I recently finished up my mellow build of a 2000 YZ125, just as I was buttoning that one up, I came across a 2000 YZ250 that was locked up for $900 Canadian pesos. Couldn't really pass that up.
The bike overall was in decent shape, and it looks pretty low hour. It has a full front and rear revalve from a local suspension company, which means someone at one point cared enough about it.
It was certainly locked up though. I couldn't get it to turn over at all. I doused it in penetrating fluid and finally got it to spin, but the crank didn't really have any major damage that would lock it up that tight. I was a little worried at this point that it had some case damage that I couldn't see.
Once I started to split the cases, it became evident where the problem was! Yuck!
Must be a common problem, because it's taken me a few days to find a good left hand case. Scored one on eBay this morning for $170 USD!
Luckily, this bike looked very good internally. The piston and rings are brand new, the cylinder was just redone. Brand new clutch basket and plates. I assume buddy had someone rebuild it for it him and they fucked up the case. What a shame. I ordered a Pro-X rod kit and I'll have that rebuilt while I'm waiting for this case half to arrive.
In the meantime, I had this NOS Acerbis vented plate and these old school FX numbers kicking around, so I cleaned up the side plates that came with the bike and mocked it up.
I think I'm going to keep this bike kind of ratty looking. I think it would be fun to show up to some local races on this thing with mismatched plastic, wheels, some peel and stick numbers and then just go out and rip. We'll see how spectrum-y I get once I get the bike running again though.
Hell ya. Keep posting updates!
I cleaned up the eBay left case this weekend and installed the main bearings in both sides. I was very careful to not blow it through the case like the previous owner 😂. I dropped the crank off to have it rebuilt (I don’t have a press in my shop otherwise I would give it a whirl myself). Should make some good progress this coming weekend.
A bit of a bummer, the vented front plate I have had a mount hole in the front, and my bike has a top mount (traditional YZ style). I guess this changed from 1999 to 2000. Too bad, I was looking forward to using it.
Skin for the win!
Unfortunately the seat cover was beyond repair and the one tank graphic was peeled half off. I saved the shrouds, mostly because I’m a hoarder, but also because I’m sure they’ll be looked at in the same light as Tuf or Werx graphics are now 😂
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
Dang, forgot to take pictures, but I put the engine together. I’ve worked on a lot of bikes, probably done full rebuilds on 50+ by now, but I’ve never done a YZ250 bottom end. I didn’t know the shift forks were fixed on their respective shafts! Made putting it together a bit tricky, but we got it all back together.
I only got half the tube of Yamabond all over me in the process.
If you’re in the market for tools, Wiha makes awesome stuff.
This picture is kind of shitty. I got the Yamabond smeared all over my phone and camera.
I picked these up on eBay a few weeks ago, but I don’t think I’m going to use them. They’re way too cool, and they’re 96/97 Navy and not 98+ reflex. I might frame them and hang them on the wall.
What's so cool about the YZ250 motors is they've barely changed in the last 25+ years. Plenty of parts and info on the web to help troubleshoot. I have an '04 YZ125 back home that's been sitting in my mom's garage for a few years now. I have plans similar to your build here, where I want to get it mechanically sounds and just enjoy it as a beater bike. It has a restyle plastics kit on it and black rims, but I'd like to convert it back to the old stock OEM look.
Nice YZ!! ✌️
you have the engine ready, now on to the rest of the bike!
(Wiha makes good quality tools, in the world of machining their small torque wrenches are widely used for setting cutting tools)
The 2000 YZ125 I did shares a lot of parts with the 2004, it was a fun build. Hard to find outer clutch covers if you need because the cable anchor always snaps off.
I might toss some cheaper retro shroud and tank graphics on, but the peel and stick numbers will work just fine for now. I really love looking at old 90s/00s pictures of people racing and trying to emulate what their bikes looked like. If I make it too nice I won't want to ride it at all.
Slapped it together just to get all the parts out of bins. Missing a few parts that are in the mail now. Pipe mounts, pipe to silencer joint, about a dozen bolts. Surprised there wasn’t too much missing after putting it together from some boxes. Realized I was out of staples, so the seat cover has to wait.
Good excuse to clean the disaster zone of a shop. I have way too many bikes in here.
Went I went to toss the pipe on, it has something rattling around in it. Figured it was probably some dirt or a rock or whatever. Nope, it was full of chicken bones 😂
No way, you went to KFC on your way home! Haha jk....you don't see that every day.
None of the small parts I ordered showed up this week, so not a whole lot of progress. I ended up snagging a silver front wheel from my buddy that came from a 2003 YZ450 he was parting out. I tossed it on with a good race take off I had laying around. I had some used take off rear sprockets that I salvaged from Team Solitaire, so I picked the best one and put it on. It’s been cool to use some of the used parts I’ve “saved” over the years on this bike.
Still forgot to get staples, and still have yet to clean the shop 😂
In parting out an 00 yz250 at the moment, if you need anything for a reasonable price feel free to shoot me a message, located in the northwest
I think I'm good for now, but who knows what I'll find 😝
Did the previous owner pushed the crank bearing out the left crank case and then tried to Yamabond the pieces back in place? Yikes!
When you said you got Yamabond on yourself putting it back together, I had to wonder if you were going the same route as the previous mechanic, lol.
Nice N-style graphics!
YZ250s tend to break left cases at the clutch arm due to contact by the chain. That's why they're hard(er) to find.
Yes, I assume the previous owner got a little too zealous with the press and ended up pushing the bearing through the case. They then tried to silicone it back together, which, shocker, did not work. The guy I bought this bike from said he paid someone to rebuild it for him and he rode it for 30 minutes like this before it locked up again. The case I ended up buying had some superficial damage, but was mechanically sound.
I actually used Motoseal 29132, as I don't think you can get Yamabond anymore. It is very similar, but a bit more stringy, so it gets stuck to everything. It was all over my workbench and clothes by the time I put the cases together. I frozen my bearings and heated up the case like normal and everything went together fine.
I'm going racing this weekend, but should be able to get the bike started the following weekend.
I do have some Enzo sub tanks id part with
What are you looking to get for these?
It doesn’t really look like I did anything yesterday, but I did bang out some of the more tedious work. New clutch cable, throttle cable. Rebuilt the kick start lever and that made a huge difference, it was ready to rattle off. Bled both brakes. Finally stapled the seat cover on. The foam was a bit damaged so it doesn’t look the greatest. I’m not super worried about it though. I noticed one of the fork guards was cracked where it bolts on, so I grabbed another one I had and cleaned it up.
I left the FMF Gnarly on for now, but I picked up two well enjoyed stocked YZ pipes for $40. I’ll blow the dents out and make sure they’re straight and put one of them on.
Tossed on the blue shrouds. I have 1996 replica shroud graphics (in reflex blue though) in the mail.
Unfortunately, I put coolant in it and the water pump was leaking. No big deal, I pulled it and replaced the gasket. Put coolant in it again and noticed it weeping around the head. One step forward and two steps back I guess.
I guess I’ll clean the shop tomorrow.
Pit Row
165 shipped from Washington state, that’s what I paid for them.![]()
Ready to ride the wheels off this thing!
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