MotoPhotog
New Member
South Seattle, Washington USA
I'm not sure where my build thread belongs, and I'm sure with all the sweet machinery on this site, my little single pistoned 2 stroker wont take interest to everyone here... but if you're new, or interested in a new build. Keep reading. I've owned a home now for two years. WHen I first moved in we built a nice 18 foot bench, about 3 feet deep, with lots of storage. The garage wasnt complete and you know how it is when you move into a home, its always something for that first year. I finally added 2 shelves along the side of the garage, and kept buying/adding/inheriting tools and parts here and there. I added 6 bay lights up above so that when I'm working I'm not in the darkness, and I'm finally somewhat set.
I'd gotten the 2 stroke bug a few years ago, my first purchase was a Suzuki GT250. It ended up being quite a pain in the rear for its injection/carb work which I sourced out to a local roadracer who used to work at Suzuki, back in the 60's and 70's. Needless to say, thanks to Tim O, It runs like a dream now. But I built that/purchased that with the help of a friend, and then gave it to my dad. Next up... I was looking for a Yamaha RD to chop up. And I'm sure this has happened to one of you guys... I found an RD, the first day it popped up on CL. Went to go see it, and my jaw hit the floor. A 76 RD400, red, garaged its whole life. Not a speck of paint chipped, not a drop of rust. Simply shiny. So i purchased that, replaced the top end, and it runs great, but now I have a 2 stroke that I didnt really get to "chop up" or learn on. And one is in dad's garage.
Now we're onto the story of the TS250. Around the time I'd purchased the RD400, a buddy of mine was moving, and called to ask "hey do you want a couple of projects bikes"... immediately I thought, "no i dont want your junk, I have enough junk!" I politely declined and he said, "ah ok, well i need to basically give them away, if you know someone that wants both, titled, for $150 bucks, let me know". Hmm... hard to turn that down. So now my backyard looks like white trash, as it had a 76 Suzuki SP370 dualsport, and a 74 TS250 2 stroke, in the backyard. I sold the SP370 which was 100% clapped out, for $200 bucks. So this TS250 is my "hey heres 50 dollars, take this bike" So I cant even claim it as my free motorcycle. I was paid to take it So as the RD400 sits in the corner of the garage, and all the crap is off the floor I'm finally able to tear into my freebie. I've got it listed in the "tracker" section because I really dont know what to call it. Its going to have a cafe style look I'd assume, but I'm going to put regular superbike/dirtbike style bars on it.
It started off hideous!
This all happened about a year ago. Since then the bike has been neglected, 1 bike sold, this TS250 was rattlecanned over the original orange/white color by the PO and its a nasty purple color now. It sat in the rain and snow for over 1 year. I finally gathered a little bit of garage space, and now its time to begin. I should forewarn EVERYONE... I'm doing this project alone, and I'm hardly a qualified mechanic. I live, eat and breathe motorcycles, so its only natural i need to work on one myself. At this point I've always had a helper, and I can do basic motorcycle things, but I've never torn a motor down or a motorcycle down. This is the first.
3/18/2012 - Day 1.
Before. Photo 1.
Before. Photo 2.
Before. Photo 3.
Photo 4. After taking off the seat, fenders, mudflap, tank, and exhaust, I pushed the kickstarter over and the bike has good compression and the piston rings/skirt look to be very clean. We'll see...
Photo 5. Sat in the rain/snow outside (slightly covered by house) and the tank is this clean? Really?
Photo 6. I used everything I could to try and get the the slide out of the carb. The cap on the top was caked on. I sat it upside down and used some liquid wrench. Let it sit on there for about ten minutes seeping through the threads. Then i slightly tapped the top of the carb with a rubber mallet all the way around it, and after 1 hard grip, it finally broke loose. The carb had some moisture inside, no actual rust, just nasty residue and slight varnishing. The carb bowl looked like toilet water out of the movie, Fight Club. Not inviting!
