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So after all that here's what happened. I had ordered some parts that I didn't have when I brought the bike home. Piston, wrist pin and needle bearing were the big ones. When I put the case halves together i didn't check the wrist pin/connecting rod/needle bearing clearance. It turns out the connecting rod on an 81 ke 125 has a larger diameter on the piston side so it was split the cases AGAIN and put the 79 crank shaft back in (which wasn't a big deal it was in pretty good shape too.
So after that mess here's the rotary valve and shift mech. I wish I had a picture of the clutch basket going on but I dont. The cool thing is though the guy i bought this from was at one point planning on rebuilding it so he gave me a brand new clutch plate, springs, basket ect... "thank you"
So here's where i'm at at the end of tonight or this morning i guess... I took some measurements cylinder bore, piston diameter, clearance was okay, ring end gap all that stuff, put the rings on, connected the piston and set the jug.
Not sure about an aluminum vs. copper head gasket dont know if it matters? oh well thats what i got if it leaks i'll torque the head bolts more haha
Next up is what I really wasn't to excited about TIMING... I've timed ten or twelve airplane engines and mags in class but I didn;t know if that would be totally different or not. the thing is, i dont know if my points and condenser are in good shape or not. Before I took the bottom end apart I could rotate the mag and see a nice bright spark so I hope I'm in good shape.
Any way I have the 76 rotor on the "basically" 79 set up (because someone beat the hell out of the 79 rotor with a hammer) and the manuals have different timing numbers so I went with the 76 instructions because of the cam on the 76er I hope this doesnt lead to trouble down the road but if any anyone can help i'd appreciate it.
Here's the process goin on. I've found ways to cheat on the airplane mags (dont worry they arent flying) but this was different. One thing is I didnt have to worry about timing ignition to the wrong stroke thank god for two smokes.
And finally here's what i HOPE is timed. If not i guess i'll spring for new points and condenser and do it all over. The manual says when the points are open i should see 3 ohms so thats what i set it to. points closed was 0.8, 0.9
After that the head went on. Didn't get the motor in the frame like i wanted to but here is where i left it. Sorry about my less than perfect phone camera too.
Okay guys I got a lot done last night but I hit another wall. I couldn't wait any longer so I put the motor in the frame... it looks awesome then I put the header on and I also raised the front end back up. Now evey thing went alright until I was fitting the header. I ordered one from ebay awhile back from an 82 its a nicer exhaust than what is on the older models but Fitting it got tricky. Also the silencer has been broken and welded back at some ridiculous bend angle so long story short the header fits , silencer doesn't.
Take a look though.
Also when i put the kick shaft on I noticed some oil leaking from the final drive gear well... front sprocket shaft seal. I havent actually put the sprocket on and I believe there is a thrust washer that goes behind it. I hope that stops the leak because if it doesn't i'll have to start it up and hope that when the engine warms it seals itself or i'll start it up and see if my feet get covered in oil.
Anyways, this picture is pretty cool though. Its starting to come out a lot better than I thought but I think I am gonna cut the rear of the subframe off just behind the shocks and cut the seat pan in half. Also that fender is just sitting in there I had it laying around from my cbr but I'm gonna cut it and mount it in there some how wont be hard.
So thats where i'm leaving it let me know what you guys think I need to take a break for awhile and think about this exhaust but I'll probably post some more pics this weekend using my girlfriend's iphone they turn out better than my flip phone camera.
I did't get around to posting any more pictures this weekend but I did put my front sprocket on which fixed my oil leak. There was an o ring that went behind the spacer that sealed everything up pretty well. hopefully this week i'll get more done. I'm thinking i'm gonna have to cut most of the 1 inch section of the silencer off so the expanding part of the silencer will attatch right where the expansion chamber of the header ends. If anyone thinks this might be a problem as far as the tuning of the exhaust goes PLEASE let me know.
Hey guys i've been doing some research on 2 stroke exhausts and I think I understand a good deal of it but still have some questions. The expansion chamber in the header is the shape and size that it is for a reason pressure and wave return to help draw exhaust / intake gases. Thats all fine because i have no desire to mess with any of that however the stinger section (the part after the convergent header cone back to the silencer I want to change.) The research i've done tells me that the stinger section helps reduce internal temperatures (more length = more ambient air contact = lower temperatures right?) if the silencer is unchanged will I have backpressure issues if the stinger is shortened or just a higher pipe temperature? PLEASE HELP.
Hey guys i've been doing some research on 2 stroke exhausts and I think I understand a good deal of it but still have some questions. The expansion chamber in the header is the shape and size that it is for a reason pressure and wave return to help draw exhaust / intake gases. Thats all fine because i have no desire to mess with any of that however the stinger section (the part after the convergent header cone back to the silencer I want to change.) The research i've done tells me that the stinger section helps reduce internal temperatures (more length = more ambient air contact = lower temperatures right?) if the silencer is unchanged will I have backpressure issues if the stinger is shortened or just a higher pipe temperature? PLEASE HELP.
