The sunshine came in this weekend and has me itching to ride. I rode my other bike around the neighborhood but since the registration is expired I cant go anywhere yet. I should be able to get that fixed this week. I dont think the KLR will be riding anywhere anytime soon though 🙁
I pretty much have the bike back together at this point. I’m waiting on a new radiator, instrument cluster, and a fuse block and I should be able to finish up the frame. I had already made some modifications to the wiring harness so that all the fuses could be located in one place and accept a more modern fuse instead of the old glass tube style. Now that I have the thing all torn apart I decided now would be a great time to add some extra circuits for lights and chargers and what not. As I started adding these the battery compartment got really cramped with all the individual fuse holders so I decided to order a fuse block. It will help keep everything nice and tidy. The one I found holds 8 fuses and is split for 2 power inputs. So I can have 4 fuses that are tied into the bikes harness and 4 that are on an independent switched relay for all my accessories. Once that fuse block gets here I can finish that up pretty quick and move on to the next mini project…..the new instrument cluster. I just hate how the original gauges look……this bike was produced in the exact same form from 1987 to 2007 so my 2001 has an instrument cluster that looked cool the year I was born…but now its unacceptable. I wont give away too much now but I promise the new one looks way better.
Since I was kind of stuck waiting for parts this weekend I started tearing into the engine.
This bad boy is getting a big bore kit! It’s going from 650cc to 692cc. The size increase isn’t really to gain power its more to address a common issue with these bikes….they burn oil because of inferior piston rings and out of round cylinders.
This is what happens when you run an engine with low oil….
To fix the out of round…ness of the cylinder requires boring it out which requires a bigger piston. The aftermarket piston is also much lighter than stock so it has the added benefit of causing less vibration. I have to send the cylinder out to get machined and I’m also getting the head refurbished so it will be while until this part is done. I am considering completely disassembling the engine and replacing every bearing……still haven’t decided.
