Hope I haven't made a mistake but I put K&N on both my new ones 500SP 00,but I spent the extra bucks for the outerwear.I don't see alot of difference other than being able to clean filter and reuse it.The directions say that if you are rideing dusty conditions to install outerwear,the factory comes with one so I opted for one here to.CM

 

This is what i read in a k&N broucher. If used in dusty conditions oil before using. Yes they come pre oiled but add some filter oil to the element And all ways use sealing greese upon installation. I have used the K&N for three years now and have never noticed any engine problems. But i do regular cleanings of the filter. Also i use an outerware, the Factory polaris one should be close to the same.

 

walexa,

I use a K&N with outerwear. I also used one on my 98 SP500 without incident. If you have grey smoke, your rings are already gone. The larger the bore the hotter the cylinder for the most part and because of this, they tend to glaze over when they intake water. Once the cylinder has glazed over, it is just a matter of time before it starts smoking. You can probably continue to ride it for some time, but when you hear piston slap, it will be time to rebuild. You will have to bore it to fix it right. New rings will only buy some time. You can rebuild it yourself for about $220 including boring. As soon as I finish the Wolverine project in my garage and repair my SP500 from my wreck, I will be rebuilding a 99SP335 that took on water.

I know the snorkels don't look good, but they are worth their weight in gold. You might want to consider it.

Greg

 

Greg,
What do you mean by glazing over? Is it actually wear, or a film, or a wear characteristic of the cylinder. I mean, it seems to me that if it were glazed over, you could run a non-synthetic oil and allow the metal to reseat itself by wearing off the glaze. The bike doesn't smoke at all while idling, and is hardly noticable when under throttle. I know you've seen bikes that are 4-stroke, and in good shape, that smoke very little--mostly upon starting and under heavy load. It looks negligible, but since my bike didn't always do this, it now has gotten my attention. Yesterday, I put a new paper filter on my bike, and changed the oil to 20W-50 Lucas racing oil, which is petroleum-based. I will run it for a while and see how it goes. It smokes so little, that if I were to try to sell it, the interested buyer most likely wouldn't think anything about it. It is pretty much just a real fine haze of smoke that is visible at night with a light on it. My cousin had a Honda recon that did it all the time. It ran fine, never fouled plugs, but put out a real light smoke that you would notice every once in a while. I won't rebuild this engine unless it just starts smoking more than it is now. I'm hoping that running a petroleum oil will make it stop. What kind of oil do you run in your bikes? If I do sell my sp500, I will either get a new sp500, or else an Xplorer 400 that smokes all the time. Something else that I haven't mentioned before is that it seems to pretty much quit smoking after running the bike for 20 minutes or so. Any other suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks again!!

Waylan

 

I understand glazing to be a physical change in the metal itself. It will not come off with wear. It won't even come off with the normal honing. If the smoke is not noticable, I wouldn't even worry about it.

Greg

 

Things to consider... Condition of oil?.. was there water in it?. The Water Resistant outerwears is VALUABLE for "swampin'" Especially when you go Submarining.
When you cleaned it, did you follow the K&N specifications for cleaning?.. Compressed air or high pressure water will ruin a K&N filter.

 

mudmachine
When I sank my sp500, it was a total submersion. Water filled the air box, and then ran down the vent lines(which are routed to the air box) into the crankcase and oil reservoir tank. I had to change the oil 6 times in a row to remove the water completely from the engine. When I did clean my K&N, I used their cleaner, rinsing from the inside out, let it air dry overnight, and re-oiled it with K&N oil. I then let the filter set for 10 minutes, and reoiled any remaining white spots, according to K&N instructions. I think where my trouble may stem from is the water itself, and the amount of dirt the water pushed through the filter when the air box filled up. I can't see where dust could get through the filter any other way in such a high quantity.

 

From what i was told while working in the machine shop is . Glazing is when there is no more crosshatch in the cylinder,and the crosshatch should be at 60 deg angle. Yes honing will remove the glazing but you will also increase your bore size by doing that. Cylinders should be bored out less then the desired size then the piston fitted to the bore by the way of honeing for example .030 over bore to .028 ,hen hone the .002 thousands remaining to fit the piston. Hope this helps. Also always wash the cylender out with soap and water until throughly clean this gets out all the left over media from the stones.