picked up a free 1985 250r!!!

[jonny23]

a guy i work with had this in his shed stored since 1990..21 years!..it hasnt been started since then..the thing is a little beat up but is all there..but hey, it was free!!it needs a seat, plastics, tires, headlight, bearing carrier, and a few other small things..i plan to restore it..

i will get pics up asap

[HondaRidr]

LUCKY!!! And welcome to 3ww.

[Brockey]

Welcome aboard. Now post up a few pics of the old dear. :)

[RIDE-RED 250r]

Awesome deal! I love freebies. Congrats man...

[250rRoostmaster]

:pics::pics::pics:

[dougspcs]

The thing was only ridden for 4 years and all that damage was done..wow. Talk about rode hard!!

Is the engine still free?

Congrats on the find..a hell of a beast to join the club with. Look forward to seeing it before and after your work.

[jonny23]

the engine is free and has a solid 165 compression..

[jonny23]

heres a couple pics

[Thorpe]

Nice score!! Why dont I find those around MN???

[atc007]

Obviously the previous owner was a pure genius.....poor thing.. Give her some love!!

[jonny23]

ya it needs a little tlc

[HONDA_ATC_FREAK]

You better and new rims to the list the rear one looks bent in the pics. It's a safe bet with the rest of the trike looking like that, that the rims have been bent up from bad jumps and wrecks. good find, also if a liquid r owner can chime in hear for sure but that front fender looks like if came off something else to me for sure.

[jonny23]

the fender is not original.off a 110 or somthing

[Ironbnder]

I believe it has a desert seat foam as well. Hard to tell for sure.

[dirtface]

Your garage looks awfully clean to have that "dirty" thing in there,LOL!! Nice snag, keep us updated on what you do with it.

[RoscoW]

That poor thing lived a very rough 4 years. I'd strip that down to the frame, clean everything and reassemble keeping a list of all you want to replace. Ride it for the summer (get used to a 250R) and collect parts for a Restore in the winter. Next spring **Presto** a nice restored machine.

[jonny23]

well that was my plan, but i wanted to see if it would run or even fire before i tore it down. i cleaned the carb well and put fresh gas in the empty tank..after tons of kicks and putting a drop or two of gas in the cylinder it started then ran out of gas..that was the only time it even tried to fire..ive tried numorous times to get it going again but it wont do anything..its got spark and the plug is wet..what else could it be? all it needs it spark and go juice to fire and it just wont..could it be really flooded?

[250rRoostmaster]

looks like it's a 200x fender to me

[RIDE-RED 250r]

Bad reeds can cause hard starting....

But, when you say you cleaned the carb, are you saying that you removed and completely disassembled it, and cleaned both jets, and all 3 fuel circuits thoroughly? Im not trying to insult your intelligence, its just that I cant tell you how many times I have been told by someone that they cleaned a carb when all they did was remove the bowl and spray carb cleaner up in there.

But since you have a wet plug, it sounds like you are getting plenty of fuel.

[Thorpe]

My old 250R... If you ran it out of fuel, it would foul the plug every time, and would never run again, till it got a fresh plug...

[three_wheelin45]

wow what a hard 5 years that thing had!! I bet he wrecked it good in 90 and just stored it...

[jonny23]

it should atleast try to fire if gas is poured in the cylinder

[Thorpe]

it should atleast try to fire if gas is poured in the cylinder

Mine wouldnt even pop.... Just like the kill switch was off...

[hillbilly 200x]

well its got one thing going for it right now. It still has the original back tires.

[Kfx-xc-racer88]

perhaps its just been shipped in from a garage in Iraq????

[jonny23]

how can i get this thing to start!? it has spark, has fuel, what more is there????

it ran for 4-5 seconds then quit, so i know it runs but it wont go again

[Jason125m]

Obviously the previous owner was a pure genius.....poor thing.. Give her some love!!
HAHAHAHAHHAA Nearly P*ssed myself!

Great score!!!!!

[hillbilly 200x]

how can i get this thing to start!? it has spark, has fuel, what more is there????

it ran for 4-5 seconds then quit, so i know it runs but it wont go again try and go over the carb and reeds and see if there is anything going on in there, oh and try a new plug to

[booblinker]

I hate you, good find

[jonny23]

i checked reeds, pulled carb apart, main jet and pilot jet. cleaned all inside all over and everything is clean now..im thinkin maybe its flooded since i dumped fuel in the cylinder a couple times.. i dont want to start tearing it all down till i know it runs good..

[falloutboy]

maybe it's just the pics, but are those front forks bent slightly?

[Vealmonkey]

Check the vin with local police. That machine sure does look awful fishy. Get a shop manual.

