Hey all, I recently bought an 87 LT500R from a gentleman who had the bike for 25 years. he was about 55 years old and ran Suzuki oil mixed 20:1 the whole time, he said he didn't ride it much, I have a few pics I will post. he replaced air filter with a new foam filter and gave me stock foot pegs. this machine is basically untouched from what I can see. the rear bearings are loose so I ordered a set of those. compression is only about 110psi and the clutch slips pretty bad. I paid 2000 for the bike I am in Minnesota and we don't have a ton of them around, the plastic and seat are in excellent condition. headlight works. I plan on tearing it down to frame and powder coating a bunch of stuff on it. I have a friend who does it for free. I'm sure it needs rings as he said he never tore it down. the exhaust was leaking a bit of oil onto his shifting shoe so he wrapped pipe junction. other than that it is Very stock.


I Attached a pic for you guys to check out, Are those original front tires? '

I am excited to redo this quad, at this point I am not in a huge hurry to ride it, currently my other machines are:
2007 Yamaha raptor 700 with stage 2 cam/ fuel programmer/ barker dual exhaust/ intake/ elka stage 4 shocks
2012 can am commander x 1000
2001 Polaris scrambler 90
1985 ATC 70 with a lifan 125 swap
1998 SRX 700 sled
2012 70 Pit Bike

i have owned a few banshees over the years and always wondered about the Zilla but never got the chance to ride one. although this one does not seem fast in comparison I'm hoping it is due to slipping clutch and low compression. i look forward to learning from all of you and your knowledge will help me build this quad.

thanks!
Dustin

P.S.
anyone else in Minnesota? I am southeast of Saint Cloud about 20 minutes. always looking for folks to add to our camping/riding group  D

Welcome, that bike looks pretty clean and original. The wheels and rear tires are not original, i'm pretty sure the fronts are. Get a good wiseco piston from the store on here and the billet thrust washer an RM pin bearing. I would look at a Barnett dirt digger or EBC drc clutch kit. A lot of good info and people here, do a lot of reading and research here and you'll find lots of mods and tips and tricks.

going to be pulling engine apart and hoping to fix all of the issues known with the motors... I will send the cylinder off to have the ears fixed, who do you guys suggest? any contact info I suppose they are members on here? also want to fix the head I was thinking about doing the O-Ring? possibly same person who fixes cylinder ears? whats the deal with the thrust washer and RM Pin Bearing?

thanks for the replies. I have been reading for days it seems everyone has some different opinions.

Carl, Iceracer on here is great too.

thanks guys, I shot them both private messages asking for pricing. I can do the clutch work myself I will look into the suggestions, I have the shop repair bible as well on the bike so Im sure it will give me tolerances on my stock clutch to determine if I need new plates or if springs will do the job.

thanks,

Dustin.