Aj's ZXR250a project

Hi everyone,

My name is aj, I know, not a very creative nickname, but hey, I'm in love with my bike, and bikes in general.
I'm 19 and studying my first year of mechanical engineering, got my first bike at 17 completely against my parent's wishes, my old man rode all his life but refused to let me, so one day he found me rolling my Hyosung GT250r off a trailer in front of the house. (Controversial I know!)

Needless to say, I was kinda sick of the pretty plastics on the hyo, especially since it really didn't have the go to match the show. So I trawled gumtree for about 6 months and saved up a bit of cash, and on the 20th of June an ad for a zxr250 in poor condition for $900 came up. 10 minutes after the ad was posted, I was on my way to seeing the bike. The next day, she was in my garage. I've named her Oak, and she's my lovely zxr250a in desperate need of attention. Now I'm interested in this forum because I'm very keen on giving myself a go at racing, and don't really know anyone well who does it, so I thought I'd make some new mates!

I'll show you what I've done so far.

Excerpt from the 19th of June, the day before I picked up the bike, and co-incidently 2 days before my physics exam, which I ended up failing (Who would've guessed! I devoted 100% of that day to searching for every part I could require lol)

Bike has 37,000kms. Mechanically it's good but a bit old and rusty, carbies could use a clean.

This is my first project bike and I'm going to try do most of the work myself, I'll keep you guys updated with a play by play on this project, so expect to see a lot of how-to's

I'll start next week by pulling the bike apart, any recommendations for a newbie on how to support the frame so I can get everything apart?

I'm armed with a service manual for a zxr250c, I have no experience with this sort of thing, and I really want to learn how to rebuild a bike. Worst comes to worst, I'll sell it on, I bought it for $750.

Hope you guys can give me some advice if you're experienced in this field!


TO DO LIST

1. Pull bike apart, full service --> try to get engine running (Engine turns over easily with a battery connected, however I have not tried it with fuel, tank is disconnected right now) [anyone have a trickle charger they would be willing to lend me while I try to get her running? I have a feeling I'm going to kill multiple batteries unless I get one...]

SUCCESS, BIKE STARTED FIRST GO AND IDLES VERY WELL! Have noticed that carbies do need a clean though, when I pull off parts of the bike I may do this. On a more serious note, gears above neutral don't like engaging, however I think this is due to really shitty oil stuck in there, so I'll give it another shot when I change the oil!

2. The project

1. drain oil/ remove filter and drain radiator and brake fluid
2. pull off headers and remove all exhaust brackets etc
3.remove rear subframe and all related components
4. remove engine
5. remove wheels and all related components
6. remove forks and swing arm + all electrical components off the frame
7. take frame, wheels and triple clamps to powder coater
8. service engine while off the frame, (no oil at this stage) clean out carbies thoroughly
9. do the minor plastic repairs required and paint rest of bike (tank, fairings, engine) <--- up to this stage as of 13/07/2011
10. thoroughly clean out brake system and other important bits
11. put bike back together / replace most wear and tear items on the way

3. Get it registered.

4. Butcher her, then build a street fighter.



$2500
-  750                (Principal)
-  29.08            (1xHeavy duty degreaser, 1x WD40, 1x StartYaBastard, 4x Regular degreaser)
-    5.80            (1x Kawasaki key blank - Ebay)
-  33.26            (1x Oil filter, 1x Oil filter wrench)
-  65.00            (1x Katana conventional motorcycle battery)
-  36.37            (4x NGK CR9E-IX Spark plugs)
-    8.80            (Kwikasfuki decals)
-  67.73            (560 piece stainless allen head bolt set for ZXR250)
-100.00            (Cast alum welding for the steering stop)
-700.00            (Powdercoating)
-427.00            (valve clearances + lots of little things at the mechanic)
-  97.25            (Bearings, loctite and grease)
-101.25            (VHT: Flameproof satin black, flat black primer, gloss black caliper paint)
_________
+$78.46

Here's some media:

First day:




Next day:


About a week and a bit later:




About a week after above:

New weld:



So right now, the engine is at the mechanic getting the carbies cleaned out, I didn't want to chance messing this up as parts for the carby are like hen's teeth. The frame, rear subframe, triple clamps, wheels, swing arm, kick stand and pegs etc etc are at the powder coaters, should be done next week sometime in a gold with silver sparkle. Yeah that's right, everything on that list except the foot pegs are getting done in gold with a silver sparkle.

This is roughly what I want the bike to turn out like:

 

Hey Phil,

thanks mate, I tried to upload the rest of the thread, however it kept shoving a 404 at me, so this is my reattempt:
Thanks mate, the mechanic ended up stuffing me over, he did the valves but took 3weeks to do them, all the while telling me I had a dud engine... needless to say I'm never going there again, and I ended up cleaning out the carbies myself, just have to mount them now...



19/07/2011
Here's some photo's of the finished frame etc ;D One wheel colour was pretty off so the guy is taking it back and doing it again, hopefully should be done by thursday!
meanwhile:




























that's all for now, bearings need to be ordered, they should be here in a couple of weeks, I will then start putting the frame back together!

05/08/2011

Thanks mate!

I know its been a bit since I've updated with photo's never got the missus' camera! Well I got it today, and I have some photo's!













So what do you guys think?

 

I'm lucky enough to be a full time student/part time worker and still living in my parents house means not much financial responsibility! So this is all I'm doing, and since my old man was never much of a hands on type, I have the bare minimum of tools, everything else I've had to be a little creative with. e.g. my multifunction stand that takes care of most of my load lifting duties for the engine, frame, etc etc is two bricks, two jack stands, two tie downs and a block of wood. I have to say, they've done a might good job, and we're moving soon, so stuff is EVERYWHERE, the new house I'm finally allowed to buy my own shed! STOKED!







