Tarting the old girl up

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Gammakeith
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Tarting the old girl up

Post by Gammakeith » 26 Aug 2018, 08:48

I took early retirement in April and have slowly been working my way through the jobs :D One of the things I was looking forward to was getting my AR looking good. The frame in particular was looking very shabby. There shouldn't be too much to do apart from cosmetics as it was running reasonably well but was very hard to start and hunting badly at tickover. I'll go over it with a fine tooth comb so will hopefully run OK when reassembled. I know it will be sacrilege to many but a year or two ago I was able to get hold of an unused original exhaust and silencer for a song. It certainly weighs a ton compared to the (very rusty) DEP that was on the bike but given my meagre off road abilities I don't need to worry about a slight loss of performance and increased weight. I also got a fairly mint original rear shocker that should do to replace my rusty/saggy one.

I finally got some free time so tore it apart this last week. These things are remarkably complex so took lots of photos to help get it back together. It all came apart OK with no snapped bolts. The swinging arm bolt just pushed out by hand as that battle took place a few years ago! Will hopefully take the frame to the powdercoaters next week. I whipped the head and barrel off and the piston has some scoring down the exhaust side skirt from a seize but other than that looks OK. The barrel appears fine as there only some very fine marks lower down. Thus, I might be able to get away with new rings rather than have the headache of sourcing new piston etc. Hopefully the pics will work as I downloaded a Photobucket access fix.

Keith
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Re: Tarting the old girl up

Post by Gammakeith » 26 Aug 2018, 10:42

What do you guys think? Given the difficulty with pistons, I'm very tempted just to smooth off the seize marks and put in new rings. The barrel is perfect above the exhaust port level but with some limited and very fine scratches starting below the exhaust port that don't snag a finger nail. No apparent wear in the barrel at all.

Thanks!

Keith

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Re: Tarting the old girl up

Post by gregorious77 » 27 Aug 2018, 22:40

That piston is toast! if the bore is not damaged you were lucky.
Piston kits still available if you want to take a punt and just change that only. https://www.forged-pistons.co.uk/websho ... iston-kit/ 66.33 is the size for the 66.4mm bore in the AR.

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Re: Tarting the old girl up

Post by Gammakeith » 28 Aug 2018, 08:47

Thanks for the link! That was my first thought also but the bike was running mechanically well with lots of power albeit quite hard to start. Hence, me wondering if new rings would be enough. My piston and barrel have no markings so I assume I have a "B" piston and bore so my original piston will be 66.36. I assume the single size in the Wossner is OK in all three sizes of AR barrel and the rings are compatible with the coated barrel?

Thanks again!

Keith

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Re: Tarting the old girl up

Post by Gammakeith » 12 Oct 2018, 10:09

In a fit of enthusiasm I have agreed to join a friend at the IOM Classic TT next year who will be taking a van and a caravan. We are going to use dirt bikes to get around the island (there are lots of good trails apparently) so I need to get on and get the CRM sorted in plenty of time to ensure it will be reliable.

I've got the frame back from the powder coaters and they did a good job. I also started to learn how to use my Zinc/Nickel plating kit so I can bolt some shiny bits back to it. The front and rear footrests came out quite well so that was pleasing. Sorting the wiring etc is going to take me a while. The speedo is currently stripped down so I can repair the myriad cracks in the housing. Don't think I am going to be bored this winter :lol:

Keith

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Re: Tarting the old girl up

Post by Gammakeith » 05 Jan 2019, 11:49

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Things are moving along quite nicely. The wiring is all sorted and working. The badly damaged airbox has been repaired and now looks ok. The carb has been cleaned but it was perfect inside. Suspension bearings were all fine except for the top shock bearing that needed replacing. I now have a spare engine that has a perfect bore and piston so I will rebuild my existing engine with the new top end. I had two frayed throttle cables (the oil pump one had nearly snapped) so I made up some new ones.

Still lots to do :roll:

Keith

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Re: Tarting the old girl up

Post by jonnygal » 11 May 2019, 07:03

Gammakeith wrote:Image

Things are moving along quite nicely. The wiring is all sorted and working. The badly damaged airbox has been repaired and now looks ok. The carb has been cleaned but it was perfect inside. Suspension bearings were all fine except for the top shock bearing that needed replacing. I now have a spare engine that has a perfect bore and piston so I will rebuild my existing engine with the new top end. I had two frayed throttle cables (the oil pump one had nearly snapped) so I made up some new ones.

Still lots to do :roll:

Keith
Looking very nice, keep the pics coming, no pressure with the deadline for the classic TT!!!

