55cc Hop-up Kit

Hi, well here is a tech article about the 55cc kit, however it is the same as if you were installing new rings, a new piston, or other service to the piston and cylinder. The 55cc kit resolves a very bad problem where, for about a year, we had one factory turning out StarFire, SpitFire, and what I like to call “NoFires” (short for no-name-fires), with a poorly designed cylinder with low power.

This is stock square-head Starfire, could have been any of this type

You can use the stock wrench to disassemble

head off you can see this one was run a little by the carbon, and oil residue in the chamber this engine has about 6 hours run time.

here the head is off, and the barrel separated from the crankcase. This can be a bit tricky as the gasket is made with a glue in it, and sticks badly, and you need to be careful not to damage anything as you pry.

Well separated now showing the piston pin clip that you must remove, I use small needle nose pliers for this task.

Clip off, the barrel will slide off the piston and we’ll be ready to pull the studs, and clean off the old stuck gasket.

here you see the residue from the gasket, with studs removed by locking 2 nuts on each one and unscrewing them.

Clean enough use a bit of solvent here, if it leaks, it will leak away your power and eventually fail altogether.

Install base gasket. Slide the barrel down the re-installed studs, and line the piston to the rod (on the kit, the piston with rings is in the barrel already), slide in wrist pin, and clip it double check the clips, they will ruin the barrel and piston if loose.

Almost done, clean the head, install new head gasket, and torque to about 90 inch pounds.

Use torque wrench, not just the ratchet!!

These tools plus the torque wrench (not shown) will do the whole job for you. If you have any questions, be sure to ask, Mike