370 ESR Powervalve Questions?

[Oldrrider]

I am considering buying a 250r with a 370 ESR powervalve motor. Are any of you running this setup? What are the good the bad and the ugly with this setup. Is setup for 110 octane but I would try to lower the compression by changing the dome to run 92 octane. Any info would be appreciated.

Oldrrider

[SuperSherman]

In my experience it is WAY better to go with CT or LED, or any other place than ESR. When I ordered my 350PV I asked what to expect for squish and compression and I was told 35thousandths and 180lbs. I got 174lbs and, believe it or not, 84thou squish. The head gasket failed because the Oring groove was cut to deep(fixed it at the dunes with a thin coat of copper plus). The pison to cylinder wall clearance was not adequate and it stuck a piston running their reccommended jetting and fuel. They would not stand behind their work at all and told me I was measuring my squish wrong. I'm not saying that you'll have the same experience, I just hope you don't give them the opportunity to.

[Honda 250r 001]

Originally posted by SuperSherman
In my experience it is WAY better to go with CT or LED, or any other place than ESR. When I ordered my 350PV I asked what to expect for squish and compression and I was told 35thousandths and 180lbs. I got 174lbs and, believe it or not, 84thou squish. The head gasket failed because the Oring groove was cut to deep(fixed it at the dunes with a thin coat of copper plus). The pison to cylinder wall clearance was not adequate and it stuck a piston running their reccommended jetting and fuel. They would not stand behind their work at all and told me I was measuring my squish wrong. I'm not saying that you'll have the same experience, I just hope you don't give them the opportunity to.

they have good products, but dont let them set up your cylinder.

[tt racer]

Esr will not stand behind their products. I have a 350 pv that would get walked on by my old ftz 265 stroker. Ive had nothing but probs and cant get support from them. The pv its self doesnt work well poor design. The port job not that great. Ive had this cylinder checked by one of the best R builders of all time cant mention his name without permission, he said pv was installed upside down and the port job was to be desired. Its supposed to have a trx 11 he told me there could have been alot more done with this and was not not done by eddie himself. I know he is not doing his own cylinders. You sure will pay for his name but you wont get the quality. These are facts just letting you all know what to expect and ive owned Rs for 10 yrs with several diff motor packages and will never do any of esrs stuff again.

[destey]

took me 3 months and several calls to get my cr250 adapter plate. Each time I was told it was on its way, should be there "next week"

Plate is well made, just wish support was a little better

[Oldrrider]

These comments are very helpful...keep them coming!


oldrrider

[Ruf Racing]

Originally posted by Oldrrider
These comments are very helpful...keep them coming!


oldrrider

How much more negativity do you want?:ermm:

[Honda 250r 001]

Originally posted by Ruf Racing
How much more negativity do you want?:ermm:

well i bet someone has something good to say about esr.

[Ruf Racing]

I have only purchased minor items from ESR, (shift, brake levers).
Have never heard anything good about the porting. Needing
others to clean it up. Their customer service, I hear is poor.
I know their prices are cheap, but when it's time for me to
upgrade my engine, I'll have to consider other firms. My 2 cents.

[tt racer]

If i was in the market do yourself a favor and go with led or ftz,ct, or c-leigh racing.

[derby]

Well I see a lot of people have problems with esr. I had esr build me a 370 in 2006. It was built by eddie and at this point is the fastest R I have ridden. (I also own a puma but with that being said it is not setup for drag.) The 370 is reliable for what it is. It is not necessarily an every weekend motor that you rebuild once every 2 years. It requires more maintenance in the piston and crank area. With the 370 you have to be ready for the savagery of acceleration that you dont feel on the average pro-x. If you want a bike to drag I would consider it. If you want a bike to ride the dunes, mx, or trail ride there are other motor setups that will do that much better. I can't cut down esr as they have always been very helpful to me. In fact I have had crank rebuilds and bore’s turned out the same day or next day after they have received them. Never had a problem with customer service, craftsmanship, shipping time or parts.

