Has anyone ridden, or seen a Quad that has had a dirt bike motor swapped in to it? If so, how much does it vibrate, and is really noticeable? I read somewhere that with out a counterbalancer, a dirt bike motor would vibrate to bad to ride, but I've seen CR500 engines in 250R chassis' in the local trader. Any help would be appreciated, I have access to either a '99 CR250 or KX250 complete motor, and know these things would rip in a quad chassis.

 

I too have seen a quad in the local trader but with a LT250R with a CR500 motor.Kawasaki has their new quad with the KX250 motor in it,by the way they keep talking about it sounds like this thing really rips!I don't think they used a counterbalancer,but I would have to read the article,again

[This message has been edited by Ryda (edited 12-02-1999).]

 

i looked into this type of conversion. I saw an ad for 2 86 cr500 motors with pipe card and electrical for $800 I have talked to alot of people an say the thing really vibrates an after a while motor mounts break and pipes can crack if not mounted right.
I have an 87 LT500 and use alot of locktite to keep the motor bolts together.
The phone number for the otors is 618-644-5696 scott I saw this ad posted somewhere
Alex

 

Totally off the subject, but that number looks like it might be in the Belleville, IL. (or at least close to it) area?

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Jerry Goodman '99 400L, '98 TBlazer

 

I got Huevos II, it has Bill Ballance riding KXF250 in it. The thing looks just as fast as the 250R's he's riding with. I might be getting rid of my 250R if Kawasaki ever decides to mass produce those things.

 

About that KX or CR, I would put in what ever had the most h.p. and is the smoothest.

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Evan Johnson 88 LT250R 99 400EX

 

500 swap, sevaral shops use a rubber insert engine mount. This isolates the engine vibration from the frame. A friend I race with tried a KX250 engine in his 250R chassis but was pretty well unrideable due to vibration, put the engine back into the dirtbike chassis, no problems. It's all to do with the quad chassis width and weight compared to a bike and harmonic vibration and the natural frequency of the quad chassis, simple langauage the typical quad chassis amplifies engine vibration, hence why most quads use conterbalancers. Polaris 400's have rubber isolation engine mounts.

If you fit up the CR or KX, look into the rubber bushing engine mount setup. With either of these engines the HP increase will be a rush for sure.

 

Not all ATV's have counterbalanced engines anyway, my '86 Tecate3 doesn't but the vibration isn't too bad until you are really taching it up. I rode a tecate3 that we put a CR500 motor in, the vibration was worse but for cruising the dunes it would probably be excellent.

 

I was reading an old quad mag, that had the new Kawasaki KXF250-01 in it, and it said a counter balancer wasn't used. I then read an article that said it did. I guess we have to wait until the thing actually comes out to see if it's needed or not. I don't see why, but I'm no engineer, either. Thanks, everyone for the help.

 

On that KXF250-01 ...

it has a crankshaft counter balancer, but not the counter-rotating kind that the 250Rs had. (the Honda TRX250R has both types)