Just bought an 84 250r, any tips for me?

[Matrix]

Am I in the right section? If not the admin wont mind moving me lol..

Anyhow, I just bought an 84 250r completely stock with the exception of a aftermartket air filter and a pipe (which I will be replacing). The only bad thing about the 250 is a loose chain (looked past it as all chains stretch over time and I just forgot), rear brake cylinder needs cleaned and it has a twist throttle (Ive had one to many bad experiences with them so I prefer push).

What I would like to know is...

• What is better oil, Honda HP2 pro racing series oil or AMSoil Dominator? Or something even greater?
  What plug should I use, the recommended NGK series or (as i'm sure) an updated plug that isnt 30 years old.
  Is Sea foam ok to run in it? Sea foam recommends 2oz per gallon, Should I use less and is there a different Mixture?
  I use 93 octane, shall I use something different?
  Lastly, is there a better way to cool it? Im deathly afraid of over heating it.
  

Ill try tomorrow to get at least one vid up on here.

[2fiftyR]

The oils you listed are good quality,and if memory serves me the spark plug should be a NGK B8ES.I have never run seafoam in my trike so i cant sy much about that.93 octane is good, I mix mine 50/50 with 100LL avgas.Your engine is air cooled,keep the cooling fins clean and dont worry too much. I live about ten miles away. We should get together and ride ,I have about 170 acres,some trails through the woods and a crude track around a 30 acre hay field

[250rRoostmaster]

The oils you listed are good quality,and if memory serves me the spark plug should be a NGK B8ES.I have never run seafoam in my trike so i cant sy much about that.93 octane is good, I mix mine 50/50 with 100LL avgas.Your engine is air cooled,keep the cooling fins clean and dont worry too much. I live about ten miles away. We should get together and ride ,I have about 170 acres,some trails through the woods and a crude track around a 30 acre hay field

170 acres!!!!!!!!! I am sooooooooooooooooooo jealous right now

[Yamaha3wheeler]

Me personally, I avoid running any type of carb cleaner (including sea foam) in my bike. I wouldn't want to take the chance of damaging any o-rings in the carb. Even if they say o-ring safe I still like to be cautious. If you carb is dirty then I would recommend taking it apart and cleaning it with all o-rings removed.

I'm not knocking sea foam as I use it in all of my fuel injected vehicles. I just wouldn't put it in my 26+ year old wheeler.

[Xpress]

You really don't need to sea-foam anything, just take the carb apart and make sure your jets are clean and clear, and that your needle and slide are clean and moving freely.

A BR8ES spark plug seems to be the norm for these 2 stroke 250's, pretty easy to remember too. Not sure why you would use 93 octane, general rule of thumb is to use the lowest octane you can without the engine detonating. I run 87 in ALL of my toys, and they're just fine, although California 87 probably has less water content in it than other states due to some local laws or something (I know a LOT of gas stations had to install new tanks about 4 years ago for better moisture control).

[audioworks04]

As far as oils you could as everyone here and get a different answer, run quality name brand oil and you will be fine the two you listed are good. Most run a ratio between 32:1 and 44:1. I use sea foam as a winter fuel treatment and that is about it, but it is a great product. I run 91 octane in all of my machines, included my lawn mower and weed eater with the exception of my 450 and it runs on vp110, but that is due to compression. I would stay away from fuels with ethanol in them.

[Matrix]

I live about ten miles away. We should get together and ride ,I have about 170 acres,some trails through the woods and a crude track around a 30 acre hay field

Thats quite impressive, one day ill have to take you up on your offer, my 4 acres isnt doing to much for me.. As for it over heating, i didnt have the air fuel mixture 100% so after a while it would stall but I have tuned it much better and now it doesnt come close to stalling (in a good way)

Many thanks for the replies guys, i think ill hold off on the sea foam for my 250r, ive ran it in my 185s before and nothing happened

[HondaRidr]

I've only had a problem with my R getting hot riding hard in the sand. If it starts surging when idling, you know its time to let it cool down. And the BR8ES works great for me.

[jb2wheels]

Here's my suggestions:

Take everything apart and clean and regrease it. Things like:
- brake slider pins
- both axles and get some grease or dry lube on all the splines - including the hubs
- swingarm pivot
- steering bearings
- foot peg pins
- brake and clutch lever pivots
- cables
- even the seat latch
- ProLink pivots
- sihfter splines
- kicker splines and pivot
- anything else that moves or you might want to take apart again in the next 10 years
- change the tranny oil

If something is rusty, clean it and paint it. Rattle can is fine.
Flush the brake fluid - maybe even take the calipers apart and get any grunge out.

I say this because I bought a very nice, clean 85 R. Even though it was beautiful, everything I touched needed attention because it's 25+ years old and spent a good part of its life outside.

For example, the brake fluid in both ends was nice and clean and fresh bu thte front caliper leaked. So I bought a kit and took it apart. Behind the pistons was the nastiest smelling goop I've seen in a functioning brake system. This project snowballed as I ended up wire brushing and painting a few things like the brake hose guide, replacing the plastic sheathing on the brake hose, fixing the axle spacers that were lightly corroded onto the axle.

Another example - I pulled the rear hubs off to paint them and put some grease on the splines. Since I had the thing in the air, I decided to check the rear caliper. Pins were lighly corroded and sticking. Then I started to worry and found the brake hub stuck on the axle. Not bad like the one I had to cut off my 350x, but the corrosion was there. I eventually pulled the rear axle and cleaned and greased all the splines.

The long way to my point - everything was working fine (except the leaky caliper) and my trike looked pretty good. If I had not done those things, the problems would be much worse next time I needed to get in there.

The best thing is, if there's no real damage, it only takes your time and $20 or so for waterproof grease, dry film lube, brake fluid, and a quart of oil.

This is the only pic I have of my R at work...unless you look real close, it looks just like it did when I bought it. Worth every $$.

[Tri-Z 250]

^Thats solid advise...I'd take'em up on it! I do the taredown grease thing every year and forks/rearshock as needed the brake fluid every pad change just cause I heat the brakes a bit. If you think about it...getting a closer look into the machine might save on some excessive wear do to lack of good lube....I have always found the swingerbolt the most in need of attention.