[ctbale]

I got a 200X in worse shape, but its on the mend as we speak, I did what you are doing, I got mine running with a "quickie" carb clean just to run it thru the gears, to test it to see where I stood, tranny/clutch operation, if it smoked (NA for 2 strokes) etc... Get it running then decide how far down to take the motor, this is mine today, just waiting on my lazy arse to put the motor back together!! And put on the back brake too!

[200x350xtriz250]

i checked reeds, pulled carb apart, main jet and pilot jet. cleaned all inside all over and everything is clean now..im thinkin maybe its flooded since i dumped fuel in the cylinder a couple times.. i dont want to start tearing it all down till i know it runs good..

Don't pour any more fuel right into the cylinder - not say this is bad but you pour it in there then say well the plug is wet, of course its wet. Add new plug as suggested before. Kick, kick, kick. Check plug. Still getting wet?
If you have something else to pull it with try pull starting it.

[Sick200x]

Nice find for sure! I agree it should want to fire up and run a bit, but really 165psi compression on an '85R is actually low, borderline but still low. It should have 170psi min. Maybe with some more kicking and fuel going through it, the rings may seal a little more and hopefully bring the compression up a bit. At least with the price you paid ($0) it's that much more money you have for the rebuild! Welcome to the boards and keep the pics coming...

[bkm]

I agree 165psi is low, but it should be more than enough to get this thing to run. Plus its on a cold engine. Pull the plug and drain the carb bowl, kick the hell out of it with the gas off until you dry it out, put a new plug in it and give it a try. All my 2 stokes that were hard starting seemed to start if I pulled the choke out and held it wide open while I kicked the hell out it.

[bobotech]

You DID replace the spark plug with a new one, right? If a 2 stroke fouls a plug, even after you clean it, chances are it won't fire under compression. Get a brand new plug and lay it on top of the head and see if you get a big fat white/blue spark not a dim yellow one. Then put it back into the engine and try again.

If it runs then dies, that is also a sign of just not enough fuel, like the needle is sticking shut.

[jonny23]

yeah i replaced with a few of them and tried..im waiting for the cylinder to dry out a bit until i try it again..i just want the thing to start so i can start the fun of tearing it down!

[jonny23]

this thing is driving me nuts already! im not dumb when it comes to engines and i cant get this to run! has fuel, has spark and nothing! any suggestions?

[jonny23]

should also mention, when i picked it up, the stator, flywheel, coil and cdi were in a box. i put all them back in the bike where they should be..any special way that these have to be hooked up that would make it not run?

[RoscoW]

when you put the flywheel on did the wood-ruff key stay in the slot? it is possible that it fell out and the flywheel was close enough at the beginning to get a burp out of it and has since spun enough that the timing is way off.

[jonny23]

roscow--you were right! i didnt have the flywheel all the way onto the shaft..i took it off and put it back on correctly and it did fire up for about 45 seconds then it revved way up and i shut it off and it wont start again..

[motoman1012002]

love free and a good project

[audioworks04]

An airleak in your intake path can cause it to rev to the moon, check for air leaks at the carb to reed area and at the reed cage. Post the carb it has and what jets it has in it and we can give you a ball park if its right or not. Also I would check your float height to see if its filling the bowl.

[Deathrocket]

nice score, my girls 250sx looked like that when we got it, and $200 later it runs like a champ...

[jonny23]

i think i may start to tear it down now that i know it atleast runs..take the carb completely apart and clean the motor up..then when i get the restor done and get the motor back in it will run better..im guessing it will be awhile since it needs alot of tlc..part by part it will come together..any good sites that are recommended for parts besides ebay?

[just ben]

roscow--you were right! i didnt have the flywheel all the way onto the shaft..i took it off and put it back on correctly and it did fire up for about 45 seconds then it revved way up and i shut it off and it wont start again..

sounds like it ran out of gas in the carb

[bobotech]

i think i may start to tear it down now that i know it atleast runs..take the carb completely apart and clean the motor up..then when i get the restor done and get the motor back in it will run better..im guessing it will be awhile since it needs alot of tlc..part by part it will come together..any good sites that are recommended for parts besides ebay?

You didn't do a complete tear down and rebuild of the carb yet? Do that and try seeing how it runs before you go nuts. If you have spark, the carb is the most common issue that causes problem runing.

[jonny23]

i cleaned the carb but i didnt tear everybit of the carb apart

[CRAZY70MAN]

i cleaned the carb but i didnt tear everybit of the carb apart

:wondering:wondering:wondering.......that is a big no no.Hoosier Daddy You need to take it all the way apart......soak it in some evaporust or other cleaner for a few hours and blow it out with air. Good luck

[jonny23]

ok guys, i put a full carb rebuild kit in and this thing still will not go again..its fired and ran once for about 45 seconds then quit..its getting fuel and spark..im getting very angry at this bike..any suggestions?

