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Post by chehystpewpur on Jul 7, 2014 15:48:58 GMT -5
Ok so a lil while back I purchased a big bore Athena kit from an eBay seller. I had heard good things about it despite being a single ring piston id much rather have a dual ring one. If the ring goes out on this one I will most likely just buy a dual ring piston kit. Its aluminum cylinder and head big plus for me I dont like an engine thats 20 different kinds of metal expansion speeds and rates are way diff like that and gaskets die fast. It had a squish band head gasket that puked out within 24 hrs and I was going easy on it. I swapped that out with a copper big bore gasket and all has been well for about 800 miles so of daily driving.
So far things to note.
Does not come with wrist pin needle bearing big no no for me. What if the top end is missing and u are buying this to have a running engine? Obviously lame having the squish band but the head isn't set up for one? No grove for it to seat into just stick it into place and hope for the best. Circlips are a pita to install because there is only a notch on one side of the piston. Not both sides like most pistons have. It comes with a boat load of spacers incase you have a stroker crank thats nice atleast. Porting is decent stock and isn't rough like some kits.
Power delivery is nice and smooth till about 7k with my exhaust then 8k and up is when it really pulls. Tuning was simple 10 digits up on the main jet was proper tuning and first try I might add that was nice. Some ppl complain about its a bitch to tune aluminum kits. This was easier than my steel big bore with an aluminum head. I had to rejet every week. I can get this kit well over 10k rpm if I wanted but I wont go over 10k with my stock crank just incase its weak. It shook alot when breaking in like a Harley thats about to stall couldn't even use my mirrors when I was stopped at first but since has smoothed out alot. I will be pulling the top end off today or tomorrow to check the clips and make sure neither are trying to pop out I'm paranoid about that.
Gas mileage is up over stock due to lower throttle position to cruise at the same speed and hills what hills? Barely have to give more throttle to go up a biiig hill most of the time I'm stuck speeding up when I try to just maintain speed. So far though its a good buy if you can get a copper gasket and have a good wrist pin laying around.
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Post by chehystpewpur on Oct 9, 2014 14:58:41 GMT -5
Well the Athena is off now 5,000 miles of drive it like I stole it and it was still running. Only problems with the kit at 5k miles is needle bearing was almost seized but hey it was a used bearing anyways and the wrist pin was really in there when I tried to remove it. Like in there. Circlips stayed in and were a pita to remove so they couldn't be too cheap of clips. The piston ring was more than ready to be replaced but the cylinder still looks good. A quick hone and or crosshatch and I'm sure it would beat the factory specs for Chinese cylinders. The piston is in decent condition too. Almost no carbon build up and also no major scarring or pitting to the cylinder. Before I pulled it off I did a few quick blasts with it and acceleration and power is still good even with it being de tuned and all. I realized that hard launches with my malossi over range it actually pulls the front tire off the ground just a hair and hovers. I always thought it was just suspension flex but I gave er hell the last day or two and if I was turning or moving over a little it was all done by leaning instead of just turning the wheel. I never really noticed until I went to move over just a hair and turned the wheel and nothing happened till I leaned. Cause I just needed to move over a hair. All in all though its a great kit for a weekend warrior or a low mile beater cause it will most certainly turn some heads when your leaving cars in your dust stoplight to stoplight.
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Post by chehystpewpur on Oct 9, 2014 20:48:05 GMT -5
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Post by niz76 on Oct 9, 2014 22:25:11 GMT -5
So is it for sale??  |
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Post by chehystpewpur on Oct 9, 2014 22:50:16 GMT -5
Honestly I'm not really sure. If someone really wanted it I'm sure I could part with it bit for now its sitting here for a rainy day.
