An exhaust leak can KILL your peformance. My conversion skis exhaust coupler ripped one time and it would fill the motor comartment with smoke, the smoke suffocates the motor and it cannot run properly unless you remove your hood to allow ventilation.
If your compression is close to even then you wont have to buy a top end, my sn has 1 cyl thats 15 psi off of the other one and it still runs fine its when its like a big difference that its not good and your motor will not run right. But if you have a knock my guess is its your crankshaft, it can be main bearings or rod bearings.
Depending on what pistons you go with the cheapest you can get by on a top end job is $260-$300 including boring. Some curse cheap wsm pistons but I may try some as im not running race gas or stupid power. I picked up a used crank on fleabay for $100 and got a flywheel too in the deal, but used cranks can be a gamble, you might get it in and find out its crap, this has happened to me b4. Otherwise sbt has rebuilt ones for around $200.
You can buy ported cylinders off here pretty reasonable. I just ported my own, I studied Matt Es home porting thread, great info.
When checking reeds look for any chips, hold them up in the light and see if theres light coming through where the reeds should be sealing and make sure the outer metal part isnt bent. Reeds can loose their tension over time and make a motor run crappy off idle.
would the exhaust being loose affect my performance that much? I did notice both of the gas tank straps were loose so maybe something came undone behind the tank.
So if i check the compression and its even then its a problem that shouldnt require a rebuild? If one cylinder is low ill need to rebuild it though?
As far as a rebuild, how much will that cost me and what will i be replacing? Since ill already be buying parts to fix it is there much i can do to make some more power without breaking the bank? like if i need new cylinders can i buy them already ported or something?
and how do i check the reeds?
