Best 07 cr250 engine tuners

kx450sr
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kx450sr
Edited Date/Time 10/25/2020 7:13am
What's up fellas. I aquired an 07 cr250. It has a PC works pipe and r304 shorty, a really trick looking VHM head and a lectron carburetor. It's honestly plenty fast from what I feel and is a damn perfect 2 stroke imo. BUT let's just say I wanted to ad some zip to it where do I go next in terms of work to do and shop/tuner? I've heard of cylinder decking and a bunch of other things but I DO NOT want to hurt my engines lifespan, parts are impossible to find I.E. powervalve shaft and so on. I want to ad some juice safely if I can. If not I'm beyond content 🤘
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JMCR250
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JMCR250 10/19/2020 12:14pm
10/19/2020 12:14pm
Chad Watts knows a ton about these bikes and how to make them run stronger. Check out his Instagram site for some pics of his work.
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Bruce372
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Bruce372 10/19/2020 4:36pm
10/19/2020 4:36pm
Skip the lectron. if you want more power go keihin and keihin with the stic upgrade
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The Shop

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FWYT
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FWYT 10/19/2020 10:28pm
10/19/2020 10:28pm
First thing you want to do is just take what is there and make it proper. Fresh piston and rings and really dial in the jetting. The jetting maybe an area where a good local tuner could help. Unfortunately I don't know of any offhand in your area. Maybe ask around at the local tracks? You can jet it for pump fuel or good race gas which will perform better with
no reliability issues. (As long as you run the proper fuel!) I think you'd be shocked how much better a crisply jetted bike will run.

After that you start getting into sending the head and cylinder out for some work. Lots of avenues you can go with various levels of $$$
FU2
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FU2 10/19/2020 11:23pm
10/19/2020 11:23pm
He is riding with a vhm head. They have different inserts. Squish is 1.5 with the original basegasket. Second on fuel, that will make a difference. Get rid of the shorty. There are better pipes on the market. Raising the cilinder with thicker basegaskets will give you a different power output , all depends on what you want. Jetting with that bike is very important as mentioned. With A crf 22mm clamp it's like a bicycle how it steers. Don't mill the base it's bs.

For the rest just enjoy the ride on that icon.
1
JMCR250
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JMCR250 10/20/2020 9:41am
10/20/2020 9:41am
I agree with the points above about jetting. The stock jetting is way off (same on the 05-07 125). A JD kit may be a good starting place; it worked well with mine. A couple of national-level tuners have advised me to stick with the Mikuni; it's more sensitive to temp/humidity changes than a Keihin, but it will produce more power if jetted crisply. (And make sure your jet block gasket is not leaking, a common issue on the Mikuni TMX). Last, check that your RC valve cables are properly adjusted. If they aren't correctly set, it will really affect the responsiveness of the bike. I run a 50/50 mix of 93 pump fuel with VP C12, and the bike runs quite well.
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40
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40 10/20/2020 1:49pm
10/20/2020 1:49pm
FU2 wrote:
He is riding with a vhm head. They have different inserts. Squish is 1.5 with the original basegasket. Second on fuel, that will make a difference...
He is riding with a vhm head. They have different inserts. Squish is 1.5 with the original basegasket. Second on fuel, that will make a difference. Get rid of the shorty. There are better pipes on the market. Raising the cilinder with thicker basegaskets will give you a different power output , all depends on what you want. Jetting with that bike is very important as mentioned. With A crf 22mm clamp it's like a bicycle how it steers. Don't mill the base it's bs.

For the rest just enjoy the ride on that icon.
Agree- do not machine the cylinder base. Pro Circuit has pretty good porting and head specs and they do not mill the cylinder base, and they do not use any epoxy in the transfers or boost port.
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40
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40 10/20/2020 1:51pm
10/20/2020 1:51pm
FU2 wrote:
He is riding with a vhm head. They have different inserts. Squish is 1.5 with the original basegasket. Second on fuel, that will make a difference...
He is riding with a vhm head. They have different inserts. Squish is 1.5 with the original basegasket. Second on fuel, that will make a difference. Get rid of the shorty. There are better pipes on the market. Raising the cilinder with thicker basegaskets will give you a different power output , all depends on what you want. Jetting with that bike is very important as mentioned. With A crf 22mm clamp it's like a bicycle how it steers. Don't mill the base it's bs.

For the rest just enjoy the ride on that icon.
Which CRF 22mm clamp and what about the steering stem?
H4L
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H4L 10/21/2020 1:29am
10/21/2020 1:29am
Best bang for the buck are the PC cyl / head mods.. I paid about $300 back in 05 on an 03 model & the hp gains from the oem cyl. porting specs & head are night & day difference.
As 40 mentioned. What ever you do I highly advise you as well to NOT shave the cyl. base .030”. It will ruin the performance of the engine.
MaxPower
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MaxPower 10/21/2020 7:51am
10/21/2020 7:51am
pete24 wrote:
[img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2020/10/18/454680/s1200_IMG_2387.jpg[/img]

