1995 YZ-250 long rod. Tom Morgan porting magic. :)

450exc115 wrote:

Nice project. My first new bike was a 98 YZ250 which is pretty much that bike with all your mods in stock. I had Noleen do...

Nice project. My first new bike was a 98 YZ250 which is pretty much that bike with all your mods in stock. I had Noleen do the motor back then since they were the go to YZ shop and racing nationals with Tim Ferry as their rider. Bike was amazingly fast and fun. One mod they did was machine the groove in the powervalve drum to allow it to close more and open more and then massage the powervalve to keep from hitting the piston with its new range. Got any more pictures of the porting work that Tom did?

I'm trying to get my 98 back as I sold it to a friend back in 01 and thank God he is a hoarder.. LOL

FWYT wrote:

No, I don't have any more pictures of the porting work. I didn't bother taking apart the power valve when I got the cylinder back from...

No, I don't have any more pictures of the porting work. I didn't bother taking apart the power valve when I got the
cylinder back from Tom.

FWYT wrote:

Welp, you know how these things go. :) Parts get replaced along the way. All those parts that are off the bike are what were originally...

Welp, you know how these things go. Parts get replaced along the way. All those parts that are off the bike are what were originally on it when I purchased it and have been replaced.

First was the swing arm. The one that was on the bike was hammered and you can find them cheap on eBay so why not. Gonna trash the one that came with the bike.

Then, as shown above, i realized a later model front end is pretty much a bolt on affair with a little mixing and matching so there goes that. Later model shock bolts on, too, so what the hell.

The subby that came with the bike was bent and re-welded poorly in spots so, aw heck, found a decent one to replace it.

I knew the bike was kind of a mess so I knew going in there were these issues and I didn't really have any intention of replacing things. I wanted to just fix what was there. But some of these parts upon closer inspection were just better off, time and money wise, just getting better used ones from eBay. Plus, I think it's important to exercise the tweaker demons that have infiltrated the bike.

Then the frame . . . I knew the rego was past due and I knew about how much it was going to cost, but when I started looking closer, man, it was fucked up. Cracked and poorly welded in spots. I think this bike at one time was well cared for but it fell into the hands of a crack head and just got some neglect. Shame.

Anyway, I wasn't super excited about the frame so after looking around, found a frame in better condition and who's registration, in the end will cost less than the white frame so *boom*, out goes the frame, too. I'll probably be able to eventually sell some of these old parts for a couple/few hundred so, yes, a fair bit of leg work but dollar wise, not all that bad. I think I'll keep the white subby and see if I can't repair it properly to keep as a spare. Maybe.

There was a thread about doing a build just buying parts here and there and in the end, I'm practically doing just that. Hahahhahha.

FWYT wrote:

Well, it's pathetic that I finished the bike in October/November and have only just now got a weekend free to go race it. What can I...

Well, it's pathetic that I finished the bike in October/November and have only just now got a weekend free to go race it. What can I say- I have to work most weekends and gotta pay the bills . . .

Raced the 40+AM and 50+ AM classes at an SRA GP at Glen Helen yesterday. (hand on helmet start).
That bike is FUN!!! I absolutely love the motor and the suspension feels great. Honestly, I have
not even turned a clicker! Doing the valving was just total guesswork going off of what other people were doing on the various Thumper Talk suspension threads so I'm glad it worked out!

Quite a few people came over to ask me about the bike, too. It was great chatting up moto projects with fellow gear heads.

One thing about the bike is that it definitely feels smaller than a modern bike. I can't recall if this model was considered a good turning bike back then but these days, because it's shorter, it definitely feels like it turns well. And still stable at speed, too. Or, maybe, probably, I'm just not that fast and can't tell. I think down the road, I might mess around witha slightly taller seat and bars to see how that feels.

Obviously at my level, the bike is not the weak link in the program and I feel like I would finish in the same spot whether I'm on my '06 CRF450 or this bike. But man, this motor is AWESOME!! Such a fun bike to ride!!!

Very, very happy with how this whole project has turned out!!!!