I had been considering a big bore two stroke for a couple years and finally pulled the trigger on one a couple weeks ago. The thread was posted over here:
https://www.vitalmx.com/forums/Old-School-Moto,22/1992-CR500R-price-question,1324219
However, I'm going to use this thread to document the restoration. I'm not following a real strict budget on this, but I am trying to keep it all under $3000. And naturally I want it to look really good and be comfortable for me (tall seat, bars up, peg mods, etc...). I'm also trying to redeem myself from having dragged out my 2002 YZ250F restoration for WAY WAY too long. I want to have this CR500R done asap, so that I can actually enjoy it this year.
Here it is as I bought it. I thought it was nicer that it really was (isn't that how it always goes?)
And after sitting for a year, it came to life with some old stale gas. It actually ran pretty decent:
After last night, this is how it looks:

A close look at the wire harness showed some unique additions - the green and yellow wires that run to a battery-tender type plug end. I guess this could be used to charge a phone or something? I'll remove it.

Engine looks good, just need to do a lot of scrubbing. No case damage found yet, fingers crossed! The ignition rotor sure looks beefy though, like its been modded with weight.

The only real surprises at this point was the lack of coolant. There as only maybe 1/4 coolant in the bike. I suspected a blown head gasket, but it looks as if the left side cylinder head hose was leaking (at the head). Which would also explain why the engine was so wet and dirty.
I also found that someone welded in a skid plate on bottom of the frame. It did not appear to be a "fix" for damage, but rather just someone's prior fab work. My first instinct was to remove it, but I decided that I'll keep it. It actually looks to be really well done, the welds were ground down on the exterior for a nice flush look, and a nice pocket was cut in the bottom for oil change access. It should look good after powdercoat and I was going to buy a skid plate anyway, so I can't really understand why I would waste my time removing it.
I'll post updates as they occur.