Matt,
you might want to give my friend Charlie a call.
He has been at this game a long time. He really
knows his stuff.
http://www.superiorsleeve.com/

 

Matt,
you might want to give my friend Charlie a call.
He has been at this game a long time. He really
knows his stuff.
http://www.superiorsleeve.com/


[/quote]


Hey Scott V, Thanks for the additional info. Charlie @ www.superiorsleeve is now in my favorites list and I will be in touch with him early this week. Do you have any personal experience with his big bores?

 

Not that I owned, but more repair on some big bore honda wrist pin type things. Most people that race bikes know him. I use to hang out as his shop every now and then. I would pick his brain pretty good on lots of stuff I had a (friends) RZ-350 that he did some port work/bore, etc. Those 510 yamaha RZ types really scream. Tell him you been in contact with me. I am sure most of the other guys that do sleaves know Charlie Brown. (real name) He would not only put big bores and stroked cranks in the yamaha's, he would weld up the cylinder block castings to gain more stroke length. He finally got around to casting some cylinder blocks so it was less labor involved. If I was going to do anything in making my bigger he would be the very first person I would talk to.

 

Cool, thanks and I will let everyone know any info. from Charlie Brownas soon as I know. Love the name. Very hard to resist additional pun!

 

Nice piston, your 331 kit has a forged piston the stock Kawasaki 300 piston is cast. I can understand how it is easy to think that necked down portion is a "sleeve" but it isnt really, it is just cast in as part of the cylinder. Nobrakes: you can settle this once for all on the 250S cylinder (I think we have all agreed the 300 has no sleeve). Go stick a magnet to the outside of the necked down portion of the "sleeve" (we will call it for the sake of description) that goes in the crankcase. If it sticks its cast iron & it has a real "sleeve". If not it is aluminum & just cast in to the cylinder as one piece & has a coated electrofusion/Nikasil/whatever you want to call it bore.

I agree the 250 cylinder cant be bored out as much as the 300 if that is what the experts say, but that is just due to the design of the part such as water jacket size & location and the thickness of the necked down portion.

Thanks

 

Basically all the difference is in the piston & is nothing you need to worry about. Don't quote me but I thinktypical piston to cylinder wall clearancesare .004 for cast pistons & .005 for forged pistons (because the forged will expand more). If you ordered a direct replacement, stock sized piston from Wiesco they will have already designed this in, so its not like you need to match cast vs forged pistons to a certain type of cylinder or anything if I'm understanding your question right.

 

Brian, sweet looking piston. Is that the one Marvin supplied with the big bore? Wiseco I am guessing. Looks top notch.

 

Here's the results - magnet no sticky on the outside of the "sleeve", but the magnet DOES stick to the inside of the bore where the rings would contact. What do you make of that? Does the Nikasil plating contain some iron perhaps?

Agreed! Too bad Kawasaki didn't just use an underbored KLX300 cylinder. If that was the case, we could go to 331cc without having to purchase a whole new cylinder.

 

Since we are on the topic of coated bores, I have heard of some cylinder walls being chrome plated. Is this the electro/nisckal plating and some people think it is chrome, or is it when a cast iron sleeve is used and they actually chrome plate it, or can they chrome plate the aluminum cylinder instead of the electro/niskal plating, or do they never actually chrome plate the inside of any cylinder.

 

I would take that to mean that the original 250 jug is sleaved. You should be able to see that plainly when you look down at the top of it. There should be to distinct metals showing.