KTM powered Blaster

This is what I'm talking about best. I'm glad you were my first friend on here. That thing looks great. I just got my Rectifier/Regulator in the mail and my hids. It came with instructions on how to connect to the stator to the battery.. So much easier then what we thought.

How much easier? I been wanting to do this but have been putting it off because of the hoops I'll have to jump threw.
 
Hey guys, not worried about a hijack, glad you put links to info in this thread.
HID lights are definitely a project I want to do soon.

So, some picts of the pipe and rear brake, neither totally complete yet but open for
suggestions:

Here it is Dan, my pipe welded up and fitted in place.
It needs a few more mounting tabs, and maybe a bend or dent here or there to
clear this or that, but it fits! Had to weld the flange on it to get it in place.
Hard to see are a cut near the head pipe to pull the first bend forward to clear
the frame. Welded a 10mm wedge in there. Then in the main belly of the pipe it
was cut open and a 25mm wedge welded in to get the bottom of the pipe up
higher and to mate with the header flange.

It is close to the rad, and contacts the frame in several places.
More work is needed. Even cutting the frame would not have allowed this to fit.

196147_10150167876920803_549110802_8741697_2470111_n.jpg


198243_10150167877060803_549110802_8741703_1093718_n.jpg


199410_10150167877235803_549110802_8741706_120228_n.jpg


Rear brake caliper. Both caliper and disk are floaters. Suggestions?

200642_10150167877300803_549110802_8741707_2899564_n.jpg


190017_10150167877375803_549110802_8741709_2137044_n.jpg
 
Whats the big deal with them both floating.... Why don't you drill two holes on the disc hub and thread it then put allen nut in them. Maybe even drill it while its on the axle so you dig into the axle a little then put the allen nut in there..
 
I love this build cannot wait to see it run, pipe looks mint on it looks like that engine was made for the frame!! :) well done and good luck!!
 
Not much progress unfortunately.
Minute bit of work before career, family, visitors and various duties keep got in the way.
I did get out on another "blast" on it while demonstrating to company. Wahoo!

Bought a scale and plan to do some weighing, both engines, rad, exhaust and such.
Busy working over the weekend, looks like it will be Monday before anything happens.

A couple great threads on a truly interesting swap:
cr500 in a 250r frame - Page 86 - E2S

OZ ATV :: The Australian ATV Forum :: View topic - My project trx 500r (NEW VIDEO)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
A few quick weights, all with no carb:

1999 Blaster 200cc air cooled engine: 52 lbs
2002 KTM 380cc liquid cooled engine: 58 lbs (slightly heavier than the 250 and 300cc KTM)
2001 KTM 125cc liquid cooled engine: 37 lbs (about the same weight as the 200cc KTM)
My 250 engine is in the Blaster at the moment, so I cannot get a weight off it.

Too bad my son's DT200 is all together.
It would be interesting to see the weight of the liquid cooled version of this engine.

Add to the weight of the engine about 4 lbs for the radiator and about 6 lbs for water,
some hoses and brackets, we have about 15 lbs more for the liquid cooled 250 engine.
The flange on the pipe weighs a pound or so, everything you add, adds weight.
This brings the weight of this conversion (theoretically) from 330 to to about 350 lbs.

A 125/200 KTM conversion might make some sense on paper.
Doubling the horsepower for a slight reduction in weight.
Hot rodding the air cooled engine would accomplish the same thing with much less complexity.
 
damn, it looks gorgeous. next winter do a full rebuild. paint the frame, clean'er upp. i wanna get my hands on a ktm motor now. how do you just have 2 ktm motors "laying around your house" lol sweet build. you wanna sell that 380 ktm motor???
 
damn, it looks gorgeous. next winter do a full rebuild. paint the frame, clean'er upp. i wanna get my hands on a ktm motor now. how do you just have 2 ktm motors "laying around your house" lol sweet build. you wanna sell that 380 ktm motor???

Yeah, you've got the picture, get her running this year, make sure everything works and tidy it up next winter. Heck, I got the paint just about ruined now from the test runs!

"how do you just have 2 ktm motors "laying around your house" ?
Well, mix a terrible KTM addiction and a predilection for collecting spare parts and no wife to slow you down! The 380 is in the slow process of a complete bike rebuild and the 250 was a spare motor in case of a major engine catastrophe. I also have a spare 125 sitting ready to go too. Sorry, not for sale.

Been busy with family, courses, offroad riding and Search&Rescue.
A bit lame from taking a trip over the handlebars of the 300 KTM.
My son says "old man forgot how to ride a bike over the winter..."
I have a biking/camping trip coming in May that I plan to have the bike finished for.

Have had the KTM/Blaster out for a few rides. Still no muffler or proper air cleaner (just a K&N stick on) but now have Ninja 250 rear brakes. Have changed front sprocket from 14 to 12 due to high gear speeds. Have not done a top speed test yet. Hated the rear shock and added the LTZ400 rear shock. Hate the front shocks and drum brakes but living with them yet.

Bike season has hit here so I have been out riding. Also have taken my son's stock (except for a compression increase) Blaster out for a comparison. His low first gear and stall resistance make it better to ride in very rough terrain. My 1st gear is like his 2nd, even with the lower sprocket. While his is peppy at lower speeds and from a stop, the KTM/Blaster is actually hard to wheelie at low speeds due to wheelspin. I don't have much for tires at the moment. Wheelies come easy in the higher gears, however. You have to be careful with stabbing the throttle, things WILL happen!

