Posts
423
Joined
3/8/2015
Location
GB
Edited Date/Time
10/13/2018 10:04am
Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster...
Thought i'd put a few pics of the current steed up, i'm sure it's not to everyone's taste but hey ho..
The story so far.. well, the condensed version is, after being without a bike for around 7yrs, me and a pal decided we needed a new hobby so thought we'd get a couple of cheap bikes and get back into going for a ride every other weekend, nothing serious, anyway, i ended up with a dog.... price was good, but that's about it.....
So, it's been an ongoing rebuild, bit at a time and use it inbetween sort of thing, still not finished, and probably never will be, i've decided i might aswell keep it forever now and have decided i want it looking brand new, the current 'to do' list is as follows,
All new bolts, nuts, axles etc to replace the rusty and rounded stuff,
refresh the calipers and replace the braided hoses as the banjo's have gone rusty,
New airbox and background graphics,
New oem plastic bits to replace the scuffed and discoloured original stuff, sprocket and caliper guard, brake hose clip etc.
Airstryker carb conversion,
Would love some A kit suspension for it, but realistically i'll probably end up with some crf showas, and hopefully that'll be it then.
So to date, this is what i've done,
Replaced all the chassis bearings, swingarm, linkage, shock and headstock,
Had the motor rebuilt, it's now a 134 with messed with crankcases, it's had a new crank assembly and main bearings, gaskets and seals, piston, head, reedblock, clutch hub, clutch kit (fibres/steels/springs), various oem parts like exhaust joint, rubber grommits etc,
Put a set of 06 forks on (preffered the colour)
New plastics, graphics, plastics bolt kit and seat cover,
New wheels, discs, sprockets, bolts, pads and bearings,
New bars and clamps,
New throttle and clutch cables,
New pipe and silencer,
Various tarty bits.
Sanded and polished the bottom end (will also do the barrel when i find a suitable replacement), cleaned up the swingarm with wet and dry, also did the linkage fork after removing the casting marks and gave the frame a clean up, that's about it i think, i'm on the home straight i feel, just need to sort the rusty bolts out and get some background graphics and it'll be presentable.
here's a few pics of it in it's various stages of transformation, i'll update the thread with progress, don't expect anything fast though, i must've owned it for 3yrs now and it's still not done.....
If you got this far, thanks for reading it,
Russ.
Thought i'd put a few pics of the current steed up, i'm sure it's not to everyone's taste but hey ho..
The story so far.. well, the condensed version is, after being without a bike for around 7yrs, me and a pal decided we needed a new hobby so thought we'd get a couple of cheap bikes and get back into going for a ride every other weekend, nothing serious, anyway, i ended up with a dog.... price was good, but that's about it.....
So, it's been an ongoing rebuild, bit at a time and use it inbetween sort of thing, still not finished, and probably never will be, i've decided i might aswell keep it forever now and have decided i want it looking brand new, the current 'to do' list is as follows,
All new bolts, nuts, axles etc to replace the rusty and rounded stuff,
refresh the calipers and replace the braided hoses as the banjo's have gone rusty,
New airbox and background graphics,
New oem plastic bits to replace the scuffed and discoloured original stuff, sprocket and caliper guard, brake hose clip etc.
Airstryker carb conversion,
Would love some A kit suspension for it, but realistically i'll probably end up with some crf showas, and hopefully that'll be it then.
So to date, this is what i've done,
Replaced all the chassis bearings, swingarm, linkage, shock and headstock,
Had the motor rebuilt, it's now a 134 with messed with crankcases, it's had a new crank assembly and main bearings, gaskets and seals, piston, head, reedblock, clutch hub, clutch kit (fibres/steels/springs), various oem parts like exhaust joint, rubber grommits etc,
Put a set of 06 forks on (preffered the colour)
New plastics, graphics, plastics bolt kit and seat cover,
New wheels, discs, sprockets, bolts, pads and bearings,
New bars and clamps,
New throttle and clutch cables,
New pipe and silencer,
Various tarty bits.
Sanded and polished the bottom end (will also do the barrel when i find a suitable replacement), cleaned up the swingarm with wet and dry, also did the linkage fork after removing the casting marks and gave the frame a clean up, that's about it i think, i'm on the home straight i feel, just need to sort the rusty bolts out and get some background graphics and it'll be presentable.
here's a few pics of it in it's various stages of transformation, i'll update the thread with progress, don't expect anything fast though, i must've owned it for 3yrs now and it's still not done.....
If you got this far, thanks for reading it,
Russ.