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Post by jhobe6678 on Oct 10, 2014 8:48:57 GMT -5
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Post by chehystpewpur on Oct 10, 2014 9:36:44 GMT -5
Which brand is it and is it steel or aluminum? |
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Post by chehystpewpur on Oct 10, 2014 9:43:32 GMT -5
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Post by jhobe6678 on Oct 10, 2014 9:47:26 GMT -5
Which brand is it and is it steel or aluminum? I have no clue. I'm hoping it's Iron? But USMCDoc recommended it and spoke highly of the quality. He's one of the regulars and is a scoot mechanic too so I feel I can't go wrong. Plus, he's good people and has a sense of humor. Oh and he was a marine doc so he can kill me with one needle and his thumb I bet too. |
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Post by jhobe6678 on Oct 10, 2014 9:48:54 GMT -5
Wow, nice! I'd love to get one if not both of my scoots up to that, I just want to be able to ride on regular roads and keep up. Not looking for highway speeds. Damn, clean that thing up and keep it as a spare! |
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Post by chehystpewpur on Oct 10, 2014 10:22:10 GMT -5
If usmc recommended it I know its good. I trust that mans word even if I don't agree with him 100% for real. And honestly it really wasn't hard to get up to those speeds for me. I know I'm light but I carry about 40 lbs of gear with me at any given time including that last run. So really it puts me at a normal weight. Does your two bikes have the 10 or 12 inch rims? Mines 12 and I have very tall gears currently 13.75ish to 1 ratio so even with the worst gears I can get speeds people use gear kits to reach. I guess my Speedo is around 2-3 mph off but thats it so with my max of 58 would get me about a true 55. I cruised at 50 mph daily with that kit and hit 55 pretty much every day cause its fun lol. Open your torque driver a little tune the weights and contra spring a little and I'm sure you can break 50. With a little bit larger variator I'm sure you can cruise at 50 safely. Stock my bike did 53 without too much of a struggle. I switched to a top performance trophy 50cc kit and have around the same power but more bottom end grunt to get me around speeds are the same I might add so don't get discouraged.
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Post by jhobe6678 on Oct 10, 2014 10:27:19 GMT -5
If usmc recommended it I know its good. I trust that mans word even if I don't agree with him 100% for real. And honestly it really wasn't hard to get up to those speeds for me. I know I'm light but I carry about 40 lbs of gear with me at any given time including that last run. So really it puts me at a normal weight. Does your two bikes have the 10 or 12 inch rims? Mines 12 and I have very tall gears currently 13.75ish to 1 ratio so even with the worst gears I can get speeds people use gear kits to reach. I guess my Speedo is around 2-3 mph off but thats it so with my max of 58 would get me about a true 55. I cruised at 50 mph daily with that kit and hit 55 pretty much every day cause its fun lol. Open your torque driver a little tune the weights and contra spring a little and I'm sure you can break 50. With a little bit larger variator I'm sure you can cruise at 50 safely. Stock my bike did 53 without too much of a struggle. I switched to a top performance trophy 50cc kit and have around the same power but more bottom end grunt to get me around speeds are the same I might add so don't get discouraged. Well I haven't done a GPS test myself but my ex followed me on the bike saying I was going 33mph. Grant it, it has over 4,900 miles on it but the compression is good and the engine is sound now. I'm about to put a Hoca Vari on it and clutch springs. Clutch is still in good shape but I don't have plans to change the spring and all just yet, I need to inspect the pulley. The scoot has 12" tires, large frame. I know with the BBK I need to change exhaust, which I'm looking for now to see if I want to spend $180 on it. I'm almost temped to try the eBay pipe for $99. A larger vari sounds possible, but I need to go in steps for now. I also am thinking of ordering a new CDI and coil too while I'm at it, I just don't want to pile too much on just yet. I want to get a little at a time, tune it and see what differences it makes. So I may have a while to go before 55mph is realistic. |
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Post by jhobe6678 on Oct 10, 2014 10:28:29 GMT -5
Oh and I've yet to test my ratio still. I keep forgetting. ugh.
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Post by chehystpewpur on Oct 10, 2014 10:58:01 GMT -5
Unless ur cdi is restricted dont bother. Most are just fancy plastic. 33 sounds pretty slow if it was winding out. Does it have a restrictor washer or anything? And if your clutch is good lengthen the channels the alignment pins are on so it can open all the way. 90gt has a good write up on it I believe. It gets better belt travel and allowed me to squeeze 3 more mph out of my stock variator to get 55 out it.
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Post by chehystpewpur on Oct 10, 2014 11:01:56 GMT -5
Also from what I hear the 99$ eBay special is a good jump up from stock all around. Buy it lol. I almost did but got a zx-r for like 50 bux more so I jumped on it. Keep checking eBay though sometimes people have a used pipe for sale.
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