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Re: Tarting the old girl up

Post by Gammakeith » 11 May 2019, 08:21

Things are proceeding nicely. The engine is now rebuilt and installed. Best of all I get a spark when its spun over which is always a big relief with an AR as there is so much that can go wrong. My engine turned out to be in great condition apart from the scored bore and piston. I didn't strip the bottom end as all appeared good after a good flush with petrol and when I did a leak down test the seals were holding both pressure and vacuum fine. There was a tiny bit of play in the balancer shaft due to some scoring on the shaft. Fortunately the one in the spare engine was perfect so that was the only other thing I had to swap. Thus, gaskets, new rings, some nice shiny stainless steel fasteners and paint was all that was needed These engines are clearly tough as both engines looked they had been used well!

Still lots to do but things are on track for late Spring.

I failed to put photos up when I tried a few weeks back. Don't know if I am doing something different or some site settings have changed.

Keith

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Re: Tarting the old girl up

Post by jonnygal » 11 May 2019, 08:44

Gammakeith wrote:Things are proceeding nicely. The engine is now rebuilt and installed. Best of all I get a spark when its spun over which is always a big relief with an AR as there is so much that can go wrong. My engine turned out to be in great condition apart from the scored bore and piston. I didn't strip the bottom end as all appeared good after a good flush with petrol and when I did a leak down test the seals were holding both pressure and vacuum fine. There was a tiny bit of play in the balancer shaft due to some scoring on the shaft. Fortunately the one in the spare engine was perfect so that was the only other thing I had to swap. Thus, gaskets, new rings, some nice shiny stainless steel fasteners and paint was all that was needed These engines are clearly tough as both engines looked they had been used well!

Still lots to do but things are on track for late Spring.

I failed to put photos up when I tried a few weeks back. Don't know if I am doing something different or some site settings have changed.

Keith
Well look forward to seeing the pictures if you managed to get them uploaded. Sounds like your making good progress, always a relief to get the engine back in and it works as hoped. That's the only big piece I haven't rebuilt on mine so far (kind of a don't fix what isn't broken point) but will have to sooner or later I'm sure. Good luck with the remaining parts Image

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Re: Tarting the old girl up

Post by Gammakeith » 11 May 2019, 13:07

I had another go and the photos worked this time though I did have to resize first. I rebuilt the (road) wheels with new stainless spokes. However, I need to do some more Zinc plating and then I can put wheels back. I think I will use my existing fork legs for now even though the anodising on one is quite bad. I rebuilt them a couple of years back so they are functionally fine. I'll do something with them next Winter.

Keith


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Re: Tarting the old girl up

Post by jonnygal » 11 May 2019, 21:05

Gammakeith wrote:I had another go and the photos worked this time though I did have to resize first. I rebuilt the (road) wheels with new stainless spokes. However, I need to do some more Zinc plating and then I can put wheels back. I think I will use my existing fork legs for now even though the anodising on one is quite bad. I rebuilt them a couple of years back so they are functionally fine. I'll do something with them next Winter.

Keith


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Looking really nice mate Image clean tidy work on the wiring too. I like the frame protecting plates you have on the left side, you have them made or were they always they?
I'm just having my wheels re spokes with stainless spokes after powder coating , I'll pop a few pics up when I get it all back together.
Keep the pics and updates coming, love to see a good restore (no matter how big or small) !

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Re: Tarting the old girl up

Post by Gammakeith » 12 May 2019, 08:41

Thanks! I spent a lot of time on the wiring as there were a number of botches and frayed sections to repair and getting it routed correctly was not easy. In my experience a fair number of breakdowns are caused by wiring so worth getting it right! I have stainless steel frame protector plates for both sides (the right one is not fitted on the photos) plus an aluminium bash plate for underneath. The bike came with them so I have no idea who made them. They seem a very sensible addition!

Keith

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Re: Tarting the old girl up

Post by Gammakeith » 22 May 2019, 15:12

Well after a flurry of activity its pretty much done apart from dealing with the battered plastics and a quick tank respray. I rigged up a temporary fuel tank and it fired up 3rd kick and runs lovely. Best of all it now restarts easily which it certainly never used to do so I am pleased. There is plenty of time to go before I need it for the classic TT so I can relax a little now :-)

Happy days!

Keith

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Re: Tarting the old girl up

Post by Gammakeith » 17 Jun 2019, 14:08

Well after a final flurry of activity the CRM250AR is finally done. Just need to get it MOT'd to be legal. A couple of trips around the block revealed a 2t oil leak (level warning switch) and an antifreeze leak - both now sorted. Even that short run on a freshly rebuilt engine shows how much better it is now running. It starts really easily and started to pop the front wheel up in third without trying so I am looking forward to putting some miles on it before the classic TT :-)

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Re: Tarting the old girl up

Post by Haverland » 09 Nov 2019, 09:36

That CRM250AR looks fantastic. How much money and effort have you put into it to look like that, Keith?


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