket set on the way. Got the head refaced today, they took 5 thou off to flatten it out as it had a low spot. Fingers crossed this sorts the problem.

Im having trouble finding a gasket for my bike, being bored out I need a specialized gasket, not oem. My question is if I could find a wiseco gasket out of their big bore kits would it suit my Athena kit? I've heard Athena gaskets are junk

Oil level is fine. Seems okay now. It no longer wants to ride off with the clutch in. Its a little hard to find neutral whilst running so it's not 100% but it'll do for now.

Thanks mate I'll look into all that first thing tomorrow. This forum is full of the most helpful people ive ever come across so thank you!

Also, having a 500cc big bore kit on it, I wont be able to use a standard head gasket will I?