So I thought I'd stick to the ghetto theme to this bike, and use my professional curing tool:

 

and of course, my new aldi stand LOL, Let's see how well this holds up!
[/quote]



12/08/11








14/08/2011

So guys, here's another update! Bought some VHT flat primer, VHT caliper paint and VHT flameproof paint, calipers in gloss black, engine paint in satin black and a VHT flat black primer coat for the fairings/tank! This should turn out great! Also bought some liquid gasket, if anyone needs any, let me know, because I'm only going to use around 2-3 drops of it, and then it will sit in my shed for the next 3 years...

 

15/08/2011

Another update guys!
My supervisor/OH&S leader:

Start of this evening:

completed:

mounted:



Making sure I'm safe:


Start of the evening:

 

A couple of coats in:








Next up is completely assembling the front and rear axles, I put the rear axle on without the chain last night D'oh!

As always, MORE TO COME! I'm getting impatient now!

 

As always, MORE TO COME! I'm getting impatient now!

16/08/2011

here's an update. I spent most of the day on little things, getting everything ready to mount the engine in tomorrow, and managed to set the rear axle right, and have mounted the front axle, however, I don't have a 12mm allen socket! Getting one tomorrow morning!





17/08/2011

So here we go, I got a lot more done then I thought I would today! Both axles are firmly in and set correctly, now only to torque up all the bolts to the completely correct settings and move onto electricals and ancilliaries!

 

If you notice, the engine is actually black now, not grey! And yeah, I realised, satin is going to be a bitch to keep clean... even fingerprints have marked it!

-----------

Let me know what you think guys, and if you'd like help with something please feel free to ask.

Have a great one!

 

Thanks heaps Phil! I very much appreciate it.
The engine in black I think makes it look much better, and will slow the corroding a lot, I plan to do an engine rebuild sometime 1-2 years from now on this bike as it has lower compression on cylinder 4, requiring new rings, at that point I'll get the whole engine blasted and repaint it properly, for this time, I just completely cleaned it, and went straight over the corrosion with an engine enamel, which took a while to dry (still hasn't cured, need to run the engine) but is more then doing a good job.

Thanks!

Thanks mate! Yeah I feel like I got a good deal on this bike, turned out a lot of what I thought was wrong with it, was actually fine!  I agree with the mechanic, what happened with the mechanic I'm never going to again is a breakdown of communication, apparently the first guy I talked to about what I wanted done, I emphasised to him that I want this engine looked at and I want a  comment and an overview of my costs before I proceed, but I never got a call... turns out they had started work already, even though I made it 100% clear that I wanted to be told what was wrong with the engine before deciding to spend money on it. They first told me they did a compression test and cylinder 4 was low on compression, and the owner mentioned that he could source another engine for me, and that made me uneasy about spending money on this dud engine, couple of weeks later, he had already started working on this engine.. and as it is... he's not exactly a cheap mechanic, work is good, but you pay a premium... whatever, can't cry over spilt milk!

Thanks Jim! I do have a mechanic in mind, may go to him soon, will report back when this happens!
Definitely, I didn't think I'd be so attached, this is actually going to end up being my missus' bike in about 6-8 months, but I don't want to let her go anymore!
:occasion14:


Quick update guys:

So far, I've got the chain and sprockets on and tightened up, all bolts torqued up to spec and I changed the spark plugs, filter and put the carburators back on and have run the cabling for clutch,throttle,decelerator and choke.I noticed that the sump is actually stripped ( :'() I need to tap and die it and run an oversize bolt... Anyone have any recommendations for any mechanic in sydney that can come out to my place and do it for me? I don't want to risk stuffing this up, getting a sump will just be complicated. Sadly, I tried to fix this with thread seal tape, and it worked perfectly, but the next day I found drops of oil on the floor, and the bolt is loose again I went out and bought a new bolt, but I need to spend time on this as I'll have to drain the oil AGAIN, and this is new oil so I don't want to put another batch of oil in because this batch is going to be run for 1000km's (it's Motul 3000) and then I'm changing to 5100 and will run that for 4000km intervals.

I'm all ready to run then wiring loom and get the airbox on, followed by getting the tank on and starting the bike, however this stripped sump has made me hit a wall and stop, so I will be proceeding slowly from here.

Any recommendations guys? This was unexpected and upsetting Whoever worked on this bike previously overtorqued the sump bolt to oblivion

 

My thinking is that they are the same, but if I replace them I will have to drain the oil, drop the engine out of the frame and it'll become tedious, ideally I'd love to replace the sump but I'm not doing an engine rebuild at this stage, so it may be simpler to drill and tap with an oversize bolt. If I can't drill and tap, what I can do for you Chris is send you the one I have now, and you can send me yours, with some cash your way of course. Let me just figure out my repair option first because I don't have the time nor patience to drop the engine out of the frame again, and start pulling it apart... If I do that, I might as well just complete my top to bottom engine rebuild while I'm at it...

Thanks heaps for the offer though! I really have to find myself a parts bike soon.

 

Thanks Phil,

Yeah, I think I'm too stressed about this, it's just feeling like a big thing because it's brought everything to a stop so fast, I was hoping to have the wiring loom in today and the bike started and tuned/running by wednesday. The annoying thing about the sump was that normally the sump itself would be made of a harder metal, and the bolt would be a softer metal so the bolt would strip first and this would be easy to fix, but damn it the previous owner replaced the bolt with something much tougher, and that has completely ruined the thread on the sump...

Thanks mate, almost there, shouldn't be long now!

 

Was thinking that exactly Chris, however... no access to one, and I've never dealt with one before, though getting that done would be amazing and I don't think I'd have problems for years to come!