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34 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com Vintage Feature Vintage Feature 1981 KTM 495 Part II 1981 KTM 495 Part II Compression, Fuel, Spark Compression, Fuel, Spark By Kurt Flachbart By Kurt Flachbart This month's vintage feature might look familiar to those who've subscribed for some me, as this '81 KTM 495 was resurrected and featured in last year's July issue. Belonging to a friend of ours, Brian O'Keefe from Pennsylvania, the bike has a lot of sen- mental value to him, as Brian won the 1981 Hare Scrambles Na onal Championship aboard this very bike. Also adding to its provenance, this '81 495 was New England NESC legend Jim Meenan's open-class bike at the beginning of the 1981 season. History aside, a er the 1981 season, the bike had been parked in Brian O'Keefe's barn for the next 44 years, amongst a host of other cool rides that our friend has amassed over the years. Before diving into the project headfirst, we cleaned the fuel system, evicted the mice that had made a nice condo in the airbox, and fired it up to see what we were working with. Fortunately, the gearbox shi ed fine, and the clutch wasn't stuck, and be er yet, not slipping. It was then the bike was stripped to the bare frame, and all chassis components were cleaned, painted, and inspected, with all bearings replaced. The wheels received new brake shoes and were dressed with Bridgestone Ba lecross X31s front and rear. As for bodywork, DC Plas cs had everything we needed to doll up this old monster and make it shine for ba le once again. Although we did have it running beforehand, it didn't run that great. Compression was weak, and once we had it all back together, it appeared the original Motoplat igni on system had given up its last spark. Yup, not a hint of fire out of the dual-plug coil. Fur- thermore, when we did have it running, the original well-worn Bing carburetor was a blubbery mess at low rpm's. It was then that we decided to revisit this proj- ect and deal with the must-have ingredients required to make an internal combus on engine run: compres- sion, fuel, and spark. Our first order of business was to pull the top end, inspect the crank, bore, and piston. Fortunately, and surprisingly, the rod and big end bearing looked and felt perfect. As expected, the bore and piston were at the end of their lifespan.