Spring Rebuild Pictorial

[Fatt_Tones]

Well, I recently dragged home a new hunk of junk for my youngest son and I to rebuild.   Now that my oldest son and I have the kx almost complete, there was a little time to get started on the cr:  Sorry, my camera takes crappy pictures:

 

Sure don't dig those gigantic side panels from the '98 - '99 years, but hopefully she'll look good when we're done:

 

 

 

 

...and so begins the teardown:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty much ALL of the bearings on the bike look like this:

 

 

 

 

....and this:

 

 

 

Previous owner was brilliant.  This brand new piston was installed in a cylinder (with no circlips I might add) that was so badly worn, with power valves that were so badly worn, the right PV was able to extend into the bore and contact the piston.   Priorities were a little mixed up on his part, as the bike was fitted with a new FMF pipe and Shorty and brand new tires....but yet it needed SO much work....lol.

 

Kind of reminds me of the guys you see with lifted 4x4's and the tires and rims are worth twice what the truck is worth...lol.

 

 

 

 

Fingers on the clutch basket had some pretty serious notching:

 

 

 

 

Here's a look at the complete bike at present.  Ain't she a looker???

 

 

 

 

 

Time to get rid of this old seat cover:

 

 

 

 

 

Hmmmm......some new foam my be in order as well...

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we tore it down and gave everything a thorough inspection:

 

The positives:

 

Brand new tires front and rear,  new Wiseco crank (bottom end is nice and tight), and new 53T rear sprocket...

 

Negatives:

 

We placed an order for the following required parts:

 

- New bearing and seal kits for:

 

                     - Steering head/stem

                     - Front wheel

                     - Rear wheel

                     - Swingarm pivot

                     - Linkage

                     - Upper/lower shock mounts

 

- New cylinder

- Piston kit

- Air filter, mounting element and winged mounting bolt

- Cometic top end gasket kit

- Water pump oil seal, water seal, and bearing

- Right and left power valve assemblies

- Clutch inner collar and needle bearing....yet to be determined, but I might replace the entire clutch...

- Main shaft right side bearing

- New Renthal gold chain and 12T front sprocket

- New chain slider

- New seat cover

- New plastics and graphics

- handguards and grips

 

 

Hopefully we'll have all the parts within three weeks and with any luck have this old treasure mobile once again.

 

I'll post more pics as we progress.....

Edited April 4, 2014 by Fattonz

[CooHead]

Oh my.

What a project.

But cool you are doing it with the boy...he IS helping isnt he?

 

Fun to wrench on them.  Especially when you can see the results of your work.  Like take apart the swing arm after feeling the grinding motion of it.  Hammer. chisel and pry it all apart.  Put in new parts and FEEL the difference you made!  How it should be.  Done right and working right.   Cool.

 

Coo

[Fatt_Tones]

Oh my.

What a project.

But cool you are doing it with the boy...he IS helping isnt he?

 

Fun to wrench on them.  Especially when you can see the results of your work.  Like take apart the swing arm after feeling the grinding motion of it.  Hammer. chisel and pry it all apart.  Put in new parts and FEEL the difference you made!  How it should be.  Done right and working right.   Cool.

 

Coo

 

 

Thanks for the kind words.   Actually , he is helping a lot.  My oldest son needed a LOT of prompting to get him to help with the kx build....but this guy is out there every minute......and you're right, nothing like the reward of doing it yourself ?

[Fatt_Tones]

 We made a little progress with the project today.  The weather finally improved above freezing temperatures and we fired up the 'ol pressure washer:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

......And, some of the new parts arrived....woohoo!!!!!

 

 

[Shhhh]

Looks great, keeping it moving along, you will have it running soon. Nice to see your boy participating, my 8, almost 9 year old is getting easier to coax into the barn, but loses interest quickly. I'm sure he will get more interested as he grows.

[Fatt_Tones]

Looks great, keeping it moving along, you will have it running soon. Nice to see your boy participating, my 8, almost 9 year old is getting easier to coax into the barn, but loses interest quickly. I'm sure he will get more interested as he grows.

