New Piston Rings, while I'm at it...

[benchfalco]

Okay, so I have to take the block off my bike to get a valve cover bolt hole drilled and have a heli-coil installed because I overtightened the bolt last year and stripped it.

Since I'll be taking the block to a machine shop for servicing, I'd like to get some opinions on getting the cylinders deglazed or honed (depending on who you talk to) and installing new piston rings. I figure it's something I should do since I don't plan to have the engine split again anytime soon......Unless for some reason I have to do a complete rebuld.......

The bike has 60K kms, and there doesn't *seem* to be any oil consumption, but new rings are only about 40USD for a set, and the block will be at a machine shop anyway, so I figure I should get it done while I have the chance.
What do you think?

[Mr. Clean]

Suzuki makes a 1mm over sized piston kit for your bike. If I remember right it doesn't cost that much and it would bring your displacement up to 621cc. Food for thought.

[The CyberPoet]

There are also bore-over kits available from WiseCo (www.wiseco.com). These replace the rings, pistons, etc., are available in a variety of sizes and (most importantly) increase the compression ratios for the cylinders substancially, resulting in far more power than the change in cc's would indicate. Might be worth looking into.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[benchfalco]

Is is a wise decision to only swap out rings and pistons, or should I go nuts and do all the bearings and cams too?

I wouldn't mind going up a piston size. Even the small 21 cc jump would be a fun little mod.....but my concern at this point is overall cost.
Since stock rings are cheap I figure I may as well put in new ones while the engine is split....things get a little more costly when we start talking about pistons too....

...but that's still cheaper than buying a larger bike.....

After boring out say....What are the concerns regarding insurance? Do I just keep it under my hat, that my 600, isn't really a 600 anymore?

No luck from the wiseco site....it doesn't look like they make anything for a '93 kat 6. I tried to track down a site for the 21cc mod to find out piston cost, but no luck either.

[The CyberPoet]

Is is a wise decision to only swap out rings and pistons, or should I go nuts and do all the bearings and cams too?

I wouldn't mind going up a piston size. Even the small 21 cc jump would be a fun little mod.....but my concern at this point is overall cost.
Since stock rings are cheap I figure I may as well put in new ones while the engine is split....things get a little more costly when we start talking about pistons too....

...but that's still cheaper than buying a larger bike.....

After boring out say....What are the concerns regarding insurance? Do I just keep it under my hat, that my 600, isn't really a 600 anymore?

(A) It's still a 600 for insurance purposes. What the insurance man don't know won't bother him.
(B) Before you do anything, consider doing a compression check. If the compression is on the high side, don't do anything to the rings.
(C) If the compression is down, definitely do the rings.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet