1988 YZ 125 build

Every build has interesting finds, I took off the ignition cover expecting to find some oil seepage past the main seal, but instead found this..

It's looks as though the ignition cover has some JB weld from a hole.  I imagine they ran it for some time prior to fixing it.  At least the internals looked good with no signs of water in the trans/engine.

The removal of that headlight will be the easiest part of this build LOL.  Yes, building it for a close friend that had one and also won the Baja 1000 on it in 88.   

Very little progress the last few days.  Had to get the torch out and old skool enginuity due to rounded cylinder nuts. Once the cylinder was off I was surprised to see a basically new "HotRods" rod kit installed.  The cylinder is fairly decent and the piston not much wear at .50 over.

With the low compression I was expecting to find a mess in the cylinder, but instead everything looked good.  I measured everything out and was in spec for a "1" over top-end.  I then measured the ring gap and I think I found the problem.  It was at about 3mm, as opposed to the .25ish. I'm thinking maybe a standard size ring was put on a "1" over piston/bore??  

Update:  slowly got this down to the frame.  It took some time because I got both brakes working, that way when it goes back together I won't have to deal with brake fluid getting all over the place and "hoping" it worked.    A few pics of what I encountered along the way:

The steering nut was rusted to the stem.  Took a impact and heat to finally spin off but damaged the threads.  Usually the lower clamp and stem fall right out of the frame, but not this one.  After ALOT of heat, wood blocks, numerous hammers and soaking in oil overnight the stem finally came out. New races were put in and miraculously I found a complete steering stem on Ebay and it's on its way.  

I'll start on the frame this week.  Should be interesting, fingers crossed!

Sorry for the delay, yes, I got the frame completed and it's resting in a safe spot.  Working on the next problem.... .

I used a angle grinder with a wire wheel on it to scrape the rust off. It was a mess, as you can see.  Alot of time in the hard to reach places.  I also filled in any dings on the bottom rails.  I used a etching primer, regular primer, paint and then a clear coat.  

I started on the swingarm, as with everything else I would say it's never been apart.  A lot more time spent getting 35 years of chain lube/grease off to even see what lies beneath.  Of course, as expected...