It wasn’t that long until I started on the Yamaha.
I have several other to do like 5 more Honda CRs. The Yamaha came next since I am hopeful I will actually ride this one. It’s my hope the motor will be much more to my style of loads of low end with a equivalent of mid-range. Plus I wanted to get it out of the way and be Honda focused for the next couple years.
I approached this one in the same fashion as the last one. Paying attention to bolt lengths and where they came from worked very well for me on the 86. Measuring the lengths, writing this down and than shooting a pic of the actual bolts/washers/nuts. This insures they go right back from where they came from. Some may like this aspect of originality.
Right now I am over half way done. Frame painted and most of the components restored. Still need to do the motor tear down and refinish it.
Added some tools to aid in removing metal. I have focused on this build like most I have done to remove mold lines and clean up the metal.
Below is the links to my past restores.
1st One 1995 Honda CR250
2nd one 1992 Honda CR250
3rd one 1986 Honda CR 250
This was one of the group of 3 bikes I bought from an amazingly generous man named Don. This an incredibly good moto brother. He came across a bunch of oils he had for these bikes and shipped to me on his dime over a year later. Who does that?
The pipe is off since I had those refinished last year when I blew out dents and had them powder coated.
There are very few items I am altering. It will look stock but those very familiar with this series may be able to see my details.
I already have loads of images and detail shots on methods I used to achieve certain looks.
Great to see your comment sandman. You know I’m a fan of your work.
I reference these images just about every time I work on the bike. This approach works for me as maybe someone who will ultimately buy one of these appreciates this level of dedication. It’s so valuable that I will continue the practice.
First thing is to start the clean up of the hardware.
I used the vibrating machines before. These actually work very well for the initial clean up of the parts. In fact so well that I would consider this alone as a restore method. It will remove most debris. Since I was going to get the parts replated I still needed to do further clean up.
I’m using a media designed for metal parts. I tried the round media or small cylinders but this consistently would migrate into tight areas. The triangle shaped media is way better.
Spend the time cleaning up your hardware prior to replating. It makes a huge difference. My parts look brand new. But it took careful attention beyond just basic clean up.
Cleaning up the tunnels on large bolts is pretty simple with a abrasive wrapped around a brush hooked up to a drill. I use copious amounts of WD40 as a liquid to carry the debris away.
Clean up on the foot peg pins. I used a drill bit to uniform the holes for the cotter pins.
In order to clean up this nut I used a Dremel for the scarred metal. Next a punch to move the nut retaining collar back in place. You will be surprised how original you can get this stuff looking.
Once you get the parts back from replate it makes it totally worthwhile all the effort. I wouldn’t approach replate without doing all the clean up.
The Shop
Cut the back ones out and saved the front spokes and nipples.
Cleaned up the hubs and did as good of a job as I could removing seams. Went with a Cerakote that was close to stock color but instead of shooting the whole hub I used some black.
I just like the appearance of the black around the bearings and seals. Plus I added black to the discs. These always take a massive amount of time to paint. I tape off the portion that the pads contact. Plus I leave the edge so this way I can coat it also.
Hopefully no more in-expensive rims on my restores. Using Excels with their spokes and nipples insures a strong and easy build.
As much as black rims look great to me I want to gravitate more to a traditional look. I realize my hubs and discs is a departure from that.
Just easier to cut the tire off. So old that it was too hardened to mess with.
Prior to cleaning up. I sealed around the bearings with a caulk since I wasn’t going to remove them. I needed to keep debris out and glass beads.
Prior to bead blasting.
The front disc was just slightly warped. $50 on eBay found me a replacement .
This was the first clean up of the spokes and nipples. The nipples needed nothing further. I did have to run every spoke on the bench grinder abrasive pad for further clean up.
I had to disassemble the front hub at least once after completing. One hole off created crazy issues of having to remove spokes from the nipples to get another spoke to fit in. Even after redoing it I still had to do this to get spokes to go in and align with the respective nipple hole. After 6 rim rebuilds I still haven’t discovered any shortcuts. I do use anti-seize on every nipple. The Rocky Mt. guide on how to rebuild a rim is an excellent guide.
Same approach as all the other ones I have done. Disassembled completely and clean up. Remove all seam/mold lines and uniform the finish. Cerakote most everything and get various nuts recoated with zinc.
Does polishing the springs make a difference? I don’t know but I did it anyways. Plus I cleaned up and polished the washers that stand off the springs. I had to do something custom.
Polished parts to the right
Forks I tried to have the outers re-anodized. The anodize wouldn’t take. So they were sent back to unfinished.
Cerakote was what I had to do. I mixed some gold in with the bright nickel to give me a slightly different color than what I did the trees in.
