Not to waste too much time babbling, but I've always had the itch to restore a dirtbike. Finally got to scratch the itch. I originally wanted something different like an old YZ400 or 426. I have a soft spot for the old 5 valve steel frame 4 strokes even though I'm a 2 stroke guy. I worked with a kid over the summer who had this WR450 that blew up. I offered to rebuild it for him, and when I found the engine needed a complete overhaul it was over his budget. Even though it wasn't exactly what I was looking for, it was still a 5 valve steel frame, and it had a street title. So, I bought it for cheap.
Alright, enough of that. Here's my pictures documenting the process.
This is when I knew things were bad. Took the oil filter out first thing and discovered fine gold particles in the oil.
Cylinder heavily scarred
As you can see the top end was completely toast. The bottom end was just as the bad. The crank was solid and wouldn't budge. Someone had previously taken apart this engine completely and assembled it horribly. The right side crank web that goes into the oil seal was beat to shit with I presume a hammer. It was mushroomed like crazy and destroyed the oil seal in the process. I believe this is why it locked up.
Disassembled and cleaned the best I could with my ultra sonic. The head was really the only thing undamaged. Valves still looked great and were still within spec.
Crankcase halves cleaned in ultra sonic and every bearing was replaced.
Starting the assembly process. The stock crank was rebuilt with a Pro X rod by a local shop I had previously worked at for a few years. The damaged crank web was repaired by me with a makeshift "lathe." I filed, sanded, and polished it using a drill and homemade wheel truing stand. It came out great considering the ridiculous set up I had.
Brand new Cylinder Works top end kit that came with a Vertex piston
Getting there...
Engine was almost complete at this point. I was waiting on some dowel pins and a shim that were missing.
First day I got it running. It was such a relief to hear it run and take it down the road without any issues. At this point I became focused on cosmetics and getting it looking a lot better.
This bike was my inspiration. I wasn't looking to do a replica, but something similar.
Installed 2005 Factory Effex OEM style graphics, OEM fork decals, and I found some cool swingarm decals that sort of match the Heath Voss YZ450.
Got to do a little off road with it. Nothing crazy, but it was a lot of fun to get it off paved roads for once.
The stock exhaust was gutted and was just a big hollow can, so I wanted to get an exhaust eventually. Well, I came across this brand new White Brothers full exhaust on eBay from 2004 that I just had to have. It really completed the look because it's what I would call "period correct." Holy crap this exhaust is loud! I think it would be quieter without the muffler haha.
Some of the other work I've done would be rebuilt the shock, replaced the seat (old one shaved down to nothing), replaced a lot of random Lowes hardware with OEM hardware, sorted out the wiring. Still a little bit of a work in progress and some loose ends I need to tie up.
That's all I got for now. I still tinker with the bike from time to time. I'll post more pictures when I can.
Great to see a build that is a bit out of the ordinary! It came out great!
I also have a weak spot for those bikes. Here's my wr250f 2002 that I bought cheap to ride vintage enduro races. Very good parts availability, I found a NOS Higashi silencer for $50 😀
Crazy come up on the exhaust, those things are crazy loud but so cool. If I remember the carbon version was like 800 bucks in 04, pretty sure my crf250 was 5750 otd.
Thanks and nice looking scooter you got there! Love the old school Yamaha thumpers. Super reliable and just all around solid bikes. I was planning on doing some vintage days with this thing hopefully. Unfortunately we're headed into winter and I have a newborn so I'm gonna have to wait until next year to do any real riding.
I know, I couldn't believe it when I found it. I knew it would be perfect for this bike. It's incredibly loud, but it was too cool to pass up and looks right on it.
The Shop
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
That's why Vance & Hines bought out White Bros. when they shut down. They wanted even more really loud exhausts!
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