KawasakiTrax Community
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: SeaRayKindaDay on December 30, 2012, 10:58:03 AM
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My sled is actually a 440 john deere liquifire but in the 80's they used kawasaki invader engines, so here I am on a kaw forum! I burnt a piston from detonation and am rebuilding the engine now, but I can't find my answer to the specific cylinder plating material to know whether to hone it or what. What prep does everyone recommend for these cylinders?
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they are nikasil plated cylinders, honing is not recommended as the plating is not too thick. You can clean them up with scotch pad or very LIGHT honing. Any deep gouges are best either replace the cylinder or re-plate which is expensive.
are you sure it was detonation? most pistons get burnt or melted from a leaking crank case seal.
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they are nikasil plated cylinders, honing is not recommended as the plating is not too thick. You can clean them up with scotch pad or very LIGHT honing. Any deep gouges are best either replace the cylinder or re-plate which is expensive.
are you sure it was detonation? most pistons get burnt or melted from a leaking crank case seal.
The stock cylinders are chrome not nikasil.
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My sled is actually a 440 john deere liquifire but in the 80's they used kawasaki invader engines, so here I am on a kaw forum! I burnt a piston from detonation and am rebuilding the engine now, but I can't find my answer to the specific cylinder plating material to know whether to hone it or what. What prep does everyone recommend for these cylinders?
They are chrome and you can lightly hit them with a deglazer but i usually just used some scotchbrite pads and gave them a quick once over.
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If the rings will set fine without honing I'll probably go that route and just do a good cleanup.
The engine was rebuilt by the guy I bought it from and he put in Wisco forged pistons. I've owned the sled about 6-7 years and in that time the previous owner died, or else I'd just ask him what he did. I'm replacing the crank seals anyway because I know everyone recommends it, plus I need to flush the crankcase. As for why it burned down, I can think of numerous reasons. First of all there was some old gas in the tank and even the new gas was 87 or 89 octane. Also, we somehow lost the air box and had been running that way for some time. This probably made it run lean or allowed a jet to freeze in the carb overnight (mikuni). The MAG side piston has a hole burnt right in the middle, and when it went it took a good chunk off the bottom of the spark plug.
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Mag side burning up is usually the crank seal behind the flywheel. The pto side has oil from the oil pump gears against it and usually last longer.
no airbox will also make it run lean. The stock airbox does restrict the airflow slightly.
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Sea Ray, take a look at "looks like a problem" I suspect that yours is very similar. I agree with Jim, probably cause is mag crank seal but I wouldn't rule out a leak at an old carb mount boot. At this point I am pretty sure my problem was dry rot in the mounting boot.
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Oops MAG side was a typo. Its the PTO clutch side piston. Here is a picture for giggles. I did read your thread mark and I'm sorry to hear you're in the same boat. Its snowing though so Im going to see if the old indy 600 will fire up while I wait for parts on this one!
P.s. is there a way to get rid of the quick link tool bar for mobile viewing in this site. I cant type a reply without clicking that. Its almost in the middle of my phones screen.
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Ouch! looks like the wrong heat range sparkplug(?) but take a good look at the crank case mating surfaces for possible leaks too
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What kind of spark plugs should you run in these? I think we've always used NGK. Not sure what number.
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I have always used BR9EV but they are getting hard to find. The BR9ES will also work.
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Thanks for the help guys. I was away on a trip this last week and am just getting back to the 440 rebuild. I pulled the crankshaft out yesterday and am wondering how to change the oil seal on the PTO side. The manual says to pull the bearing, seal and gear off only as a unit and not one at a time. I'm not planning on changing the bearing. What does it hurt to pull only the gear and oil seal off? Can it be done safely?
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Thanks for the help guys. I was away on a trip this last week and am just getting back to the 440 rebuild. I pulled the crankshaft out yesterday and am wondering how to change the oil seal on the PTO side. The manual says to pull the bearing, seal and gear off only as a unit and not one at a time. I'm not planning on changing the bearing. What does it hurt to pull only the gear and oil seal off? Can it be done safely?
Yup, that is what most do. Finding a puller that can fit behind the gear can be a challenge. Many have modified the jaws of a 2 or 3 arm puller to fit. Also, Mswyka has posted a pic in another topic which a harmonic balancer puller and bearing splitter have been used to pull the gear.
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I got the engine back together and it started (a bit hard) but wouldn't idle without a little throttle. I ran it a couple minutes until it died while I let off the gas to adjust the idle screws. It backfired out the exhaust when it died and also on some of the rope pulls trying to start it. My dad thinks it's timing related but I don't know how. I aligned the mark on the stator perfectly to the case mark and it looked evenly spaced around the shaft. Compression test after running was 145 on both cylinders with new rings. I couldn't get it started again after it died. Real close but no go.
The inertia plate could be turned from where I took it off but I'm not sure if that could be to blame? There are 3 ways it could be bolted on.
One spark plug is new and the other has been used before but they are gapped the same and clean. I'll replace the used one and see if that makes a difference. The plugs were a bit wet with oily gas but that could be because the extra oil in the cylinders and on the bearings when I put it together.
Carbs are at default settings. The jet screw is 11/2 turns out and the idle screw is 3 turns out. I disassembled and cleaned them up real good before remounting them.
Could overtightened head gaskets cause this backfiring? I'm out of ideas and could use some advice...
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If it ran at all the timing is close. Do you have gas in the lines to the carbs? Put a little gas down the spark plug holes and see what happens. My Intruder once had a sticky needle and it flooded really bad. If it sat for a while with the plugs out I could get it to fire a couple times and then nothing. It took several times to get it to run OK.
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could be that used spark plug.....that ignition fires at bdc and tdc so backfires are pretty common,is usually a sign of excessive fuel.
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over tightening the carb boots can make some of them gap and leak air...
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I just wanted to let everyone know that the snowmobile runs again and doesn't backfire. All I did was replace the used spark plug which got it started. After that it runs nice. Thanks for all the advice along the way!
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Kawasaki used a process electrofusion
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just finished rebuild on my intruder and a vader motor bought off web. since you are going to replace seal you need to remove gear. i just cut off the old seal and just about any puller will yank it off. i preheat the gear with a butane pencil torch and it comes off easy.