[tt racer]

One of the few lucky ones. Eddie can build a decent motor he went mainstream and quality went to he!!. Buy at your own risk my money means alot to me and your all on your own with him.

[buford]

I'm from Oregon as well so welcome. I haven't ever had a powervalve motor but I've only ride the dunes and for the dunes, a powervalve isn't necessary. I also don't like the hassle these things can have when not properly serviced. If it runs well, buy it but plan on doing some investigative work once you get the bike. I haven't ever bought a used 2 stroke that didn't need a new piston right out of the shoot. I would also advise you to pick a local builder to help you. I would not go to either CT or LED, I would go to Pete Schemberger in Camas, Wa. This guy really knows how to make 250r's run and is a wiz with single cylinder 2 strokes. 360-281-2274, goes by Hybrid Engineering and doesn't have a website. Does everything out of his garage.

Also, if you buy this bike, do not run it on 100% pump gas, you will have bad experiences with this. Minimum 50% pump 50% race gas but if your motor is set up properly, I would run race gas.

[hondamancbr03]

Originally posted by buford
I haven't ever had a powervalve motor but I've only ride the dunes and for the dunes, a powervalve isn't necessary. I also don't like the hassle these things can have when not properly serviced. I would not go to either CT or LED,


I have a couple questions regarding your comments.....

1) How can you tell someone that they don't need a powervalve motor for the dunes when you have never owned one? I have both a non-P/V bikes and one Honda running a 350R P/V and the 350R P/V is the best bike in the sand to play with due to it's wide power band and it's playablity.

2) To tell someone to not go to LED for 250R engine work is like telling someone don't go to NASA if you want to build a rocket ship!!! What the hell? Arlen has a longer history with winning riders than most 250R builders.

[Honda 250r 001]

i would suggest a powervalve to anyone who can afford it. the esr powervalve? na, but the rotax style is hella good.

[buford]

You can have a powervalve motor if you want for the dunes but I have seen enough of these pro-x powervalve motors to know that you don't need one for the dunes. To each his own but my opinion is, you don't need it and can make a nice broad powerband without it. I have had several of these cylinders over the years and to get the port timings where I like them for a general dune motor, you can't get the port wide enough of high enough. It just depends on what this guy wants. If he want's to make this a pump gas motor, then my guess is he is going to be into general duning and the powervalve would work great.

I like Arlan, and he builds great motorcross motors, and have even had his stuff over the years but I have seen his stuff run as well in the dunes and I personally wouldn't recommend him but then again, to each his own. That's why there are a bunch of builders out there.

I have had ESR, CT, LRD ported cylinders, out of these three, I would run with Arlan if this was the only choices out there but that's not the case.

Let this guy buy his bike, decide what kind of riding he's going to do, then he can make the calls and decide on his own what he wants to do. He's asking for opinion's I gave him mine.

[hondamancbr03]

Opinions are great, that what makes for a good forum...What doesn't make for a good forum is when people that DO/HAVE not owned a certain type of motor gives opinions on it as to steer someone away from them....A forum is a place to ask for peoples advice that have experience in OWNING certain motors and bikes that can give real world opinions.

Yes I agree with different engine builders, in fact I use someone other than Arlen due to scheduling conflict (Arlen is buried all the time). But I would never say "I wouldn't go to him" and not have a reason behind it.

And for the port timing comment....You lost me there! Are you trying to increase your surface area on your Exhaust to make it a play bike or a 300ft drag bike? If it's a drag bike you want then a P/V motor is a waste of money since you spend all 4.2 sec in the top end only. Otherwise P/V engines are just a great all around engine......My 350 P/V is a 65hp engine and that's without getting aggressive on the ports, doesn't seem too bad to me.

[tt racer]

Like i said i have the esr 350 pv and the pv is a poor design but like someone else said the rotax pv is the only wat to go wich is found on the pro x cylinders. I totally agree!

[hondamancbr03]

Originally posted by tt racer
Like i said i have the esr 350 pv and the pv is a poor design

What don't you like about the ESR P/V? I heard they went with a different style but haven't seen it yet.