1986 Kawasaki Bayou 300 2x4 - Low on power, timing?

[TheRealFatShady]

Just picked up a cheap quad that a guy had given up on. Has my mechanic buddy come over, it ran for a few seconds or minutes but was weak, then died.

Cleaned the carb, noticed it had little/no compression. (It had more in the beginning of the day.) Began to suspect valves, took those covers off and they seemed to function fine, (giant valves by the way)

Next came the timing chain. Taking the tensioner out, it ran/started a LOT better. It was real tight. Now with the tensioner adjusted properly, it will run a lot better, and you can drive it.

My mechanic however, seems to think it's missing a lot of power. I've never owned a utility quad or rode many quads so I cannot say for certain. Is this possibly that the timing chain it maybe one or 2 teeth off??

Thanks

[MTS]

Check your Valve Clearance...they tended to tighten up on that particular machine ...The waterpump seal/bearings assembly tend to crap out too.

[factoryX]

wait
aren't these air cooled? My dads 86 did the same thing, and the main problem is that you have to have the battery charged for it to run correctly, check the battery and the fuse. Also, the carbs on these suck and we ended up modding 350 rancher carb on there. These are very picky.

[TheRealFatShady]

Yea air cooled. Thanks for the tips, will check the manual that came with it for valve numbers and compare.

[TheRealFatShady]

A little update. My buddy took it out riding. Died a few times, got up to speed but really had to wind out the gears. And it didn't like hills....at all.

Died and wouldn't start a few times. Towed it with the SX and it fired back up after awhile. Sucks there's no kick or pullstarter. Eventually it died and wouldn't start so I just towed it about a mile back to the truck.