well the obvious thing between the 85-86 is they are not a power valve motor like the 87 and up. I want to say that the frame for the 85-86 was diffrent to?
The reed intakes are different, as to different size I am not sure but hte cages themselves are different. 85-86 had what I would consider to be an internal reed valvle assembly as it is inside the cylinder behind the piston sleeve. 87 has a five bolt pattern for the reed cage to mount to the cylinder and 88-up have a six bolt pattern for the reed cage to mount to the cylinder. The reeds themselves are also different, you cannot use 88-up reeds in an 87, but I am not exactly sure how they are different I think it is a different bolt pattern again (87 has 4 bolts per side and 88-up has 3 or something like that), hope this helps a little
As for the 87 being faster I was told by a suzuki fanatic (he used to race the LT's and swears by the 87) at my local atv dealership that the 87 is the fastest year fo the LT's, but I can not verify that personally. I will say that my 87 definitely has some nut for the minor add ons it has, but I have never ridden another LT so I really can't say from experience.
The 87 LT250 and 500 have the bigger intake. This will make it faster if properly adjusted. The 87's by most shop standards is the better cylinder because you can really open it up with a port and polish. However on the LT500 87 it is a 6 bolt head which has issues with studs pulling up from the compression. This can be fixed with larger studs. The 88-90 had 7 studs. (I think that is right I know the 88-90 has one more stud than the 87 not sure if it is 5 studs and 6 studs though)
The cylinders are interchange able so you can put and 87 cylinder onto whatever lower end you want. There were no changes to the lower end. This means you can get what ever cylinder you want but you have to get the head to match.
I am really not sure which is better I have been told that they can open the 88 and up cylinders to be as fast as the 87. I still think the 87 cylinders are better. In the stock state the 87's are faster.
Put it this way I think 1Dirracing makes a reed cage for the 87 that is 10 or 12 petals. I think the 88 and up only can fit a 6-8 petal. This is for the 500 not sure about the 250 though. I know they make reeds for the 250 because I am getting a set for my LT
ok heres the deal. 85-86 are totally differnt frames, engien, and suspension. ok the 87 has teh same engien cases and trans but thats it. the entire rotaing assembly is different as is the cyl and intake. the 87 has a HUGE intake compared to the 88-92. i have an 87 enigne in a 88 frame with 89 suspension no everything swap aroudn pretty nicely there. oh yeah the reson for the differnt crank and pston is this. the pin hieght on the 87 piston is different then teh later models and that in turn uses a little bit longer rod on the 87 also. from just looking at the difference i would say that unported an 87 engine would be better but after porting the 88-92 might perform better. the 87 intake is so big i'm not sure you'd get much from porting it. my assumption would be that with a stock pipe and carb a 88-;ater engien might actually be faster because that big 87 intake would prove to be a loss in intake velocity. ok and for the 91-92 the frame and rear suspesnion is differnet. where teh swinger connects the frame it is wider there by about a 1/2 in i believe. but any 87-92 engien fitt fit in the 91-92 frames. ok and swingarms from 85-90 all swap. youi can put a 85-86 round carier swinger on any square carrier 87-90 LT250R. if you have any questions lemme know i'll help you out however i can
I have an 87 with the bigger intake. I also have a spare motor from a 89. Ive ran both. All I have to say is the 89 motor is sittin in my garage torn apart and Im debating on selling it! I RUN the 87.
My 87 seems like when the powerband comes on it hits harder and abit longer. The 89 motor seemed to have a larger powerband, better low and mid but suffered on the top end.
Im sure with a good port job (pretty serious one) the 89 motor would feel more like the 87. It just depends on what kinda riding you do.
To me it would seem if a person does more trail riding (speed up slow down speed up, bursts of speed) the 88 and on would be better. Dragin........ 87 intake all the way.
Realisticaly a person probably could make either faster than the other. It just takes money!!!
ok heres the deal. ok and swingarms from 85-90 all swap. youi can put a 85-86 round carier swinger on any square carrier 87-90 LT250R. if you have any questions lemme know i'll help you out however i can
well i thought they were the same length. i could be wrong. well i know the squad type swingers are bad for cracking where teh big box is welded to the back of the arm. so the round is probably a bit stronger. what ever arm you run look a the front where the bearings go in ya know up on the pivot. they always crack right there for some reason.
Well when I wrote this post I was 75% sure an LT was gonna be my next quad,
but I decided I should just get a shee
Better:
Stock performance
Tried and true
Aftermarket
Unless I come across a really good deal, I am gonna try to find a Banshee
well i had 4 sold my 96 top terboed then i'm leaveing in bout 5 mins to drive to mentucky to get a 97 banshee (well most of one) then i'm building taht into a complete quad and friday i'm tradign it for something that nobody on here will probably even recognise haha. it;s not a yamaha or honda. it;s just a very fast 250CC somthing that i will nto disclose. i couple people on here know and i trust tha they'l keep my secret
87lt500 is not better then a 88-90 lt500. suzuki made changes since the birth of the zilla.1987 they sold more of them for the year. 88 was a new powerplant. gears/topend. since 87 was not gear just perfect. 88 top end has a few changes. reed went from a 3+3 too a 4+4 for 88-90. from a 6 bolt head87 to 7 bolt for88-90. the reason is least space between bolts. to better head gasket..89 was the a-arm fix.longer.. to acomadate the 89 powerplant..lt500rk 89 was the best of the zilla..deals/builders/ can tell you that. to answer the Q?? of being faster. it doesn't matter what size power u got that makes u faster. it all in how u ride. if u can just make all the shifts just at a perfect timing. u can be bad on any ride. if u can't shift for creap. u ain't going anywhere fast.
The only difference between 88-90 LT500's were the color of the a-arms & the stickers. The change to the front suspension was on the 88, new steering arms & steering stem.
I have the head with 5 bolts and reeds r twice the size it is faster i also have 2 heads that have 6 bolts
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