I'm Back, and I'm Not Screwin' Around

Lindso

Member
Since I was last active, Kennedy was the king of rebuilds, Vito's was the way to go, Hotrods was crap, and LA Sleeve was not really on anyone's map. Apparently this world has changed quite a bit so I've found myself back at the bottom of the information totem pole, and out of the loop regarding who's making good products and performing good work on rebuilds/porting/other modifications. So..hopefully this place is still active enough to get some good up-to-date info;

  • 3mm Stroker Crank; Best brand, any case trenching req'd?
  • Used 240 Kit; Best place to send to for proper porting/milling? Is Ken O'Connor still active? I have a 240 cylinder, but it's in need of a bore I believe. LA Sleeve doesn't seem to supply a kit for the Blaster any longer?
  • Piston of Choice?; Rumor says Vito's piston quality for the 240 jug is crap now..is Wiseco still in the game, and are there different compression ratios to consider? Any other brands?

I know this is the Engine section, but I may as well throw the questions out there..

  • Best place to source extended swingarms these days?
  • Best place to find a widening kit for the front A-Arms? Is that still a thing?
  • Suggestions on where to get new wheel bearings? Probably just a dealer, figured I'd check.

Looking at getting my build back on track toward the end of this summer if I can successfully source the parts and the labor I need. Thank you guys for any help you provide.
 
Extended swingarms = Swingarm shop they are on EBAY
http://stores.ebay.com/THE-SWINGARM-SHOP/Other-/_i.html?_fsub=1

Widening kit for the front A-Arms = EBAY or just buy longer A-arms.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...g+Kit.TRS0&_nkw=blaster+Widening+Kit&_sacat=0

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_od...ster+a+arms.TRS0&_nkw=blaster+a+arms&_sacat=0

Wheel bearings = EBAY or any store or Yamaha shop.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_od...ngs.TRS0&_nkw=blaster+wheel+bearings&_sacat=0

Also Ken is still the man for engine work. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lindso
I'm using a Vito's 3mm stroker crank and I am very happy with it.
I think the plastic fillers really help with low end torque as well.

My Vito's 72mm BBK is pretty much stock and I was disappointed with it. It looks great but did not deliver the power I was expecting. First thing to go was the stock BBK head, replaced with a rechambered head. For their cost, I really think you should get an experienced hand at porting one of these monsters.

Vito's piston worked fine in the BBK, but most forged (and especially Wiseco) seem to swell a lot with heat. I often run cast pistons in my KTMs with great luck. I've had great luck with forged Wossners too. The Wossners don't seem to swell as much as Wiseco's.

Compression tends to pump up off idle and low end power at the expense of heat into the piston. A rechambered head will let you run a lot of compression, but if you are going to scream that engine hard in sand or long hills, go a little light on the compression. You can make pretty mach as much power, but with more reliability.

I extend my own swingarms by welding in 2 pieces of 1/4" mild steel and adding a horizontal brace:
311395_10151304890700803_1408253300_n.jpg

Seems kinda sketchy but is easy to weld strong there and I haven't had any problems.
3" is about perfect balance for good traction without flipping over all he time.

I'm a woods guy, happy with the stock A-arm width for now, so no answer there.
All Balls has bearing kits pretty cheap, or I replace the bearings by number at a local supplier.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lindso
Thanks Best, that's a lot of good info. I'm just coming off having learned a lot about my car's engine through rebuild, and I'm starting to learn how some of that knowledge does and doesn't translate to this little 2-stroke motor, such as how to manipulate the CR.

I've found Ken O'Connors web page and plan to contact him about my Blaster build needs (the 3mm stroker kit and BBK mods, in particular), but there's a locally owned Yamaha shop with a good reputation across town that I'd like to check out before I commit to shipping 50+lbs of material across the country. The 240 cylinder I have is..well aside from knowing it needs a bore, I know nothing else about it i.e. what bore it's on, if the head has been modified, etc.. I guess I'll have to wait to confirm it can still be bored and get an accurate measurement before I start really shopping pistons. 100% of the riding I do is desert trail and the high RPM's are where the motor will likely reside, so I'll plan for that when I make my selection.

Regarding the swingarm..I have NOOOOO welding skills. When I was building the engine for my car, I started to practice welding for when it was time to get the exhaust put in place. My friend tried to teach me technique but I kept welding holes in 1/8in steel plates haha! So I don't mind splurging for a new swingarm built by someone who knows WTF they're doing. Plus I think they come with new bearings, so I'm OK with it.

For the front arms, 'Diamond J' was the company that I was thinking of but couldn't remember the name. Mark supplied a couple links up above that got me my answer there. The terrain here in Albuquerque is pretty wide open.. the only thing I'll need to modify to fit the bike through is the gate to my backyard haha.
 
Be careful, but I found I could put a lit match out in a cup of old gas I took out of a vehicle.
It was less flammable than diesel or kerosene.

It doesn't even smell like gas anymore haha.

Now that I've gotten the bike home (Had to remove the left wheels to get it through the gate), I'm performing a refresh before I ride it.. new gas, clean carb, new crank oil. It's got some surface rust going on throughout as well, so gonna be going through a thorough cleaning soon as well.
 
Hahaha that's awesome! I've never had that kinda transport problem before. But my new house currently only has a 35in wide gate into the back yard and the Blaster is 40in wide. First I tried tipping it sideways and wall riding through, but it turns out the Blaster has the width and height of a square. So yea, had to take the wheels on one side off.


full
 
Last edited:
Remove the wheels?
Half the beauty of a Blaster is that it fits where other quads cannot go...
Like in the back of a mini-van:
full

That's a good use of what you have. I usually think of groceries and soccer mom's when someone says minivan.... Now I'll wonder if they can get a blaster in it!
 
Lindso, load your picts up to the Blasterforum "media" link up in the header bar above.
That way it will be there forever.
Most of the pict sharing sites have done some weird things and we've lost many of the picts that go with archived posts. Not so if you save them right on the Blasterforum site.
 
That's a good use of what you have. I usually think of groceries and soccer mom's when someone says minivan.... Now I'll wonder if they can get a blaster in it!

I've have trucks and Broncos and 4x4 vans, supercharged and turbocharged sports cars, so the boys all teased me when I bought my Dodge minivan.

"What's a 52 year old single guy doing with a minivan?" they asked.
"I'm cruzin for soccer-moms!" was my answer...

Seriously, it's got a 285hp motor and will haul a 3600 lbs trailer, or carry me, my quad and all my gear 1000 mies and get 30+mpg doing it. I can camp in it in rough weather (like -30 winter) and combined with tire chains can go some amazing places. It carries a canoe or aluminum boat on the roof. Heck, you can even load a 2nd Blaster on the roof if you want. Yup it's a real pleasure palace, try all that in yer SUV or pick-up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lindso
Lindso, load your picts up to the Blasterforum "media" link up in the header bar above.
That way it will be there forever.
Most of the pict sharing sites have done some weird things and we've lost many of the picts that go with archived posts. Not so if you save them right on the Blasterforum site.

Well that's kind of a boner. Guess I'll wait til my new BlasterForum media album gets moderator approved! Haha

To be continued..
 
Alright, so continuing the mild teardown after half a decade, I was expecting to have to clean out some sludge or some kind of solidified deposits since I didn't use a fuel stabilizer. Don't know how well that stuff would work over long periods of time with pre-mixed fuel anyway.

Pulled the carb, had to clean off the outside to keep it from dropping into the insides;

full

full



Surprisingly, everything was pretty clean on the inside. No blockages, the float still moved freely, and there were no deposits to have to clean up so it was an easy carb refresh.

full


full




Hopefully I can find an easy way to resize images prior to posting in the future.
 
  • Like
Reactions: speedyslyder
the max file size on image files is around 4.5mb
it used to be 1mb.
your camera should only be doing 1 to 2 mb image files
If a straight up single pic is over 4.5mb on a single photo then geeez i don't know:)
thye last pic in your last post is 1.7mb i know cuz i saved it to read the file size:)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lindso
also you can only upload 6-7 images per post reply or it wont work.
if you have lets say 10 images that you want to upload to a reply in a thread upload half of them send it then upload the rest in another reply
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lindso
Thanks SpeedySlyder! I think everything I uploaded is 1.5mb-ish. Looks like if I just take horizontal pics they're downsized much more than vertical pics, to fit within the thread width I guess. So I'll take all horizontal pics now!


Pilot Jet looks good

full



Main jet looks good, too.

full

full



No debris anywhere! I was very surprised.

full



After 4 years, I can't find my box that contained about $100 of 2-stroke oil, a new chain, handle bar grips, and some other stuff. I'll have to head to the Yamaha shop soon to get more I guess. I get so pissed when I can't find my stuff!
 
  • Like
Reactions: speedyslyder
So..continued with my mild teardown. Well not so much of a teardown, more of just taking things off to clean and make shinier.

full



This is the result of maybe 2.5 rides. Good ol' desert dust.

full



This used to look nice, too.

full



First thing I did was take this off to start working on it.

full



I guess these just melt sometimes?

full



My best friend found a website to buy anodized dress-up washers for his car on the cheap compared to retail, and he hooked me up with a couple bags of blue ones so I thought I'd try making a color scheme out with them.

full



I picked right the first time, turned out to be a perfect match. Another very similar color is the Honda Electron Blue Pearl

full



From there, along with the blue, I started hitting random parts with rubberized under-chassis coating and clear coat.

full


full


full


full


full
 
  • Like
Reactions: dirtysquared