Posts
698
Joined
6/22/2014
Location
Orwigsburg, PA
US
Edited Date/Time
11/1/2017 8:13pm
I picked this up locally. I've been watching CL and Facebook groups to find a project for the winter. The previous owner said it starting bogging and locked up on him. He started the tear down but this is as far as he got. 
The cylinder is toast. One of the "ears" (not sure what you call them) on the bottom of the cylinder is broken off. Not sure if it was done at the time of the "kaboom" or during his removal. If the damage is too bad in the bottom end, I may just part it out, but as of now the plans are to get it running again.
I got it home and started to take more parts off it to remove the engine from the frame. I ran into two snags. First, the oil drain bolt is rounded and I can't remove it normally. Any tips? I was planning on heating up the case around the bolt to expand the metal and hammer on a smaller size socket.
The second issue is the rear engine mount bolt that goes through the swingarm. I hammered the crap out of that bastard and it did not budge. I sprayed it down with wd40 and used heat from a small propane torch. I tried it with the nut off and on a few threads. I think it's seized in the swingarm. The engine will rotate on it with the two front bolts out. I tried it on the stand and on its side.
My plans for the bike are to tear it down to just the frame and clean everything up and replace what needs to be replaced. Wouldn't mind making a Yamaha of Troy replica. For a few hundred bucks it was worth a shot to try and save it. Plus he threw in a brand new tire, ( too bad it's a paddle), Fox Comp 5 boots and 2 helmets. I'll try to document my progress here.
Ruskymx
The cylinder is toast. One of the "ears" (not sure what you call them) on the bottom of the cylinder is broken off. Not sure if it was done at the time of the "kaboom" or during his removal. If the damage is too bad in the bottom end, I may just part it out, but as of now the plans are to get it running again.
I got it home and started to take more parts off it to remove the engine from the frame. I ran into two snags. First, the oil drain bolt is rounded and I can't remove it normally. Any tips? I was planning on heating up the case around the bolt to expand the metal and hammer on a smaller size socket.
The second issue is the rear engine mount bolt that goes through the swingarm. I hammered the crap out of that bastard and it did not budge. I sprayed it down with wd40 and used heat from a small propane torch. I tried it with the nut off and on a few threads. I think it's seized in the swingarm. The engine will rotate on it with the two front bolts out. I tried it on the stand and on its side.
My plans for the bike are to tear it down to just the frame and clean everything up and replace what needs to be replaced. Wouldn't mind making a Yamaha of Troy replica. For a few hundred bucks it was worth a shot to try and save it. Plus he threw in a brand new tire, ( too bad it's a paddle), Fox Comp 5 boots and 2 helmets. I'll try to document my progress here.
Ruskymx
I'm going to try the tip of grinding flat spots and see if that works. Maybe even see if I can grind a flat spot on the edge of the bolt and use a punch to tap it loose.
It sucks to hit these snags so quickly but I guess it's part of restoring an older bike that wasn't maintained very well. I am anxious to get the cases split to see what I am dealing with. It's going to be my first time splitting cases so it should be interesting. I watched some videos on YT so I should be a pro at it now.
Ruskymx
The Shop
Fresh frame
Let me know if you want me to get my pictures off your thread, I think it's cool your building the same bike as me right now
The threaded rod puller method you described is your best bet. Make sure to stack up hardened nuts on the rod to spread the load across more threads or else you will just pull the threads right out of the nut.
My friend had a bike that was totally frozen solid. He ended up stripping it down to just the frame, engine, and swingarm. Took it to a machine shop. They mounted it up in a big industrial drill press and drilled it out with increasingly larger bits until they were able to knock it apart.
FGR01 - I hope I don't have to resort to drilling or cutting it out. I'm going to start attacking it again tomorrow after work and see what I can do. I'm stopping at Lowe's on the way home from work and see what I can get to make my rod puller. I'm hoping that with the puller on and with some heat and coercion with a BFH that I can get it to break loose. I'm going to attach the puller deal and put a good bit of tension on it and whack the hell out of it if it doesn't break loose with the puller. If that doesn't work I'll keep the tension on it overnight and try again Sunday. I'm going to resort to cutting/drilling as a last ditch effort
Hoping to report some good news tomorrow!
Ruskymx
Solved both issues tonight! Woo hoo!
I used some heat and sacrificed a 7/16 socket and hammered that bad boy on to the drain bolt. If the bolt comes out of the socket, I doubt the socket is any good.
Here's the puller setup that I tried and it didn't work because he threaded rod just snapped a few times. It may have helped, but it wasn't the final solution. I had this attached with tension on it and tapped the swingarm and engine cases and applied heat. It finally snapped again and was too short to use so I resorted to the old fashioned method. 4lb sledge and brute force!
Here's the bastard that I cursed the last few days.
The engine is out. My case splitter tool should be here by Wednesday so I'll use the next few days to clean up an area in my basement to split the cases and see what I'm dealing with. Judging by the second picture below, it's not going to be pretty.
I am SOOOOOO glad I didn't have to cut it out! Time for a beer! Oh, and I found a guy a few hours from me hard up for cash and is selling a 2000 YZ 125 with a new top and bottom end. Namura top and Wiseco bottom. The Wiseco bottom scares me a bit because I haven't read anything good about them yet. It runs goods accrording to him and he wants $500 for it. I checked the VIN on one of those online sites for stolen bikes and it comes back clean. I now it's not a guarantee but I think I'm going to pull the trigger on it and grab it tomorrow. Maybe do the 125 as the YoT and the 250 as an MC replica
Ruskymx
when I started my last make over.
