I have heard that zilla's blow up easy. Why is that? Can I avoid this catastrophe by a regular maintanence check-up or something? I would like to know because I might be getting one.

 

2 strokes in general are higher maintenace and less reliable than a thumper. Higher RPM's etc, Tend to loosen everything up from vibrations.. Good luck with the zilla, scary fast! Wish I had one 15-20 years ago....................

 

zillas aren't more prone to blow up than any other 2-stroke quads.They usually will not run longer than 4-strokes before you have to rebuild them.The 87 models are known for blowing head gaskets but that can be fixed from what I have been told.I have heard some guys with 87 models say they have never had any head gasket problems.

 

My zilla has never blown up. The only thing I've had trouble with is spliting primary drive sprokets. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

I've got an 87. I built a billet cylinder head for it, and installed oversized head studs, which I torque to 40 ft-lbs. It's never had a head gasket issue since the modification.

 

Sounds like a good read here http://www.dansmc.com/seizure.htm

 

Mine was a 87 it blew the head gasket even with oversized studs torqued higher than stock. Other than that though I didn't have any major trouble when I rode it. My friends was a 87 with a 90 motor he ran it way more than I ran mine. He ran it for several years almost every weekend. He replaced 1 piston due to wear and usually at least 2 bolts rattled out on any given day of riding regardless of loktite and or lock washers/ lock nuts. His was a better machine for most types of riding. Mine was insanely fast even made his seem slow. Would have been great for drag racing but I couldn't control it enough for any other type of riding. I think the bigger intake on the 87 cylinder really makes a difference in the power that motor can make.