Christmas Build thread

[ds650rida]

Hello all, I recently did a build thread for my girlfriend's bike on 250r.net. I never got the chance to make a thread on this site and keep it updated with the build process. What I will do here is simply copy and paste the link here since this site seems to be a bit more popular. As I get time I will try to copy the photos and posts over on here in order. Here is the link: http://www.250r.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8297

Enjoy!

EDIT: Please note that the bike is already 99% complete. These are past pictures and posts

[ds650rida]

Hello 250r members. This is a build thread I'm making and will hopefully keep updated as I conduct this build. My deadline is Christmas as this bike will be a gift for my girlfriend of 3.5 years.

I tried teaching her on my 636 and she really started to get the hang of it in parking lots. So last summer I sent her to a MSS to get her license and now the next step is her own bike.

I have been trying for a couple years to get her one and the right deal came along for me to pick one up. I found this 04 in rough shape and has a salvage title thats unregisterable. The seller was willing to trade for my go kart, so I loaded it up and hit the road.

In exchange for the kart the seller gave me the 250 with a box of parts, a 90 zx600 parts bike, and a clean titled "250" frame (which is really for a ninja 500)

Here is the kart in the truck ready to roll



The two bikes in the truck



And the pics after I got it home





As you can see this bike is ugly as sin. I'd like to make it a full fairing bike again at least for the time being. I like some of the cafe racer and street fighter themes I've seen so far but I'd like to wait until my gf can get a good feel for the bike.

I live with her in Staten Island and the bikes are at my parents house in NJ. So the only real time I have to work on this thing will be weekends.

[ds650rida]

I ended up not wasting any time and I picked up an 02 ex250 frame with a clean title the next day. This weekend I will be painting it.

In the meantime I'm trying to sell the 500 frame and parts off of the 600 to help fund this build.

[ds650rida]

Last night I busted out my Scotch Brite and some 320 and went to work. After about 3 hours of sanding I got here



I tried my best to save the stickers, the one for the front may be salvageable but the emmissions compliance sticker is finished.

So here is where I got after a light coat of primer



I wanted to do my best to avoid runs but my finger got so damn tired on the spray can that I had to resort to using my thumb which ended up causing runs -_-

So by about 11:30 last night I got a few good coats of primer on and thats when I hit the lights & opened a beer

Color will come today after I sand down the runs.

[ds650rida]

Here is the frame after sanding and 2nd coat of primer.



And here is the second coat of the base coat that I'm currently letting dry for a third.



And a closeup



Stay tuned

[ds650rida]

And now the final product after 3 coats of clear

[ds650rida]

I started tearing apart the old bike and it didnt take me long to find some half assedness. The tail light was wired for integrated turn signals and I suppose the nasa engineer who wired them never heard of solder or even crimp connectors

By lunch time I got about here



Then popped off the air box lid and saw what I assume is someone's sick idea of an air filter -_-

I did notice a decent amount of oil in the air box as well as around the crankcase vent. Maybe eventually I can fab up a catch can or something for that.

So eventually I got almost ready to drop the engine out.



When draining the oil i noticed a lot of oil around the output shaft seal and the shift shaft seal so I'm going to order those today along with the o-ring for the water pump cover plate.

And so by 5:30ish I managed to get the engine out. So now its time to go back home and leave everything here as it sits






And now the grim realization that I only have 6 weeks left. So literally 12 days of working on it.

[ds650rida]

The stock 250 bars are bent to ****. Luckily the 600 I have uses the same type. However I did need to turn the ends down a bit in order for them to fit in the 250 risers.

With that being said and done, I noticed that the risers on the 600 are about an inch shorter than the stock 250's and the bolt holes and fork tube cutouts should line up. The only thing I will need to mod is where the risers meet with the rest of the top triple tree. Perhaps I'll do a writeup on this as it seems like a great option for someone who wants a little more aggressive bar height but doesnt want the crazy drop that clip ons provide. More on that next week.

[ds650rida]

I got a down payment from someone who wants to buy the whole 600 parts bike. He'll be comming next weekend from upstate NY to give me the rest of the cash and take the bike. I may snag some extra hardware off of it this weekend. At least I will be getting some of my money back that I dropped on the frame.

[ds650rida]

Looks like im in luck! Came home today to this beauty

[ds650rida]

Got the old frame stripped of everything. Powerwashed the swingarm and suspension components



While letting everything dry I took the steering stem out and discovered what you see below. They are standard 1/4" ball bearings so im gonna go out in a bit and pick up some from a hardware store, I also need some kerosene to clean the chain.



So I now got the parts ready to be primed and im awaiting the first coat to dry.




I also recieved the tail light in the mail.

[ds650rida]

So here is the swingarm and suspension painted satin black.



While waiting for the paint to dry I adjusted the valves and got a new valve cover gasket & plugs. Tomorrow I will powerwash the engine hence the tape.



So I got the frame and swingarm ready to go together



And in the process I made plenty of knicks and scratches in the paint -_- all thanks to me being too lazy to break the chain. Sigh

Anyway everything went together with a "new" rear shock





Ps I thought of the tape after the fact.

