A couple years back I owned a small business that manufactured flashbang grenades used in practice tactical situations. The body of the devices were 6061, and yes, I threw the term all over the website and adverts. You almost have too if yer gonna make something out of 6061 "aircraft grade" aluminum.

I did the anodizing in house and it made all the difference with the finished product. I still have the tanks sitting in the shop - they haven't been used for a year or so, but if you have a few pieces that you would like to send, I'll see what I can do with them.

Is the shop that you are having the bodies cut at right now doing the work on a 3 axis CNC unit? If you are selling a number of these units and you feel that the market will be around for a while than you might consider setting up a small shop and doing the machining yourself. I know that it saved and made me a pile of money.
There are some great turn key 3 axis CNC verticals around right now that will blow your mind and make you very large, fat piles of money. And with your mech eng background, you should be good to go.

At any rate, if you want some type 2 ano thrown on one of those bad boys along with some sharp color, (can we say Kawi green?!), let me know. I'm all about it!

 

In my effort to keep the price down I have come up with a good production process that makes the competitive advantage. So... I decline to tell how I do it. Sorry.

The problem with CNC right now for me is cost. Ya gotta have the cash to do it. The tooling, space, etc would make it prohibitive at this point. I would love to have a simple Bridgeport, but no place for it. I don't think people realize just how small an operation I am. One guy in an overcrowded garage (stuff we have stored from moving to a smaller place when I took the teaching job near Columbus).

I'd love to do some more stuff, like making a sort of universal saddle bag mount that could have soft bags modified to be detachable like BMW/ST/FJR/Concours for smaller bikes. I got tired of the way my old Eclipse bags had to be fitted and if I can come up with a bar set up that would mount with angle iron tabs I could make aluminum back plates with slide/snap/pin attachment that would be mounted on the back of the bags. It's in the concept stage for my Zephyr. Hopefully next summer...

I looked up some stuff on anodizing, but I just can't justify the cost. It would take the cost of shipping them along with the cost of materials if someone else does the work. Like I say, I'm trying to keep the price REALLY low. I want a rider to look at the price and not hesitate to buy one. I want it to be easily in the reach of anyone who might need one. Now if you were my next door neighbor...

I've had one Eliminator rider take his apart and paint it black. It would be interesting if I had the equipment, but then I'd have a red tensioner where someone wants a blue one or the color wouldn't be quite the right shade. Seemed that at times it was a problem in selling bikes - didn't have the right color. Sometimes simple is better.

 

Recieved and installed the Krieger Cam Chain Tensioner. Its awesome, no more annoying noise, quiet KLX, quality part. Thanks again.

 

I was reading up on the KLX 300, and I found this review of the 2003 model. About halfway down the page, there was a mention of the tensioner issue, and that it had already been known for a couple of years earlier. So it's going on ten years (or more) without having been addressed by the factory.

http://motocrosshideout.com/2003-kaw...-the-honda-xr/

here's the text:

As far as reliability goes, the KLX300 is as close to bullet-proof as you can get. There were a couple problems in the engine, but the main one was the cam/timing chain tensioner. After a few thousand miles or so of wear it would get caulked down, causing the chain to be loose and make noise. Many new KLX owners get frightened by this because it often makes a loud knocking noise. The same thing happened to my 300R, and I thought for sure it was piston-slap since the noise was really loud and would go away once the bike was hot. I eventually bought a new tensioner just for the sake of it, and when I was taking out the original one, it didn’t even look crooked or broken. I was hoping that it would still somehow be the problem, and I was right. I started up the bike with the new one in and it purred like a kitten.

 

Yep...kinda like the doohickey issue on the KLR650 that's been an issue since it was a 600 from 1984 on. Apparently the tensioner on the KLX250/300 doesn't really lead to a catastrophic failure, but worn cam chains at 10,000 or less miles is a little ridiculous. And frankly even if the chain never wore out, I'm extremely happy to be rid of that annoying noise.

 

I posted a note about the tensioner on the Yahoo Planet KLX group and got a response that there was no issue with them...

Apparently it is common practice to blow about $70 or so on a tensioner every so often. I couldn't see that after my second one finished of the cam chains, so I went manual - 27,000 miles ago, still has the same replacement cam chains and all. Never ceases to amaze me what people will believe and put up with.

I just recently finally broke something else on my 650 - something in the shift mechanism. I was pulling in to the yard from the driveway at my parents' place and hit the railroad tie edging at too shallow an angle and washed out the frontend. I couln't have been going over about 3 mph. I hit the shifter with my leg. Next day when I go to ride the shifter is floppy and has to be manually centered to shift up or down properly. All five gears are there, just the mechanism is screwed up. First I take off the clutch cover because most bikes I'd seen and worked with had the mechanism behind the clutch - not the 650, it's behind the sprocket! I'd have checked a manual, but my daughter's car had the battery go south so I did the clutch cover while waiting for help to arrive on that battery issue. Bad move.

Now I'm in behind the sprocket, but there's one single solitary bolt BEHIND the stinking stator inner cover. I have to take off the fly wheel to take off that cover - for one stinking bolt. Great engineering Kawasaki! Let your tensioner designer do the shifter cover, huh?

Then while there, having ridden up from my home about 120 miles away, I discover the muffler bracket on the Zephyr has fractured. What else can hose up now. Raided the house for a wire coat hanger to do the red neck muffler support. Wired up tight and ready to go. The ride home Sunday was great though. Now, after a $411 bill for fixing the gas tank and lines on my S10, I have to get the muffler bracket welded up.

Not a good vehicle week in the Krieger household. But it could always be worse...

 

Wow - has this forum has been an enormous help. I bought my klx250 a few weeks ago and after I brought it home, noticed that loud tapping noise when I compared it to my 05 suzuki dr200 (which is now for sale ). My dad has been rebuilding classic cars since he was a kid and was sure it was a valve tap when I started it up for him. I read about the cam chain tensioner issue and thought I'd give that a try first. I loosened one side bolt on the tensioner and backed the other out VERY slowly until the tensioner lightly clicked once, tightened both bolts back up, and the tap is completely gone. Looks like it was the cam chain slapping after all. Just to be sure there isn't too much tension on the cam chain, I think I'll be looking for a manual tensioner in the near future. . . but the noise issue is solved for now .

 

I know where you can find one... in my garage.

A couple of the guys here found they work pretty darn good... thanks to TNC's help.

 

I want to ask.. If the sound is predominant only once the engine is hot, can that be cam chain or is that a sign of something more serious? I dont have a klx but am experiencing a similar issue with a similar bike that only has 4500km on the clock.

 

What is the similar bike? That might make a difference in the diagnosis.