Doh .. Have I

First things first, put some decent suspension on it. Even if you stick with the stock steel swingarm, put on a set of piggyback Ohlins or something similar set up for your weight and that bike. On the front, a 1983 CR250 or 480 front end with 43mm forks make all the difference in the world. Search the old school section here and it's been shown that all of the 1987 CR250 (best Honda forks ever...) upper fork tubes and cartridge internals will fit right into the 83 lower legs. The 80 engine is pretty fast if you keep it wound up. Pick up an extra cylinder and head off ebay or Marks motorcycle swapmeet and have it freshened up so you'll have a spare when you need it. I have a 34mm flat slide Mikuni on ours with a stock pipe and stock porting and she runs really good.

VMX Racing for plastics, seat covers and decals.
Terry Cable for cables if not available through Honda
Twin Air for their replacement air filter assemby as the original is a royal pain in the ass.
Sprocket Specialties for all your sprocket combos
Cometic for gasket sets
Search the internet for stock cast Honda pistons and keep the next size available. They have always outlasted Wisecos for me.

If you have to rebuild the crank and get one of the aftermarket rod kits, check clearance on the engine cases before final assembly as it may make contact on the cases where the piston skirt fits down into them. Little clearance work required sometimes.

There are seal and bearing kits available from Boss Bearing, but I've always tried to stick with OEM crank seals.

Hot Foot Moto has intake manifolds and chain rubbers/buffers available.

DO NOT use Barnett replacement clutch fibers, I've worn out a lot of hard to replace parts with those abrasive pieces of crap.

Oldest son ripping on the 80 CR125


VMX side panels with home made aluminum brackets.

Only reliability issues we've had has been with the forged Wiseco pistons. Can't seem to get much use out of them. Tried different tolerances, always clearance the exhaust port bridge, still can't seem to get many hours out of them. Seem to be able to go forever on a cast piston.

From what I gathered, the 83/87 fork mod is pretty much a bolt together package. "TyDog" here on Vital is getting ready to assemble a set himself pretty soon. He should be able to shed a little light on that subject as well. Other than basic fork tools/ seal drivers, don't know of anything else necessary.

That 80 CR125 has been one of the favorite bikes in the family garage. Abused it for a bunch of years on the original lower end until rebuilding the complete bike a couple years ago.

Ditto, no Wiseco for me either. I prefer the metalurgy of a cast piston. OEM yamaha for my YZ's.

I was told that the 83 slider / 87 tube & internals combo was pretty much just a "swap". I believe there was thread here once about an 83 that contained a little info on it.
I am going to do some machine work to my sliders to fit old school wipers and do away with the fork boots. So, it will be a few weeks before I have anything further and god only knows when I will have a ride report on them, as I am just starting on the bike. They should work just like an 87 though, which Joe already said was great.

Early Elsinores seem to be one of the more difficult vintage models to locate parts for.
ebay is always an option if you want to go that route.
Here's a website dedicated to old works Elsinores..... "http://www.vintagefactory.com"
Lots of historical info and photos of restored racers.
They don't seem to have a lot parts to offer though.

Old thread bump as I need to keep tabs on it.
How do you subscribe to a thread over here ?