I did the bottoms in black to look like A kit stuff. Hopefully this works well with what I did with the hubs and discs. Of course I completely cleaned those all up. Damage/dings/scratches all removed. Cerakoted those with the bake on product line. Caps were also cleaned up and polished on the bench grinder. Polished the brass. Cleaning up caps take way longer than you may imagine. I consistently see these with a great deal of damage.
Fresh seals and wipers. Yamalube 01 fork oil was used as called for.
Rear shock. I was fortunate to find a new head seal on eBay. Yamaha does not show these shocks as rebuildable. I did not change valving since this is a form of voodoo which I am not educated on. A great deal of time spent cleaning up and uniforming the finish on the exterior body.
Take it apart and just go to work cleaning it up.
Once cleaned up it is off to the blast cabinet to roughen up the finish prior to Cerakote.
After spraying I like to wait a week before actually rebuilding parts. This insures the paint is fully cured.
I am following the Yamaha manual as it relates to torque settings. I have discovered that the Honda manual is quite a bit better written as a service guide.
Thanks for your input.
My approach on most parts is to clean up the metal as well as I can. If I see just sloppy craftsmanship on the parts I will address those.
Hand grinder with a flapper wheel, air grinder with small heads and a Dremel of very tight areas. After this it’s off to the bead blast cabinet. Do a super wash to get rid of glass bead residue. Finally hand inspection to insure no debris is left.
I Cerakote these parts for a uniformity in appearance. Just me.
This swingarm is painted to begin with.
Two of the nuts that secure the kick stand had fallen inside the swingarm. This was quite a challenge to locate and use bolts to keep them nearby. I would have had to cut a hole to get those out. Fortunately I have the original kick stand.
Some other parts to this Yamaha. The shark fin that protected the lower portion of the rear disc had to go.
The massive skid plate with the case savers built in was not as clean as I was looking for. I cut off the wings and attempted to clean up what was left. I added a right side water pump guard.
Used some scrap steel I saved to make my skid plate mounting tabs. Threaded them so I didn’t have to use nuts on the back side.
Cleaned up the footpegs. In the second image the bottom foot peg is shown to the untouched one above it. Small stuff like this makes all the difference.
Flapper wheel to start with.
Done. Normally I wait at least a week before installing painted parts.
Yours is in fairly better shape than what I started with. I don’t see the (3) threaded inserts in your swingarm for a kick stand. I assumed the WRs at least for this year had them. I’m no expert on this model.
Fortunately I haven’t ran into any problems with rebuilding items and sourcing parts. I put a new stock piston/rings in mine using stock Yamaha parts. Unbelievably inexpensive.
I will have a bunch of left over motor internal seals and bearings. Make sure you hit me up if interested. They are new in the baggies. Too late to return to Rocky Mt. ATV. Foolishly I ordered parts way too far in advance.
I had the swingarm, shock, linkage, rear wheel, rear brake and front end on less the front wheel. Went to install the motor and found my powder coat would chip off.
Knowing this would be an issue going forward plus too many spots I would have to re-paint I disassembled it back to the frame. Turns out my powder coater pulled it out of the oven too soon.
They re-did it which was better for me since I welded on some mounts for a skid plate and water pump guard that were rattle canned over.
It’s back but I haven’t started reassembly.
This worked out well for me since I had added some mounts for my water pump guard and skid plate. I welded these in and used rattle can white to cover. And as expected it looked like just that…Rattle can paint
On my WR frame the support for the lower linkage which rides below the swingarm is very tight to the bolt. Such that you cannot have any excess paint material on the surfaces that the bolt slides through. Powder coating adds loads of this material. It’s a nightmare to relieve that area. I used emory cloth and a finger. Took over an hour the first time. Knowing I needed to guard that area for the recoat I used a wood dowel and tape to lodge it in. Bad idea also. Left tape residue and still had to remove paint material the second go around. I have no idea how I would do it again.
I suggest just be aware of this when getting a similar frame done. I had no issue with any of the 3 Honda CR frames I had done. That bolt fit extremely tight on this WR to begin with.
I decided I would concentrate on the motor compartment when rebuilding it. Due to the size of my shanty I restore in I would leave off the forks and rear wheel and basically focus on the center. Get everything done in this area and do forks and wheels as the last install.
I use blue tape with notes on it to remind me to tighten and torque certain bolts. In this case I will wait to get the chain on before torquing the flywheel nut.
My right side clutch cover looks like the bike has been ridden and has wear on it. I shot the Cerakote when it was hot outside so the paint top coat dried too quickly along with I probably applied it too dry. I scotch pad hit it which changed the finish appearance. Bummer for me.
