Ok gasgas guru's.... riddle me this

[Xman218]

Has anyone resleeved the 300 to be chro-moly or cast iron?

I'm having bad times with this nikasil. My wild 300 eats 3 square piston meals a day it seems...... Either they have stuck rings from carbon build up....or....a bad siezure from to much growth. I have an "A" cylinder. I've put about 7 pistons in this hole. each one of them only lasting about 10 hrs of ride time. Now I have a cylinder with a bunch of bare spots, so I was thinking about re-sleeving instead of re-nikasil plating.

I never had this many problems with a steel sleeved bike. My banshee is reliable as a camel.

Anyone have any ideas?

Also I heard that these 300's can take a polaris xc600 piston.... any truth?

One more thing.... my 2003 has a super small radiator, can I get some insight on a replacement or something someone did to remedy this overheating problem? I was going to take my stock banshee rad. and have it re-capped for horizonal use on the GG... thoughts?

[GMP]

Get it replated properly to fit an OEM Vertex piston. Not sure about the quads cooling system, but the bikes normally never overheat. Check your impeller. Some are plastic and can break down and fail. Perhaps this is your problem. Get an LTR high flow alloy impeller.

[barkeater]

I've seen that before when the rider is a high speed throttle chopper.
You know, you're running 6th gear WFO, then... SLAM! you drop the throttle. That'll eat up a top end fast. I've also seen incorrect cold weather jetting tear a good engine down to shiny little flakes.

You're jetted properly for altitude and temp I'm assuming.

Are the overheating and premature wear related? Which one happens first?

I second GMP's recommendation on the Vertex, replate, and LTR impeller. Start there and see what happens. The 300 jug is usually very durable.

We had a Wild 240 for a while and never experienced any overheating problems with the LTR impeller installed. We ran it slow and WFO. I switched it at set up, so I have nothing to compare to stock. I just know the stockers are poo compared to the LTR. Not only is the LTR more durable, but it moves more coolant with less cavitation than the stocker.

Do you have a fan on yours? The 240 came with a fan on the rad.

Motowest was doing some mods on the quads a few years back... there was another outfit doing some serious mods on the quads too... 200cc quads and such, can't remember their name though. I know at one point I saw someone making an oversize reinforced rad for them. It was a while ago though.

The Wild HP's are good dirty fun - once you get used to the geometry.

Good luck.

[Xman218]

I got the billet impellar put in there before I had 5 hrs on her...

The original motor lasted about 20hrs...then the rings got stuck in the piston from carbon build up, and lost enough compression to not want to start for me or run very good at all for that matter. Then each one after that was for the most part the same until I had a real bad high rpm 4 corner siezure from long periods of WOT and 1/8 throttle high rpm.

I've seen that before when the rider is a high speed throttle chopper.
You know, you're running 6th gear WFO, then... SLAM! you drop the throttle.

I was taught better than this btw...daddy was a smart guy

I shutter at the thought of spending $400 to rebuild this thing every 20 hrs!!! replating is rediculously expensive. and these pistons aren't very cheap either. $220 for a wiseco and $140 for a vertex.. yuck

This is why I asked about re-sleeving. Kustom Kraft offers a 5year on there sleeve jobs. That sounds good to me. This nikasil eats poo! Steel sleeves are way more reliable in my experiance. I have found a way to blow up every motor I've ever owned. That speaks volumes alone. take it how you want I guess but I've had horrible luck keeping this gasgas motor in one piece. The motor is junk. My banshee is trust worthy enough to ride cross country, can't say the same for the 300

Any thoughts or tips about a steel sleeve in this 300 motor?

[PEB]

No offense but I don't buy it. I think there is more to this than your extreme riding. The fact that you have found a way to blow up every motor you have ever owned speaks volumes not about the bikes but you! I suspect your jetting is far to lean and or your oil/fuel mixture is off. Something is up here.

Paul B

[GMP]

I second Paul here. Why, in this day and age with modern synthetics do you have a problem with carbon and ring sticking? We (the bike guys) go over a year and the parts are mostly clean and free when torn down.

The motor is not junk. I've seen EC300s with thousands of miles on a top end alone. If you notice, there are many guys here with older bikes, more so than most other brands especially Jap bikes. Steel liners are old tech, wear faster and transfer heat less effecient. You have another problem you havn't discovered yet. Jetting, air leak, timing. Start looking.

[barkeater]

The Gas Gas 300 is as reliable as they come. I have yet to see a jap as bullet proof as the Gas Gas (besides the PW50 ). I've known GG owners who tear down the top end out of guilt more so than from any kind of mechanical failure. Usually what they find is a set of worn rings, a pretty, perfect piston and a cylinder that just needs a little scotchbrite. I'm talking moderate-hard raced '01 and '02 models here.

The biggest problem I've had with my '03 200 is that I can't seem to stop adding goodies to the bike, otherwise it's the most reliable bike I've ever owned.

I'm just guessing you're jetted lean or light on your premix ratio. Can you give us some insight on your jetting settings, premix, altitude and air temps? Maybe we can get you on a baseline to help hunt down your serial seizure problem.

Get her replated, pick up a new piston and rings from GoFasters. Find a baseline jetting setting (there's tons of jetting info on this site) for your conditions and let's see what happens next.

[Xman218]

The fact that you have found a way to blow up every motor you have ever owned speaks volumes not about the bikes but you!

suspected I'd hear this...thats why I said to take it as you wish, but if you ride something hard enough it will break after a unforseen amount of time. the gasgas happens to be more than the rest I've dealt with.

I bought the bike with 175 main... I live in western ny @ between 500-1000 feet of evelation. I go down to a 168 in the hot summer and back to the 172-175 depending on how cold. The plug chops are always chocolatey goodness. I've run klotz,belray,blendzall.... yet still had ring carbon which causes loss of compression.... resulting in a ride on the back of another quad.

My model is the 2003 with the goofy a-arms... I'm told that the next year had almost twice the radiator.

I always mix 32-1.... sometime leaner mix if I need to make a very small change in jetting without playing with the carb. like 40-1 or so, never leaner. The pistons always come out with thumb sized clean spots next to the transfers.....

What more can I do to have to confidence you guys seem to have???

steel sleeves may not swell at the same rate as alum. and require about .003 more clearance,but I've never had problems like this with a durable steel liner. 100 years of engine reliablity would agree with me. Nikasil hasn't been around but more than 20-30 years at the most. and thats being generous

sorry guys,but that just my experience.

I agree with PEB when he says there is something else going on here.... I cvan't seem to find anything that would help.

I notice alot of gearcase oil in the powervalve area when I tear down.... all blackened and coked... anything to do with ring and powervalve problems?

Just looking for help, not to stir up a resistance.... Thanx

[eff]

I think I see your problem. You are already running the carb lean, then you run your oil/gas mixture at 32:1.

By running at 32:1 you are leaning out the air/gas mixture big time. Because you put so much oil in the gas, there is less gas for the amount of air entering the cylinder.

Re-jet based on Matt's jetting db and run 50:1. More oil is not always better.

[Xman218]

50-1 eh....hhmmmmm

hot fuel mixture + tons of oil = stuck rings....... makes sense to me! It's all so clear now..lol

Thanx..... I'll send her out for some freshening up and see how it turns out.

Anyone have any thoughts about bigbore pistons?

What are your opinions on belray MC-1? This oil is supposed to be mixed @ 50-1. I have used it before in my old 96 cr80 and it woke right up with all the extra fuel. Even though the tune was good to start with. Thoughts?