Don't rack you head too hard because it's pretty obvious that it's time for a rebuild!

 

MIsuzukilt230s sounds right.I would send the cylinder out get it bored.I just did my zuk and got a wisco piston n rings with new pin n clips.i took it to the local Honda shop the sent it out n got it back in 6 days.n charged me $ 218 dollars n change.also let them look at your cylinder head to c if it needs guides or not but always change the valve guide seal when it apart.Hope this helps im going to try to put my 230 engine back together this weekend.

 

Alright here is my update. The rings rusted into the cylinder wall. The cylinder wall was also brittle due to rust. Please forgive me for this...but I took a cutting wheel the the jug to remove it and the piston. The head is also junk. Pitted real bad. I'm going to salvage the cam, valves, rocker arms etc. Yesterday I did some bartering and picked up an 87 sport quad with a good top end and a few other good parts. Going to use it to fix my 86. Will let y'all know when its running.

 

Hey send a pic of the cylinder you cut I half never thought of that one,but sure sounds like a fast way to get a frozen piston out.

 

No don't cut it. use PB Blaster or a rust eater. The jug can be resleeved. it takes time. also try a blue flame torch, heat around the piston but no too hot then take a deadblow hammer and punch and give it a quick wack. that works for me at least.

 

Too late! I did try pb blaster, oil, heat...didn't budge. Had to take a cutting wheel to it. Even put a 2lb sledge to the piston with no luck. Pb blaster sat in there for a week. Good thing I got that 87. Cylinders and heads are expensive.

 

Yup, ride it like you stole it! But not good practice to kick the engine over to prime the pump. In old cars you're supposed to remove the distributor and use a drill to prime the pump. Pumps won't prime turning slow like from a starter or kicking. You need the speed of a drill or a running engine above 2000 rpm to get the oil flowing. Read any cam break-in procedure and it will state its important to get the engine up to 2000 rpm immediately and keep it there until the cam is broken in. Never let the rpms drop below 2000. Oil flow is important to suspend the cam in the bearing. If the cam actually touches the bearing, its scarred.

Kicking it over to prime the pump sounds good on the surface, but after thinking about it, you really need to get that engine up to speed asap. You need to get oil flowing to the top and have the piston rings start cutting-in from the rough, sharp hone on the walls. You don't want to dull the hone down by kicking it over a few times.

Its a controversial topic, but I swear by it from experience.... install the piston and rings DRY! Not even a fingerprint! Spray everything with brake cleaner to remove all traces of any oils. Be sure to oil the wrist pin though. No oil on the cylinder walls either. Wash the bore with soapy water to remove honing grit then hit it with brake cleaner to remove oils left over. Water works better at removing grit. Idk why.

Another trick I recently learned is once everything is together, add the oil through the intake valve adjusting hole. This floods the top end with oil and fills the dish below the cam lobes. Don't add the oil until you're ready to fire it up or else the oil will drain back down. Or save the last quart until you're ready to fire it up and add it then. Make sure the head is level with the garage floor or else the oil will drain down. A funnel will fit perfectly in the intake valve adjustment hole.

I change the oil when it looks like its not new oil anymore through the sight window. 10w40 oil is actually 10w oil with modifiers to make it act like 40 oil. The addivites break down quickly, leaving you with 10w oil... which isn't heavy enough to support the cam bearings. Synthetic oil doesn't have additives.... its 100% additive! 10w40 syn oil is actually 10w40 oil. I use regular dyno oil and change it often. I suppose you could use synthetic oil and change it often too, but it would cost more. With wet-clutch and trannies gears in contact with the oil, its a good idea to change it often... which makes the advantages of synthetic oil a moot point. Regardless if the viscosity is still maintained, if the oil is dirty from clutches and gears, it has to be changed.... even though technically the oil is still "good".

 

It might have seized and welded itself, then someone just left the plug out for a while and walked away... then it rusted. I have a warrior engine that welded itself. They tried to free it by pulling the quad behind a truck and popping the gears. It snapped the rod like a toothpick and rammed it right thru the case. The piston never budged.

An old trick is to install a bung into the sparkplug hole with a grease fitting on it. Then use a grease gun to fill the cylinder with grease until you build enough pressure to free the piston. I tried this once on a car with a seized piston. It didn't work. Then I hooked up my hydraulics from my excavator with 2000 psi. It didn't work either. Once those pistons weld themselves, they don't move!

 

i going to look at an 1989 suzuki lt 230 owner says its in mint condition.bored 30 over dg exhaust he says it needs the seal where the shifter goes into the case suposedly everything par besides oil leak what do you guys think could it just be a seal (known thing to leak) or do you think a cracked case? how much do you think something like that is worth

 

It's one or the other. You would have to look. No crack, than its the seal. I've seen them go for 1000$.