Time to see what all the Tecate hype is about?

[Antreas Sp]

Okay that piston damage looks identical to mine as are 2 more i have from the tecates so sure this is Kawasaki's flaw to the design of the intake side of the cylinder so i was wondering what we can do to make it better. I have been working some years now on rebuilding various types of engines and i have seen some lubricating designs so i thought that if we drill two tiny holes on the piston at the two bridges in the intake it would sure help lubricate these much better and we wouldn't have this type of scoring,at least not at a fast rate. Kinda like the holes they do for cooling the exhaust bridge on other engines,like the 84-85 Tecate has.

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[Antreas Sp]

I would like to see the intake side of that cylinder where the reed valve mounts. From my research the 86 cylinder on the tecate is as good as it gets for porting but that intake is the one that needs attention. I have two cylinders on the photos 1 oem and second the one i have just clean up the edges. I'm not a porting guy. I just did what other guys recommend doing which seemed logical to me.That oem cylinder is full of sharp edges and steps.

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[Antreas Sp]

Oh and how the cylinder was before replating.

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[Red Rider]

Antreas, here's the intake pic as requested. I agree, the piston damage looks very similar. This is the only Tecate I've delved this deep into, so I'm not sure if this is a common thing to see when pulling the top end. Maybe some other Tecate guys will chime in with their expertise. Interesting idea on the lubricating holes for the bridges. I do that to my R pistons for the exhaust bridge, if they don't come pre-drilled. Not sure that would do anything for all the scuffing below those giant holes on the piston though. Its like that portion of the intake is weaker, due to all of the intake ports around it, and is prone to expanding inward when it heats up.

[Antreas Sp]

Thanks a lot for the pic. Looks like they have smoothed out all the edges like i did. It's just prettier because its sand blasted.
Another mod i have read is using a 2 parts jb weld to fill in the ports and then sand them to make them a bit smaller (giving them a specified shape) cause they are too big for the 250cc of the tecate.I don't have a pic of that,i have read it somewhere online and i really don't remember where.And there was also Rob Selvy (RIP) who did great job on tecates also,changing the timing of the ports skimming the upper side of the cylinder and using a thick piece of aluminum as a spacer to the lower side.

As for the scuffs on the piston to the intake side there are lots of reasons this can happen. First is piston slap. All these machines where really really used so many years in the past so too much clearance due to piston wear . Second is dirty air filter or no filter at all. And another reason is the big mistake Kawasaki did painting the engine cases inside. Ok transmission side i haven't seen the paint failing but all of the engines i have (3) have the paint gone from the crank area. At this engine which i posted the piston above, the cylinder had a tremendous amount of paint like glued on at the intake side down where the piston has these scuffs. And since this paint looks like powder coat you understand that this paint in the cylinder-piston is like sand...
I have never seen anyone mention this. What's your opinion on that?
Maybe barnett shows up and tell us about it!

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[Red Rider]

Thanks a lot for the pic. Looks like they have smoothed out all the edges like i did. It's just prettier because its sand blasted.

As for the scuffs on the piston to the intake side there are lots of reasons this can happen. First is piston slap. All these machines where really really used so many years in the past so too much clearance due to piston wear . Second is dirty air filter or no filter at all. And another reason is the big mistake Kawasaki did painting the engine cases inside. Ok transmission side i haven't seen the paint failing but all of the engines i have (3) have the paint gone from the crank area. At this engine which i posted the piston above, the cylinder had a tremendous amount of paint like glued on at the intake side down where the piston has these scuffs. And since this paint looks like powder coat you understand that this paint in the cylinder-piston is like sand...
I have never seen anyone mention this. What's your opinion on that?

You're welcome. I've seen and heard of the JB Weld method before, but never tried it for porting purposes. I'm taking my friend's word, that this bike ran very strong in the past, before it was parked for 10+ years, so we're just freshening up what was already a good thing. The bottom end seemed tight, and no issues down there, so the cases haven't been split, just the top end pulled for repairs. I didn't notice the internal paint issue, that you speak of, so I will have to look again. But, it is strange that Kawasaki would apply paint to that area. Yes, it could be piston slap I suppose. I've seen that before on a handful of bikes. I just thought it was strange to see identical piston damage on 2 different Tecates, and thought maybe something else was going on.

[Antreas Sp]

I managed to go to the facility i keep my tecates and took some pictures of the crank area paint from one of the engines so here it is. Notice that its thick paint and the rest you see on its ready to peel off also. If you touch it by hand it falls off. All the engines i have are like this, that's why i did wet blasting at the one i'm building.

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[Red Rider]

Thanks for the pics. I forgot to take a look at the bottom end of the one, that I’m building, but I don’t recall it looking like that. Yeah, that’s crazy that Kawasaki painted the insides like that.

[El Camexican]

Yamaha painted their stuff internally as well. I suspect everything got painted right after casting and then went for machining. Cheapest way to do it.

Ever seen a Belarus farm tractor from the 80’s? The would build the entire tractor chassis, hoses, gauges (used from military equipment), oil filter, etc., everything but the wheels, hood, fenders and seat, then mask off a few items like the gauges faces (poorly) and dip the entire tractor into a massive vat of red paint, pull it out, let it drip dry, put on the wheels, seat and spray painted fenders and hood on, unmask the gauges and ship it. Looked decent aside from the drips and runs until you stared using it and the paint started peeling off. Electrical problem? Just follow the red wire

[rpeters]

From barnett468

Hello Antreas

There is no flaw in the intake side of the cylinder that can cause the damage you are seeing. Drilling additional oiling holes on the intake side will likely not completely cure the problem you are showing but it certainly will not hurt.

[Antreas Sp]

Hello, it's been some time but i would like to thank barnett for replying! I have a big respect for him. I was always enjoying his long comments in the forum!

So i had some free time and make some marks on the piston at the intake side and we have room for the oiling holes!

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[Antreas Sp]

Red rider any update on the build? Some photos maybe?

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[Red Rider]

Red rider any update on the build? Some photos maybe?

Sorry, no more progress since my last post. It's boating season now, so that's all my friend is focusing on. I'm guessing this project will go idle once again until Summer is over.

[Mr. Sandman]

And I thought my projects took forever, well they do, but how about an update now that summer's over?

[Red Rider]

A bunch of new rear end parts arrived about 2 months ago, and a new swingarm yesterday. I will try and get some pics up soon. I think we have the basics for a roller now, so assembly should start soon.