01 kx250-anything I need to know before I restore it?

Heres some quick pics- its a mess!

Are there any places to get different color plastic for a 01 kx250? Im thinking white plastic and mint green frame/seat cover as an homage to the old ktm colors, or yellow (!) Plastic and blue frame. Just something different. Want to add an old 90's gp flavor to it instead of just stock colors ill add flo green frame and plastic if no other options can be found.

If I restore it, its going to be the bike I keep til its wore out. Im noticing parts availability isnt great, so if the boxes of parts arent complete or it needs gears or power valve parts then im out.

Were engine cases the same from 01-03? Im thinking I may well build a new engine using 03 cases, tranny and such since some 01 parts are nla. Or would 03 gears go into an 01? Also does anyoe know who can lightly surface the mating surfaces of these cases if it needs such? Doing it myself is NOT going to happen.

If they are gouged badly I'd need an option. I haven't picked up the engine yet but judging from the rest of the bike I'd say not much care was taken in assuring the gasket surfaces went unharmed. The crankshaft was hammered out of the cases and the ends mushroomed out for God's sake lol.

Thanks for the advice. The whole deal hinges on the condition of the center cases. If they're gouged to death I'm not fooling with it. That's why I wanted an option for having them resurfaced. Since there doesn't look like anyone does that kind of work I'm leery of jumping in If they're a mess.

I may end up with 03 cases anyway since I found a nice set online. I'll simply buy an 03 crank if I do. Good info. Thanks!

Forgot about this thread. Bike frame is completely rebuilt; just waiting to start on the engine when it's warm. It's a 2000 by the way.

The Cases Are Usable, but there I'm still buying new ones because there are some gouges I don't trust on the cylinder mating area. As for the brakes, I disassembled and cleaned them out and added a 2001 cr125 front hose to eliminate the under fork routing. The brakes suck balls lol. I'll definitely be buying a better system. The back brake is installed now and works fine though. The cylinder is sleeved and I think I'll have it slightly over bored and the mating surfaces machined flat rather than buying a new one. In a month or two I'll be close to riding hopefully.

I can't wait to ride it! My poor old 97 rm250 was real weak in the midrange, but every test of this kx I've read always compliments the low end hit as "open class" like. I'll have to address the high first gear since I'll be trail riding it mostly though. I'll have about $1000 total in it when I'm done so I haven't done too bad(unless I replace the cases then it's $1400 total).

SO much money can be saved by cross referencing bearings and seals and reprising parts from other bikes in these "non-concours" restos. The levers, brake pads, and quite a few incidentals were bought for other bikes I've owned and just happened to fit. The linkage and swing arm bearings were bought from www.vxb.com as we're the seals and saved me about $40 rather than buying a kit. The steering bearings were also cross referenced.i had to buy a new set of forks since the originals had two broken pinch bolts and we're bodged enough to be unremovable. $70 on ebay got me a set of like new forks. I've got some carbon fiber sheets on the way and I'll attempt to make a silencer just to see how it'll turn out. It's so much fun piddling around with stuff like that since parts are so cheap on ebay. I'm also not a stickler for perfection so that helps. Some of the folks on here won't settle for less than real works parts, whereas I'll use "carbon fiber" vinyl sheets on my air box to make it look like the real thing lol.