Hi folks

[mammoth200]

Morning all, been floating around for a bit and abusing the site for information, but I thought I'd join and say hello.

Recently joined the CRM club with a 1992 J Reg restored bike. Bit of a horror story so far unfortunately. Bought the bike about a month ago in good faith from a nice chap on ebay, got all excited and went and picked it up. Looked in brilliant condition, it had just had a strip down and powder-coat and was looking great, the only downside was he couldn't get it started. Reason being as it was running a bit rich and killing spark plugs. As the bike looked pretty mint, I knocked him down on price and took the bike home anyway... probably a mistake on my part but I digress.

So I got her home and popped a new plug in, some fresh petrol and some 2 stroke oil and she fires up on a few kicks! But sounded like a bag of spanners, lovely knocking noise coming from the engine :(. No sooner had I started up, she conks out. I hop on to kick it over again, and the kick start wouldn't budge. So begins the strip down. checked the powervalve blade first to make sure it wasn't jamming the piston, all ok there. Slip the cylinder off, so no top end seize. However the con-rod was jammed solid. I've bought myself a goose :(.

This brings us to the present. the engine is completely dismantled at this current moment in time, separated into a nice little filing system like a giant jigsaw puzzle. I'm a bit pissed as this was supposed to be my winter hack, and maybe a little bit of green lane fun bike, but it's now turned into another bloody moneypot to go with the other 2 various bikes I have sat around in bits.... bugger.

But I'm determined to get this old girl sorted asap! I've got the conrod currently sent off to PJME (however I had a very expensive conversation with them yesterday, so it'll probably be coming back in the same state I sent it off in) and a full gasket set ordered from the lovely people at Athena in Italy. Hoping I can source all the parts I need in the next week or so, and get the girl mot'd in time for the crap weather to properly set in!

anyway, heres some pictures of the bike in full/partially stripped state:-

[IMG]http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr67 ... G_0414.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr67 ... G_0413.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr67 ... G_0412.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr67 ... photo1.jpg[/IMG]

Thanks for having a gander, I'll probably post up when I've got my rebuild finished and let you know what I think of the CRM :)

[jompy]

welcome mammoth200
I know you've had bad luck so far but stick with it mate CRM's are lovely little fun run arounds & great grean lane machines plus once you have the engine sorted you shouldnt be worrying about whether it's going to go pop or not . Most CRM's seem to have been abused but after you've finished with it you should have a great little bike :)
are you doing a full rebuild ? i.e. rebore & everything ? might be worth your while in the long run

[fallenmikethebike]

Sorry for such a unpleasant baptism to the world of CRM.Hope it all gets sorted.
Mike

[mammoth200]

Funny you should mention a full rebuild, it had just had a new piston and re-bore done before I bought it, so the top end is nice and new, just a heinous shame about the bottom end!

I've got a mk3 crank and clutch casing winging there way to me and should hopefully be here in a couple of days, then it'll just be waiting for the gasket set to turn up from Italy.

Had a gander with my verniers at most bits and bobs inside the engine, and it looks pretty good, gearbox internals are nice and clean, and there doesn't appear to be any other nasty surprises, the clutch basket is a little bit notchy but no more than you would expect from a bike that's only 5 years younger than I am! I'm hoping I can add the new parts and get it all running pretty quick, I'd much rather use the CRM over winter than my 600, slinging that lardy bugger around on cold, wet, icy roads is a lot more expensive should I go down. I barely rode at all last winter!

Thanks for the welcome chaps :)

[fallenmikethebike]

^^^^^ What flavour 600 do you have?
Mike

[knackeredMk1]

Good to see that you have a Mk3 clutch cover as well as the Mk3 crank. You need the extra space that the Mk3 cover gives as the Mk3 crank uses a bolt to fix the gears on rather than the Mk1/2 nut.

Not many people know this. Who did you get the parts off . (If that is question you will answer).

[jompy]

Nice one mammoth200 glad your getting it all sorted & yes the CRM's alot more manageable in the shite weather !
maybe you could sort my gearbox out for me when you have some spare time & cash as it's sticking in first gear lol

[Morris147]

Another 125ccsbf member!

Im getting a crm tomorrow.....

[mammoth200]

[quote="Morris147"]Another 125ccsbf member!

Im getting a crm tomorrow.....[/quote]

We 125ccsb members do seem to get around a bit!

I got the parts through vigilance, I spent 3 weeks waiting for parts to come up on ebay, has almost given up looking and sent my crank off for repair. I then spotted someone was breaking a MK3 for spares, offered him the right money for the bits and job done!

My motorbicycling collection includes the following:-

Honda CBR600f, '97
Honda VT500 (not my usual style, but it was a freebie)
Alfer VR250 (rare espanol exotica MX, soon to be a supermoto)
and the new kid, the CRM250 :)

I had a root around on the forum about whether the MK3 crank will fit a MK2 engine, and saw it said I'll need the clutch cover as well, right little treasure trove of knowledge this forum!

[jompy]

yep theres some really helpful stuff on here & then theres some real gem's :0)

[mammoth200]

Rather than start up a new thread, just thought I'd update this one until the bike is in one piece at least, then I'll go supporter and make a thread in the owners section :)

Progress being made with my rebuild, took the engine cases & the new crank down to my mechanics to get the old bearings pressed out, and the new crank came with a knackered bearing still on it, so that's coming off too, I'll have a new set of bearings to go back in arriving from LT tomorrow, and some crank seals & various other seals turning up in the next few days :)

Any suggestions on another small problem? The sump screw thread in the engine case itself is a bit butchered, it's reasonably well sealed at the moment, but to be honest I'd rather fix it than have to keep topping the oil up, or having to clean oil off my patio! Considering its not very often you have the engine split in half, it figures now would be a good time to fix it.

Also when the engine was complete and for the few moments I did have it running, I noticed the clutch was quite stiff, I decided it was best to change the cable which made no improvement at all. Also, it seems like the cable is too long? I had it at full adjustment on the perch and also on the adjuster on the other end of the cable, but there was still so much play, I could actually remove the cable from the clutch arm on the engine? I bought a Mk2 cable from LT, so I'm presuming its the correct one? the only thing I can think of is the actual perch for the clutch is the wrong one or something....

Strangely enough, the throttle cable also seemed to be too slack, including the cable for the oil pump, everything just seemed to be about 10mm too long? Again, bought from LT for a Mk2....

[mammoth200]

Engine has finally found it's way back into the bike :D http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr67 ... _04401.jpg

[mammoth200]

Not much left to do! http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr67 ... _04421.jpg although much to my annoyance I have just found out that the forks are sticking, the seals seem ok, any ideas folks?

[helisupp]

Nice looking bike you have there.

But if I am not mistaken it looks like you need a lower chaingide lowering block............

[mammoth200]

Jolly good, glad there's something else the bike needs lol, any particular reason why it needs one? The chain travels through alright?