Look up Gordon Jennings two stroke exhaust, you may find the information you seek.
I have and read his book Two Stroke Tuner's Guide, now unavailable and out of print, quite expensive if you find it.
From his writings on exhaust, the stinger is relevant to the tune of the engine. Cut it off shorter and you affect the performance. He also found the stinger position is not so relevant, it could actually be extended INSIDE the chamber without affecting the performance. If a silencer is added, the added distance should be measured and cut off the existing stinger length pre-silencer (two stroke chambers used to come without silencers).
Two stroke exhaust work is much more sensitive than that of a four stroke. You need to do as much research as possible before messing with them. Even dents can affect performance. I dented a chamber bad enough it essentially cut the power in at least half. Before reading up on them I tried to fit a high pipe, denting in the bipe for clearance, finding the bike ran like junk. It almost seems like black art when compared to four strokes.
Personally I'd leave the pipe alone. Actually I am having one of those bikes given to me and I'm thinking about doing a short tracker. I will probably find an appropriate low pipe expansion chamber, as most two stroke flat trackers run. Few bends, simper to make the cones.
stop taking pictures with a calculator dude!!!
bike looks mad. can you please shoot it with a decent camera when it's done? this build is sickkk
looking forward to completion
Hey thanks smv, i'll make it a point this weekend to post some pictures with a better camera.
But first back to my exhaust situation. I've read some books on tuning, the jennings book and some others, looked at hundreds of pictures of 2 stroke exhausts, and read through other forums that discuss the topic but nothing really stood out about stinger length. I know the diameter is critical and thats ok but here's the best info I found concerning length.
http://tech.flygsw.org/tuned_pipe.htm
Take a look at the section titled STINGERS, specifically the second paragraph. Check this out if you're interested and let me know what you think.
Also as I mentioned before, the silencer I have has been altered so I dont have the factory length to start with. Someone must have looped the bike and broke the exhaust at the stinger. The entire stinger section has been welded on (in a sketchy fashion) and it measures 12 and 3/8" or 314mm That seems a bit long to me. Also the section off the main chamber that it attaches to is 5 and 1/2" or 139mm. So the total length between silencer and header is 453mm.
Shown here
Does any one know what the factory stinger length is for the 82 ke's?
And also how do bends in the stinger section effect performance?
Reassembly has been pretty smooth lately but I ran into some clutch problems that I think most rookies experience. The thing is though changing out a clutch is something I have done before on a quad just got lucky with the way the parts went back in I guess. Anyway I didnt have the pressure plate properly lined up with the clutch hub. If anyone ever has issues getting a clutch to engage, This is probably the problem. In my defense my maintenance manual doesn't mention a single thing about aligment of these parts so I had to dig through online literature to realize this. I guess a smart person would realize though that there are (i think 34) teeth on my clutch hub and 5 bolt holes for the springs, meaning there's only one way that 5 to 34 ratio is made to fit together. In my case I broke some threads off my hub before I thought about it the logical way. Also there is a pretty clear mark on the pressure plate for alignment however the mark on the hub is the hole that the tab of the lock washer fits into. Who would of thought? Oh well new hub is on the way and problem is solved but it did cost about 50 bucks for me to be careless.
made some changes to my plans about the seat today. I agree with you guys that the brown seat is something different and it will look cool but the material that I had wasn't really the brown I was looking for. So I bought a purse today ha ha. I went to the local goodwill looking for leather jackets and came out with a 3 dollar purse for a seat cover.
Check it out...
The material is cut and fitted for the most part but it still isn't attached to the seat pan. And yea i'm sorry, they're more calculator pictures but thats all I can do for right now.
Also here is my mag cover idk if I've had a picture of it after it was cleaned up and installed. Good shot of my oil pump block off and tach cable I just put in too.
I love it. My first real bike when I was 13 or so was a 76 KE125 with 3k miles on it, ran like a dream, I made the mistake of selling after a short while because the fam moved and we didn't have room to pack it along. Got a measly $300, I still regret it.
I love this build! Def taking notes on your paint scheme (i'm building a fish)....I am also in the process of acquiring one of these lil guys thats been apart for years
Alright guys I made some attempts to start the bike tonight but no sucess. I've tried to fire it up about five times, the longest it ran was 4 or 5 seconds. I think its flooding itself easily. There was fuel on the plug when I took it out and the carb overflow has had two or three drops come out of it but this is normal right? It smokes quite a bit during and after kicking. I'm gonna give it a try tomorrow but until then how can I tell if it is flooding and if it is should I just take apart the carb and readjust the needle and float?
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so it was split the cases AGAIN and put the 79 crank shaft back in (which wasn't a big deal it was in pretty good shape too.
