November 13, 2010

As you can see, I do have some work cut out for me. The tank is in pretty good shape and with the frame you can see what the correct color is supposed to be. The front fender and light were put on some other time. If you look closely at the picture you can see that the light is held on by wire-ties. The speedo instrumentation, key, turn signals, mirrors, and rear light/plate are missing altogether. The rear fender isn't original either. Danny also put on a small front and large rear sprocket combo - it'll climb trees, but doesn't have much in the way of top speed. Click this link to see what the bike is supposed to look like.

   

Here you can see what the damage is in the engine. Tim and Danny don't know exactly what happened, but they're thinking it was a timing problem, which seems likely. In the first picture you can see that the snapped off valve is wedged sideways in the head. Will that mean a new head is necessary? The second picture shows the top of the piston with the hole in it.

   

November 15, 2010

I finished building some shelves in my garage so I could move a bunch of junk away from my work bench. That way I will be able to have a room very close to my bench as I start to work on the bike. The "decks have been cleared" so I can now start working on the bike. I think my first task will be to get the engine out and see what I’m going to need to do here. I’m pretty sure I’ll need a new head since that valve is really jammed in there. I suppose it’s possible to get it out and have a shop fix the port. I need to get the piston out and examine the cylinder wall to see if there’s any scoring from when the piston got holed. Aside from that I’ll start working on the rest of the bike, cataloging what I’ll need to get and how to go about getting it, how much it’s going to cost me, etc. I predict there will be large gaps of time when I can’t do anything on the bike because I don’t have the money to spend on it. This will have to be done as I’m able to squirrel away the bucks.

November 17, 2010

Tonight I pulled the engine out so I can start in on it. As I pulled off the parts, I find more and more that I'll need to do to get it back to being a street-legal bike. Found out that the handlebars are bent, but I think Danny told me that already. I still have to finish stripping the bike down to the frame, but as you can see in the picture below, with the engine out it's much closer. I'll then work on straightening the little attachment points. I intend to paint the frame back to it's red color. Because there is no instruments on it I think I may need a completely new wiring harness. That would solve a bunch of potential problems trying to straighten out what is there, what's missing, and what I need to get the instruments connected up.

   

I also checked with a friend of mine who used to be an investigator with the Washington DOL about the whole odometer thing. On my title it says "exempt" under odometer status. He said that for vehicles over 10 years old it's not required, so that's a headache I won't have to deal with. I can set it to zero and go from there.

November 27, 2010

No real work done on the bike earlier this week because it was really cold - single digit cold. But I made an unexpected score today. I went to Spokane Powersports looking for information on any used motorcycle parts businesses in Spokane. They gave me a couple of names which will definitely help. While there one of the guys asks what bike I'm working on. "I have a Honda XL250R I'm working on."

"What year?" he asks.

"1982, why?"

"Well," he says, "I have a shop manual right here for that bike ... and it's for sale."

"How much do you want for it?" I ask.

"Fifteen bucks." "Sold!"

So now I'vegot the offical Honda shop manual for the bike. I think I have all the technical information on the bike that I could want. So now I just need to find the parts I need. I had a line on a 1981 XL250S for sale as a parts bike, but I was too late. By the time I saw the ad on Craigslist, it was already sold. That would have saved me hundreds of dollars in parts. I'm going to keep looking for a parts bike like that though.

Since we have a ton of snow and thus nowhere to go, I got back to disassembling the bike. Today I removed the rear shock, tire, and swingarm. Then took the front wheel off and pulled the shocks out. Next I'll take the triple-tree off and pull the wiring off. That will leave just the frame and I will scrape the ORV stickers and other stuff off to get it ready for painting.