Hi guys!

I'm new to this forum, and new to quads and rebuilding them. After many years of working my life away, I finally found a hobby I enjoy:-)
I am about to do the top end on a 87 lt230s I picked up a week ago that smokes like I'm trying to get rid of mosquitoes. Lol! I've been reading and researching and I think I'm ready. I know to check the crank for slop, and I was just going to replace the rings and valve seals, but after a lot of reading, im thinking I might have it bored and honed and go a little bigger on the piston. Any suggestions? Size/brand? Anything else you recommend while I'm in there? I don't need to make the bike a rocket just yet...I figure I'll have it apart a few times just to play. I figure I'll need a top end gasket kit and a piston kit. Is there anything else? Do the valve seals come in the gasket kit? Also, do you know where I can download a manual?

 

Take a look at the bore and piston when you get the cylinder off, then decide if it needs a re-bore and oversize piston, or just rings. If you go to a Suzuki dealer, you will get exactly what you ask for regarding gaskets, but an aftermarket gasket "head set" contains all the gaskets and seals for the top end rebuild.

 

No, valve seals will not come with a top end gasket kit. You should get every gasket you need to replace the piston and or rings though.

 

Namura kits certainly do have them. I have rebuilt lots of engine top ends, (though not a Suzuki 230), and all the aftermarket top end gasket kits have had the valve seals included.

 

Thanks guys

 

I just did this to my 86 lt230s. Wiseco 10.25:1 piston. Get it it brings these bikes alive and did't require new jetting, however I went one bigger after a UNI filter. I also recomend besides bore and hone, a valve job, and new valve springs. I didn't get new springs, I wish I had. As for the gaskets, I got the Namura kit and it does come with the valve seals and the two new copper head bolt nut washers also. Refer to the lt230sVault (google it) for specs and tips, it is valuable beyond a manual. Has torque specs listed, everything. Stock head bolt torque is 18lbs. Stock compression 8:1. With the higher Wiseco piston compression, I had to torque my head at 25-28lbs because I kept blowing head gaskets. Some people will whine it will stretch the studs. Screw them, it won't. If you are new to this kinda like I was, I learned alot from watching a youtube vid of a guy rebuilding a four-stroke sohc dirt-bike motor, it's not a long video, but quite thourogh. Anymore questions just ask, not much I haven't replaced on my bike. Oh and when the top is off, the connecting rod will slop side to side. That is OK. Its when you pull it TDC and then push straight up and down then it needs to be tight. New risp pin clearence between rod I'm guessing mine was between 0.0005 and 0.001. Which is just a teeny tiny bit of play, I thought is was too much but read this is perfect. That said, now about engine break-in. Bike cold, startit and ride it like you stole it till hot. Shut off and let cool. Repeat. Over and Over. The pressure will force the rings into the hone and seat them better, hot hone wont cut, thats why you let it cool. You will feel your bike make more and more power as you do this, because the motor is sealing up. Took about twenty hours of riding. Good luck. Treat this like surgery, clean garage, door down, no wind blowing dust around. Oh and in case you didn't know DO NOT use synthetic oil. It will mess up your clutch.