- Joined
- Feb 6, 2006
- Messages
- 10,577
- Reaction score
- 4,188
- Location
- Cape Town, deep in the lentils
- Bike
- KTM 990 Adventure
I have a venerable 2004 950 that I have really loved riding. It has 65 000k’s of mostly very hard riding on it. I don’t commute on it. I don’t have a smaller plastic play bike so this is the one that gets beaten on regularly.
It has never left me stranded, though I have, more in the beginning years, had some big issues. Some were caused exclusively by me, others KTM’s fault. All has been documented in this forum at some time. Sorting these issues out was often quite satisfying. I learnt almost everything through this site, the OC site and the H.O.W. Although it looks quite different with the big Safari tanks on, it is almost standard. The only things that are different apart from the tanks are the fuel pump, bash plate, bar risers, fork springs, valving, ceramic coated exhausts and aftermarket pipes.
It is still running pretty strong but I have come to a fork in the road where it is either flog it and get a new one or restore it. The biggest issues are;
It’s looking a bit tatty.
The engine has had a very slow small oil leak somewhere in between the pots for the last few years that is irritating me. I suspect the base gasket on the front pot. It hasn’t gotten any worse.
The water pump cover has a very small leak at the gasket that only started recently. It loses very little, but enough to piss me off.
Though the engine is still very strong up to 7000 rpm, it gets a bit slow above that. I suspect the carburettor parts are worn.
My engine and many others of its generation is very mechanically loud. It’s getting boring.
The suspension needs some love.
Lots of minor wear a tear items are nearing the end of their life terms. Lots of the plastic bits are thoroughly worn.
Call me stubborn or nostalgic, but I have chosen to refresh it. I could try to justify this exercise through cost as it will be, even with the inevitable budget creep, maybe a third of the price of a new one. But I know that saving some pennies would not be the whole story. I still don’t quite know why. I suppose it is a mix of;
Really liking this particular one, we’ve done a lot together.
Not being that much more impressed with a new one I rode recently even though it was an R.
Wanting another mechanical project.
It’s a good excuse to get some new tools.
Curiosity.
So I am going to be doing this in between work and also waiting on parts to arrive, I don’t think that it will be a quick thing, though I hope to have it finished by end March. I am also undecided yet on some large ticket items such as Woodys wheels and hubs and getting right down to a full respray etc. I’ll see as I go along and hopefully in the places I get stuck you guys can chime in.
So, first off, the engine.
To refresh my engine I think would just require a new gasket set, fork rollers and a few seals. Maybe a bit of love to the valves but there really is not much wrong with it. I am certain the rings are all good for another 50k. It starts easily, idles well and pulls hard.
So, as I was pondering this I got quite a fright when a low mileage 990SD engine from Texas sprung out of eBay and attacked my credit card. What can a guy do? It is a 2007 with 4300 miles on it. An unusual way to fix an oil leak, but there you go. Almost at the same time another inmate over at OC very unselfishly threw his set of 39mm Keihins at my Paypal account. I’ve always wondered about these so hopefully I’ll be able to tell you in the near future.
If any of you are wondering, it is not that much fun getting an engine to Cape Town South Africa. I got lucky with a friend who had a container coming over but otherwise it inflates the price considerably. Considering the parts for the 950 and labour if I’d sent it to the dealer to get fixed, I think this way is just a bit more pricier but I get a low km engine.
The valves were all on the loose side and over spec so that’s been sorted. It is interesting to see the difference in care of finishing between the Adventure inlets and the SD ones, hmmmm I like!
The white residue is the fuel additives that they choke their engines with over there. I am not sure how to get it out and probably will just let our fuel wash it out.
First issue I have is that the boots for the 990 do not fit the 39mm carbs. I have yet to see if the 950 boots will do any better. Any ideas anyone?
Yesterday, I got cracking at getting the bike apart and in 2 hours this time lapse video of the tear down.
Go me to here.
The old 950 engines sump plug doesn’t show anything unusual
Forks and shock are off to the experts.
Next up is the swing arm and engine out.
It has never left me stranded, though I have, more in the beginning years, had some big issues. Some were caused exclusively by me, others KTM’s fault. All has been documented in this forum at some time. Sorting these issues out was often quite satisfying. I learnt almost everything through this site, the OC site and the H.O.W. Although it looks quite different with the big Safari tanks on, it is almost standard. The only things that are different apart from the tanks are the fuel pump, bash plate, bar risers, fork springs, valving, ceramic coated exhausts and aftermarket pipes.
It is still running pretty strong but I have come to a fork in the road where it is either flog it and get a new one or restore it. The biggest issues are;
It’s looking a bit tatty.
The engine has had a very slow small oil leak somewhere in between the pots for the last few years that is irritating me. I suspect the base gasket on the front pot. It hasn’t gotten any worse.
The water pump cover has a very small leak at the gasket that only started recently. It loses very little, but enough to piss me off.
Though the engine is still very strong up to 7000 rpm, it gets a bit slow above that. I suspect the carburettor parts are worn.
My engine and many others of its generation is very mechanically loud. It’s getting boring.
The suspension needs some love.
Lots of minor wear a tear items are nearing the end of their life terms. Lots of the plastic bits are thoroughly worn.
Call me stubborn or nostalgic, but I have chosen to refresh it. I could try to justify this exercise through cost as it will be, even with the inevitable budget creep, maybe a third of the price of a new one. But I know that saving some pennies would not be the whole story. I still don’t quite know why. I suppose it is a mix of;
Really liking this particular one, we’ve done a lot together.
Not being that much more impressed with a new one I rode recently even though it was an R.
Wanting another mechanical project.
It’s a good excuse to get some new tools.
Curiosity.
So I am going to be doing this in between work and also waiting on parts to arrive, I don’t think that it will be a quick thing, though I hope to have it finished by end March. I am also undecided yet on some large ticket items such as Woodys wheels and hubs and getting right down to a full respray etc. I’ll see as I go along and hopefully in the places I get stuck you guys can chime in.
So, first off, the engine.
To refresh my engine I think would just require a new gasket set, fork rollers and a few seals. Maybe a bit of love to the valves but there really is not much wrong with it. I am certain the rings are all good for another 50k. It starts easily, idles well and pulls hard.
So, as I was pondering this I got quite a fright when a low mileage 990SD engine from Texas sprung out of eBay and attacked my credit card. What can a guy do? It is a 2007 with 4300 miles on it. An unusual way to fix an oil leak, but there you go. Almost at the same time another inmate over at OC very unselfishly threw his set of 39mm Keihins at my Paypal account. I’ve always wondered about these so hopefully I’ll be able to tell you in the near future.
If any of you are wondering, it is not that much fun getting an engine to Cape Town South Africa. I got lucky with a friend who had a container coming over but otherwise it inflates the price considerably. Considering the parts for the 950 and labour if I’d sent it to the dealer to get fixed, I think this way is just a bit more pricier but I get a low km engine.
The valves were all on the loose side and over spec so that’s been sorted. It is interesting to see the difference in care of finishing between the Adventure inlets and the SD ones, hmmmm I like!
The white residue is the fuel additives that they choke their engines with over there. I am not sure how to get it out and probably will just let our fuel wash it out.
First issue I have is that the boots for the 990 do not fit the 39mm carbs. I have yet to see if the 950 boots will do any better. Any ideas anyone?
Yesterday, I got cracking at getting the bike apart and in 2 hours this time lapse video of the tear down.
Go me to here.
The old 950 engines sump plug doesn’t show anything unusual
Forks and shock are off to the experts.
Next up is the swing arm and engine out.
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