Front brakes are grabby and hard to balance from side to side. Rear is a bit weak at the moment, and even when locked up does not provide a lot of slow-down at high speeds. Quite noisy with no muffler yet, so I don't want to bother the neighbors. Looking for a very stealthy muffler to keep our riding areas open. More coming...
 
alright. i got the money for a ktm motor but no one in southern MI has any ktm's a couple of dirtbikes but nothing to spare. or else i would buy one in a heartbeat. and your lucky you found the broken bars early, you got to keep your face intact! hope you have fun with that blaster. it will fly.
 
I just read through all these pages and I am really excited about the thought of hopefully watching a video of this thing.

BTW, if you have any pipe questions Rubbersalt makes his own pipes and he will tell you exactly what cutting or extending certain areas will do.

Also the gearing is really high on that, I read an article saying 2 stroke motors in the 50-70hp range should be geared around 2 since the lower you go the closer you get to the motor which fires every two strokes. For instance you currently have 14/40 = 2.857, you want like a 14/30 = 2.142 or a 15/30 = 2 but I wouldn't go lower than two in fact I personally would run 14/30 if it were my bike.

Good luck, awesome thread!
 
So, spring has hit here, out with the bikes, doing a bit of Search & Rescue work, and still working on the Blaster.

It is mobile! Pretty much complete except for a muffler. Still haven't solved that one.
Had it out for a few shakedown runs. With my son's stock Blaster we've pretty much determined that 3 psi in back and 4 psi in front are optimum tire pressures for these things. Ninja 250 brakes work OK in the back and still using the cable drums up front. They are working well however.

In the pictures you will see I had a bike handle bar on the Blaster? Well, I hit the throttle with my knee in a turn and promptly realized THAT is not going to work. I bought a pretty blue ATV aluminum bar, fitted it with Acerbis brushguards. mounted some stock heelguards too, so I don't lose a foot under the tires. My air breather tube is a length of 2.5" plastic pipe fastened to an aluminum plate on the stock airbox. Using a paper air filter at the moment because my bike did not come with one.

How does it ride? Some good and bad. The lengthened Gnarly pipe has taken quite a bit of the top rpm's off so with the current gearing it only has a top speed of 100kph or 60mph. It gets there fast and will spin and wheelie in all gears but it is a disappointingly low top speed. I was hoping for 70-75 mph with this gearing, and I am sure it is due to the lower rpm function of the pipe. I can sprocket it up, but then 1st gear is getting too high for woods work. I don't like the Gnarly pipes on my bikes (part of the reason I sacrificed it to be cut up for the Blaster) and thought the ATV could use more low RPM torque. What it did was limit the RPM range and limit. It does have more torque at lower rpm's than this engine ever had in a bike. This pipe might work well with a 300 or 380 EXC motor with wider gears and taller sprockets.

The bike is light feeling, instantly responsive, but tends to spin excessively. Lowering tire pressure helped, but I have to consciously lean back to get a wheelie at speed. This can be a good thing, as my 660 Raptor tended to be wheels in the air at all times, whereas the Blaster is a sliding king. Corners on fire roads are met with a snap of throttle and reverse steering. The back brake is almost useless, offering little stopping power, so it seems that I may have not enough weight on the the back, or that my riding style is to hug the front.

This is a fun bike. Very little vibration (I heard some other swaps complain about vibration) and exhilarating power even if the top speed is a bit low. I may try sprocketing it back higher again. The short wheelbase and firm front shocks make for a very busy ride compared to what I am used to on the KTMs. It turns on a dime and is very nimble in the woods. I like it. Being a bike rider, I have some dificulty getting used to 4 wheels and where to put them, but I am learning.

More picts and hopefully some vids to come.
 
So this afternoon I go for a good long "shakeout blast" on the KTM Blaster, still with the same 100kph 12/40 sprockets. It is a hoot. I am feeling I can easily stand a taller 1st gear so I am going to sprocket up to 14/40 and try it. That should bring top speed up to about 115 kph or 70 mph, which is probably plenty fast for a Blaster.

The LTZ rear shock is working out well. Softened the rear up while keeping it under control. Front is still pretty harsh. Getting the hang of wheelies. Stab the throttle and lean back in any gear. She spins like crazy and grabs for the sky. Wahooo!

Well, all good things must come to an end, and for the first time in years I snapped a chain. This was the chain that came on the Blaster. It was a "DID Taiwan 520V" "O"ring chain, not worn out and on good sprockets. I was hammering heck out of it at the time. I have never broken a chain on the motorbikes, but I suppose the big 3psi tires have a heck of a lot more traction.

Here is a pict of the swingarm/sprocket jam up from the snapped chain:

227000_10150236712200803_549110802_9083941_4051426_n.jpg


Here is the original brake set up:
My foot used to catch on the wire guard.

228264_10150236711400803_549110802_9083904_4264435_n.jpg


And here it is modified for better leverage and less weight (before the heel guard installed).

225418_10150236711790803_549110802_9083920_6819020_n.jpg


And finally, new higher bars with brushguards:

230528_10150236712345803_549110802_9083945_6420706_n.jpg
 
Last edited: