April 16, 2012

Well, last month was a little depressing because of my discovery of the header pipe problem. But after a short period of mourning I put my thinking cap on to see what could be done. I know now that I have the cylinder head from a 1981 XL250S in my XL250R motor. For whatever reason, they made the ports bigger on the R model. What I've done is found a 1981 header on Ebay that I've purchased and is on the way. I'm going to take both pipes to a machinist and have him cut off the ends of both pipes, then weld the 1981 ends on to the 1982 pipe. I need to keep the 1982 pipe so it is routed correctly through the frame. What performance difference will result I don't know. Perhaps slightly less torque.

Meanwhile there is a lot more to be done on the bike. I ordered a set of handlebars which should be in this week. I've customized the rear fender I bought and put it in place. I went ahead and mounted the muffler because A) it looks better on and B) I needed to cut part of the fender out of the way to accomodate it. The rear blinkers I bought are installed as well. I had to lengthen the wiring so it will reach the wiring harness, but that's no big deal. One complaint about the existing wiring harness is the connectors they used. I don't particularly like them because the connections don't seem that solid, so I'm going to replace them. Once I get the tail lights and blinkers connected the rear of the bike (electricly) is complete. I have a few more items to purchase before I can fire the bike up however: Cables (clutch, choke, decompression), sprocket/chain set, battery, and a clutch lever. With those items installed and the pipe work done, I will be able to fire the bike up. I'm really wanting to get to that point because then I have a second motorcycle just needing a few more details.

April 28, 2012

Last week the 1981 header pipe arrived and Friday I took it to the welder. They did their magic and now the 1982 pipe has the flanges from the 1981 pipe, but not yet welded. Tuesday I'll head over to Allen's Motorcycle Shop to find the correct collars. I will then get the pipe exactly in place, then carefully remove the pipe from the bike so that the flanges remain the way they are supposed to be. I'll mark it just in case and then take it to the welder to finish. So now I'm going to order the other parts I need to get the motor running.