Materials for my 600 build finally came in! PICS ADDED

[sick85crownvic]

Well, I have a stack of parts...two cut up Suzuki frames a Honda front end from 3 different machines of different years...now my steering stem bearings are in(to make the ATC250R stem fit the '96 RM250 head tube) and my tubing came in....8ft of 1 1/2"x3/4" 14ga rectangular tubing and 8ft of 1" round .065" wall tubing.

I spent a lot of time looking at a hodge-podge rolling chassis that I loosely tack welded together trying to figure some things out...like how I'm putting an XR600 motor in it...thank God it's a later model single carb motor. After weeks of relentless searching, I gave up on trying to find a gas tank that I could work around...so I'll be building the frame around the motor and making a gas tank to suit my needs....it's a lot easier than trying to build a frame around a particular tank. I'll be using 400ex oil cooler and oil tank mounted like a 2-stroke bike mounts radiators....

I plan to start serious work on the frame this weekend...get a clean spot on the floor, snap a chalk like for a centerline and get out the levels, angle finders and tape measures.

My parts list is as follows(if I remember correctly):
Complete running 89 XR600R donor
92 LT250R back half frame
96 RM250 front half frame(most of which will become obsolete)
91 LT250R swingarm
03 400ex rear shock
05 ltz400 axle carrier(swinger needs to be redrilled to fit)
ltz400 +4" axle
ltz400 complete rear brake set up(just bought on Ebay)
300ex rear wheels
86 ATC250R triple tree
83 XL600 forks(drilled and tapped from 12mmx1.25 to 14mmx1.25 to accept axle bolt)
86 ATC350X wheel/hub/axle bolt/brake rotor(some offset spacers need to be made to center up the wheel)

I plan to scavenge as much as possible from the 600...like, front brakes, bars, hopefully airbox....the rm250 backbone will be going away in favor of a split, rectangular backbone similar to a kdx220...and the down tubes will also hit the scrap pile...I plan to make an engine "cradle" so the motor is an easy install from the bottom...it's a heavy beast to be wrestling out the side. I may have to modify the back frame section, but I want to maintain mounting locations for the LT250R rear plastics...I'll have to hack two seats together probably and recover to make nice.

I'm going to get rolling on getting some pictures together and hopefully by the end of the month I'll have some real progress...but I'll try to post pics sooner!

Wish me luck!
-Don

[HairyJR]

Sounds like a wonderful build, another XR being added to 3ww. Keep us posted with progress pic's. Having built one and a quad your single biggest challenge is the kick start lever....LOL

"HJ"

[DohcBikes]

Cant wait for progress pics bro!!!

[sick85crownvic]

Sounds like a wonderful build, another XR being added to 3ww. Keep us posted with progress pic's. Having built one and a quad your single biggest challenge is the kick start lever....LOL

"HJ"

Good thing is, the LTR plastics are already cut out to clear their kickstart lever....the XR's might be a touch longer though...lol. I also have been spoiled with electric start, but i stumbled upon a super easy way to fire up the 600...3 to 4 light kicks with the decomp lever pulled and last easy kick, release the lever and it fires right off...I think it may be the easiest kicking 4-stroke I've ever had!

[DohcBikes]

Wanna do it with one or two kicks........with the decomp pulled, bring the piston to the "soft stop" that comes just after the slightly more firm tdc "stop", release the lever, kick. Takes about ten times to get the feel of it.

I can start a yz 426 barefoot. not recommended tho.

[sick85crownvic]

I'll give that a shot and see if I can get the feel for it.

I made some progress today...got the head tube finished up and welded, used some angle to attach the two sections of frame together and cut out all the offending tubes in the middle! lol Set the fork angle to 20* and when I set it back on it's own weight, it flexed to just under 21*. I think I may be moving the head tube up, seems like the bars will be real low at it's current height...I'll work on putting some pics up tomorrow afternoon for you guys to see my jungle gym holding everything together. lol

-Don

[sick85crownvic]

Here are some pics from basic mockup...just to get an idea of things...this was how it looked last week.

[sick85crownvic]

Here is the modification process of the headtube to make it play nice with the 250R triple.



Here is what it looks like now...it holds my weight right now so I'm going to see what's comfortable and build it to suit my ergonomical needs!



Pics seem to be working now...at least from my computer...if they work for you guys, let me know what you think of my welding helmet...lol

[JasonB]

looking promising! my buddy Gary Crum just picked up his second 600X last night. the two he has utilize the xr600 frames which have the oil tank in them

[sick85crownvic]

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of oil filled frames...probably would be much easier that way, but who wants to take the easy route? lol

[HairyJR]

sick85, can't view your attachment pic's in post #8, did you post them differently?

"HJ"

[DohcBikes]

Can't see them either

[350for350]

Huh. I thought it was just me with the problem. Guess not! Otherwise it looks good.

[sick85crownvic]

I posted them the same way as the others...not sure why they're not working. On a project related note, I ordered a TIG welder yesterday...hoping to have everything set up and possibly ready to use by the weekend...I may incorporate a little more usage of aluminum now!

[sick85crownvic]

Wanna do it with one or two kicks........with the decomp pulled, bring the piston to the "soft stop" that comes just after the slightly more firm tdc "stop", release the lever, kick. Takes about ten times to get the feel of it.

I can start a yz 426 barefoot. not recommended tho.

The above mentioned technique worked perfectly...had it down in two kicks...thanks! I didn't make any progress this weekend, as I have a welding cart to fab up for the new TIG machine and I figured I would get in one last ride on the Big 6 before tearing it down next weekend.

I was conquering technical tricky super steep hill climbs feeling like some kinda dirtbike hero when along comes the shop owners son on his YZ125 we built the crap out of and floats right up all the stuff I had to work so hard to climb...lol...stinkin lightweight bikes! The more I ride the 600, the more I'm realizing that this is going to be the absolutely perfect motor for my project....so excited!

-Don