1992 KDX250F (SR) Project Documentation

[Jurism]

G'day Folks, I got stuck into the kdx today unfortunately didn't get pictures of the bike before I started work but I'll make sure to get plenty of photo's from here on (P.S. Please excuse my work area, I'm off grid and just recently moved so I don't really have a proper work area established). Anyway I first wanted to focus on cleaning the frame up, swing arm, shocks etc then move onto the plastics, fuel tank and other miscellaneous parts at a later date. So, I first pulled as much as possible off the bike in preparation for a clean.






Plenty of wire twists going on.

Fuel tank is in pretty good shape, apart from some dents. Absolutely spotless inside the tank! no rust at all.

Getting there...





Radiators aren't in the best shape, mostlikely replace them.



Had my eye on my Belgarda's Brembo brakes which are a prefect fit, but couldn't bring myself to take the originality away from it. Ended up buying a new master cylinder for the front brakes.

Rear pads are rooted but caliper works fine, new pads on the way!



Dirty shock

That's better!

Motor needs a bath!







Swing arm and rotor needs cleaning



Oil injection reservoir



Much better!




That's all so far, bloody rain started to set in so had to pack it up, I'll get plenty more photo's tomorrow if it isn't raining and might move onto cleaning up the plastics, I haven't dived into the motor yet but I think since it's been sitting for a number of years I'll get a full gasket kit and probably do the rings while I'm in there, I'm hoping the cylinder is in good shape but I see no reason why it wouldn't, it was a daily bike when it was parked up and has plenty of compression. Thanks for reading if you came this far, I'm doing this purely for fun and to share my experience. Cheers!

To be continued...

[criggs9901]

So cool man, keep up the progress! Can't wait to see how clean that thing turns out, it's practically being brought back from the dead.

[Jurism]

Thanks for the positive feedback criggs, gives me a lot more motivation to get the job done! I'll post some more progress tomorrow.

Cheers mate

P.S. I just realised that there is a kdx250sr section on here, I put my post in the wrong thread, my bad.

[KDXGarage]

WOW! Thanks for all the pictures. We don't get to see many SR pictures in the USA, as they did not sell that model here.

It was funny to see a Craftsman wrench in the picture. I have used them often.

[Jurism]

Woke this morning to rain pissing down so any work on the bike itself was out of the question but it did give me an excuse to focus on the plastics and other bits until the weather cleared up. Unfortunately by the time the weather cleared, there wasn't all that much daylight left so I was limited to how much I could get done but still got some decent progress anyway. Enjoy!

First up, right hand side radiator shroud, not much improvement but I was mainly sanding out all the deep scratches and heat gunning the sun faded areas.




Left hand side radiator shroud.




Next up, side plastics, left side first.




Right side.




Moving onto the fuel tank now, plenty of dents but that doesn't bother me to much.








All cleaned up!










Petcock was next of cause!



Seals look good.


Very nice! steal wool works a charm




I wasn't looking forward to working on the air box, very oily, grimy mess but came up alright!






Glad I got this part of the tear down out of the way today, I'm still yet to do the front and rear fenders but that's an easy job for another day. Tomorrow if the weather is good I'll get to work on timing the oil pump with the throttle, wiring, possibly a first start of the bike, I'll be sure to video it and post it here, I expect plenty of smoke. I still need to order in a kicker for the bike but I think I'll get by with my xl185's kicker for now. I'll be buying a new camber, aftermarket reeds and jets, just the typical performance mods but that's later down the track, main priority is to get it started and idling for now, ready for rego. I'll keep you guys posted.

Cheers.

[KDXGarage]

Looking good, keep up the good work.

[jaywylie]

Very cool to see your progress!

Looking good!

[Jurism]

Hey fellas, still waiting on parts to arrive but I thought I'd do a quick update of what has arrived and what I've done over the weeks, which wasn't been much really but there's not a whole lot I can do without the kicker for the bike. Anyway here we go:

Cleaning up the forks abit








Now for the triple clamps




I checked if the oil injection was all in sync and it was perfect!




Piston looks alright




The oil injection jet was a little clogged! but not completely, cleaned up nicely


Time to pull out the motor for a proper clean!










Plenty of grime to clean, swing arm and shock is next to come out for a clean and regrease












I don't think the grease was ever changed on this bike






Getting there




Time for the shock




Same deal with the shock, pretty dry!


Looking better


All back together!


Finally!, getting some parts in! Rear pads, and kickstand spring


Meaty!


Ohh yeah!


Front pads now!


Damn!


Coming together nicely


Got a new steel braided brake line to go with my new pads and master cylinder!




Did a quick sanding of this headlight shroud, getting rid of any deep scratches




Didn't like the look of this sun faded plastic shroud around the brake line, so I got rid of it, might replace the line anyway I'll see how things go




That's about it for now, still waiting on parts to arrive, ordered a kick start lever from Greece so it's going to take a few weeks to get to where I'm living, mail is pretty slow out here! I'll be getting a bunch of new parts for the bike, for example, handlebars, expansion chamber, reeds, tyres of cause, hand guards, I'll be sourcing the white fork shrouds and disk shroud as well to complete the look and a few other things, she'll look alright when I'm finished. Stay tuned!

