Hi,All!
Has anybody out there seen or attempted swapping a KX500 motor into a Tecate-4 chassis? My '87 is in need of an overhaul, or possibly a transplant. I'm looking for any information I can find about this swap before I decide to just rebuild the stock motor. I ride primarily in the dunes, and since the majority of the bikes here are Banshees, (and because I'm partial to Green), I would like to do something different. Any ideas?

 

Brianc,

I had to look fairly deep to find this post... TeamGreen posted once regarding a site that had numerous links regarding Tecates, mods, etc. One I remember mentioned the engine swap you're looking for. It might require some digging but hopefully this will steer you in the right direction. Below you'll find a copy of his post

"Go to www.quadracer.com and check out the links section. When you get there click on the section that says personal. It will pull up about 30 or more pages in alphabetical order and go to the tecate pages at the bottom. Lots of pics and plenty of links to other pages! In this section you will find the article that Dirt wheels magazine did on the Tecate 4. Bone stock the Tecate has an incredible top speed of 74.26 mph. One fast son of a biotch and very attractive to boot!"


'87 Mojave
'87 Tecate
'00 DS650 [Bigger IS Better]

 

Thanx Kawasakikid! I've just started digging through these sites. Good to see there's still a loyal following to such a limited production but still awesome machine!

 

I also have a T-4 which is tore down wait for time and extra money. Mine has a cracked case, so I posted the same conversion a couple months ago but not much input. I am thinking about putting a new KX250 motor in mine and keep it pretty mild. Then build one with a custom build frame (Lone Star is a good possibilirty) that accepts 250R suspension componets (because of aftermarket availability). The BIG PROBLEM is getting new plastic (or good used). The custom quad will use a modified KX500 motor. Now I'm focused on Turning my wifes Lakota into a real sport quad (400EX killer). It will maintain the electric start, auto clutch/manual shift and reverse but will haul.

 

the KX500 top end can be almost directly bolted onto the kxf250 bottom end, with the exception of rod and crank, on a recent dune trip i raced a "stock" tecate with my 87 310 tecate and was obliterated, after talking to the guy for awhile i looked at the engine, it was stock, stock 500! on a tecate bottom end

 

can i change the electrical système on my kx 500 96 to kx 500 87,evrething ecep the magnet .my bike ramdomly fire the guy at my shpo tell me it was the stator,its to expensif for me now around 400$.

 

Here is a guy that has one with some tips. Tecate 4 KX500 Hybrid.... - Kawasaki ATV Forum
I thought Kawasaki made a 500 to compete with Suzuki's RM500 powered LT500R or Quadzilla.
I quess all the 500 tecate-4 I heard of where home built.