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Top End job on the 74 Suzuki RL250

DAMN maintenance and repair thread; including Farkle Fests! :boohoo:
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Firebolter
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Re: Top End job on the 74 Suzuki RL250

Post by Firebolter »

It's all back together. Went together as easy as it came apart. Kinda hard to take pics while putting the jug on. I oiled the piston, wrist pin, wrist pin bearing and re-oiled the cylinder. sprayed the base gasket with the prep and let it sit up for 15 min till it gets sticky, then dropped it on the prepped surface. I used a razor to clean all around the base being careful to not drop or knock any thing into the cases while cleaning. I put the piston in the cylinder first (making sure arrow pointing forward), then took the cylinder to the bike and put the piston on the rod. Popped in the wrist pin and circlip and doubled checked them, then dropped the cylinder down on the base. Check for smooth piston operation and torque down!

Definite difference in compression now. Head gasket on this bike is a round copper gasket. Just sand the head to make sure the surface is flat with no warping. Torqued the head per spec (14.5ftlbs).After the motor was all assembled, put the pipe back on, seat and tank. Pretty easy job.

Started looking at the cases, they are pretty oxidized, so I got out some 400 wet paper and started to clean them up. My goal is not to make them mirror shiny, but just clean looking, but aged with some patina left on to show the age of the bike and match the frame condition. The frame and all look good, there are some scratches and age marks and it would look funny if the motor was real mirror shinny IMO. Gotta do the forks as well. They are pretty pitted, but are cleaning up nicely using a small fiber wheel on the dremel. Using the dremel to get the big stuff off and then 400 wet to smooth it out. I plan to use up to 1200 by the time I am done. Do it all with 400 to rough it out, then some 800 on to 1200 to finish. Makes the old aluminum look really nice.

Before I started:

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After some 400 wet paper and clean up. about 20 min tops. Still have more work on this side but is cleaning up pretty easy.

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Right side. Looks pretty good. Just need to buff it out now and get on to the 800 then 1200.

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Firebolter
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Re: Top End job on the 74 Suzuki RL250

Post by Firebolter »

Added the new petcock to the tank and flushed it out. This bike has been sitting up for 1.5 years since I last rode it, so I dropped the carb bowl drain and checked it out to make sure all is well. Nice and clean, I had drained the bike when I stored it. This bike is spec'd to run 20:1 oil to fuel ratio. Still gotta change the engine oil. I am gonna try to get out to the open house to break it in.

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motojunky
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Re: Top End job on the 74 Suzuki RL250

Post by motojunky »

Nice!

Thanks for sharing. I generally get in to "get it done" mode when working and first to take pics. I enjoy threads like these. Have fun at the open house.
old dual sported XR250R
scorpa SY250 trials
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Rut Row
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Re: Top End job on the 74 Suzuki RL250

Post by Rut Row »

are you going to stick with 20:1 or go to 50:1? My old CR500 was spec'd at 20:1 but ran best with 50:1.
Ken
Die young as late as possible, remember who you were before the world told you how it should be. -- Barry Morris
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Firebolter
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Re: Top End job on the 74 Suzuki RL250

Post by Firebolter »

Kyler wrote:are you going to stick with 20:1 or go to 50:1? My old CR500 was spec'd at 20:1 but ran best with 50:1.
I am definitely gonna run the first tank through at 20:1 to break it in. We'll see how it runs. I have the B&J Mikuni carb all jetted to RL250 specs and it ran good last time I rode it over the stock carb (which needed a re-build anyway), of course it was down on power from lack of spec compression. It was a fun project. Re-learned some stuff but that's what the manuals and instructions are for!

Nice thing, you can look up youtube video's on any part of these jobs like the honing process and the honing brush manufacturer had their own video's up so you can't make a mistake!

So I really did this in 3 phases,

phase 1 buy it, get it running good and clean it up. Added new Betor rear gas shocks, new chain and rear sprocket, new fork springs and oil in the forks, the B&J Mikuni carb, new domino throttle/cable for throttle, new brake shoes and brake cables, new grips, new levers and re-painted the front fender. Sanded the hubs out good and cleaned them for the new brake shoes.

Bike came with NOS piston, rings and gaskets.

phase 2, do the work I just did to get top end up to spec and ready to ride. Added new modern bars. Start to clean up the oxidation on the aluminum parts.

phase 3, ride it and little by little work on the oxidation. I just want it to look clean with no pitting. Luckily the pitting on mine is surface and pretty easy to removed, especially with the Dremel with the abrasive brush! THen hit it with 400, then cleamn and polish. I'm gonna get the whole thing done up to 400 grit level, then do the 800 etc. that way the bike will always look the same and I won't miss any piece. Phase 3 will drag out for a while! Definitely a winter finish up project.

Lastly, I am seeing a tiny bit of seeping from the fork seals, so I'll change out the front fork seals over the winter as well. Figure I'll take the triple trees and fork legs and finish polishing them up since I'll have them off the bike. It's a work in progress! :rayof: :rayof: :whoop: :roost:
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Firebolter
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Re: Top End job on the 74 Suzuki RL250

Post by Firebolter »

Worked on the fork legs some more today. The Dremel with that wheel makes short work of getting down to the bare aluminum under the oxidation. Still have to do some sand paper work, but this will save alot of time sanding for sure.

Added a new fuel filter for protection.

You can see on the inside of the left leg, where I haven't gotten to yet, what the forks really looked like before working on them. All oxidized and greyed looking. Really easy to bring this back with the dremel and then some sand paper.

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Re: Top End job on the 74 Suzuki RL250

Post by Firebolter »

I was going through some boxes (I recently moved), and found some MAAS Polish in a silver tube. I put some on a clean rag and rubbed the forks for about 5 minutes till the polish was gone. Rubbed off the excess with a clean rag then used a fresh polish wheel on the drill and holy molly!

Took out all of the marks from the dremel tool wheels and made a smooth nice medium polish shine! I did both cases and the forks in less than 2 hours total time. Sweet!

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Rut Row
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Re: Top End job on the 74 Suzuki RL250

Post by Rut Row »

I look forward to seeing it tomorrow! :thumbup:

and, ahem, don't expect my Montesa to look like that :nono:
Ken
Die young as late as possible, remember who you were before the world told you how it should be. -- Barry Morris
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Firebolter
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Re: Top End job on the 74 Suzuki RL250

Post by Firebolter »

Went back and worked on the left case some more for about 15 minutes. Just using the MAAS polish and clean rags. This stuff is awesome.

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Firebolter
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Re: Top End job on the 74 Suzuki RL250

Post by Firebolter »

Last polish done for now. Carb AS adjusted to 1.5 turns out. All bolts checked. Oil put in gas can for 20:1 break in. Ready to Ride! :roost:

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