Anyway I kinda got stuck and decided to modify the 600 risers. Which my milling machine decided to spit across the room.
Turns out a belt sander was all that was needed. Here is a comparison between the stock risers and the 600 ones



They end up looking a bit awkward but I like the way they make the bars sit I will keep both sets to see how she likes each. Swapping them wont be a big deal.



Thats it for the night im beat.

[ds650rida]

So Sunday went off with a bang. Literally. This thing fell off the stands twice smh.

I felt like I was really dragging ass but I'm kinda at a road block where I dont wanna put the engine back in before I get the wheels on and the wheels need to be painted n ****.

So I cleaned the engine and it didnt get totally spotless.Simple green kinda sucks now.



Cleaned the wheels. I wish I had a sand blaster so I could clean up these rotors and sprocket.
I made attempt number 1 to fix the gauge cluster. The mounting points were broken on one side and cracked on the other. If this glue doesnt hold I will be welding it together

Other than that I painted the top triple tree, risers and bars and put the forks in so I could torque it down. The forks will be coming out and apart next week for seals and paint



That's it for this weekend. I sent the wheels to my friend to have the tires dismounted and a plethora of parts should arrive by next weekend

So t minus 10 days and 2 paychecks.

[ds650rida]

Just ordered a headlight and bracket and a fuel tank from a member. I dont feel like fixing the dents in this one. My list is slowly shrinking. Now I gotta debate if I should buy new tires or not

[ds650rida]

On friday or saturday I'll be getting the wheels from my friend who is dismounting the tires. I'll prep them and spray them hopefully by the end of the day saturday.

In between that I'll change the seals on the engine.

I'll start prepping the new fuel tank if it arrives by saturday.

I want to cut the front fender but im not sure how much to take off so maybe I'll spend today looking at some ideas.

Depending on usps, I'll change the fork seals and paint the bottoms of the forks.

I can start loading things onto the handle bars.

If I get the headlight and bracket I can start fabbing up a mount for the gauge cluster and ducati fairing.

I could just about get the whole front end done less the front wheel & tire. So hopefully this weekend wont be a dud like the last one.
Im still kicking around the idea of braided brake lines and new tires.

Bar ends will be taken from my bike as I plan to get new ones over the winter.

[CC Cowboy]

I like all the engines up on the shelf. Must be a strong shelf.

[ds650rida]

Originally Posted by CC Cowboy

I like all the engines up on the shelf. Must be a strong shelf.

ohh you mean the model engines? lol

[ds650rida]

One more weekend has begun and a fantastic sight after a long week

[ds650rida]

Havent got much done yet today besides get the engine ready.

I changed the seals for the output shaft, shift shaft water pump cover, and the 2 hoses that run into that as well as the valve cover gasket.Click image for larger version





Painted the more visible parts of the engine and shes about ready now

[ds650rida]

So the damper bolts in the forks stripped out -_- I find it hard to believe that they both stripped so im off to get an adaptor for my impact.

I got the engine in the frame and the 2 rear motor mount bolts are toast.

[ds650rida]

Got the forks apart and managed to get the last of the satin black onto the legs.



Im thinking im gonna have to redo them because it really seems like that fork oil just absorbs into the metal



So im done for another night

[ds650rida]

So I went to the hardware store and got some new bolts for the damper rods. After about and hour with my hand powered, pause, fork seal driver. I finally realized that they needed to be actually hammered in. So I got another length of pvc and cut along the length of it so it would come apart to go around the forks. Which in the process got mad plastic shavings inside of the forks. I blew most of the **** out of the forks and installed the dust caps



Then filled the forks with 15w to 160mm. I read a testimonial on using this height so I went with it and finally got a chance to use this fork oil level tool I got 2 years ago





The tool was super easy to use. Would be even more so if I had the forks in a vice.

Got the forks in the trees and installed all the crap on top and I just need to set the height and they'll be installed for good





I wanted to get the wheels prepped and primed but I ran out of time. I'll do that next week maybe along with the tank. That will be the 2 most time consuming things.

8 days to go

[ds650rida]

Came home for thanksgiving. Got to fart around with the bike some. I set the fork height at 1/2" and put the bars and forks in for good. Not much but any progress off schedule is good.

With that said I got the ****** headlight mount and the wrong motor mount bolts in the mail and now I can present this teaser

[ds650rida]

So friday I tried to find a place to fit these mirror mounts. Unfortunately this bike wasn't blessed with the 10mm hole in the master cylinder for the mirrors. I ended up needing to sand down these nubs on the master cylinder clamp.




Even now its a tight squeeze. I may drill another hole in the bar to put the throttle tube out further depending on how the grips and bar ends fit.



I began feeding the harness and cables through the tank area of the bike and then finished for the night.



On Saturday I didnt get much done but I got a lot done at the same time. Spend about 4 hours sanding the wheels down by hand. The rear was a huge pain in the ass trying to get the tape and old chain lube off.



In between coats of primer I soldered in the new headlight socket





Continued on next post...