I spent some time on cleaning up my coil/CDI/Wiring/Electronics. Sure this stuff gets covered by a tank. But knowing these items are clean and connections tight gives me less worry when firing it up. I received this bike not running. I go as far as running a Dremel round abrasive bit into the connectors. Removing any debris or other. Again I want near new looking connections.
The kill switch was bleached out quite a bit. Continuing a trend of trying to use as many original parts as possible I cleaned it up. Kind of ridiculous to do this due to the effort it took. But I believe to be true to a restore you make the effort. Maybe the next owner of this bike will appreciate my dedication to the process.
I will cover the rebuild on the motor next.
Let me pull together some images from past restorations and add some of the tools/liquids I use.
I wish it was simple in the process but it does take time. It’s a process I never look forward to but know it must be done.
Pit Row
Tools and Liquids I use.
Dremel- A variable powered one works best for this and most else. See that image of the wheel I sue primarily for certain parts. Just Do Not press that hard against the material you are cleaning and keep the speed low. Other wise it will flatten the bristles quickly pressing hard and running it fast. Slow and light pressure.
Q-tips- I will usually remove some of the cotton from it to make it narrower.
Xacto blade knife- scraping or picking at hard to reach places
Plastic nylon bristle brush- The ones I use have a wide tip like a toothbrush on one end and a narrow 1 row of bristles on the other. These are popular with firearm cleaning supplies.
Compressed Air- This will displace dirt/soil/debris if saturated with a liquid in tight confined areas. Inside those plastic outside plug connectors. The clear ones.
WD40- I keep a fat spray bottle of this along with Simple Greem. My 2 go to solutions in everything restoring.
Lacquer thinner or Carb Cleaner. Acetone is very simliar.
To start it’s all about using WD 40 and the toothbrush normally. I lay down a rag as a drop cloth and saturate the part I start with. I get it nice and wet and start scrubbing with that. I use this same method with cleaning all my rubber pieces. WD40 and toothbrush scrubbing. The firearm cleaning toothbrushes typically have firmer bristles. I do not use any brushes with metal bristles on these parts. Too aggressive.
Just doing this is easily the majority of it.
I do not spray or repaint any of this stuff. It normally comes clean near new just doing as I suggest.
That metal wheel on the Dremel is how I clean the metal of the coil ends. These are always rusty. Light pressure and I do not use WD40 when doing this.
Same approach with any male plugs. Carefully using that wheel around the circumference of the connector will make it look brand new.
Spray some WD40 inside those plastic exterior connectors and take that reduced swab to clean out the inside. Use air to help blow out the residue.
I use Lacquer thinner on a rag to help remove paint transfer on the shrink wrap around wire bundles. If I cannot get shrink wrap around a a wire bundle like what comes off the magneto I use a excellent quality black 3m tape. It’s stretchy and adheres very well. These rolls can be purchased at Home Depot. Avoid the cheap black electrical take or Duct tape/Gorilla Tape. Too thick and easily migrates to other places.
2 Twin Showas sets and one set of 1992 CR 250 KYB’s.
The early forks are for a 92 I already finished. I installed a set of the twin cartridge forks on that one.
No small task to convert it back since I will have to lace up a wheel using the older style hub. I went ahead and cleaned up a set of triple trees. Did the usual grinding away seams/casting lines and reshot them in Cerakote.
One set of the Showa’s had evidence of a prior owner using one of the longer fork guard retainer screws. This will lock in the spring as it pushes the thin wall of the slider inward.
No way to remove the spring after I disassembled the forks.
I tried a number of ways to pull it free.
I was faced with removing the axle holders from the tubes. I did both since of them for the hell of it. These are not that easy to remove. They take a great deal of heat to get them hot enough to release the thread locking compound. You have to find a tool that can slide through a relief holes in the upper portion of the slider. I have a set of nylon padded vice jaws which held the holders.
Having done it I would only do it again if I was getting the sliders coated. I looked into that process. $300 a slider to get it done. I love the look but couldn’t benefit from the process.
On the KYB’s I naturally polished moving parts to include the outside coils on all 6 springs.
I did the axle holders on both sets of Showa’s in black. Just a preference and give the impression of A kit style.
I had a serious issue with getting my cartridges to function correctly. The common issue of after charging with oil and pumping to remove air bubbles the dampening rod will not extend fully but actually pull back up. Tried numerous methods to remove air bubbles thinking this was the issue.
Fortunately I ordered both seal sets from RaceTech since I ultimately had to replace both in one set of inner cartridges.
I made a extraction tool since I did not have a large enough allen. Admittedly I have a ways to go in learning how to weld. But if you like too much and ugly welding I’m your man.