Wish i had took more photo's before to show it's condition when i got it, even the first pictures are after it had a complete bare frame strip down, new bearings and a clean...... It was grizzly, swingarm bearings were solid with rust, the actual sleeve had a crack running it's length (probably the originals), had a job getting them out, thought i was going to ruin the swingarm..... the bike had been ridden into the ground, 5mm square missing from the reeds, knocking rod, cylinder and head ruined etc etc...
I've tried to buy the best bits i can for it, and only brand new for mechanicals, vhm head, vforce reedblock, did ert chain, renthal twinring sprockets etc, i've tried saving money wherever possible though, got the rg3 clamps secondhand, also bagged the carbon talons secondhand and sent them off for stripping, anodising and rebuilding, Dep pipe was off a private seller on ebay who had bought it and never used it, so saved a few quid there also.
Spent hours hand sanding the swingarm, bottom end, engine cases etc to get all the age related wear marks out wherever possible, thing is, the cleaner you make it the more the nasty bits stand out, i've ended up chasing the dirt and crap around the whole bike, i'm down to rusty bolts and fittings now so it's getting there.. i'll have to go through the old photo's of it and see if there's any of it when i first got it.... that'll give you a few nightmares ... :-)
In my opinion you get just as much satisfaction from finishing a project bike as you do from picking up a new bike from the dealership, I've done both now.
Yours is looking very nice. I love that Ignition cover, you'll get good life out of that Twin-ring sprocket.
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
I'm a bit big for it though so hoping to get an 05-07 250 at some point, never been in a position to own/buy a new bike, but agree on the satisfaction from saving it, although, i definitely had a few 'why am i doing this' moments, sanding bits of crusty bike down at 10.30pm in the house.. Haha.
Regarding your friends cr, what did you guys end up doing with the suspension, if you replaced the shock for a crf showa, which bike did it come off, i've read the 04 250f, and 05/06/07 450f shocks are identical in length/stroke, but wondered if there was any fitting issues in regards to the clevis, or canister hitting the frame etc ?
Thanks again mate.
I'm ok on the fork side of things, i just need some help on which rear crf shock is best/will fit with no issues.
I'd love to get a set of Showa air forks for my RM125. Still a bit pricey tho.
Latest bits are a new barrel and head, i've gone for an off centre 139 convesion, only downside being i now can't use the vhm head, bit of a bummer but oh well, also polished the barrel by hand, took about 20hrs over the space of a week,
Polished the head to frame stays,
Got some refurbed rads,
New rad louves and sprocket guard,
New inet manifold match ported to the v-force,
New kickstart which has been polished,
Hoping to get some custom backgrounds and airbox graphics this week, then it's just replacing all the rusty/chewed bolts, pegs and mounts, etc, probably another couple of years until it's done... Haha.
I've got new RMZ front end plastics for my RM
I've upgraded the 03 fender to the 04-07 one, and the triple clamps are 22mm offset off an 07crf, so the plate is more round than the cr one, have to agree that the 03 stuff isn't my favorite though, hence the swap over.
The vhm inserts spin freely in the head, as in they're only locked in by the clamping force of the head on the cylinder, i could get an insert made but there would be a problem getting it to sit correctly without having a 'custom custom'insert made with legs, and machining the head.
The heads as new, probably 60mins on it, not a mark on it, has a 134 03 insert and a standard 04 insert, fits 00-04 with the insert to suit.
Pit Row
They're 200-230gbp over here and inserts are roughly 50gbp, i should get 150 back easy over here in the uk,, i'm all for selling it but you could probably find cheaper closer to home ?
It's not advertised anywhere as i hadn't thought about selling just yet, the bikes not been ran yet so was going to see how that panned out before getting rid, If i ever got another cylinder it would be stock bore and i could put the head back on, could maybe sell just the 56mm insert if you could find a head cheaper, would probably work out better for you ?
Edit, also, if that was what slosh was implying above, i'd have to give him first refusal, fairs fair an all that.
Also, Slosh has dibs.
If you spot one from the UK and they won't ship it to America, i'm happy for you to get it sent here and i'll post it on, if so, maybe you could do the same, i'm actually after some bits but not in a desperate rush, so if we both did it at the same time for each other it could work out well ?
Couldn't decide on custom backgrounds, so i've just ordered the tld lucas oil neon graphics kit with a full set of black plastics and neon crf front fender, matching 3 stripe seat cover, and matching custom backgrounds... Just done my wad, pretty retarded as the plastics, graphics and cover are new and the bike hasn't been ridden yet, but funk it, it's a b-day present too myself Haha
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