BUILDING A STREET LEGAL KX500 SUPERMOTO

[Motorrad]

is that a under the plug temp? did you take the Crush washer off the Spark plug like your supposed to?

[Sandblaster]

Of course we didn't.
But it is now...
Also, hooked up the water temp gauge temporarily.
There isn't really any good places to put it except for the hose going from the bottom of the right radiator to the water pump inlet..
Not sure but I think it would be better to know the temp of the coolant as it is leaving the head.
I just don't think there is enough hose there to make it work.
Took it for a short trip up the road after bleeding the brakes.
Yes, it's nice to be able to stop....
After about 10 minutes of riding this is where the temps were at.
Head temp on the left, water temp on the right.
Not even warmed up.

temp gauges.JPG (54.51 KiB) Viewed 14140 times

Gonna be gone this weekend so I'll do some longer rides next week and start recording the temps and conditions (After a full warm up)

[Sandblaster]

Incidentally, I don't use Athena gaskets for anything but demonstrations.
I use Cometic only...
Head gasket installation, does it matter which side is up?

head gasket side.JPG (38.74 KiB) Viewed 14132 times

Don't know....
Look carefully at the pic..

head gasket side2.JPG (40.88 KiB) Viewed 14132 times

According to Cometic, the large holes go on the left side of the bike (Just like you were sitting on it).

[Motorrad]

small holes on WP side

[Sandblaster]

Yep.
But why.....

[Sandblaster]

Pulled my head today and correctly installed a new gasket....
Hopefully I will get some temps recorded later in the week so we can get some baseline numbers started.

After having someone tell me to think about why it mattered which side the small holes are on, here is what occurred to me.

The coolant flows from the water pump (Right side of the bike as you are sitting on it) into the cylinder, then is forced up into the head.
If the small holes are placed on the left side of the cylinder there would be more restriction on the left side forcing the majority of the cooled coolant to flow up the right side of the cylinder and bypass the left side.
You would then have unequal cooling effect on the cylinder and head. BAD!!!!
So do it right.
Install your head gasket with the small holes facing the water pump (Right side of the bike).
On both the Cometic and the Athena head gaskets the dimpled side of the gasket goes down.

head gasket.JPG (65.46 KiB) Viewed 14101 times

So basically I have no idea what I'm doing... But thanks to Yodarad I have a real chance of making this a success.

[Sandblaster]

I decided that the gold handle bars from my junk piles were just too beat up for this project.

DSCN4418.jpg (123.4 KiB) Viewed 14099 times

I need to install the mirrors and the plate.
Also I need to work at getting the main gauge hooked up and calibrated

[Friar-Tuck]

Gosh SB,
Here I thought you knew everything about everything..... However you did get things straightened out, all is well...
The first time I looked at the KX head gasket I had no Idea either. No one was born with all the answers Big Guy, Lucky for us there are other folks out there willing to help! I'm sure you've been around long enough to see what comes around, goes around...Good and bad.
Keep up the Good Work...
Tuck\o/

[Sandblaster]

Wow Tuck, I wish I did know everything
Thank goodness there are others out there willing to share, I know I don't mind

[KXAlexx]

SB
Your continued work on this project is great! I love my KX and would like to see it become streetable too.
Thanks for all the pictures and hard work.