My 250r - opinions

[d33pt]

What do you guys think of my 250r? It's an 86. I bought it last year for $3000 off some guy at work. He said it ran great, but it was jetted for 1/2 avgas (100 octane low lead) and 1/2 91 pump gas. I tried that mixture but it sputtered at the top end. It's all stock except for a DG silencer. Everytime seems to be in pretty good shape. Frame doesn't seem to have any cracks.

He had a 39mm mikuni carb with a twist throttle. I found a stock 34mm carb and thumb throttle and put that in. I also closed up the 4 holes he drilled in the airbox and replaced it with a new unifilter. Sanded and painted some rusty parts.

Only problem now is that I need to find the right carb boots. I got one from an 86 for the airbox side, but it's still too short. About 1/4 inch. The boot on the reed side looks original, but it must be something he put on. I'm going to try to find an original one to put on and hopefully the carb will fit then. If not I'll have to get a reed spacer or something. You can see the gaps where the carb mounts.

Just don't want the boots to slip off and suck in dirt. After that I'll take it out and see how it runs. What do you guys think I should jet this set up as? Not really good with jetting.

The original owner said that he's never done a top end on it. It's on the original bore. I talked to a shop about it and they recommend a complete teardown and rebuild of top/bottom for about $1200. They said if they just do the top, it could end up blowing the whole engine. What do you guys think?

I've had it for about a year, but never even got to ride it. I've just finally had the time to start working on it. I'm trying to decide on whether to sell it now and break even and buy a new bike, or spend the $1200 to get it all up to snuff and start riding. Was $3000 for this a decent deal? It seemed like it at the time, but with the new 450's out, not so much any more. Seems hard to sell 250r's lately.

http://www.layer3.net:8080/temp/250r1.jpg
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http://www.layer3.net:8080/temp/250r3.jpg
http://www.layer3.net:8080/temp/250r4.jpg
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http://www.layer3.net:8080/temp/250r6.jpg
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[Eddiesanders250]

I would hold on to it and restore it. your damn close, just get a stock silencer and re-pc everything to stock. you will get alot more money out of it that way.

[JTRtrx250r]

damn, I'd be stoked to have that clean of a stocker, after all these yrs they tend to look pretty bad. I like it, keep it and put your "sig" on it.... its part of the fun.

also a reed spacer may help fill that gap, I also have 1 thats about a 1/4" shy, nothing a reed spacer wont fix... it may have had 1 on it in the past, I think thats the deal w/ mine anyway

Get some fresh gas/plug in it, rejet it (it might need full-on race gas (take a compression check and let us know)that or the plug gapped down to 0.18(also depending on its compression

I had nothing but probs w/ my old stocker carbs...

[Rich250RRacer]

Originally posted by JTRtrx250r
damn, I'd be stoked to have that clean of a stocker, after all these yrs they tend to look pretty bad. I like it, keep it and put your "sig" on it.... its part of the fun.

also a reed spacer may help fill that gap, I also have 1 thats about a 1/4" shy, nothing a reed spacer wont fix... it may have had 1 on it in the past, I think thats the deal w/ mine anyway

Get some fresh gas/plug in it, rejet it (it might need full-on race gas (take a compression check and let us know)that or the plug gapped down to 0.18(also depending on its compression

I had nothing but probs w/ my old stocker carbs...

A spacer will fix it, but that isn't the issue here. Why is a stock carb not fitting properly on a bike that's almost completely original? Is something bent? Is the air box mounted wrong (it looks right)? I've seen the boots dry up and shrink a little if they sit for awhile, try getting the rear of the carb seated and clamped, then pull it into the reed boot and have someome tighten the clamp while you hold it.

[TheIceMan]

I've seen the boots dry up and shrink a little if they sit for awhile,
yep,been there,fought with that :grr:
try a new airboot,that should fix the problem.
nice looking stocker you have there too!

[TheFontMaster]

That is one nice 250r. You got a hell of a deal on that. I would say get a new carb boot like sugested, get it running, then depending on the condition of the plastics, new OEM plastics.

[d33pt]

Originally posted by Rich250RRacer
A spacer will fix it, but that isn't the issue here. Why is a stock carb not fitting properly on a bike that's almost completely original? Is something bent? Is the air box mounted wrong (it looks right)? I've seen the boots dry up and shrink a little if they sit for awhile, try getting the rear of the carb seated and clamped, then pull it into the reed boot and have someome tighten the clamp while you hold it.