 

Thanks for the encouragement.  Mine are a bit older at 15 and 13.  Once it sinks in what this working in the garage thing results in, then your guy's might have their interest peaked.  But, even at my boy's age the attention span is relatively short......heck, so is mine now that I think about it

 

I've been enjoying those Gopro vids you sent me...sure envy your little track set-up ?

[Fatt_Tones]

I got all the old bearings removed and am ready to press/drive in all the new ones (just waiting on parts).  Here's a look at the condition of the bearings that came out of the shock linkage.......had to break out the 'ol die grinder and carbide cutter for these babies:

 

 

 

 

 

The shock linkage cleaned and prepped for new bearings:

 

 

[hezzdown]

Great project and time well spent with the boys! They may not have the most interest right now but 20 years from now they will reflect back on these times and cherish them. Funny how it all works.

Amazing how far people let a bike go! Basically everything on that poor old CR looks beat. Should be a worthy bike when finished. Those Honda 2 strokes motors were one of my favorites. In 97 I bought a brand new CR250. While it was one of Hondas worst bikes I had it ported and polished and compression bumped up considerably, the thing was a monster! Just starting it would make heads turn and stare.

Look forward to seeing your project come together!

[Fatt_Tones]

Great project and time well spent with the boys! They may not have the most interest right now but 20 years from now they will reflect back on these times and cherish them. Funny how it all works.

Amazing how far people let a bike go! Basically everything on that poor old CR looks beat. Should be a worthy bike when finished. Those Honda 2 strokes motors were one of my favorites. In 97 I bought a brand new CR250. While it was one of Hondas worst bikes I had it ported and polished and compression bumped up considerably, the thing was a monster! Just starting it would make heads turn and stare.

Look forward to seeing your project come together!

 

 

Hezzdown, that's definitely what I am hoping, is that one day they look back and are better men as a result of the memories I am creating now.  

 

I'm amazed that anyone could neglect a bike like this.  I mean damn, that's your "fun machine" dude.......you gotta keep it up, even if you're daily commuter is falling apart...lol.  Just joking, but you know what I mean...

 

+1 on the looking forward to completion.  Don't get me wrong, I want to enjoy the journey, but having it done will be nice ?

[Fatt_Tones]

Got a little more work done this morning.  We replaced the mainshaft, right side bearing.  The old bearing permitted excessive radial movement of the shaft, which translated to a lot of movement of the clutch basket...  This scares me as there has been consistent neglect of nearly every part of the bike.  I can see the crank is new, but when they split the cases, why was this bearing not replaced....I mean, I know it's accessible from the outside, but personally I wouldn't do a case split without replacing every bearing.  Maybe that's why I always end up spending more than I want ?  ?  

 

Anyhow....hopefully the tranny will give us a reliable season, and we can split the cases for inspection over the coming winter.  I just have to draw the line somewhere...

 

New bearings and clutch collar ready for installation:

 

 

 

 

Installing the bearing:

 

 

 

 

 

VERY tight with the new bearing......zero radial play ?

 

 

 

 

 

.....and the collar:

 

 

 

 

.....the needle bearing:

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Torqueing" the clutch:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking good fully installed.  Looks like I can get away with filing the fingers and not replacing the basket for a couple more seasons...

Edited April 7, 2014 by Fattonz

[Suzukirider7]

Those old linkage bearings.... I doubt they seen any grease in years.

[Fatt_Tones]

Those old linkage bearings.... I doubt they seen any grease in years.

 

 

That's exactly what I was thinking as I was cutting them out.  Actually my thought was they likely never seen grease, period.....other than from the original factory, and you know how that goes...

 

Funny thing is the swingarm pivot bearings, and wheel bearings had been done at some point....so at some point someone at least tried to care ?

