Cause for concern?

[USMarine]

I'm working on a 94' I recently acquired and noticed that where the exhaust meets the engine looked very wet and slightly rusty. The bike from what I was told had been sitting for about a year and seems to have been taken care of but I need some guidance on whether or not this is cause for concern.

Odometer reads 25k but title says not actual mileage so while the engine is still off the bike I'd like to know if I need to replace/rebuild or run with it.

Also curious to know if tank lining is worth or not? Thanks in advance

[Motofool]

Welcome, Nicholas !!!

That is no important.
Just remove the rust with some Scotch-Brite scrub pad.

[Racer x]

Welcome

I would say run it . It may be burning some oil. But it looks like it was running.

The best bet is to get everything else done like brakes and tires and then see if the engine need work. Unless you don't want to do anything without checking the engine out. Just from the looks of that one picture the engine will need some TLC. Maybe just valve guide seals. Maybe a total rebuild or even replacement.
You can drop the oil out and see how that looks . You can pull the clutch and look at that. Past that you need to go in and actually take everything apart. That means more money and time or paying someone to do that work. If you know you want to keep the bike then just run it like it is . New oil and valve adjustment then see what happens.

To answer the question directly . Yes I would worry about the oil not the rise. And keep an eye / ear on the engine .

How is the rust of the bike? How much can you do yourself?

[USMarine]

So I took the bike down to the frame and cleaned everything. I bled the brakes although the rear one was leaking slightly from the plastic reservoir( very slowly and I don't think it's cracked I think I may have done something wrong and created a vacuum) so I opened the cap and wiped it all off and will be keeping an eye on it.

As far as the engine I took the top cover off and saw nothing alarming and the oil looked great, a nice golden brown and didn't smell burnt or have any shaving in it. I don't have any special tools to fully go into the engine and $ wise it seems exspensive to do a rebuild on it.

There is an engine with less than 1k miles for about $500 so not sure if that's worth getting but I do need the bike up asap. The other worry is my tank started leaking while taking a vinegar bath( all in one spot but if there's one cluster of holes there could be more so not sure if dealing with that tank is worth it.

[USMarine]

And thanks for the welcome😄

[snot]

Welcome, keep us posted...

[Triple Jim]

You might consider lining the tank with Caswell's phenol novolac epoxy kit.

[CaliGrrl]

Welcome!

[USMarine]

Thanks, happy to be here!

[Triple Jim]

It's good to meet you, Nicholas. I don't see anything too scary about the exhaust ports. The valves look fairly decent. See how it runs before you buy another engine. Sometimes old ones run better than new ones.

[Racer x]

The first gen engine is getting very rare. 500 dollars for a good one is a decent investment.

As for the tank ,there are plenty around so replacement is not an issue. But one problem with them is the bolts that holds the fairing. A bolt that is to long will punch a hole and cause leak . So be aware of that. Also the petcock. They leak when old . I recommend rebuild or replacement as a safety precaution.

And we all love pictures. It's like we have never seen a motorcycle before. ;-)

[Triple Jim]

Originally Posted by Racer x

The first gen engine is getting very rare.

I don't mean this in an argumentative way, but I'm not sure why you said that. eBay has many low mile pregen engines at low prices. Are the early ones different from the later pregen engines? Is there a reason to not put a 2005 engine in a 1994 bike, for example?

[taz]

welcome

[jkv45]

Welcome - and thank you for your service.

As others have mentioned, you are most likely OK in the engine department. I wouldn't start looking for a replacement just yet. 25K isn't an issue if any amount of maintenance has been done. Hopefully the condition of the oil is telling you it has.

You may be in for some carb work if it's been sitting. If there was gas in the floatbowls the entire time it has evaporated, leaving varnish, and plugging the jets. If it won't start, give it a shot of starter fluid in the airbox (after removing the filter). If it sputters momentarily it's telling you it's not getting fuel. Be sure to completely drain and clean the tank. Adding an inline fuel filter is a good idea. Also check the filter at the inlet to the carb.

This section has a lot of carb info - http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/Intake

Come back and update your thread with your progress and problems, and if you are stuck someone will chime in to help.

[Racer x]

Originally Posted by Triple Jim

I don't mean this in an argumentative way, but I'm not sure why you said that. eBay has many low mile pregen engines at low prices. Are the early ones different from the later pregen engines? Is there a reason to not put a 2005 engine in a 1994 bike, for example?

I say that because they have not made one in ten years. The supply will dwindle at an increasing rate

All the engines will work from 88-07. The first two years 86-87 had a dual pick up ignition system. And you can use 2008-2013 and probably even 300 engines in pre gen bikes with minor bolt on modifications. But finding a quote "good" motorcycle engine that is more than ten years old is going to get more difficult. That is all I meant.

