the snowmobileauction.com link doesn't work. Whats the working url?

 

AussieZilla, looking at the pics of your monster, it looks to be in outstanding shape. As far as what it might be worth, depends on where you sell it. Obviously you would be selling in it in Australia. I would look around and see what others are going for and in what shape they are in, in your part of the country. The same goes for the U.S., depending on what part of this country it is for sell and of course supply and demand. For example, where I live now I see them for sale from $3,800 to $5,500, again depending on the shape they're in, your zilla would be in that top-end price range.

Sorry to hear your selling it...

 

Cool thanks zoo. Problem is that i know of only three in my entire state so supply is non existent. I saw one at the Dunes last summer, one races the speedway series (and wins every nite!) and the other is mine. Its really hard to gauge wat kind of price i should ask. Also because of the lack of bikes, people dont know about this bike so the demand is small also. Figure i'd start high and lower it later. Anyway ive decided to race it this weekend anyway.....probably the best form of advertisement is to race it!!

 

Aussiezilla, why are you getting rid of your Zilla?

 

hey slinger,
simple really. i was finding it very hard to afford the maintenance. I have two bikes, the zilla and the Banshee, so i figured id put both of them up for sale and see wat happens. As it happens, Ive got some serious interest in the banshee from a local bike shop so it looks like the zilla will stay with me after all. Just to make sure i put a huge price on the zilla and a reasonable one on the banshee hehe.

Did i tell ya that it locked up on me a week before xmas? I was racing at the local track and all was fine. I had just finished the fourth heat, drove through the pits in first then switched it off. Aparently i shouldnt do that! when i went to go start it it was locked solid!. i was told you should let the bike idle for a while to cool down cause the cylinder will cool faster than the piston and will grab a hold of the piston......when i took it apart, the ring locator pins in the piston were both missing!! (anyone else have this happen to wiseco pistons?) It was really close to a big bang!! hehe Anyway ive now rebuilt my first 500. she's now running great again.

One thing i am thinking of is to put in a newer engine. I might take out the old 500, cover it in oil and stick it up on the shelf, then find something newer with comparable sting and put that in. Any ideas? I saw a bike on ebay that had an R1 engine inside it....a little over the top for me, but i want the same power of the old 500 without the maintenance hassles. Later guys [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Hey fellas I just picked up an 87 LT500 and I am in the middle of a ground up resto , the engine is in at the local bike shop awaiting her makeover. But...... I have come to a dilema, I have talked to 2 of the local shops and both of them told me 2 entirely different ways to go about this.The first one said He will port and polish ,put a kehin pwk39 carb and bore it with wiseco piston and rings,( and all new bearings of course ) it already has new boyeson reeds, a K&N and an FMF Fatty.
he tod me porting and polishing makes a night and day difference.

The other guy told me " why the hell do you want to port and polish ??? it gives you not even noticibily any more power and it mkes your engine less reliable." so I dont know what to think now

If you guys have any really good ideas for mods that is not overly expensive please let me know.

does porting make that big of a difference?

 

Porting will make a difference in the performance stakes for sure. you will have to rejet and recalibrate to suite. it creates better flow inside the chamber for the gasses. polishing just takes the edges off anything and smoothes the port, again to get better flow. but be warned, the more extensive the porting and polishing, the more chance that it will mess up the reliability. I think it was slinger who had a modded zilla and a stock on. he told me altho the modded one went ballistic, the problems with reliability made him sell the modded one and keep the completely stock one. my zilla has been ported and polished extensively (done before i got it) and its VERY unreliable. ive missed plenty a race when its stubborn and wont start. But when it did, it was soooo easy to win.

I have some REALLY bad news, altho its kinda good too. i sold my beloved Zilla. The bike i said id never part with! as it turns out, i got offered a very decent amount of cash for my steed so i parted with it. to give u an idea, bought the bike for $5000AU, put about $2100AU into it with the rebuild, and sold it for $8500AU in cash....i also sold the banshee so im without quad for the time being. I just recently bought myself a Kawasaki ZX2R road bike and got my licence but never fear, ill be on a quad in the near future.

Bye all [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] and safe riding!!

 

In my experience with my 87 Zilla, I had a mild porting and polished done to the motor, and it has a decent affect on the performance. I also had the cylinder bored and resleeved to stock specs. I have not had any reliability problems as of yet since this has been accomplished (8 months ago). If it is not too radical of a porting job, you shouldn't have any problems. I would also suggest having your stock card bored 1MM bigger rather than forking out the cash to purchase a new one. This worked extremely well in my case.

AussieZilla, man, sorry to hear you relieved yourself of all your 4-wheeled toys.

 

Hey Guys I also heard rumour that the stock Mikuni carb on the zilla was bad for running too lean and burning out pistons , is this true or should I fork out 380.00 CDN $ for the kehin 39 mm that was recommended I use ?Or am I safe with the stock carb ?

 

Any carb will run too lean and burn up your piston if you don't jet it correctly. Like I said I have the stock Mikuni on my Zilla, had it bored 1MM larger and it works just fine. I don't see any reason to fork out extra cash for something that really isn't needed, besides you can use that money for something that would make a greater difference in performance. The stock carb is just fine.