RV90 Restoration in Alaska

[cakayaq]

So I just picked up my first RV90 and I'm excited to get this little baby running but I'm thinking that I'll use the winter to tear it down and restore it to a little of it's original glory and I'm hoping to get a little help from those here who know a little about them. I'll post a "before the tear down" photo soon but it's on my phone and hard to get right now. I do have a couple photos from this morning... and a couple questions.

It's been parked outside for a couple years and not exactly cared for in the past, but it only shows about 800 miles so with luck that's accurate.

Here are the things I see that are immediately wrong.

1-The kick starter won't catch 99% of the time. Once in a while I can get it to make a little connection with gears and it will roll the engine over. I'm guessing it might have a few missing teeth. I'll know more when I tear it down.

2- No key. I'm thinking I can probably hotwire it but eventually I need an ignition and I'd like to hear it run once before I dump $100+ into a new ignition.

3- Lastly, I pulled the muffler this morning. Both bolts broke off even after much heating, and PB Blaster - . Anyway when I put the muffler on the bench a bunch of oil ran out of the pipe... I'm guessing that sitting for a while has just let some of the oil from the tank make it down through the cylinder and out the pipe.. what do you think?

Anyway, looking forward to the project, and hoping I might make a connection here for some help. Thanks, Jeff (tried to post photos but the "board attachment quota has been reached"... or whatever that means.

[smokingbanana90]

Welcome to the forum! I personally really like the RV's. They are really cool and fun little bikes. I just finished restoring my 1975 RV125 that was in very rough shape.

Anyways, for the kickstarter-I had a very similar problem with my RV125. It could be the a worn kickstarter pawl or a worn gear. These are the last parts to come out after a full engine teardown. If you do teardown, it would be best to replace all of the kickstarter components while you're in there. The parts aren't terribly expensive but they are hard to get to.

The Key- There should be a number/code on the face of the ignition switch-you could use that code to track down a Suzuki key with that code. (I did the same and I got a key on Ebay for about $20.00) I personally think its a better than buying a new switch.

The muffler-Most of my 2 strokes had oil/gas in the pipes after sitting for a while. I imagine that it is unburned fuel. I doubt that it was leaking oil from the tank. The injection pump is driven off of the engine. It would be best to totally disassemble the pipe and clean it up. Good luck on those broken bolts-I have never had to deal with that.

And, whatever you do, DO NOT run the bike on premix and disconnect the oil injection system. The engine life will be greatly decreased without the injection system because the crankshaft bearings are directly lubricated by the oil lines.

The RVs are fun and cool projects. Good Luck!!