Hello all, new guy here. Just found this board a while ago and think it's great. I have a 99 King Quad and it's a spectacular machine. After riding numerous ATVs for over 15 years, this has been the best one yet. I bought it new in 99 and have put over 2600 miles on it, most of which are in mud. As you have guessed, it has NO brakes, but that is the only problem thus far and the reliability has been rock-solid, even in cold temps. So far, I've only put a set of 26x12 Goodyear Tracker Mudrunners on the back. The only other quad around here right now that can out pull or hang with me in the mud is a '00 500 Sportsman with 26x12 Mudrunners all around. And someone around here is getting one of those awsome 650 Praries before long and I need to get ready to take on him. I might get one of those one day, but I will always have the King no matter what. FWIW, I pulled my dad's MAX IV 6X6 out of a bog in a field this afternoon.

I want to have another "project" to hot-rod and the King Quad seems to be the perfect choice. I'm thinking of getting a set of 27x12 tires for the back and 26x11 for the front (not sure which yet). I'm concerned about the power issue with the bigger tires. A high-flow filter and a jet kit is in order but I don't plan on ditching the stock muffler b/c I ride in deep water streams and ponds around here a lot. I remember Mickey Dunlap from Four Stroke Tech used to have a 331cc big bore kit for the King Quad called the "Torque Monster" package. I haven't been able to get in touch with him and want to know if his kit is still available. If it is, I want to do this along with a home port-job on the head and possibly send my stock cam to have a company (such as Crane, Comp Cams, etc) map it and grind me a new cam to my specs. I also want to go with about a 35mm carb to ensure enough flow for the added displacement and maintain proper port velocity for low end torque. Low and mid-range is all I'm looking for, top-end doesn't matter.

I am an engineer, heavily involved in drag racing and know how to build an engine to perform how I want it to, so don't worry about the details. I just need to know a few things:

Is the FST kit still available? Any other companies make them for KQs?
Has anyone here done a big-bore kit on a KQ? How did it perform?
Will the stock clutch/tranny handle the added stress from the above mods?

I also have access to a machine shop, so custom parts should not be too much of a problem. I just hope I won't have to make a custom sleeve or order a custom piston. At that point, just the intake, jet kit, and port-job is all the KQ will get and the gearing will have to deal with the bigger tires.

Thanks,
JB

 

Anybody? I'd really like to make this thing work. Maybe put together a "recipe" with parts, prices, and sources for all you other KQ owners out there who would like nothing better than to power up the ol' King.

 

Like you I have a 99. What color is yours? Mine is tan. My dad bought it for me brand new. I also have 2600 miles, I ride in a lot of mud and again like you I have no brakes. I am going to put 589's on it (the tread is really starting to get rounded) but keep the stock size. Unlike you I want top end so I need them the size they are now. I would also like more top end power. The project I want to do is make a lift kit (cant find one) and make disk brakes instead of those worthless drums. Do you plan on doing any brake mods? If you do let me know. I have never heared of a 331 kit for it but several people have the 327kit.

 

Hey, thanks for the reply. Mine is tan also (I wanted green but didn't feel like waiting on the dealer to order one). I need to tear it down, do some sandblasting, and repaint the frame and racks. All the woods, mud and rocky areas I ride in have pretty much messed up all the painted areas.

As far as the brakes, I have already cut off the entire front assemblies, removed the pistons, springs, locks, hoses, etc. and plugged all the holes with bolts and silicone. They're just hollow drums now b/c I didn't fell like shelling out a few hundred $$$ to redo the front brakes every couple of months. For some reson the seals would never seat right. They had rusted and fell apart, despite me painstakingly taking them apart and cleaning them after every mud run. One day I was riding and they literally fell apart and almost locked up the front left wheel. That's when I decided to take them off. The back brake is good, it just needs new shoes.

Please tell me more about the 327 kit. I did a search on this board for "big bore", but didn't find anything I was looking for. It seems like 99% of the topics on here are about the Z400 and the 'zilla. I haven't seen Dunlap's FST 331cc kit since early '98(Dirtwheels mag), so i'm suspecting that he discontinued it (it was only $220 at the time too). He will be back on monday and I may finally get to talk to him. I have heard some pretty good things about the 589s, but am still partial towards the MRs. They're the best tire I've ever had. Some of the guys i ride with have vampires and i can go anywhere they can go and sometimes even further(THANK-YOU DIFF. LOCK).

I read somewhere on the net a few months back where a guy put shims in each shock assembly somehow. He gained over an inch of clearance by doing this and had pictures of it. But I forget where it is, sorry.

Do you think I would get any more responses if I copy this post to the Mod forum? I've got a little money saved up on the side and want to get this thing rolling.

Thanks,
JB

 

I think Powroll used to have big bore kit for the KQ too. www.powroll.com is the URL. If you find one, please post the info. I think their kit took the KQ to around 311cc, but I'm not sure.

Hope this helps.
Mark

 

Chances are they're hard compound. Hard compound tires are less porous, therefore mud and such won't stick or cling to them as easy. Generally, a soft compound tire will literally be soft, ever feel a drag slick?. You can manipulate the surface, unlike a regular radial tire. It depends really, the newer tires are rapidly closing the gap between hard and soft due to the advancements in the chemicals used to produce them.

I checked Powroll out and they don't have it anymore. A guy on another forum (ATVNation I think) said he got the LAST KQ kit they produced, so that one's out. Even if Mickey doesn't have the 331 kit anymore, he should at least still have the paperwork and design sheets for it somewhere. Then we may be in business. I think he used Wiseco pistons, but I don't know if he machined the new sleeve himself or what. If he will do it, I'll try to get a group purchase started for the KQ owners on this board (we do this a lot on the drag racing forums I go to and get some killer deals on stuff). That may persuade him to do a few. I'm checking out www.rageperformance.com now, they have a big-bore section with a link to Suzuki ATVs, but it hasn't been activated yet. I'll call them and ask.

I never really got into the ATV world until the last couple of years when I decided to start modding the King. With the manufacturers coming out with bigger and better machines, the ol' KQ needs a little boost. It will probably be better and cheaper to heavily mod the KQ rather than plunking down the major $$$ the new ATVs cost. And you can't beat Suzuki's rock-solid reliability. Other than the brakes and valve adjustments, there are no problems with them.

Maybe my experience with auto engines can help since they follow the same basic principles of physics and chemistry. Then again, the tooling and technology for RVs isn't as refined as it is for the automotive industry. But I'll try my best. I wish I could talk to Mickey regularly and get up to speed on these things. Maybe the new board will allow me to do that.

BTW, where did the 327 kit come from?

 

Did some thinking and it would take a 74.5mm bore with the stock 76mm stroke to make the 331cc:

(74.5mm x 74.5mm x 76mm x 0.7854)/ 1000 = 331.29cc

A jump from the stock 68mm to 74.5mm leaves a pretty good gap in the edges of the chamber. I don't want to remove too much material and change my CR to the point that low- and mid- range suffers. And the heavier piston would throw the crank balance off. Hmmm......this could get a little more involved than I first thought.