so, a friend has offered a blown up 495 to me. are there motor parts available? is it even worth it? i have some early 4 stroke ktm's and parts are impossible/insanely expensive....
The 2t parts are just as hard, cranks are non existent for even the mid 90's open bikes. I passed on a 92 550 due to parts availibliity.
you're fine. i'm talking late 80's. before the bankruptcy. ancient history in the 4 stroke world. i think everything post 94 or 95 or so is easy.
According to the KTMtalk.com website, parts for the old big bore two strokes are REALLY hard to find. I would walk away from this one. I had a 1996 KTM RXC620 and parts were still readily available from Munn's. Sometimes I had to wait a week or so as they had to ship from Austria.
I have a 93 and I have never had a problem. There is bugger all engine parts from the later ones that won't fit mine. What are you having trouble finding?
Maybe find a CR 500 motor to stuff in there like Jar did. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=757835
Don't you blokes actually search teh interwebz :huh ? Parts (including major internal engine parts) are not hard to find and are not overly expensive for '80's and '90's Katos. Go here for plenty of parts goodness and here for info and manuals etc. If I can manage to restore this... ... I'm certain you'll find what you need for your '83 495.
yeah, i'm familiar with those sites. only $500 for a rod and a piston. if that's not expenisve i don't know what is. gonna pass.
500$ for a Piston and piston rod is a little bit too much, you get them cheaper, http://www.seven4racing.com/motoshop.htm Anyway for a rebuild you still need some money, much patience and a lot of time, I'am too rebuilding an early water cooled 500cc KTM bike (1989) and the rebuild is now in the third year. If you get one of these bikes that have a road registration, rare in the US I believe, very rare in Europe a rebuild is worth the money in my opinion. It can be btw. cheaper just to ask KTM dealers if they still have parts lying around. I had a blown engine too, needed a piston con-rod, all bearings, a clutch basket, primary gear, engine side case, new radiators, ... even the cylinder had to be bored, (the engine has a steel sleeved cylinder). Still the rebuild is not completed ... In my personal view the 500cc bikes of the mid 80's onwards are really brutal in power output, they are perhaps best for riding in the desert. For MX, (not my interest an additional flywheel weight will soomth the power output). For trail and woods, (which I ride), reducing the power band at top rpm for adding some horses at low rpm and an undented pipe with an additional good silencer is the way to ride these bike comfortable.
