Finally have enough money to seriously consider a new sled

[summit1000]

In other news, found out the Dragon already has a fix kit in it I'm happy because it saves money, but I was actually looking forward to tearing it all apart. haha. Thanks for all the information though!

 

[Vance Matheson]

In other news, found out the Dragon already has a fix kit in it I'm happy because it saves money, but I was actually looking forward to tearing it all apart. haha. Thanks for all the information though!

thats good news !! but you can still inspect and clean those valves !

 

[bobsledder]

OH, Yu are back for more humiliation buddy???

Best one in there was message to tex78 by pistonbroke.

 

[moto5151]

I'm selling my 12 pro 800 with with the fix kit installed. 2400km, $8000.

 

[summit1000]

thats good news !! but you can still inspect and clean those valves !

Yeah, I think I will do that. I wanted to ask as well, what oil do you guys find is the absolute best? I had read a ton of good stuff about Legend ZX-2R. I looked for the SR, but it seems to be really difficult to find and I actually talked to the guy who owns the company "Legend" and he said that the ZX-2R should be more than good enough. My experience with it has been good, but I've never had a bad experience with an oil either. So I really don't know. Would Legend be good to run in the Dragon? I had originally got the Legend ZX-2R because when I had my Summit 1000, I heard they were really bad for gumming up the R.A.V.E.'s and that people who had ran the Legend oil rarely had to clean them.

 

[Vance Matheson]

maybe ask the previous owner what he ran in the sled and stick with that. i guess you would want to see if the power valves are gummed up with burnt oil first. im sure polaris ves gold would be more than good enough

 

[Trashy]

I'm a believer of factory oil, for factory machines. I run VES GOLD in my Iguana, and have never had a problem.

 

[Modman]

I always see cross hatches on the cylinders from factory, so I am guessing it's worth doing again?

Sorry Cuso had a response typed up earlier but accidentally closed the browser and lost it. There are tons of people on both sides of this one, so its kinda pick your poison deal. Have there been thousands of people who've honed and had no issues? Yep, same for the folks who haven't. Ultimately it comes down to personal preference and what you may be seeing is only minor surface scratches from something like a whisker hone. Usually after plating a factory will machine to final dimensions, this could be what you are seeing also. Diamond honing needs to set up in a dedicated machine, and all parameters like grit size, head RPM speed, head pressure, vertical strokes per minute, coolant flow etc etc need to be controlled to produce a quality diamond hone job. Nikasil is really thin and truly honing it with a diamond hone is really tricky. Not many people will have the proper required $50,000 set up in their garage. Factories do it more now because the life of a diamond hone is 100X that of traditional stones. Diamond hones work best with a rigid head tool, very hard to do well with a hand drill in your garage. To really set grooves all you need is 8-10 passes at the right angle and speed (like 10 seconds), most people think you have to go up and down for minutes. This is why is so hard to really do.

Its critical to measure the final cylinder before doing anything. Some factories use a 0.002 coating and some aftermarkets use up to 0.006, so you'll need to make sure first.

To see the difference on honing vs de-fuzzing or light honing, you would really need an iron cylinder, one nikasil with a diamond or ultrafine hone and one nikasil without anything. Traditional honing is done with something around the #220 grit in a vitrified stone, most diamond hones are #600-800 in a 2 step process. You can get away with a much finer hone job today, thanks to the materials and refinements in machining. Tighter tolerances and better materials mean that years ago when you needed the rings to seat with lots of wear, now you don't really need that same effort. The lubricants are much better and therefore don't breakdown, and don't need as much, so the machining process can leave a smoother finish. The synthetics are slippery and therefore don't need to retain as much on the walls and rings so the hone grooves can be smaller. Years back they used honing as the final machining process, taking down the cylinders the last few thous. Nowadays the coatings are actually thinner than the machining tolerances were back then.

Honing a coated cylinder can be tricky and this is why people don't truly hone them sometimes. If the ports are not chamfered well or properly the coating can chip off, if you concentrate in one area too much you can remove too much material and take the cylinder out of round, you can also heat up the coating and cause issues.

Lots of guys give it a whisker hone//brush hone/flap hone to "de-fuzz" the cylinder, put in some minor grooves and clean up the edges. Tons of other people just use a scotchbrite pad and WD40. That's what I do.

 

[Modman]

I'm a believer of factory oil, for factory machines. I run VES GOLD in my Iguana, and have never had a problem.

All brand oils are good quality and generally carry the same specifics. Usually its a case of "quantity over quality" that cause people to have oil-related issues in their motor (i.e. guys trying to cut the oil feed back etc). Give it a good name brand oil and give it lots!

 

[Skegmeister]

Chrisco recommended Red Line for my Dragon after he did the fix kit. Have zero issues 2000kms later.
Changed over from VES Gold with no issues, now I run it in my 600 as well after I had the top end re-done.

 

[OOC ZigZag]

Picked a Poo over a Doo. Oh Chit WTFDYD

 

[S.W.A.T.]

My 08 Dragon has been solid, same with my dad's. Yes i know many people that have had problems but they work for us. I know many people with all models, and every model and make their issues. Not sure why people harp on others for their brand choice.