[ds650rida]

Saturday night I used a real paint gun to spray the wheels. The color on them is argent silver. I really like the way they came out





On sunday I ran out and got some clear and cleared them. Sorry no pics of the wheels finished

6 days left. Im getting close and still lots to do but once I can get the wheels on the bike I'll be able to do much more. The wheels were a huge chore that im glad I got out of the way. The tank is the next big project. Im going to end up getting a trail tech for this bike.

[ds650rida]

So when I got home friday night I threw the wheel on just to take a pic and see how it looked. Im happy with the way they turned out



I also began stripping the tank. First was the stickers.





Then I put the first coat of the stripper on

that pic was taken just seconds after I applied it. This stuff works fast.


So after the first coat and hitting it with some steel wool I got some of the thinner parts clean





Decided to wait until saturday to finish it up

[alex.s]

looking great!

[ds650rida]

So yesterday (saturday), I took the tires to get mounted first thing in the morning. I took a peek inside the rear tire and saw 3 plugs in it -____-

I made sure to tell the guy at the shop that they were just place holders so these tires arent going much further than an empty parking lot.

My girlfriend ended up coming down but only for a short time to see my sister's new baby. I didnt have much trouble hiding the bike from her. She may have seen the 600 in the back but I already got a story lined up in case she says something lol.

Regardless, that bike is gone now the new owner came to pick it up yesterday right after she left for my sister's house.

Anyway I got the tires and wheels temporarily mounted just so I could get the bike off of those stands for a while





Picture is blurry as ****. Smh at this phone.

But anyway here it is on its own 2 feet



I hooked the battery up and cranked it over a few times to get some oil flowing after sitting. And thats where I stopped pretty much because I had to go to a christmas party.

[ds650rida]

Today I got a lot done.
Started sanding the tank to get the last of the paint off. I used a DA sander and 120 grit. To smooth everything out in preparation for the primer.







The dents will get fixed after primer.

In between coats of the primer I began putting things together on the bike. I fed the turn signal wires into the looms that are already at the handlebars and wired them up. I had to hook the rear lights up temporarily to make sure they worked. I'm definitely gonna need some resistors in the circuit.

Here is the tank after 3 coats of primer





I also put the radiator in and drilled the headlight brackets out for the larger bolts that the bucket takes. I installed the headlight and confirmed the operation. Low and high beams both look great.

Then before I called it a night I put the filler on the dents of the tank. I now realize that there was a lot more than what was visible under the red paint. I'll try and get some more pictures when I go back outside

[ds650rida]

Originally Posted by alex.s

looking great!

Thank you. I know its a lot to take in all at once, i'll stop here for today at page 8 of 20

[Alex]

Looks good! I've been trailing behind to hit the button on the large pics, sizing them so people without mongo screen resolution can see your pics more easily.

[ds650rida]

Originally Posted by Alex

Looks good! I've been trailing behind to hit the button on the large pics, sizing them so people without mongo screen resolution can see your pics more easily.

Oh thank you. I appreciate that.

[ds650rida]

4 days left

[ds650rida]

My dad just sent me these pictures lookin good

[ds650rida]

My final pay day before christmas is tomorrow so I will be ordering the trail tech, a resistor pack for the turn signals and a horn. And that should finish up just about everything I will need to make it presentable.
I'm gonna be cutting it close. The tank should be done by the time I come home this weekend.

[ds650rida]

Got some pics from my dad
The tank and fairing look great. I just hope he didnt use all of that paint

[ds650rida]

This just in:

[ds650rida]

Now the nightmare begins on this build.

Saturday started off with a throbbing headache. The airbox was a bitch to get on I had to heat up the plastic and rubber with a hair dryer to get it on. Oiled and installed the new filter and eventually got it on



A pleasant surprise came as well I expected this stuff to arrive sometime during the week



Torqued down the rear rotor bolts and installed the new pads in the caliper. Here is the comparison between the old ones and new ones



After battling with myself for a solution to the back end of the bike, I just got out a saw and salvaged this from the rear fender. Honestly I had no idea what the plan was gonna be and I just started cutting on impulse. I ended up breaking a bolt in the frame trying to mount it but it pretty sturdy as is.

[ds650rida]

It took me a lot longer than anticipated to get the tail light mounted. What a pain. Eventually I found a couple pieces of scrap and was able to make something out of it




I had to modify the seat in order for it to fit with the lights but they sit just about perfectly

I started mounting up the trail tech. A screw in the key cylinder is good enough for now.



I got the actual trail tech wired up with all the sensors.



The dashboard lights are proving to be a different story. A real pain in the dick. Especially the turn signal indicator. It will work for the left side. But not for the right. Then I figured out why the neutral light wasnt working either. At least I have all week to study the wiring diagram for the turn signals. Eventually I gave up and went back to the rear. Finished product of the tails



Its getting down to the wire. Bike still hasnt run yet. Oh boy.

[ds650rida]

Oh yeah. And the horn doesnt work smh. Im gonna try and clean the contacts for the button. And the left side peg is at a wierd angle. It was the same on the other frame. I think its a bend in the frame though. Perhaps its a common weak point on these bikes. Either way im pissed