310Rduner
04-01-2013, 05:47 PM
Hey guys, been absent a long while from the site and getting back into things here. I got into riding atvs in junior high with my family, we bought 3 new 2002 300ex's and I think I made it about 6 months on mine when I happened to ride a 250r at pismo, and within a few months I'd sold my 300ex and bought an 86 250r. At the time I bought it, it came with an esr 310cylinder with just their cast porting and a ratty bills pipe. I slowly upgraded the engine with birthday and christmas money, but between engine rebuilds and all other manner of engine catastrophe I never did much more than get an esr trx5-centermount, cr250 ignition, 38mm tmx carb and a new oem crank, chassis and suspension completely stock. In 2004 my mom had some very serious medical issues and was in the hospital most of the year and left partially disabled which threw me into a slump for a few years and my family no longer went riding or camping to pismo so my R just sat. Well, I never convinced myself to sell it, and two weeks ago I borrowed my cousins 400ex and went riding with my aunt to pismo for the first time in like 9 years. As I knew it would be, that ride was enough to get me hooked back into riding and eager to build my 250R like I've always dreamed back when JJ and kory ellis and every other pro was riding a 250R.
So that brings me to the present, after deciding to get back into riding I knew I didn't want to just refresh the fluids, maybe throw in a new piston and go riding, no this time it would have to be a CLEAN frame up build like I always wanted to do. No more rusty bolts, faded and peeling paint or powdercoat, and I wanted to go long travel. Well, I started pricing out a moderate build, maybe some lonestar arms and a decent shock, but by the time I finished adding up the cost, hell I might as well buy a new roll design setup instead. Then that voice in the back of my head started whispering about just buying a full on frame, hell it's only a little bit more right
So..... with all that said my modest plans for a fresh powdercoat and some shocks has turned into the purchase of a Full walsh racecraft chassis
I've been working to strip down my 86 chassis and I've got it mostly done, I need to go buy a larger socket for the steering stem, swingarm pivot, and hubs, but other than that my old chassis is bare and sitting out the way. I'm thinking about the only thing I'm going to reuse is my clarke 4 gallon tank, my engine, pipe, and carbs. Pretty much everything else is getting replaced with new/aftermarket so that I have a really clean/full aftermarket R like I always wanted.
I'd like some opinions on what I'm planning to purchase. I'm pretty familiar with most brands and parts from hanging around R's and the forums before the 450's took over, but I don't have actual first hand experience with almost any of these parts, merely their reputations and an incomplete grasp of parts compatibility so any input is appreciated. I've been researching like crazy and my brain can be a bit obsessive but it still helps to have peoples direct input.
-Motowoz LT shocks front/rear, they fit my budget a little better, I'd like some custom axis/pb1s/or pep zps but my gut says I should put that money to other things and the motowoz will be just as good but more reasonably priced. I've heard great things about their valving and setup/tuning. I am definitely not looking at buying used shocks and getting em refreshed, too much room for error, I want shocks I KNOW are setup for the walsh chassis. Definitely avoiding elka/fox
-I already have 400ex spindles that came with the frame, but I'm leaning to a full 04/05 450r setup. I ride dunes so the front brakes aren't a really huge need, I'm most concerned with the best spindles for handling,
-Rear axle, I need an axle, bearing carrier, and all the other accessories. Should I just get my 86 hubs powdercoated or bling it up with some aftermarket hubs, my hunch is the rear hubs probably aren't a huge performance issue/gain but Will be an increased cost on my build for the bling factor, opinions?
-Radiator. I'm planning on getting an afco radiator, I know these frames have no provision for radiator shrouds, what do people typically do on walsh frames besides walsh radiators/shrouds. The upper radiator mount looks different than stock, do I need a different set of brackets? I'm not actually to the point of mounting, but just looking/planning ahead.
-Pipe fitment, I have a lot of concern about whether or not my Esr trx5 centermount pipe is going to fit with the offset shock tower, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, but anyone tried mounting one yet. I'm expecting I may be selling this pipe/looking for a nice midrange/all around pipe similar that will fit.
Lastly my engine itself. I'm pretty confidant my low end should be good, the crank was replaced with an oem crank before my last ride and I think most of the typical **** already broke and was replaced when I was riding so I think it's probably ok. But that damned esr cylinder I'm convinced has been the source of my troubles from all the similar issues I read about on the forums. Given the cost of everything else I'm doing I'd like to maybe spend a bit on my engine for piece of mind, and maybe some port work. I want to just bolt my engine in, tune the carb and ride. And I don't want to replace that damned topend for awhile if I can help it, I've never been able to ride even probably 3 trips in a row without it being apart for some sort of engine repair. I want a reliable engine, and at this point I'm leaning to a core exchange type deal, I might as well wash my hands completely of it and have a well inspected/built motor top to bottom.
