1995 YZ-250 long rod. Tom Morgan porting magic. :)

Hey, this is only my second full bottom end build! It's really not that hard as long as you keep things clean and organized, take your time and follow the manual.

Today I got it all buttoned up. Used a heat gun on the main bearings and the crank just dropped right in. Super easy!
Assembled the tranny and shift forks. Then heated up main bearing on the other case half and it just slipped on. Frigging piece of cake.

In fact, I assembled it TWICE. Got it all put together up to the clutch and then realized I had failed to install a bearing retainer in the tranny. So everything came apart and then reassembled. Second time went FAST! Practice!

No crank puller needed with the heat gun. Just dropped right in. (Put your main seals in AFTER so as not to cook them.)

Been cataloging every nut and bolt on the bike. Mismatched hardware drives me insane and there is so much of that on this bike that it got to the point where the best way to go is to just get all new stuff. I really like the flanged/dished stuff and finally found about Spec Bolt's "Nickel Works Series". I've been looking for something like this forever.

http://store.specbolt.com/index.php/cPath/99

SCHWING!!!!!!!!!!

Already received my order from Spec Bolt. Super stoked. Proper nickel plated, flanged and dished hardware at a reasonable price. They sell all the usual sizes in 5-paks so one could easily replace their old cruddy hardware with good stuff without breaking the bank. http://store.specbolt.com/index.php/cPath/99

Today was figuring out the power valve and governor shenanigans. Somewhere along the line, someone had replaced the clutch cover with a later model (1998?) that uses two seals and a bearing on the water pump where the ’95 just used one wide bushing/seal. All fine and dandy as everything seems to fit and it would seem to me that is a better designed water pump anyway.

However, the long rod kit, as far as I understand, uses power valve linkage from an 1988 model because it is 5mm longer. But the tweaker that put on the later-model side case used the later model linkage, for whatever f*****-up reason, which is too short. I recall when I was taking everything apart, it was just a mess of mismatched hardware inside that didn't seem to line up and now I know why.

So I had ordered a 1988 linkage off of eBay and today went to go put it in. However the ’88 linkage attaches to the power valve differently then the later model linkage. What to do . . . . mucho head scratching . . . . I briefly considered just cutting and welding the later model linkage to make it longer but my welding skills are subpar at best. So it seemed like the easiest solution was to remove the top portion of the later model linkage and then re-pin it to the ’88 linkage. Viola! I had the length I need and the correct way to attach it that I need. I'm not sure what they did back in ’95 when they were doing these kits but it seems like the easiest thing to do back then would simply take the stock 95 linkage and just weld in a 5 mm piece to make it longer.

By the way if any of you are hip to these long rod motors and if I'm doing something wrong or if you have some insight please let me know.

As far as sealing the bottom of the cover, a couple guys told me they just used to use silicone. But I got a second little rubber boot and trimmed it and sort of stacked the two boots on top of each other and it seems like it'll seal just fine and maybe look a little bit more sano than just using silicone. Again if someone out there has the hot ticket on these things, let me know. I had heard that maybe other year power valve covers were slightly longer but I have not been able to confirm that.

Hey Sergio, thanks!

Yeah, you know, when I got this thing, I was dead set on the purple frame and OEM graphics . . . .
but after much thought and mocking things up, I'm going with the blue frame and the blue/white graphics
like their factory bikes. It won't be exactly the same and I already know there are going to be some shading issues
between the blue of the frame, the front fender and the graphics, but oh well. I think it will still look nice.

Picked up a Boyesen Rad Valve as I've read they are a good mod for this motor.
Not hard to find them, but I grabbed this one for the coolness factor of the OG Boyesen sticker.


And digging the Spec Bolt hardware!

Getting close to assembly time!

The frame is out being powder coated and graphics have started to arrive. After mucho deliberation,
I have decided to go along the lines of the look of the Emig's works bike that year. Won't be completely
accurate and I'm not concerned about it being so, but it will be along those lines. New o-rings in the petcock, btw, as the old ones were as brittle as uncooked angel hair pasta.



