I am sharing this because I feel accomplished and don’t have anyone to tell. At least nobody who appreciates my undertaking. This journey started 18 months ago at this point. I got a 2009 ninja 250r theft recovery from my brother, it was only missing for a few days but it had a busted ignition and did not turn on even after my brother purchased a Chinese ignition. I got it from him for $400 and decided I was going to have to just service the entire thing. My brother had originally purchased it from some guy on Craigslist who kind of mashed a bunch of bikes together and half the things on it where broken or did not work, the vin number matches title for a 2009 but a few production stickers on the frame and engine have a manufacturer date of 02/2012. He ran it into the ground further until it was stolen. So when I got it all hoses where shot, all bearings where shot, the suspension was terrible and my brother told me how it was constantly bottoming out, forks where leaking heavily. Front brakes didn’t work because the caliper was seized, rear brake was leaking fluid. Brake lines where in poor shape spongy and leaking, fluid reservoir was leaking and full of dents, Sprockets where completely worn out, chain was covered in rust and in poor shape, all the turn signals broken and most of the fairings just gone and what was left where in poor shape. The front cowling was cracked and the support had been bent back into shape but badly rusting and looking bad, engine supports where cracked, engine was only held in place by bottom bolt(my bother later told me how he could feel the engine move independently from frame while he was accelerating etc.), radiator was leaking, all hoses where spongy and leaking. The handle bars where all bent and all the controls felt hard, the choke, the carb, and the clutch cables where all damaged and breaking. The engine oil was black and there was oil leaking from the head And from oil filter. Battery tray and a lot of other smaller items where missing so wires where just kind of shoved under the seat. Odometer was cracked and the gas gauge didn’t work, foot controls where all bent out of shape, muffler had a lot of holes from rust and was badly dented. I knew 2 things where good, the headlight and the engine. I was familiar with the engine and it ran strong, I saw the bike days before the incident and that engine was running strong with no strange sounds or anything seeming out of place. While the bike didn’t stay on it would start for a few seconds, enough to know the engine more than likely doesn’t require a rebuild and was just tossed because they couldn’t Hotwire it.
Not in this particular order but I’ve done the following:
- Replaced radiator
- New fan switch
- New thermostat
- New silicone hoses
- New oil filter and o rings
- New magnetic oil drain bolt
- New valve cover seals
- Did valve adjustment
- New spark plugs
- Tested coils
- New Emissions block off plate
- Full carb rebuild
- New carb hoses
- New uni air filter
- New engine mounts
- New in line fuel filter
- New fuel lines
- Rebuilt petcock
- Replaced all dampers and old cracking rubber parts Throughout the bike
- New muffler
- New rear sets
- New sprockets
- New to me rims and tires, Michelin pilot power RS 120/170
- New chain
- New front and rear disks
- New front and rear master cylinders
- All new steel braided lines
- Rebuilt front and rear calipers
- New sintered brake pads for front
- New brake pads for rear
- New handle bars
- New grips
- New control cables
- New levers
- Fully rebuilt forks
- New 15wt fork oil
- New pre load adjusters
- New steering head roller bearings
- New upper fairing bracket
- New speedometer with mileage set correctly
- New led bulbs for speedometer
- I used Chinese ignition and original to make a Frankenstein ignition that should work
- New side mirrors with integrated turn signals
- New tail light with integrated turn signals
- New hot bodies tail tidy
- Replaced battery tray and any missing hardware
- Aligned tires
I am now ready to top off fluids and turn it on, I am aware that I have to assess the state of the engine once running but I’m not too concerned, I might have to service clutch in near future but shouldn’t be that big of a deal. Once I have the carbs and everything tuned correctly I will have the seat reupholstered and will be ordering all new painted fairings. I should be finished with this project by February and hopefully have a reliable bike. I went cheap with allot of things so my cost so far without the original $400 investment is about $1287.32. So when all is said and done with cost of fairings I am looking at a grand total just south of $2500. I am extremely excited about test riding it soon, between running a business a wife 3 kids and a dog I’ve had trouble making time for this project.
I have tested all the controls and they feel smooth and precise, the steering feels smooth as butter, the braking system feels great, the front suspension feels pretty good. Im worried that I made a mistake and I’ll have to rebuild engine, i have experience rebuilding all sort of engines including jet engines so I’m pretty confident doing this type of work even though my last rebuild was in 2010. I have put it into gear and moved the wheel to turn engine and everything seems to be turning perfectly fine so I’m probably just being paranoid. I’m also worried about the possible sound from my $32 Amazon slip on muffler. Undecided on what color for the fairings. Any input from anyone on anything I should do or look out for as far as first start, break in procedure for brakes or even suggestion for the color Is appreciated. I might keep it all red, already has red accents on a few of the new parts, and of course in the spirit of being cheap I will avoid painting the tank. I have seen a black and red fairing kit I liked. I really like white and saw a white and red beet fairings kit, But not sure if I want it to look like I want to race everything. Also saw a green fairing kit which had a green tank cover, that would make my bike look like new.