Project Newbie, FZR250 Project

Hi all Dean here, an fzr250 owner and from Ireland. just a basic back story on myself and my fizzer, basically i purchased a 3ln-1 way way back in 2005, suffered terribly with it (carbs what else) ****** it in the corner of the shed out of sheer frustration and went on in my biking life with a succession of gsxr's and yzf r1's etc.

But getting the little fizzer going has always been in the back of my mind, back in 05 there was really no info on them, mechanics here wouldn't touch them and nobody really knew anything about how to keep them running.

So a couple of days ago for some reason i just sat down and said id google a bit and see in the intervening decade if anyone had come to a solution and then i found this thread:

http://2fiftycc.com/index.php?threads/my-fizzer.872/

Nearly everything said on it hit home, and i spent three hours reading the 45 or so pages and that was it, i got the motivation back, so this morning the bike went up on the ramp.



First thing was to drop the 11 year old oil and coolant out and replace with fresh fluids, then put the battery on charge



Then sort through boxes of old parts i had accumulated, including some spare sets of carbs which may come in handy.









So thats it then for today, im waiting on a compression guage from a friend to see what the compression is like, and if its ok then ill proceed in whipping off the carbs and giving them a good clean and see if i can get the thing running.

Looking forward to getting on with it and hopefully seeing what you guys make of the project.

 

excellent post man thank you, my friend just dropped down the compression tester there, i went to go at it and realised the radiatar has to come off so it can wait till tomorrow.

anyone know what an ideal reading should be??

 

cant remember the mileage to be honest, will check that tomorrow when im back in the shed.

i have a second set of carbs as well as pretty much everything else after i found a 3ln-3 in a local scrap yard a few years ago, they must be at least workable as the reason the bike was there was it came from the local police impound, some guy had taken a chase on it a few months previously!!

anyways i stripped the bike completely but had to drop back the frame to be destroyed, so i've plenty of spares.

 

@GreyImport yeah that thread was the inspiration for trying to get this going again, its what made me pull the finger out, spent nearly the whole day reading it!! thanks for the membership upgrade.

yeah it turns out i was a member of the old forum, was wondering how i was already registered.

Anyway back to the job at hand, removed the radiator for better access and managed to get two of the plugs out, no's 1 and 3, but 2 and 4 are just spinning around going nowhere, any ideas?? apply heat?? failing that id say i'll have to drop the engine to drill them out which doesnt sound like fun.

oh yeah @my67xr the mileage is around 29000km's

 

managed to get them out anyway, took off the mounts that hold the engine to the frame and that gave me the angle i needed to get the threads to grip and spin out. Dont seem to be any thread damage as the new ones i have nipped up nicely and the compression tester went in snugly aswell.

ok so compression test completed and the results were:

cyl 1 6 bar
cyl 2 6 bar
cyl 3 5 bar
cyl 4 5 bar

this seemed a little low so as someone above mentioned i put some oil down the plug holes and re-tested:

cyl 1 10 bar initially then settled at around 8 bar
cyl 2 11 bar initially then settled at around 9 bar
cyl 3 10 bar initially then settled at around 8 bar
cyl 4 10 bar initially then settled at around 8 bar

anyone have any insight into these results?? Possible worn rings?? any other tests i should do??

also went to test my spare engine but the straightforward connecting the starter to the battery just resulted in some sparks and the leads getting quite hot so if anyone knows any way of compression checking an engine thats out of the bike and sitting on the ground then i am all ears.

 

the test was performed with the carbs off the bike, looking like i will have to drop the motor out now.

has anyone here ever bought the chinese pistons and headgaskets?? and if so how do they compare quality wise with oem?? just asking because while the piston kit in the above post by linkin is astonishing value, im not quite sure if i trust a set of $50 pistons at 160000 rpm!!!

will have to ponder my next move over the weekend i think.

 

@Linkin i came across these and was wondering if they look like the chinese ones you got?? new oem ones are really expensive over here :-(

http://yahoo.aleado.com/lot?auctionID=u116062395

 

Ok so a bit of an update on this, I was sceptical about the readings from the compression tester, especially as I couldn’t replicate the readings and after calling up the friend who lent it to me he went away and checked it on a car he was doing up and came up with similar strange readings.

he also had access to an engine leak down testing kit which he brought along and we checked the leakages of the cylinders by basically filling them with compressed air from a compresser and measuring how much air escaped.

It’s a really cool tool and the gauge showed small variations between cylinders but they were all in range with the lowest being 7% and the highest approx 11% leakage.

I vaguely remember the valves did get re-shimmed at some stage but it was over 10 years ago and couldn’t be sure so was rummaging through a few old folders and found these:




So that confirms that then, it was time to try get it running, first up was to sort the carburettors so an order went out to Mr. Litetek and a few weeks later these arrived:





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It’s a really comprehensive kit and fair play to @maelstrom for manufacturing such a thing, it’s the work of passionate individuals like himself that keeps these old bikes alive and as you will see below I cant rate this kit highly enough!!


So anyway I knocked up an organiser out of some scrap wood to keep everything nice and together and most importantly in order!! And begun stripping:

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New throttle shaft seals:


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New jet housing and needle housing seals:


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Seals for the jets themselves:





New seals for the mixture screws:


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Seals for the floats:


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Float bowl seals:


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I comprehensively cleaned the carbs, first in an ultrasonic cleaner, then removed and cleaned with a set of carb brushes I got off ebay and finally blew out all the channels with compressed air and carburettor cleaner, the results I think speak for themselves.


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This is a before pic of the carb bodies, I don’t have any of the inside of the carbs, but they were proper gummed up.


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So after all that, and a quick bench sync, it was time to fire her up and see how she ran………..

 

it was time to finally get her fired up and see how she ran, so I hooked up the battery, rigged up a fuel supply and hit the starter………nothing, she tried to turn over a few times then just started making this weird clicking noise from the relay.


Some of you may have seen my thread on the matter:

http://2fiftycc.com/index.php?threads/fzr250-possible-electrical-problem.9223/

Turns out that the neutral sensor switch and oil level switch were plugged into the wrong connectors.

So now the bike is running its time to move on to getting it rideable, first thing it will need is fuel, so it was time to do a job on the fuel tank.


I removed the filler cap and fuel pick up for easier access, the tank had been sitting on a loft in the garage for circa 10 years now and predictably was in a terrible state:


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That stuff you see at the bottom is some form of epoxy resin used as a previous attempt at lining the tank to stop the rust and as you will see below, it was an absolute BITCH to get out.


So I started with trying to chip it all off with a large screwdriver and a hammer, it was painful work done over a few evenings and due to the shape of the tank and the small size of the filler opening It literally took hours and hours, but eventually we got to the end of it.


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This is just some of the shite that came out of the tank:


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so after some research online it was decided that POR-15 was the only man for the job, so I placed an order to polishnparts.ie in cork and 2 days later it arrived at my door. And only cost €61.40 delivered, cheaper than anywhere else I could find it online!!


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It’s a three part tank treatment comprising of a cleaner, a rust converter, and finally a lining paint.


So after flushing the tank a couple of times with water I bunged up the hole for the fuel pick up at the bottom with some ear plugs stuffed in and mixed up the cleaner with some hot water:


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You swish it around for 20 mins and then drain the fluid out, its absolutely savage stuff, the gunk and shite that came out of it:


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Next up was the metal prep, again this stuff is the absolute business, you mix it up with hot water the same as before and swish it around for 20 mins to make sure it gets into every nook and cranny, my arms were hanging off me at this stage so was happy to see that you then just set the tank down in different positions for 20 mins or so at a time and after about 2 hours you drain it out.


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Its absolutely magic stuff I couldn’t believe my eyes when I seen what the inside looked like.


So next was out with the hot air gun and blow out all the water, this part is critical because the lining paint uses the moisture in the air to dry so if there is any drops of moisture left in the tank it goes off right away and wont adhere properly to the tank. So to e sure I left it in beside the stove for the night.


Next morning and it was time to fire in the final part:


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Again you have to swirl it around to make sure it gets into every nook and cranny and then drain out the excess and let it sit for 4 days to dry. so I pulled the bungs out and let it sit.





So that’s pretty much it up to now, got a brand new air filter in the post today, so hopefully gonna get her all sealed up and synchronise the carbs this week.


The plan then will be a case of getting the thing safe to ride so checking/rebuilding the brakes, swingarm and linkage bearings, fork seals, headstem bearings and tyres. Once its running properly and safe then I will worry about making it look pretty, so will tidy up the fairings and see about maybe possibly respraying a few bits, don’t want to spend a mad amount on it but it would be nice to have her looking well in the end.

 

Question time!! i currently have the rear end removed from the bike to check the swingarm and linkage bearings and also to clean up the shock. The shock that was on the bike is definitely kaput, there is corrosion on the rod which will wreck the seals, so luckily i have a spare off a 3ln-3 which is in better shape, but id still like it to be more presentable, pics below.





As can be seen in the pics there is plenty of rust at the top mount and on the spring, especially on the side facing the rear wheel, my question is: can the shock be easily disassembled to get those parts replated and possibly a new spring fitted? or is it a specialist job that would require being sent away?? i had a search on the forum but didnt come up with much.

second question, again on finishes is about the frame and swingarm. i want to restore them to their shiny best and was wondering if yamaha paint the frames with a special paint or is it just lacqured aluminium?? for example in the second picture posted below there is what looks like paint flaking off the swingarm in spots and i would like to get the frame and swingarm to an even appearance if anyone knows the best way to go about it??





thanks in asvance for all suggestions guys.