The first one I did I used way too much heat. This coupled with not drilling out the indentations enough made it extremely difficult to remove one of the seals.
For the other 3 sets I used no heat but drilled out those indentations deeper. That tool made it extremely easy to take those apart. Those seals are easy to replace.
The upper seal was very difficult to extract. I had to grip that part pictured with vice grips. This allowed me to disassemble it.
These seals are just like trying to replace head seals for rear shocks. No way to drive it out from the other side. I used a Dremel tool with dental bits to cut away at it. There may be an easier way to extract it. Keep in mind there is little available on the web referencing these upper seals. I replaced them since I wasn’t getting the action on the cartridges with replacing only the lower seals.
A 13mm deep wall socket was used to set the new seal.
I cleaned up the vice grip jaw marks on the inner threaded rod.
I had the outers re-anodized. One set came out near perfect. The other set has areas where the outer tube was damaged by roost probably and left those areas exposed. They were $300 a set. I had sent the Yamaha’s outer’s along with the Showa’s. Those wouldn’t anodize for some reason. I ended up Cerakoting those.
The company I used is quite familiar with re-coating the uppers. If you choose to go this route you need your outers to be in pretty good shape. Basically almost free of damage to the exterior skin. I went for a Ohlins gold color.
I used a fine buffing wheel on my Dremel to go over the raised lettering of the Showa logo. For the hell of it.
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I noticed that most re-position the Kickstarter foot portion in line with the pipe angle. So more forward. The actual Yamaha brochure shows it at the angle that I have it at. Admittedly it’s cleaner positioned as most do but I decided to be as true to the brochure as I could.
I just noticed the silencer is different on the brochure bike. Longer to the rear. Interesting. It’s silly long as it is. But even longer as displayed in the brochure. That image comes back to a search for a 1991 WR 250. The silencer must be right.
These restores seem to always be a new experience with challenges. This bike did not disappoint with issues for me.
- Nuts for kickstand came off on the inside of the swingarm. Very difficult to salvage those. They went in through the holes which allowed the bolts to attach to them.
- Rear shock lost most of its nitrogen charge. I assume a leaking schrader valve. Replaced and re-gassed.
- Nightmare tightening the steering bearings. All due to how Yamaha designed that area.
- Replaced front disc. Like a idiot didn’t check my used replacement. Bead blasted it and cerakoted it after the tedious effort of taping off. Had a warp. Found that out after putting it on and mounted the wheel on the bike. Fortunately the eBay seller did the right thing and sent me another after a year from my purchase. Not expected but appreciated. Sure it was in worse shape than the one I originally bought. Spent a great deal of time again cleaning it up and painting.
- Misery dealing with the excess paint on the frame mounted linkage interface.
- Followed the routing of the clutch cable per the manual only to have it drag across the top/rear portion of the front fender. Silly way to route it. Used extra zip ties to pull it out of the way.
- Restoring the tank was work since the Clarke brand replacement is too mismatched from the pure white of the UFO plastic. Bad deal on white bikes with old tanks and using new white plastics.
After having done several CRs I can appreciate the simplicity due to Honda’s excellent design. These early Yamaha’s also are very basic in design. But there were several elements that seemed needlessly over thought.
I’m close to being done. So close I have pulled out my next restore. Taking a 1988 CR500 and turning it into a 1987. Better to go that direction vs leaving it as a 88 or going 89. In my opinion un-inspiring as a 88. They look horribly plain.
Question- Who did your fork tube anodizing? the Ohlins Gold looks super trick!
I saw some forks done and the owner of the suspension shop told me about this company.
Alumin-Art Plating Company, Inc.
803 West State Street
Ontario, CA 91762
ph: (909)983-1866
fax: (909)983-5441
info@anopros.com
So they are very familiar with doing the outers. Know what you want and provide pictures possibly. They can tint the color light and darker. Lots of variations. Know that roost damage/chips will still show. You need almost perfect outers to have it come out well.
Finally done with the WR. I haven’t fired it as of yet. I’m pleased with how it came out and feel like there is nothing on it I should have spent more time on. No plans to do anything with it as of now. Still trying to build my resume with these. After about 3 more done I will be ready to load them up and take out to a local race track. Hopefully displaying them may create some interest in getting some work.
I would expect never being able to charge enough for actual labor. Making every effort to use as much of the original items is a massive energy suck. Cleaning every single part to make it appear new is a labor of passion. $3000-$4000 is an accurate figure in parts cost depending on motor needs. I completed this one in approximately 6 month time.
On to my next. 1988 Honda CR 500 which will be restoring back in time. Basically going to make it appear to be a 1987 model 500. Already started.
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