Cheers guys

[KDXGarage]

Looking great! Thank you for the ton of pictures. I appreciate it. The engine cleaned up really nicely.

I would suggest that you get the shock serviced. The bottom bumper is missing. I am assuming a lot of oil on the linkage was from the shock leaking. The bladder loses pressure over the years and the seal starts to fail and oil gets by.

The brake pads were very thin!

Can you take a picture of the electrical device at the kickstand? We don't have that in the USA. Also, the key lock on the head tube? Thanks!

[Jurism]

Thanks for the advice mate! I never noticed the bumper missing till you pointed it out, I'll definitely get the shock serviced, bummer I didn't do it when I had it out, oh well. Yeah mate I'll get those photo's to you.

Kickstand fail safe kill switch I believe








Thanks for the reply!

Cheers.

[KDXGarage]

MAN! That's so different! Thank you very much for the pictures.

[Jurism]

Hey guys, I recently got my new kick starter in the mail so I thought it was due to do a first start of the beast, I did in fact video the first start of the bike because why not, the bike had no problems starting at all, it's been years since it was last started and I was impressed how well it fired up...BUT not everything was smooth sailing, the bike has a very curious problem, all the lights on the bike go dim depending on how much the bike is revved, more revs mean dimmer lights, I remember I had the same problem on my old 87 XL250 but I never ended up fixing it, I'm guessing it's something to do with the regulator or the stator, possibly a short somewhere along the frame? what do you guys think of this? any help will be appreciated.

Cheers!




Radiator and related parts all on
















I spent some time trying to bring the look back into the fender bag, I like the outcome


Starting to look like a bike again!


And of cause the start up!
[youtube][/youtube]

I'm still waiting on parts to complete the look, I'm finding it hard to find an aftermarket chamber, everything I find are all for the regular KDX250, and they use springs to hold the chamber on not a flange so worse case I get one custom made for the bike. after the bike is done, I'll be registering it and doing a video about it, call it a tribute video, I'll be testing the bike in all conditions, dirt, jumps and street just for a bit of fun, I'll be sure to post it here when I'm done, I look forward to seeing the finished product!

Thanks guys

[KDXGarage]

Hi. I am on my phone right now, so all those pics and the video look like postage stamps. I will check them out later on the laptop. Congratulations on getting it started.

On the pipe, I have read that people with the flange mount pipe have bought the aftermarket pipe then cut the end off each pipe and weld the stock flange on the aftermarket pipe.

[Jurism]

Thanks for the advice mate! I never thought of doing that, I'll definitely get it cut and welded if I can't find a pipe. Thanks again for the reply.

Cheers.

[KDXGarage]

Heck yeah! It started!

You might want to check the o-rings on that pipe to cylinder junction, as it seems to be leaking some smoke from somewhere.

What is wrong with the stock pipe that is on it?

[B737driver]

Great job bringing this one back. I would focus on sealing it up so that you won’t be in the same place a month after you get it running.

As Jason mentioned, there is an obvious exhaust leak between the engine and pipe. That will turn into another oily mess if not rectified. This would be my 1st priority. I think the majority of the oil and grease from the front of the engine to the rear suspension came from this location.

Judging from the zip ties you’ve got something going on with the rear master cylinder. If the zip ties work, good on you. If not, you’ll be back with another oily mess in the back.

Keep the updates coming and nice job.

[Jurism]

Thanks for the reply guys, Yes I did notice that leak when it started, I'll be ordering a new exhaust gasket asap and hopefully that'll fix my leak, I'll see if I can get it to seal in the mean time.

There's nothing wrong with the stock pipe, it's in pretty good shape but I heard the stock chambers have a lot of exhaust packing / noise dampening material restricting the bike of power, I've seen people cutting the chamber open and removing the material which I'd be happy to do but I figured getting a new chamber kills two birds with one stone in terms of making the bike look cleaner and having the power gains without cutting into it.

Haha, the zip ties definitely aren't permanent, I'm missing a one of the screws for the cap and still yet to get a replacement.

Cheers.

[KDXGarage]

It's a 250. It will have some power. I'd just keep the stock pipe and clean it up / paint it.

[Jurism]

Read my mind Jason, and here she is all cleaned up, I also had to get a new indicator relay and surprisingly they use the same relays as the XR's and if anyone here is familiar with the XR's relays you'll know its not the standard 2 pin design but a 3 pin flat connection style, I have no idea why they would differ or what the pros or cons are but oh well. Still got plenty of parts coming, shes close to registration!





I really liked how the chamber turned out!



Plenty more photo's to come!

[KDXGarage]

Yeah, that pipe looks a lot better. Good job.