I bought a neglected '93 LT80. Not that much use as it still has original tires, but previous owner neglected it, and let it sit outside in carport. So, cleaned carb, air cleaner,gas tank, petcock.cleaned pipe by heating it up with propane torch. Bored cylinder, new piston and rings. added Boyesen reeds.Finally got it started today. Everyone tells me these things just fly, but it seemed kinda slow to me. It seems the same speed as '85 LT50 we had. engine sounds good. smokes a lot.

Exhaust and fuel restictors have been removed.

does this need to break-in first? I was expecting it to be a lot quicker. could a loose chain make any difference? the belt or clutch? how fast should a stock LT80 go?how many rpms should it top out at?

need a battery. $110 (cdn) seems pretty steep.

 

Yes you do have to break it in, chain needs to be tight, stock 20-30 mph. I remember you saying in a earlier post you did not wont to open the cases, well you really need to, in my opinion everything inside those cases is what makes a lt80 tick. I would also suggest do away with the electic start and put a pull start in it.

 

why do you suggest ditching electric start, because of battery price I was snivelling about, or do batteries not tend to have much of a life? I just find my kids can't pull start so it means I end up doing it. no biggie, until they get stranded some distance from where I might be watching.

this must be a factory chain, I can't find a master link anywhere.chain is very loose.

I'm guessing I also have the ability to get more rpm with something as simple as a needle adjustment. It's kinda strange these carbs don't have an air/fuel mixture. I've never seen that before (not that I've seen that many carbs, but I've seen a few).I was reading the adjustment is basically on the needle and the 2 jets. I don't wanna get into all that if I don't have to.

my earlier post about splitting the case; i just didn't want to do that to see if piston turned over. If it's necessary for clutch components or something else, I'll bite the bullett.

 

As far as pull start vs elect. start on most all the minis it not "if" the starter goes bad its "when". We left our elect start on for a full year and everything was fine, but i have heard of others that have gone out in 6 months. Its not as hard for the kids to crank it as you think. When my boys first tryed to pull it they tryed while standing on the ground beside the bike and i noticed because of thier height instead of pulling it straight up they were pulling it at a angle, so now they get on it stand up grab it with both hands and pull, cranks right up. As far as the clutches, i am just guessing from what i have read that when you got this bike it had not been well maintained. I would also assume your rollers in the front clutch might need some attention. Also a new chain would be in order. I am not an expert on any of this i pay the experts all i do is maintain it. And by maintaining it i rework and check the clutches some times after every race and sometimes i get lazy and only do it after every few races. So i guess what im saying is you really need to bit the bullet, do not what to scare you, but inside of them cases is a very important part of your lt80.

 

new chain put on today.I think it was the original chain because there was no master link on it. thanks for the feedback on starter. I'll buy ONE battery. if starter or battery goes, then I'll add pull start. cost is too huge to keep doing starter and battery. I'm sure pull start will last lots longer. I really was looking forward to electric start. I just sold a TRX 90 and one of the big reasons was the pull start. A well tuned atv that starts with a push of a button sure is nice.

you're right about maintenance. Gas was added and that was it. I don't think the air cleaner was ever cleaned. so if there are clutch components that need maintenance, I guess I'll add it to the list; after I replace the left front brake cable.

 

To give you a good suggestion, get the battery from Suzuki. The OEM is a gel filled battery and will last longer. I paid about $30 over 3 years ago and we're doing great on it. I also added the backup pull start just incase. There is no need to split the cases as your thinking. You do need to pull the clutch cover off the left hand side (it's a little tough the first time until you get used to it). Sounds like the clutching could have froze and a roller turned sideways in the front clutch. The secondary could be sticking and not opening too good either. I would bet the clutching will be your problem. The bikes have a low engagement stock but pull out real hard for a mini and run good (as said before 25-30mph)

 

wow, that's a great price on battery (works out to about $45 in my funds).I will check with my dealer. from these posts and reading the trouble-shooting in the manual, sounds like clutching problems very probable. I guess it's a whole new area i get to learn about. I'll check it out before I start asking a lot of Q's.

I still think for a 2-stroke I'm a little under-revved, which is maybe a good thing while it breaks in engine. I'll check specs on top rpm (if they give such a spec).

 

called around today and found a $49 battery, same as OEM. Man, that other place has an attitude like they're the only ones that sell batteries,and they claim to sell the cheapest-NOT- they quoted $109!!

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img] Wow, that's expensive. On the clutching, if a roller has turned then it will be sluggish taking off and wont produce many rpms. They're not that hard to do, just get a manual and go after it.

 

battery was $57 OTD. we pay 7.5% prov. tax +7% fed tax. Ouwwch, especially when you compare to places like Oregon and Nevada that have no tax. converting to US $$, it's $40. checking the same battery on a few web-sites, they're $35(US) + shipping. Then we usually get stung with taxes and duty coming across the border. It ends up being close, but never quite worthwhile to shop online.

I've got a factory manual. it's doing both, sluggish to take off and seems a little low on top rpm.
Suzuki says to lock brakes, full rev (on warm engine) and check with "electric" tach. If it doesn't hit 4600rpm, +/- 300 rpm, them they tell ya to check clutch. what's an "electric" tach? I assume a regular tach will work.

thanks for your help, it may save me some time searching around.