[booblinker]

Selll it to me for $200

[jonny23]

that would be a deal! for you

[jonny23]

nobody knows these motors?

[Nevkilahonda3]

I know this is going to sound stupid but my cousins neighbor had the same problem with his R turns out he put his reed cage in upside down. Flipped it and it ran like a dream.

[BGP]

nobody knows these motors?

That's just it. We DO know our motors but by the way you're going at it, no one wants to jump in and lead you by the hand.

It's old, dry, gummed up, rusted, dirty, out of tune. Tear it down, get a manual, rebuild with clean "within service limit" items. If it still runs like crap then, I'm sure everyone will chime in with help... for now, there's just too much that *could* be wrong. Sorry to be a prick; bad day at work and you were there! HA~


EDIT: Wow these posts can seem harsh once posted. Anyway, make sure the base isn't full of fuel due to that old needle valve that was in the carb before. Set the new pilot screw properly and run fresh gas. Also, have a look at the HT lead, trim it and retread the cap on. Have a look at the counterbalance bearing carrier, they break and "can" affect timing. Intake boot sound? No children, socks, oranges or wildlife in the airbox? Reeds still "seating" properly? Grab a hold of the flywheel, move up and down any? If it does, bearings and seals causing possible leak. It goes on and on but start with that...

[jonny23]

well today is a good day guys, r is up and running great! i just happend to take off the flywheel cover and noticed the woodruff key was not seated properly..put it back on and it runs good as new! well maybe not good as new but it does run and idle just fine..the headlight actually works low and highbeam. was kind of shocked..now time for the fun part..

[Sick200x]

good to hear....same thing actually happened to mine a couple weeks ago, ran real intermittant, would run great then not at all, next day would fire right up, run for a bit then pop sputter and die. Turns out it sheared the key when the nut came loose, but not enough room for the nut to fall off completely, found that out as I noticed the flywheel cover "flexing" out 1/8" as I revved it. Trashed the flywheel, some damage to the crank's keyway. Fitted a new key, felt pretty good still, installed new flywheel and assembled it all with the "green" loctite (some serious stuff). Fired right up and still running great. It was a good reminder for me not to overlook the basics while diagnosing; just because it has spark doesn't mean it's sparking at the right time. At least you got it running now and probably learned a few tips along the way ;) Have fun, ride safe (or smart at least)

[jonny23]

so i started the tear down and when i took off the foot pegs, one bolt on each side snapped..other two came out clean. noticed that where the pegs mount to the frame, its all rusted out and the threads are all loose inside there..is this thing worth saving? or what are my options?

[fabiodriven]

Your best bet is a total teardown and rebuild. You can only polish a turd so much.

[jonny23]

i was going to do just that..but i havent gotten far and found this. the bolts will not hold anything anymore..the threads on the frame are loose and shot..and have snapped off bolts in them..

[kylegrimes]

Ill give you a all orignal 85 klt 110 for it the way it sits

[jonny23]

im not really looking to get rid of it, just looking for answers on how to fix it..probably have to have some fabrication done with new threads welded in

[fabiodriven]

i was going to do just that..but i havent gotten far and found this. the bolts will not hold anything anymore..the threads on the frame are loose and shot..and have snapped off bolts in them..

If you're seriously that perplexed by this problem then don't even attempt a rebuild yourself. Either pay somebody to do it or sell the trike to somebody who's not going to further destroy it.

[jonny23]

wow! didnt know a question was such a bad thing to do here, no im not paying sombody to rebuild this. yes i know what im doing..all im doing is asking if sombody has a solution to a rusted foot peg mount..aparently that was the wrong thing to do..

[muthey]

well you can always take a drill and try an easy out on them and if that doesn't work, drill the snapped off bolts to almost size, then fill all the holes with weld drill and re tap for brand new threads. make sure you are using a mig with some good stargold gas, or you are very good with stick either way unless you are looking to buy a new frame might be your only option. you can also cut out the bolt holes and weld in some good grade 8 or 416 stainless nuts to prevent rusting again, you can weld stainless to regular steel if you use stainless rod, or wire. for anymore wore out bolt holes maybe drilling and tapping them a size bigger will be an option. Enough solutions for you now, a machinist can find a solution for anything metal.

[jonny23]

im going have the peg mounts fixed with new threads welded in, then the frame is off to powder coat!

[gomer202]

Your best bet is a total teardown and rebuild. You can only polish a turd so much.

very well said