[Fatt_Tones]

New cylinder head studs and exhaust flange studs installed into the new cylinder:

 

 

[Fatt_Tones]

I was in a course for work most of today, and don't feel like gettin' divorced so I didn't do much to the bike.  I did however remove the water pump in prep for the new seals and bearing.  Looks like I had better give the exterior of this clutch cover a cleaning  .....I should have done that first but couldn't wait to get rippin' and tearin' ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Funny thing is no matter what it is I take apart I find something wrong.  This Honda has a "telltale" hole in the bottom of the inner clutch cover, directly below the water pump.  The presence of coolant from this hole is an indicator that the water pump seal has failed.  Basically it's a passage that extends tangentially from the pump shaft to the clutch cover exterior.  The point where it intersects the shaft is immediately between two mechanical seals.  There is an "oil side" seal, and a "water side" seal. 

 

Well, in the brief time I seen this bike run I noticed a slow drip from this hole.  So tonight I first removed the oil side seal...only to reveal the non-existence of the coolant side seal ?   In this picture you can see how I have just removed the outer "oil side seal".  You can see the telltale hole on the left, then a slightly smaller diameter opening immediately adjacent to the bearing.  The water side seal, had it been there, would install next to the bearing.........priceless workmanship

 

 

 

 

Why on earth would someone have neglected to install a $4 seal KNOWING you would slowly lose coolant?!??!?!

 

 

Driving out the old bearing:

 

 

 

Ready for TWO new seals and a bearing:

 

 

 

Edited April 8, 2014 by Fattonz

[hezzdown]

After finding all of these things every time you touch the bike are you still feeling confident about the bottom end? I know you said you had to draw the line somewhere but..... I think personally I would be a little worried.

I've seen some shoddy work before but nothing like the little surprises you keep finding. It's a wonder the thing held together at all. That and someone actually was okay with getting on it and riding it lol!!

Edited April 8, 2014 by hezzdown

[Fatt_Tones]

After finding all of these things every time you touch the bike are you still feeling confident about the bottom end? I know you said you had to draw the line somewhere but..... I think personally I would be a little worried.

I've seen some shoddy work before but nothing like the little surprises you keep finding. It's a wonder the thing held together at all. That and someone actually was okay with getting on it and riding it lol!!

 

 

Definitely not too confident.   However, I can see that the main bearings and rod bearing are tight.  The left side CS bearing is tight as well.  The tranny shifts smoothly though all the gears and neutral is easy to find.  I can see the crank is new.  The only thing of concern that I can't see is if the trannsmission was reassembled with excessively worn parts. 

 

You're right though.  Given what I've found to date, a definite pattern of neglect exists.   With any luck, at least one job was done right

[hezzdown]

Well... That may have been the one job that got sourced out? If it shifts smooth and the rod bearings all check out everything should be fine. Did it run when you picked it up?

[Fatt_Tones]

Well... That may have been the one job that got sourced out? If it shifts smooth and the rod bearings all check out everything should be fine. Did it run when you picked it up?

 

Surprisingly yes.  I took it for a quick ride before tearing it down.  Shifted real nice, handled like a turd, pulled hard for a 125, I could feel the PV dragging on the piston though when in the lower RPM.  Rode it home in short order and ripped it apart.  I am amazed that it ran......oh, and to further expend on that point when I tore apart the carb, I found that it was FOUR main jet sizes rich, and one pilot jet size rich from where I would start given the FMF pipe that was installed and our altitude of 650 meters (2130 ft).  He gave me some extra spark plugs with the bike....go figure?

 

I'm with ya on the hoping the bottom end work was outsourced.  My theory is that given the work habits of the "mechanic" who is responsible for all my current findings, he/she would be FAR too stupid to rebuild a tight, functioning bottom end ?   Most people will think nothing of doing a piston but are intimidated by bottom end work.  I'm hoping that was the case here.  I mean, there's really only one way you can put together the tranny and still have it function correctly, but if there's a way to f**k it up, I'm sure this guy could have found it...lol

[hezzdown]

Funny about the spark plugs! Hey! I got this case of plugs that come with the bike! Did he offer up the nifty fanny pack plug wrench? ;-)

[Fatt_Tones]

A few more parts arrived today: