SOS XR Rebuild HELP PLEASE

[The Doc]

Bought my XR4 in 2004 brand new i'd put two grand down on the bike six weeks before it came into the uk, so I had a long wait to get him home and named him JAWS (coz I figured he was swimming across the sea to me), then the crate came in and it seemed forever for the shop to hand it over, 3 blooming days from crate to passing its PDI then another 3 before it was road registered but in the end it was ready and I picked it up

15 minutes later I was hooning alone Shaftsbury Drove with not a care in the world, I had a full tank of fuel, a late night pass and cash in my pocket for more fuel life dont get match better than that (well at least mine doesn't anyway), I fell in love with my bike, the lads at the local shop asked if I wanted to race it at Southern Supermoto, i've course I said NO, it was my transport to work and fun at the weekends, but they blagged me into marsheling for them, sm is well cool, and Jaws and I went all over to race meets, Llydd to Wildtracks to Landow, then at the end of the year I won free race entry in the xmas raffle, so not to missout and not use the free ticket (worth £50) I bought some sm wheels a 320mm front disk and a caliper relocation bracket (best part of 1K new ) and entered it for Llyd

the parts arrived the in morning before the race and a mate was picking it up in the eveing to transport it with his bikes to Llyd, so I spent the day pulling off all the lights and changing wheels and gearing, I got it done in time but a long story short after we all got to Llyd the race was cancelled due to the snow so I never got to ride

anyway, then I was on the road for work in sm trim and started to make bits and bobs at work in my tea breaks just for my bike, when the sm dudes seen them they asked me to make them some, so I did and a hobby started I finaly got to race/get slaughtered at Landow in wales, oh man what I luagh 25 blokes on the grind and i'm sure my heart stopped waiting for the lights anyway thats enough of that coz I lost BUT I did have fun heres a few foto,s of the bike and a few of the parts I made for it, i'll try and find some foto's of when it was new and edit them in....


about two years old and looking ragged


me getting sluaghtered at Landow



Carbon Fibre airbox mod



Corbon Catch Tank, part of regs at sm


Billet Fuel cap (this is one I made for my mates CRF)


Rear chain runner


Axle crash bobbins for the street not race legal (made plastic ones for racing)


and of course the exhaust bung


Oil Fillers


Res Lid


and Carbon Fibre bits and bobs, this was the rear brake guard




But the miles clocked up, to about 40K infact and the weather had taken its toll. so I took it into work and pulled it apart, the swing arm *Bolt of Doom* took forever to come out...........


and the engine bolts looked like this..........


Today I bought the motor home to pull it to pieces and its now sat in the kitchen i've got a 440 kit all ready to go in and cant wait to get it back together and go for a blast




without flash shows the corrosion more


I KNOW a few bolts need drilling out all ready ho hum, i'm off to the kitchen to have a look................


Doc

PS what colour should I do the bike i'm thinking all black and hand polished ally

[The Doc]

thanks for the manual Dave, a major help mate.

it seems like every second bolt is siezed in and the heads are made of plastic three on the rocker cover and one on the cam chain tensioner, but i'm not gonna mess about, if they dont move i'm drilling the head off




Doc

[The Doc]

So it was drill the tensioner bolt and out it came........



then undo the cam sprocket screws and slide the cam out and lift the head off after undoing the head nuts.........


the head and piston crown are covered in coke but other than that looks ok





then six more bolts aqnd the barrels out


and my kitchen now smells like the inside of my bike



anyway i'd better go tidy up a bit, doe anyone know of anything to help shift the scale of the castings? i've got plenty of elbow grease but was hoping for so magic juice as well

Doc

[Muckybill]

I used to use Jiff and a tooth brush on my old british bikes to clean up the alloy. A final wash in the dish washer gets all the grease off and dead hand for you as you are allready in the kitchen. By the way where do you do your food preparation.

Bill

[Muckybill]

Some neat parts you have been making there.

Bill

[The Doc]

I used to use Jiff and a tooth brush on my old british bikes to clean up the alloy. A final wash in the dish washer gets all the grease off and dead hand for you as you are allready in the kitchen. By the way where do you do your food preparation.

Bill

I did Jazz (my duaghter) and I gammon egg and chips on the other counter and there was not a drop of engine oil in it I asked the lads on VD and the vote was for oven cleaner and it seems to do a pretty good job.......

i've stripped the clutch and filter covers, and started on the rocker cover


the barrels just yuk, but it is coming off


at the mo i'm stripping this casing



then i'll have a dig in here

Some neat parts you have been making there.

Bill

cheers Bill, i'm gonna make lots more as I rebuild my baby, engine mounts, triple clamps and all sorts.


Doc

[Muckybill]

Wish I still had my XR I would be putting in an order for some of those trick parts.

The barrels would look nice bead blasted if you could find someone to do it.

Bill

[The Doc]

Wish I still had my XR I would be putting in an order for some of those trick parts.

The barrels would look nice bead blasted if you could find someone to do it.

Bill

Cheers Bill, was begining to think no one was interested or my time is real short for working on my bike, but i'm mainly cleaning stuff or throwing it in the bin i've stripped some of the castings as I deffo want a all hand polished gleaming motor i've found that under the castings Honda leave a lot covered up, I stripped this one and its covered with power tool marks, limishers and scotch brite wheels ect


but I tested just this bit of it and I recon it'll come up okwith alot of wet and dry and polish n TLC



so I striped the stator parts from the inside........


and plastered it in stripper



i'm owf to wash it off now Bill, what bike you got now? and what colour scheme do you think that I should do Jaws in

Doc

[Muckybill]

Hi Doc
Got a 450 Husaberg now and a Africa Twin.
The XR250R I had was white and I never did like the colour but loved the bike.
I think some carbon fibre mudguards would look good. I had a technosel black seat cover on my XR with the non slip top to it.
There are some neat tank decals out there, do a search on the net state side.
What is yours like for starting? I had some problems with the auto decompressor so I disabled it and it started more or less first kick.
Easiest way to disable it is grind the lobe of the exhuast rocker arm.
Good luck with the rebuild

Bill

[The Doc]

Hi Doc
Got a 450 Husaberg now and a Africa Twin.
The XR250R I had was white and I never did like the colour but loved the bike.
I think some carbon fibre mudguards would look good. I had a technosel black seat cover on my XR with the non slip top to it.
There are some neat tank decals out there, do a search on the net state side.
What is yours like for starting? I had some problems with the auto decompressor so I disabled it and it started more or less first kick.
Easiest way to disable it is grind the lobe of the exhuast rocker arm.
Good luck with the rebuild

Bill

Hi Bill, yer Carbon would be nice and I know a man who can mine started near first time every time, so I hope it does after the 440 kit goes in as for graphics i'll be getting some custom made in the Stiffy Logo as i'm gonna be helping a few peeps out at supermoto next year and would like to see proper graphics instead of just stickers.

we've been offered part of Corsa Italiana's (London Aprilia dealer)stand at Stoneliegh dirt bike show so i'm making a big push on machining at the mo, thats eating into my free time until mid November but i'll post up what I get done.

i'm hoping that Stoneliegh will be a turning point for me as I want to get into more MX stuff, i've been drawing and designing like a nutter, just hope I have time to turn drawings into parts before the show, here's the CRF billet clutch cover.........


what yer recon mate?

Phil.