87 lt 500 engine questions

[special k]

We just picked up a 87 lt 500 cheap with no compression or spark but the rest is in good shape. The quad looks basically stock except for a FMF pipe and silencer. The kid had been fooling around with the timing [we think] and burned a hole in the piston. Anyways the piston is like brand new and so is the bore. It's a Wiseco piston that measures 3.512" and the bore is 3.527" so it had like 15 thou clearance. Wiseco offers one more oversize that is 3.517". Is there any other optiions available to us rather than resleeving? We're are just going to dirt track it a little bit for fun in the summer and I'd rather not spend a boatload of money on it until we find out if it's remotely competitive or not. This is our first LT so is there any thing else to upgrade while the motor's apart? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Steve

[fastman69]

please use mm's. also the zilla is a badass. great power. also port the engine. also get a better pipe.

[gogoquadzilla]

that might be the last bore, thats almost 89.5mm measure again with an accurate micrometer, and in millimeters. if by some miracle you can read whats printed on the top of the piston, what is that number? welcome to e2s, you bought the correct bike

[gogoquadzilla]

actually if your cylinder isnt grooved from piston parts and it looks fairly new you can take it to the dealer and they will measure it and get you the right piston no need to bore just give it a quick hone

[rb0804]

sounds like crank bearings are bad, notorious on the 500's usually take out the case and the stator (no spark). the engine has some design flaws that should be corrected and could cost you some $$$$. if your going to race it, maybe you should look into the 250\500 hybrid

[special k]

We didn't have a m/m micrometer so we converted it over. 89.5 m/m [last available o/s] equals 3.517" which gives us .010" clearance which still seems like too much clearance to me. Supposedly the motor was just rebuilt top to bottom and looking at the inside of the motor it seems like that could be true.