Okay. Start from the beginning. A couple of summers back, we purchased a 1993 600 Kat from a friend. A project, to say the least. I was riding a 1987 Hurricane 600 at the time and my wife wanted her a sporty bike. An almost complete bike with a clean title. PO said it had cams swapped but didn't get any other info on specifics. Bad was the transmission was stuck in 2nd gear. Not sure of which gear myself, but definately stuck. Had another friend who had a 750 Kat engine in a parts bike he wasn't using. Didn't know any history, believe it was a '90 or '91. Swapped out engines. Used the 600 carbs (I know, before anyone says, it was just to get it running) because the 750 had no carbs on it.
.....Now for the problem. Engine cranks. Check. New spark plugs spark. Check. Carbs cleaned. Check. Fuel flowing through carbs into engine. Check. No bang. No check. Tried starting fluid. Put old plugs back in. Choke, no choke. No throttle, WOT. Combination of all or some. No bang. Checked timing marks on camshaft and crank. Always lined up perfectly.
Had fire. Had fuel. Hmmmmmm. Oh yeah, compression. Need to check that. For some reason, project is put on hold. Old Kat is left in the back corner of the garage. Wife found her a lowered pink EX500 Ninja she fell in love with. I found myself a new love in a pristine 2000 Honda RC51.
Fast forward to present day. Looking for a winter project. Time to dust off the old Kat. Hooked her up to a good hot battery. Still turns over good and has good fire. Still won't start. Picked up a compression gauge and checked her out. Now I know I couldn't do a proper test due to the engine not being able to run to warm it up. But, results were.
Cyl 1 - 25 psi
Cyl 2 - 30 psi
Cyl 3 - 60 psi
Cyl 4 - 20 psi
Think I may have found my problem. Poured a little oil into cyl 2 and tried again. Jumped to 65 psi. Then steadily started to drop back to original reading after checking a few more times. Could feel the pulse in the compression gauge every time the piston came up on #3. And on #2 the first couple of checks with oil. After that and on the other 2 cylinders, nothing. Which points me to ring/cylinder issues. The engine had sat outside in the frame for awhile before I got it with no exhaust or carbs.
Now for the reason of the post. I am going to check the compression on the 600. Hopefully it has good even numbers. If so.....
Is it possible to put the 600 pistons, cylinders and head on the 750 crankcase? I am not wanting to sink a ton of money into this. Just looking for a winter project. Possibly a streetfighter type build. Something to commute and have a little fun on. The 600 would be more than sufficient. I get my power fix on the big V-Twin. And I hate to see it just sit there.
Re ringing (if the cylinders are okay) is an option. Do they make a kit?
Or, will the transmissions interchange? (swap the 750s into the 600)
Open to suggestions. Sorry for the "article". I ramble sometimes.
Thanks
.....Now for the problem. Engine cranks. Check. New spark plugs spark. Check. Carbs cleaned. Check. Fuel flowing through carbs into engine. Check. No bang. No check. Tried starting fluid. Put old plugs back in. Choke, no choke. No throttle, WOT. Combination of all or some. No bang. Checked timing marks on camshaft and crank. Always lined up perfectly.
Had fire. Had fuel. Hmmmmmm. Oh yeah, compression. Need to check that. For some reason, project is put on hold. Old Kat is left in the back corner of the garage. Wife found her a lowered pink EX500 Ninja she fell in love with. I found myself a new love in a pristine 2000 Honda RC51.
Fast forward to present day. Looking for a winter project. Time to dust off the old Kat. Hooked her up to a good hot battery. Still turns over good and has good fire. Still won't start. Picked up a compression gauge and checked her out. Now I know I couldn't do a proper test due to the engine not being able to run to warm it up. But, results were.
Cyl 1 - 25 psi
Cyl 2 - 30 psi
Cyl 3 - 60 psi
Cyl 4 - 20 psi
Think I may have found my problem. Poured a little oil into cyl 2 and tried again. Jumped to 65 psi. Then steadily started to drop back to original reading after checking a few more times. Could feel the pulse in the compression gauge every time the piston came up on #3. And on #2 the first couple of checks with oil. After that and on the other 2 cylinders, nothing. Which points me to ring/cylinder issues. The engine had sat outside in the frame for awhile before I got it with no exhaust or carbs.
Now for the reason of the post. I am going to check the compression on the 600. Hopefully it has good even numbers. If so.....
Is it possible to put the 600 pistons, cylinders and head on the 750 crankcase? I am not wanting to sink a ton of money into this. Just looking for a winter project. Possibly a streetfighter type build. Something to commute and have a little fun on. The 600 would be more than sufficient. I get my power fix on the big V-Twin. And I hate to see it just sit there.
Re ringing (if the cylinders are okay) is an option. Do they make a kit?
Or, will the transmissions interchange? (swap the 750s into the 600)
Open to suggestions. Sorry for the "article". I ramble sometimes.
Thanks
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