Well, i'm not 100% sure the reed boot is original. I know I bought the airbox boot off a guy parting out an 86. I'll have to get my hands on an original reed boot and see how that works. If it still doesn't fit right, I'll buy brand new boots from service honda. It may just be like you guys are saying..the boots are old and shrunk a bit.

[slamdak8782]

Wow that is a really nice R. Id say do a compression check like someone else said and if it is good let it go if not have the cylinder honed and put new rings in it or just go up to the next bore size. I wouldnt go through the pain of putting 1200 dollars into it. You could get a new engine for that price on ebay. Freshen it up put stock silencer and plastic on it and sell that baby for the bucks.You'd probably see 5000 or more. 2000 profit or more. Not bad and buy something else with money in the pocket. Or just keep it cause you will be your friends envy. There are lots of different things you could do. Welcome to the club you have the greatest ATV ever made.:D :macho :D

[JTRtrx250r]

Originally posted by Rich250RRacer
A spacer will fix it, but that isn't the issue here. Why is a stock carb not fitting properly on a bike that's almost completely original? Is something bent? Is the air box mounted wrong (it looks right)? I've seen the boots dry up and shrink a little if they sit for awhile, try getting the rear of the carb seated and clamped, then pull it into the reed boot and have someome tighten the clamp while you hold it. I must have not read something right, thought it was too short, if the carb dont fit the boot ...its from the 39mm that was on it..

[beerock]

it wasnt from the 39mm carb, when you take the 39mm carb off the boot it shrinks back down. the best way to get the boot to be properly clamped on both sides is by warming up the boot with a hair dryer so it stretches easier.

are you trying to restore it?
You did two things to make the bike sputter, you put the lid back on the bike and changed carbs?? you have to rejet it go leaner.

but if your not restoring it then why in the hell did you put the lid back on and a crappy stock carb? your lowering the horsepower doing that, choking the motor.

[JTRtrx250r]

Originally posted by beerock
it wasnt from the 39mm carb, when you take the 39mm carb off the boot it shrinks back down. the best way to get the boot to be properly clamped on both sides is by warming up the boot with a hair dryer so it stretches easier. WTF , you gotta be kidding me Bee, I guess my air here in Wa must have a diffrent affect to rubber huh? The more you stretch it ... the harder it gets, it dont return hardly at all. Maybe a new 1..

Ive had 12-15 Honda intake manifolds and have NEVER had 1 shrink up enough to tightly fit a stock 34 after running up 40mm carbs,especially anything past a 36mm, you might get 1 to see partally w/ the clamp maxed out, but I guarentee you'll still be able to twist it by hand. as a matter of fact, I just tried to fit a stock 34mm on my old intake that I ran the 38mm Mik and IT AINT HAPPENING!.. ITS LOOSE!

So... If thats not it... you tell me, what is it then???

[d33pt]

Originally posted by beerock
it wasnt from the 39mm carb, when you take the 39mm carb off the boot it shrinks back down. the best way to get the boot to be properly clamped on both sides is by warming up the boot with a hair dryer so it stretches easier.

are you trying to restore it?
You did two things to make the bike sputter, you put the lid back on the bike and changed carbs?? you have to rejet it go leaner.

but if your not restoring it then why in the hell did you put the lid back on and a crappy stock carb? your lowering the horsepower doing that, choking the motor.

Yes, I am trying to restore it to stock. It was already sputtering with the 39mm carb with the avgas mixture that the previous owner said he ran. I didn't feel like messing with that set up and I didn't think an otherwise stock engine would get too much of an advantage of that huge carb, so I decided to restore everything back to stock.


Hope this is clearer now.

[d33pt]

Originally posted by JTRtrx250r
WTF , you gotta be kidding me Bee, I guess my air here in Wa must have a diffrent affect to rubber huh? The more you stretch it ... the harder it gets, it dont return hardly at all. Maybe a new 1..

Ive had 12-15 Honda intake manifolds and have NEVER had 1 shrink up enough to tightly fit a stock 34 after running up 40mm carbs,especially anything past a 36mm, you might get 1 to see partally w/ the clamp maxed out, but I guarentee you'll still be able to twist it by hand. as a matter of fact, I just tried to fit a stock 34mm on my old intake that I ran the 38mm Mik and IT AINT HAPPENING!.. ITS LOOSE!

So... If thats not it... you tell me, what is it then???

Oh, I'm not using the same boot that came off the 39mm. That one is too loose like you said. I bought a used boot that came off a stock bike and it fits around the carb perfectly, but is about 1/4-3/8" too short.

[Rich250RRacer]

That's what I figured, try clamping the back side in first like I said, and try to pull it forward.