1986 XR600 Resto-Mod

[whiskersdonedid]

So I've been riding the last 3 years, on trails mostly, but have wanted to ride on the street. My woods bike is a Honda XR250R. I'm in love. It has been just a great starter bike for me. I like the feel of it, smooth power, smooth suspension, all around a great turd for the woods. Logical thinking always gets the best of me. "Buy an XR600/500 and street it. Vintage motard. So I bought a 1986 XR600 with a title off craigslist for $125. TITLE! I have been tearing the engine down to figure out why it was locked up. Turns out an intake valve broke off and punched a hole in the piston. The cam bore on the lifter cover and the top side of the head are extremely wore and galled up. Maybe from the piston hitting the vale hitting the head and moving the cam? Anyway, I have a guy that is pretty sure he can resurface the fire deck an compression chamber on the head. I have found valves for the head and will have them cryogenically frozen to stiffen them up, but what do I do about this cam bore? He told me the head was scrap due to the wear. This seems like a common problem for these 600's. Is it fixable? I have pretty awesome access to any machine work needing to be done.

Thanks for any help.

[whiskersdonedid]

Some pictures of the head and piston.B-L-O-W-E-D U-P

[Onederer]

How much do you want to spend?

You are in the $1000 rebuild range, no joke. You may be better off buying a good head, otherwise, it's going to cost $$ to repair that one.

Are you sure that's even a XR600R head? It looks like a XL600R head because of the red paint and tach drive on the camshaft. If it's not a U.S. XR600R, then maybe, but if it's a U.S. model, thats's likely at least a XL600R head.

That cam is bad because of a lack of oil, nothing else. Either it was ran low on oil, there was an oiling system failure.

Expect to spend serious $$ to get it in any form of reliable shape, or part it out and recoup your cost. I would go with the later.

[whiskersdonedid]

Ah dang. I was afraid of that. I would probably be willing to spend 1k to fix it up and another to get it street legal. But I have been thinking of trying to sell the wheels, frame, and rear assembly for money to spend on another fixer upper.... Without a seized motor.

[whiskersdonedid]

What heads will fit this XL/XR?

[Onederer]

Just do some searches on here for more details, but you are pretty much stuck with pre '88 if it's dual carb and even if it's not, head bolts are sized different for later models.

 

You really are getting into something very time and money consuming versus parting that one out and buying something else and putting the proceeds towards another bike. There has been a lot of people start a project like that, spend a lot of time and money, just to sell it at a loss before completion. If you don't have the money in hand right now to finish it, you should consider that. That's a serious rebuild project.

 

Good luck either way.

[whiskersdonedid]

I really appreciate you advise, and will probably take it. Excited to sell these parts and get started somewhere else. Thanks again.

Advice*

[hdvideo]

I'm looking for the right side panel for an '86 XR600R.  Do you have a good one on your bike that you'd be willing to sell?  Might be interested in some other parts if you decide to part it out.

[whiskersdonedid]

I am going to part it out. What all do you need? I would like to ship 1 big box full of parts. Plus you will probably get a better deal. Here are some pictures.

[whiskersdonedid]

Of the side cover... More pictures if ya need

[hdvideo]

What I'm looking for is the plastic side panel (covers air box). Do you have pics of that part?  I also need a straight kick stand and maybe the air box if it hasn't been modified.

[Carter Pewterschmidt]

If all those engine parts are red like the ones in the picture those might be XL600R parts rather than XR600, because only XLs came with red motors.

 

 

Post up a pic of the bike if you can.

[whiskersdonedid]

Bike is all taken apart. Not many pictures to identify the bike. If you view the previous posts we had came to the conclusion that it probably was an XL. The engine is red. I'm not sure but my thoughts are to take the stator out of this engine, put it in an XR and have a way to power a streeted XR. I would do it if I had an 86 XR. If you need parts for an 86 XL I'm your man. The more you buy the cheaper it'll be.

[whiskersdonedid]

No kickstand. No plastics other than front and rear fender. I do have the air box. I will take pictures tonight when I get home from work.

[whiskersdonedid]

Here are the air box components I have.

[hdvideo]

Thanks for the pics, but as others have said, that appears to be from an XL. It certainly doesn't look like the air box from my '86 XR6.