Photo 8. End of Day 1.
I'm not sure where my build thread belongs, and I'm sure with all the sweet machinery on this site, my little single pistoned 2 stroker wont take interest to everyone here... but if you're new, or interested in a new build. Keep reading. I've owned a home now for two years. WHen I first moved in we built a nice 18 foot bench, about 3 feet deep, with lots of storage. The garage wasnt complete and you know how it is when you move into a home, its always something for that first year. I finally added 2 shelves along the side of the garage, and kept buying/adding/inheriting tools and parts here and there. I added 6 bay lights up above so that when I'm working I'm not in the darkness, and I'm finally somewhat set.
I'd gotten the 2 stroke bug a few years ago, my first purchase was a Suzuki GT250. It ended up being quite a pain in the rear for its injection/carb work which I sourced out to a local roadracer who used to work at Suzuki, back in the 60's and 70's. Needless to say, thanks to Tim O, It runs like a dream now. But I built that/purchased that with the help of a friend, and then gave it to my dad. Next up... I was looking for a Yamaha RD to chop up. And I'm sure this has happened to one of you guys... I found an RD, the first day it popped up on CL. Went to go see it, and my jaw hit the floor. A 76 RD400, red, garaged its whole life. Not a speck of paint chipped, not a drop of rust. Simply shiny. So i purchased that, replaced the top end, and it runs great, but now I have a 2 stroke that I didnt really get to "chop up" or learn on. And one is in dad's garage.
Now we're onto the story of the TS250. Around the time I'd purchased the RD400, a buddy of mine was moving, and called to ask "hey do you want a couple of projects bikes"... immediately I thought, "no i dont want your junk, I have enough junk!" I politely declined and he said, "ah ok, well i need to basically give them away, if you know someone that wants both, titled, for $150 bucks, let me know". Hmm... hard to turn that down. So now my backyard looks like white trash, as it had a 76 Suzuki SP370 dualsport, and a 74 TS250 2 stroke, in the backyard. I sold the SP370 which was 100% clapped out, for $200 bucks. So this TS250 is my "hey heres 50 dollars, take this bike" So I cant even claim it as my free motorcycle. I was paid to take it So as the RD400 sits in the corner of the garage, and all the crap is off the floor I'm finally able to tear into my freebie. I've got it listed in the "tracker" section because I really dont know what to call it. Its going to have a cafe style look I'd assume, but I'm going to put regular superbike/dirtbike style bars on it.
It started off hideous!
This all happened about a year ago. Since then the bike has been neglected, 1 bike sold, this TS250 was rattlecanned over the original orange/white color by the PO and its a nasty purple color now. It sat in the rain and snow for over 1 year. I finally gathered a little bit of garage space, and now its time to begin. I should forewarn EVERYONE... I'm doing this project alone, and I'm hardly a qualified mechanic. I live, eat and breathe motorcycles, so its only natural i need to work on one myself. At this point I've always had a helper, and I can do basic motorcycle things, but I've never torn a motor down or a motorcycle down. This is the first.
3/18/2012 - Day 1.
Before. Photo 1.
Before. Photo 2.
Before. Photo 3.
Photo 4. After taking off the seat, fenders, mudflap, tank, and exhaust, I pushed the kickstarter over and the bike has good compression and the piston rings/skirt look to be very clean. We'll see...
Photo 5. Sat in the rain/snow outside (slightly covered by house) and the tank is this clean? Really?
Photo 6. I used everything I could to try and get the the slide out of the carb. The cap on the top was caked on. I sat it upside down and used some liquid wrench. Let it sit on there for about ten minutes seeping through the threads. Then i slightly tapped the top of the carb with a rubber mallet all the way around it, and after 1 hard grip, it finally broke loose. The carb had some moisture inside, no actual rust, just nasty residue and slight varnishing. The carb bowl looked like toilet water out of the movie, Fight Club. Not inviting!
Photo 8. End of Day 1.