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1981 kitty fire!!!!

Kawasaki or Suzuki, assembly, disassembly, troubleshooting questions.

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daryl2cb
Posts: 21
Joined: January 28th, 2010, 3:31 pm

1981 kitty fire!!!!

Post by daryl2cb »

well I just bought another kitty on Thursday for my son, I have a 72 or 73 but I have not been able to locate a chain for it and a tensionor puck, so I decided to get something newer than I can actually get parts for. so this thing had a small fire in it, or at least looks that way, some of the stator wires are burnt, got that all fixed and decided to pull the flywheel and take a look around at the timing. the guy I bought it from said that his kids were trying to start it with ether. GREAT. Anyway I just figured that the thing back fired and caught the oil residue on fire and then burned out, but actually it looks like the ether or gas who knows hiccuped in the engine and actually popped the stator side seal clean out then the fumes must have made there way up the harness while on fire. sounds way worse than it is. so I did a compression test and it has 120 psi, so not horrible but I am just going to do a complete tare down and rebuild and one know if there are any special tools needed to get into the governor? will and standard 3 jaw pull the clutch? I have a service manual coming, but i want to get started and the gear box tonight. Other than that the thing is in great shape. and even has a headlight and windshield, great find.
daryl2cb
Posts: 21
Joined: January 28th, 2010, 3:31 pm

Post by daryl2cb »

here are some pics of the damage, also one of the sled I wanted a good before pic before I started working on it, not bad for 200 bucks, also a nice pic of the motor disassembled and parts washed, and a pic of the bore after I ran my flex hone down it. looks pretty much new, not sure what these things should have compression wise new, but considering the bore was ugly and it still had 120psi with a good otc gauge I imagine it should be at least 140 after new piston and rings. Also anyone looking to tear into one of the little Suzuki's, you need a flywheel puller, luckily the one from my z50 Honda was a perfect match, also you need a 3 jaw puller to get the clutch off, and a good number 3 Phillips bit and an impact driver to separate the cases. I ordered new bearing through out and parts unlimited had them for under 5.00 a piece at 15.00 it was a no brainer, I figure my son will never have an issue with the motor anyway. I have about 120 into it so far, but that included a new clutch cause it was really bad looking and most likely frozen. I have a service manual on the way and now that I have a place to stick some pics hope to document the rebuild. enjoy.


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Last edited by daryl2cb on October 13th, 2010, 3:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
72
Posts: 272
Joined: January 23rd, 2008, 3:11 am
Location: Ohio

Post by 72 »

[quote="daryl2cb"]here are some pics of the damage, also one of the sled I wanted a good before pic before I started working on it, not bad for 200 bucks, also a nice pic of the motor disassembled and parts washed, and a pic of the bore after I ran my flex hone down it. looks pretty much new, not sure what these things should have compression wise new, but considering the bore was ugly and it still had 120psi with a good otc gauge I imagine it should be at least 140 after new piston and rings.
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Bad move, flex hones are OK to break glaze but not to "cleanup" a cylinder. 2 maybe 3 strokes at best is what a flex hone is good for, or some scotch brite in a lapper. Here is what some kitty cylinders look like after a line hone set at .0025" piston to cylinder wall clearance (about as far as you want to go).

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These pics are from the last three 3 cylinders I honed and I only did it to find out where they were at as far as how far to overbore them. I would not stick a new piston into any of them for obvious reasons.
daryl2cb
Posts: 21
Joined: January 28th, 2010, 3:31 pm

Post by daryl2cb »

I appreciate the comments, I must clarify that I actually used a ball hone, made by flex hone, sorry there and really the bore was great by most standards, ugly by mine. Anyway I have been working on motors and 2 strokes and 4 stroke for ever, the jug had no reason to be bored over size no pitting or scratching, I can not see any reason not to use the new piston and rings, the cylinder clearances where all in spec and the jug was not out of round, I would have used a 3 stone hone, but I did not have one small enough pretty much just a deglaze job anyway. I am also interested in the harness you have can you post a pic.
72
Posts: 272
Joined: January 23rd, 2008, 3:11 am
Location: Ohio

Post by 72 »

If you say everythings in spec. I'll take your word for it. The only kitty cylinder I ever had that looked really good turned out to have over .004" cylinder to piston clearance. I suspect someone at one time worked it over.

Anyways here are the only 2 harnesses I have that are not butchered. The one on top is a little stiff and has a crack in the sheath. The one on the bottom looks really good.
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