There's more than a fast motor to having work done. Being done when promised, accessibility to answer questions, not feeling like you are bothering the builder with questions important to you but silly to them. Being picked apart with every single 6mm or circlip bolt they use makes the interaction seem trivial. Of course having a fast and reliable motor is the goal. In my experience, Tom Morgan is the best and anyone else is a distant second. He is worth every penny he charges.
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kx450sr
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kx450sr 10/21/2020 7:54am
10/21/2020 7:54am
Thanks for all the input. As far as the VHM head goes it is a SX (bottom/mid) insert. I tried contacting chad watts but his website wasn't up and I see some things about company bankruptcy on google search. Tom Morgan was emailed after I couldn't get thru over the phone and Pro Circuit was also contacted. It seems Tom Morgan may be the best option in terms of customization but I'm still waiting on a reply from him. PC was cool they answered quickly and said they pretty much offer a cylinder and head mod for pump gas and a separate one for race fuel. It's a mod based off the OEM carb with their jetting specs and their pipe and silencer combo. Say I just went with PCs cylinder porting what can I expect from it? Would I be better off going OEM head and having them modify it to match?
40
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40 10/21/2020 12:37pm
10/21/2020 12:37pm Edited Date/Time 10/21/2020 12:56pm
kx450sr wrote:
Thanks for all the input. As far as the VHM head goes it is a SX (bottom/mid) insert. I tried contacting chad watts but his website...
Thanks for all the input. As far as the VHM head goes it is a SX (bottom/mid) insert. I tried contacting chad watts but his website wasn't up and I see some things about company bankruptcy on google search. Tom Morgan was emailed after I couldn't get thru over the phone and Pro Circuit was also contacted. It seems Tom Morgan may be the best option in terms of customization but I'm still waiting on a reply from him. PC was cool they answered quickly and said they pretty much offer a cylinder and head mod for pump gas and a separate one for race fuel. It's a mod based off the OEM carb with their jetting specs and their pipe and silencer combo. Say I just went with PCs cylinder porting what can I expect from it? Would I be better off going OEM head and having them modify it to match?
Pro Circuit modifies both the stock cylinder and the stock head as part of their porting package. As you mentioned, they offer a choice of race fuel, or pump gas setup. No other options are available. You would most likely need to purchase a Honda head to send in with your cylinder unless you already own one.

If you prefer more customization, then Morgan would be a good choice since his customer service is top shelf.
40
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40 10/21/2020 12:48pm
10/21/2020 12:48pm Edited Date/Time 10/21/2020 1:01pm
mx317 wrote:
Morgan or Watts
Watts does very nice work and has factory team experience, but one member here had to resort to calling the police in order to get his parts returned from Watts after a lengthy delay. Similar to a Varner type horror story. Plus, Watts was expensive.

Maybe an actual Watts CR250 engine owner can chime in on whether they consider the end result to be worth the customer service problems when he ran his own shop. There are a few owners here on Vital.
JMCR250
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JMCR250 10/21/2020 12:57pm
10/21/2020 12:57pm
Watts is at Barr's Competition shop in NC. He is not inexpensive, but he knows these bikes like no one else. His package includes carb mods (he uses the TMX), power valve mods, and piston/head/cylinder work. I don't know anything about his customer service, but his motors rip.
JMCR250
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JMCR250 10/21/2020 1:04pm
10/21/2020 1:04pm
kx450sr wrote:
Thanks for all the input. As far as the VHM head goes it is a SX (bottom/mid) insert. I tried contacting chad watts but his website...
Thanks for all the input. As far as the VHM head goes it is a SX (bottom/mid) insert. I tried contacting chad watts but his website wasn't up and I see some things about company bankruptcy on google search. Tom Morgan was emailed after I couldn't get thru over the phone and Pro Circuit was also contacted. It seems Tom Morgan may be the best option in terms of customization but I'm still waiting on a reply from him. PC was cool they answered quickly and said they pretty much offer a cylinder and head mod for pump gas and a separate one for race fuel. It's a mod based off the OEM carb with their jetting specs and their pipe and silencer combo. Say I just went with PCs cylinder porting what can I expect from it? Would I be better off going OEM head and having them modify it to match?
I believe Jeremy McGrath piloted the last two stroke to holeshot a Supercross main in 2006 on a CR250 with PC engine work.
mx317
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mx317 10/21/2020 1:12pm
10/21/2020 1:12pm Edited Date/Time 10/21/2020 1:13pm
mx317 wrote:
Morgan or Watts
40 wrote:
Watts does very nice work and has factory team experience, but one member here had to resort to calling the police in order to get his...
Watts does very nice work and has factory team experience, but one member here had to resort to calling the police in order to get his parts returned from Watts after a lengthy delay. Similar to a Varner type horror story. Plus, Watts was expensive.

Maybe an actual Watts CR250 engine owner can chime in on whether they consider the end result to be worth the customer service problems when he ran his own shop. There are a few owners here on Vital.
No personal experience with Watts, just heard of his good work. A friend of mine had him do a YZ250 and it rips! I HAVE had Tom Morgan do a vintage CR250 cylinder for me and was very impressed with the work AND the customer service even after the job.
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Pit Row

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flat4
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flat4 10/21/2020 4:37pm
10/21/2020 4:37pm
Tom Morgan. Great torque/power and great customer service.
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kx450sr
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kx450sr 10/22/2020 3:21pm
10/22/2020 3:21pm
Thanks fellas I decided to go with Tom Morgan he got back to me right away and said he has plenty of specs for getting me what I'm looking for. He told me this bike responds really well to a 265cc bore. I'm sending him my cylinder and purchased a blank insert for the head so he do his porting magic.

For whatever it's worth I was going to go with varner motorsports but steered away from him and chad watts from what I heard on here. No discredit to them I'm sure they're great tuners but I don't want to have a bad experience as it sounds some folks on here have
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bugnboo
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bugnboo 10/25/2020 7:13am
10/25/2020 7:13am
looking forward to hear the ride review
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