I just bought a 87 quadzilla off of a friend of mine. It is pretty much stock. I'm in the process of adusting to it (i have a 90 yamaha warrior). Any suggestions for a new quadzilla owner.

 

The only thing to watch is the 87 model has a different top end and a six bolt head instead of the later 7 bolt head. I'm told the cylinder is prone to cracking.

Just in case, you may keep your eye out for an 88-90 cylinder, in case yours goes, you'll have the newer 7 bolt cylinder to rebuild.

Thespardman

 

Going to get my income tax money back soon,then I,m going Zilla hunting,can't wait to get one .(if I can find one)

 

The '87 has the 6 stud head, which is known to blow head gaskets more than the '88 and up 7 stud heads. But, if you get a power head from CT or a cool head, it comes with O-rings instead of gaskets. You can also have the original head O-ringed and have larger studs put in which will hold the head torque better than the stockers. Also, the '87's have a larger reed cage than the '88 and up Zillas, so it's almost impossible to find an aftermarket reed cage.......You definately want to clean and grease ALL suspension bearings........mine were shot and it cost around $700 to replace them all. And make sure you keep the air filter wicked clean. Now go push your warrior out into the woods, jump on the 'Zilla and hold the F@#K ON!!!!![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

I've never heard of the jug cracking! The stuff about the head studs is true. I bought a complete reed valve assy. for my 87 zilla from FMF...good price too. Go to mrdune.com he's got a complete zilla rebuilt from the ground up with lots of hints and tips for ya!

87 QZ
87 QS

 

I think he meant the rear mounting tab where the cylinder bolts to the bottom end...........So what your sayin' is FMF has a reed cage for the '87? Coooooool........I'll hafta check it out......Latah......

 

fasternu, $700.00 for all the suspension bearings? I think you got screwed.

 

Yessir, right from Pivot Works....they were the kits w/ spacers, seals, bearings, except the cushion lever, which is all genuine Suzuki (didn't think I had to change all the bearings in that till I changed them one at a time), and that's also including wheel and axle bearings and seals. Oh, the powerhead is from Duncan Racing, not CT (unless CT has them, too). And my friend's father told me tonight Suzuki put smaller reed cages in the 88 and up Zilla's because the 87's got to much fuel and whatever didn't burn went out the exhaust and into the atmosphere, which I guess the EPA or whoever (they all suck[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]) out in California didn't like too well.

And sure enough, I can get a FMF Ram Valve for $89.99 right from my dealer.

Hey, Simpson, if you ever get too bored, you may want to take the rear brake caliper half apart and put some never sieze on the sliders......

If anything desperately important crosses my mind, I'll be sure to mention it, like checking to be sure the bolts are all good and tight every now and then.....Latah.....

 

I had an 87 zilla for about a year that i drove just about every day. It was ported/polished and had a high compression piston and i never once blew a head gasket. The reason is because I toqued the head down every 6 hours of use.

JaMeS

 

I got to go trail riding on saturday for the first time on the "new" (to me) zilla. This bike has just an insane amount of power. I was riding with several guys on four wheel drive utilitys. When they thought they were going fast in fourth or fifth gear, I was just hitting second. This just amazed me.

I think that I am going to go down a tooth on the front sproket so that I don't have to ride the clutch as much in tight trails.

Does anybody know what I should torque the head bolts to?