I'll post up more pictures and will be updating my build progress, as I go, hopefully this will be taking shape over the next few months. I'm planning on getting my engine sorted, then purchasing shocks. Those are my two big purchases and after that I'll probably be picking up the smaller stuff like brakes/axle.
http://imageshack.us/a/img69/7016/walsh1600x450.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img826/9748/walshaarms400exspindle5.jpg
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/2272/walshswingarm1510x383.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/198/walshswingarm1510x383.jpg/)
http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/5527/walshnerfs510x383.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/191/walshnerfs510x383.jpg/)
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/1732/jhjj.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/213/jhjj.jpg/)
http://imageshack.us/a/img834/8010/99392066.jpg
So that brings me to the present, after deciding to get back into riding I knew I didn't want to just refresh the fluids, maybe throw in a new piston and go riding, no this time it would have to be a CLEAN frame up build like I always wanted to do. No more rusty bolts, faded and peeling paint or powdercoat, and I wanted to go long travel. Well, I started pricing out a moderate build, maybe some lonestar arms and a decent shock, but by the time I finished adding up the cost, hell I might as well buy a new roll design setup instead. Then that voice in the back of my head started whispering about just buying a full on frame, hell it's only a little bit more right
So..... with all that said my modest plans for a fresh powdercoat and some shocks has turned into the purchase of a Full walsh racecraft chassis
I've been working to strip down my 86 chassis and I've got it mostly done, I need to go buy a larger socket for the steering stem, swingarm pivot, and hubs, but other than that my old chassis is bare and sitting out the way. I'm thinking about the only thing I'm going to reuse is my clarke 4 gallon tank, my engine, pipe, and carbs. Pretty much everything else is getting replaced with new/aftermarket so that I have a really clean/full aftermarket R like I always wanted.
I'd like some opinions on what I'm planning to purchase. I'm pretty familiar with most brands and parts from hanging around R's and the forums before the 450's took over, but I don't have actual first hand experience with almost any of these parts, merely their reputations and an incomplete grasp of parts compatibility so any input is appreciated. I've been researching like crazy and my brain can be a bit obsessive but it still helps to have peoples direct input.
-Motowoz LT shocks front/rear, they fit my budget a little better, I'd like some custom axis/pb1s/or pep zps but my gut says I should put that money to other things and the motowoz will be just as good but more reasonably priced. I've heard great things about their valving and setup/tuning. I am definitely not looking at buying used shocks and getting em refreshed, too much room for error, I want shocks I KNOW are setup for the walsh chassis. Definitely avoiding elka/fox
-I already have 400ex spindles that came with the frame, but I'm leaning to a full 04/05 450r setup. I ride dunes so the front brakes aren't a really huge need, I'm most concerned with the best spindles for handling,
-Rear axle, I need an axle, bearing carrier, and all the other accessories. Should I just get my 86 hubs powdercoated or bling it up with some aftermarket hubs, my hunch is the rear hubs probably aren't a huge performance issue/gain but Will be an increased cost on my build for the bling factor, opinions?
-Radiator. I'm planning on getting an afco radiator, I know these frames have no provision for radiator shrouds, what do people typically do on walsh frames besides walsh radiators/shrouds. The upper radiator mount looks different than stock, do I need a different set of brackets? I'm not actually to the point of mounting, but just looking/planning ahead.
-Pipe fitment, I have a lot of concern about whether or not my Esr trx5 centermount pipe is going to fit with the offset shock tower, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, but anyone tried mounting one yet. I'm expecting I may be selling this pipe/looking for a nice midrange/all around pipe similar that will fit.
Lastly my engine itself. I'm pretty confidant my low end should be good, the crank was replaced with an oem crank before my last ride and I think most of the typical **** already broke and was replaced when I was riding so I think it's probably ok. But that damned esr cylinder I'm convinced has been the source of my troubles from all the similar issues I read about on the forums. Given the cost of everything else I'm doing I'd like to maybe spend a bit on my engine for piece of mind, and maybe some port work. I want to just bolt my engine in, tune the carb and ride. And I don't want to replace that damned topend for awhile if I can help it, I've never been able to ride even probably 3 trips in a row without it being apart for some sort of engine repair. I want a reliable engine, and at this point I'm leaning to a core exchange type deal, I might as well wash my hands completely of it and have a well inspected/built motor top to bottom.
I'll post up more pictures and will be updating my build progress, as I go, hopefully this will be taking shape over the next few months. I'm planning on getting my engine sorted, then purchasing shocks. Those are my two big purchases and after that I'll probably be picking up the smaller stuff like brakes/axle.
http://imageshack.us/a/img69/7016/walsh1600x450.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img826/9748/walshaarms400exspindle5.jpg
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/2272/walshswingarm1510x383.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/198/walshswingarm1510x383.jpg/)
http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/5527/walshnerfs510x383.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/191/walshnerfs510x383.jpg/)
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/1732/jhjj.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/213/jhjj.jpg/)
http://imageshack.us/a/img834/8010/99392066.jpg