Hahaha, no joke, I used to ride nothing but 4 strokes, but I got this zilla as my first 2 stroke and I love it. It really opened my eyes to how bad these machines can be. As you said it takes at least double the cc's to hang. I love the power these things make and how easy they are to work on, (if you know what's wrong obviously, lol) but people do love to hate on them.

 

I don't want smooth power i want something that shoves me in the chest and pulls hard through the mid and topend and just wants to go lol

 

Haha, my buddy is selling a banshee right now that has the most ridiculous powerband kick I've ever seen. It's real subtle at first but as soon as it hits it'll scare the crap out of you. The Zilla has a decent low end for a smoker but a real strong mid and top, but tis banshee is almost bad enough to come around it in the middle. It was a memorable experience feeling my first powerband, lol.

 

Had the same prob,your going to have to drill out the stud holes and tap the holes for 3/8 studs and nuts and 6 washers.It cured the prob for mine.

 

I'm looking at getting that mod pretty soon. The first head gasket I had I blew, the rest of them upon inspection, after disassembling the top end, looked to be in great condition. I'm taking the head to a machine shop today to get it tested. With that and the stud mod I will at least have those to possibilities eliminated. Thanks for the info carson. I appreciate it, Justin.

 

Justin make sure that they are careful NOT to drill too far,they'll drill into the water jacket in the jug.

 

Oh yeah, thanks for that tip. I've got a lot of studying to do before many mods are made. This is my first 2 stroke. Hell of a learner bike, lol.

 

Well at least you picked the year that was the fastest of the 500 Zilla's.What make them the fastest is the intake,its bigger then the newer models.what kind of plans do have for it?Mine is set up for drag racing,even has a bottle.You might want to have the oil journals opened up in the cases.The location of the oil journals are right next to the crank.The 87 had problems with the bearing races getting messed up due to the holes being too small and alot of the shops started inserting bushings for the bearing to be inserted into to fix that problem.My engine builder just opened up the journal in the cases and I've not had a problem with that my engine cases don't have the inserts.Another mod you might want to do is to open up the bolt hole in thehead that connect the head to the frame,the reason for that is believe it or not helps stop problems with the piston skirt from breaking,My engine builder told me about that one also.I have a few parts forsale for that year,like a custom "V" Force reed cage.I'm not sure now a days but the last I knew you can't get them at a shop, I know you can for the later models though.

 

Your FMF pipe has nothing to do with overheating.
What gas are you running?
Did you do a leakdown test?
What is the squish clearance?
If it detonates it will blow head gaskets until the cows come home.
We have had 4 Q-thon events in the last year and a half w/over 15 days riding the biggest dunes and racing the steepest hills at Glamis w/ZERO head gasket/motor failures..........
There is a ton of knowledgeable Zilla guys on the quadracerhq.com site
Good luck,
Q

 

Yeah, I'm just now learning a lot about the bike. Previously all I had I had as far as knowledge was their reputation. I'll take a closer look at the mods you listed. Where I live there isnt a very big drag quad seen. Mostly trails and mx, so that is the direction I'm headed. I'm mainly looking to shoot down the relability issues at this point. It has some minor mods (as listed) made by the previous owner who did drag it. It's definitely the fastest thing I put between my legs. Any dragging I do will probably be against the occasional delusional rappy rider, lol.

Oh, and Q, I've spoken with you just a couple of times on the other site, (name is the same on qhq) mainly just price quotes, but I havent performed a leakdown test yet. I'll have to wait till I order the parts from you, but as far as the squish clearance goes, I'm not sure. Not even sure how to check it. I'm trying to research as much as I can from previous posts on qhq before I bombard the forum with questions.

I have been running high grade pump gas (91-93) since I bought it about 3 months ago, but after reading many threads on the importance of running race fuel I'll be looking to switch before riding after I get it back together. Would a jump to 110 be a good choice?