Latest project - something different.

clay

Here is my latest project - 2003 YZ250F basket case. I bought it off a friend. Story is he bought it new, rode it for a while and had an Athena 290 kit put on it. Rode it for however long after that and it locked up. He pulled the head and cylinder and then it would turn over with no clear reason why it locked. Nothing wrong in the valvetrain and cylinder looked perfect so it's been sitting for years. Paid $400 for it - figured I could part it out and make a little money worst case. As a basket case it's about as good as you could hope for. Upon teardown the rod bearing was the cause. Putting in a new Wiseco crank kit, new cam chain and of course gaskets and a few small missing parts. So far I'm at just over $800. Got about another $200 for a chain (it didn't have an o-ring version), head bolts (missing), air filter, oil filter, and fork seals as I'm sure they'll start leaking after I start riding it. Looks like I'm building my dirtbike collection back up - used to have three at one time when I was younger. Guess I should know better by now.........Clay

There is more to it than this - it's stripped to clean it up.

Start of the reassembly.

There's a lot going on under this side cover. Still have the clutch to add.

10sec.et · Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 1:02 am Post subject:

what, busted knuckles on the nova aint enough ? you goin for broken bones now ? Laughing

i inherited a 4-wheeler a while back. it just needs a carb. been sitting in my back yard for months now while i work on the Olds. hopefully ill get to it and get it running again. i just have no ambition because its too hot to ride.

Paul P · Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 9:40 am Post subject:

Nice! I did that with a 98 Polaris 250 a while back It needed everything. Here are my two toys. Little one is for the girls. No son but the daughters like to go out and ride. thumbsup

clay · Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 5:46 pm Post subject:

Well here's the finished product. I didn't do too good at taking any more "during" pictures. I'll have to say that 4 strokes have come a LONG way since my XR days. This thing is amazing with the power it makes. Power comes on not quite 2 strokish but close - decent bottom, good midrange and brutal mid to top. Had to lean it up a bit as it was pretty ragged in the lower rpm's. It could still use some more fine tuning on the main jet and maybe even a smaller pilot and another 1/2 step leaner on the needle. It would most likely be fine where it is in the winter but right now atmospheric conditions suck around here. Elevation is about 150 ft but DA is around 2500. Humidity is rough. Total investment was $400 purchase and another $613 in parts. I need to get some tank stickers and the original owner says he thinks he has some if he can find them along with some different ratio sprockets. Clay

Paul P · Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 12:30 am Post subject:

Wow transformation complete. Similar in cost to my quad paid $700 dropped another $600 in parts. I didn't have to tear into it as deeply as you did that one. Nice job.

SMOKEmUP · Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 12:56 am Post subject:

What's the weight difference between your four stroke and a two stroke?