Ruskymx
I also took a trip today and picked up a 2000 YZ 125 for $500 as well. The difference is that this one runs and is still together! I was told 6 hours on the top end and 10 hours on the bottom. It has a pretty much brand new FMF Fatty pipe and Shorty silencer. It does need fork seals, brake pads F&R, front brake lever and the shrouds, front fender, number plate and fork guards were all painted white.
I know I REALLY need to clean my garage out big time! I still have boxes and parts from when I sold axle swapped my 93 4Runner, which, BTW isn't finished yet...lol (I have ADD when it comes to projects sometimes). I won't be splitting the cases in there. I'm going to tackle that in my basement where I have heat, more room and better lighting. I also need to buy proper bike stands.
Ruskymx
Here's what the flywheel side looked like. It was a mess! The cover had a dent in it and it either broke the seal of the gasket when it happened or dust, grime and moisture made it's way in through the crack on the inside. I had to use a fine pick to clean out the threads and lube it up with WD40 to even use the flywheel puller. I couldn't get the stater screw to loosen and I didn't want to risk stripping them so I ended up splitting the cases with the stater still attached.
The clutch side came apart easily after borrowing the tool. The basket has notches worn into is where the plates contact it. No sharp edges, but there are definitely grooves.
Here's the flywheel side of the case with piston bits.
Here's the clutch side of the case.
Carnage!
This is the clutch side again with the crank completely removed. I could not find any cracks in either side of the cases, but this side does have some scuffing which you can see in the picture. Looking for feedback here. Can this still be used as long as there are no sharp edges that can catch something? If I hit it with some fine sandpaper to smooth it out, will it be ok, or should I get a new(er) case halve? Both crank bearings are seized. Not like I was going to reuse them anyway. Everything in the transmission looked good with no nicks on and of the cogs. The only thing I noticed was the shift rod was bent at the end where it sticks out of the case and the lever attaches to it.
I plan on cleaning everything up really good this weekend and getting a better look at the cases to make sure I didn't miss anything. I'm going to price and OEM crank assembly from my local Yamaha dealer and see what they want compared to what I can get one online.
Ruskymx
Pit Row
Doesn't have to be a Snap-On of course, lol. If you take material out of the crank case, technically you would be altering the primary compression ratio of the engine, but I don't think smoothing them out would have much effect on that.
The gameplan now is to rebuild the 250 and fix/replace anything that needs it. I'm going to get a new clutch basket. From what I read, it's not good to file down the grooves in the basket because it will create more room for "play" with the clutch plates. Since the cases are apart, I'm probably going to replace all the seals just to be safe. Project YZ2Kfiddy is officially underway! If anyone comes across the 2000-2001 version of the Yamaha of Troy graphics, let me know.
I found these on eBay, but I think these are circa 2003 or so. I am looking for this:
Ruskymx
Fixable or toast?
Ruskymx
Flywheel side of the case in the same area of the crack on the clutch side.
Clutch side of the case has another small crack
I bought an impact driver and 2 of the 3 screws came out easy. The third ended up getting stripped. I used the largest phillips bit and hammered it onto the screw and then used the driver again. It broke loose after that.
From researching last night and this morning, I think I'm going to take the cases to a machine shop and see if they can fix the cracks and see what that costs. I also read that the cracks can be filled in with JB Weld and then put the cases in the oven to cure it.
Out of curiosity, I looked to see what new cases cost.....
Ruskymx
I'm leaning towards parting out the 250 now because I think if I'm going to sink a ton into a bike, it's going to be a newer bike. I priced out parts that I would need and hit $2k quickly and that doesn't include some of the upgrades I wanted to do along the way. I also learned how expensive a stater is too. $850 for cases, $375 cylinder (my cylinder can't be used as a core since it is broken), $180 stater, $40-50 flywheel, $300-400 for clutch basket assembly, plus all the bearings for the bottom end, and anything else I come across along the way.
Pretty bummed about this but as I cleaned off more of the Yamabond or whatever sealer was used, it uncovered more and more issues with the cases that scared me away from reusing them and putting all the money and effort into building this.
I bought a carb rebuild kit or the 125. Gas leaks out the over flow so I think the floats are either stuck or need to be adjusted and the air screw is jacked up and a few other minor things so may as well take it apart and clean it up really good. I already found a 2003 YZ250 that could be a project if the guy would ever respond.
If you are looking for any parts, I should have a thread up in the Bazaar this weekend.
Ruskymx
Here's basically my whole bike as it is now. Not really anything to get excited about, haha.
In the mean time, I'll still keep my eyes out for someone wanting to unload a newer blown up YZ250 to rebuild just in case. Someone listed a 2003 that looks clean by the pictures and has a bunch of new parts, but the knucklehead won't return calls, text, or emails from CL. Drives me nuts....lol
The cheapest I found for cases so far has been partzilla.com for $400+ range for each side. If anyone stumbles across them for less, I'm all ears!
Ruskymx
Ruskymx
Post a reply to: 2000 YZ 250 Smoker Project & Garage Update