Thought I'd pass this on- while riveting some things, I was reminded- check this place out for
really high quality rivets and NO minimums! They'll let you order just a dozen if you want. Great source!




Another cool little tool..... Building stuff is a great way to justify the expense of buy more tools, no? hahahhaha
Anyway, picked up this little 1/4" drive inch/pound torque wrench. Feels like a solid little unit and was only about
$40.00. If I had been using this when I was putting together my fork valve stack, I might not have stripped that
fragile aluminum post. Hell, this would have paid for itself right there! hahahah.

Graphics have arrived, seat is back from Ceet and picked up the frame from the powder coater. Time to start putting things together!

My preferred method of centering the axle. Guaranteed to be dead on.

This build powered by Peets coffee.

Fabbed up this simple, but groovy, little case saver to keep costs down.


Had a couple spare KTM pipe mounts laying around (cost- $0.00) and they work perfect. I like them better than the Yamaha pieces as well. Had to make a little bracket for the front mount to work and despite it breaking the cardinal rule of adding complexity by making it now a two-piece unit, I still like it better than the OEM Yamaha piece.

A set of used Enzo subbies came up on eBay so I snatched them up.




I had originally kept the steering stop of front on the head tube, but as I was grinding it down to jive with the '07 triple
clamps, by the time I got it to where lock-to-lock was proper, the steering stop piece was so small
that it just seemed to frail. So I welded a lug on the down tube and moved the steering stops there.

This was kind of clever, if I do say so myself, in a ghetto fabulous sort of way . . .
The '07 triple clamps have little posts that the '07 number plate slips down on.
The '95 plate, which I want to keep, has little posts that slip into the '95 bottom clamp.
What to do . . . mucho head scratching.... sure, if I had a mill I could knock something
out easy, but even easier was this - took a couple 520 side links and drilled out one
end to slip over the post on the clamp. Hold it in place with one of those push-nut thingies
and voila! Perfectly spaced receivers for the plate. Fits frigging PERFECT.

Today was brake pedal day. When I got the bike, it had the brake pedal, but no pivot bolt.
(Dude probably sold it for crack.) I thought, no biggee, I'll just get another pivot bolt. But it turns
out they have long since been discontinued from Yamaha and when they DO turn up on eBay, they are wasted.

Yamaha changed the pedal design around '98 and those were in production for many years and are plentiful.
Comparing photos, the later model one seemed like it would fit so I grabbed one off of eBay with bolt and
spring for $20.00. A little grinding to clear the front edge of the peg mount and voila!, clean, tight brake pedal.
The tip is a little closer to the peg but I don't see that bing a big issue.

I'm going to keep the pegs (Pro Circuit, I think?) that came with the bike as they
just scream 1995!

Clutch perch.
I looked at a Works Connection set up that everyone raves about.
$150.00 mother effing dollars. Holy fugg, sorry but no way in hell
am I dropping that kind of coin on a perch and lever. Gawd no.
#idbebrokeforamonth

Instead, I watched eBay and a WC unit came up for $60.00. It was missing the
hot start lever so I offered $50.00 which was accepted.

Took off the anodizing with oven cleaner. Cut off the hot start portion of the perch
and flapper wheeled some shape into it. Probably could have taken it down a little more to match the
front half but, eh, I was good with a little extra material around the bolt.
Scotch Brite to finish. Viola! Saved $100.00. Since I don't do crack like the prior owner,
I won't spending that money on drugs and will instead put that towards an FMF pipe.

Thanks! Yeah, it was a good deal and I'm glad it worked it out.

Thank you, sir!

Today was more tinkering and assembly. Getting darn close!

I'm going to use some of these Gates Power Grip clamps in spots that don't get disconnected. They
are like pieces of heavy duty shrink tube that take the place of hose clamps
Sure does clean up the look! I'm also going to try one at the pipe silencer junction.