[USMarine]

Well threw the engine on today and it's looking good, as far the carbs I watched a couple of videos on cleaning them and think I did alright for my first time. Really all that's left is the tank and hopefully she will run🙏 But I keep you all posted. Thanks for all of the input!

[USMarine]

Latest progress and a bit more rust from the tank. In total that's 12 gallons of vinegar so far, I think it's clean now 😄

[USMarine]

Almost finished, ended up finding another tank for a good price and RUST FREE!!! Good $ too.

Coolant flush and a battery is all that's left👍

[jkv45]

Check the production dates on the tires before you go too far.

Cycle tires have a safe life of 4, maybe 5, years tops. After that the rubber has dried out enough to reduce the traction to a point that's not safe, no matter how much tread is on the tire.

The date is 4 numbers in an oval on the sidewall like "2612". The first 2 are the week (26th week) the second are the last 2 digits of the year (2012).

[USMarine]

Will do, they look and feel like they have a lot of life left in them. It I will still check.


I tried to start the bike yesterday and nothing 😭 Fuel isn't going from the petcock to the carbs and my throttle is very sticky again. I cleaned them maybe 2 weeks ago and let them sit while I got the rest of the bike done so I'm not really sure if that has to do anything with it but I think I may have to revisit the carbs again.

[Triple Jim]

You can put a hose on the petcock's vacuum connection and another one on its outlet into a can. Sucking on the hose should start flow, and if it doesn't, you can at least repair and test without having to keep trying to start the engine.

[spent_too_much]

I too have tried vinegar. It cleaned the tank to shiny metal , but flash rusted minutes after rinsing . DO you have any advice for me on how you rinsed and dried the tank after the soak please?

[USMarine]

GOT IT RUNNING, not perfectly but it started and slowly climbed to 5k RPM and throttle response is slowww. Either the butterflies aren't closing properly or I have a vacuum leak so the pictures that I will upload are the things I'm curious about.

First off I have a CA model bike without the evap installed so I have 3 hoses coming from my tank that aren't doing anything( not plugged)

Second I have a open plug on my air box that I'm not sure about either

The last 2 pictures are of the line that loops from the carb back into itself and from the research already done I think is hooked up correctly

[USMarine]

Originally Posted by spent_too_much

I too have tried vinegar. It cleaned the tank to shiny metal , but flash rusted minutes after rinsing . DO you have any advice for me on how you rinsed and dried the tank after the soak please?

I wish I had better results than you but unfortunately my old tank is rusty as before. I worked fast, rinsed it out than ran gas through it but less than 10 mins after the pinch welds on the inside were covered and now probably 85% is covered as well. If you have pinholes it makes it more difficult but if not I'd let it soak again, clean it out then fill it up all the way with gas.

They do make anti rust products but it's definitely an uphill battle when fighting tank rust. I will say I wouldn't go out and buy other rust removers just because the vinegar obviously works it's just a matter of how to handle it afterwards. Keep fighting and don't give up whether that's finding another tank or fixing your up. Best regards

[Triple Jim]

Originally Posted by spent_too_much

I too have tried vinegar. It cleaned the tank to shiny metal , but flash rusted minutes after rinsing . DO you have any advice for me on how you rinsed and dried the tank after the soak please?

After rinsing with water, you can and use some alcohol to rinse it a couple times. That will get most of the water out. Then the alcohol evaporates pretty quickly. You can use an air nozzle to dry it and get some gasoline/oil mix swished around and dumped out. That'll stop the flash rust.

[USMarine]

Latest update!! The bike is now running. I mentioned above that I had some evap system Q's and was able to find some info about it and ended up plugging the left tube and venting the middle and right. As well I left the airbox port on the side alone because I could find any info on it sooo...

1. Is the port on the side of the airbox supposed to go somewhere, stay open, or get plugged up?

2. The bike with full choke starts but goes up to 5k RPM. I can get it down to about 3k RPM which is still high but once I try to bring it down by adjusting the choke it slowly dies out. The idle adjustment screw is at it lowest setting so the butterflies should be closing all the way and I did clean the carbs(although my first time)and made sure the jets were all good and clear.

3. I only messed around with it for a min or less; do I need to let it run at 3k for longer and let it warm up? I don't want to end up breaking something or pissing of the NINJA. It was sitting for a year from what I was told so I know I would be grumpy if I was left to sit for a year then told to run perfectly at ones notice.

4. Overview-side port on airbox?
Carbs being the culprit?
Just grumpy and let it run longer?

I also noted before that the throttle would stick and stay in place so I removed the cables from the carb and its not carb I think the cables were too tight so I adjusted them slightly, still stiff but fully closed from what I could tell and the right.. only the right exhaust smoked a bit after shutting it down but it wasn't a lot and didn't smell funny. Could be another thing where the engine hasn't run so it just needs to clear some things out.