TS250x tidy up

[nelpd96]

Hello fellow inmates. Just thought I would pop this up here as a place holder. I had one of these when I was a young fella and looking to get into Vinduro another one came up at the right price. It was purchased sight unseen and a 6 hour round trip with the trailer to pick it up and I was ready to go. The bike was a running concern when it went on the trailer and even came with a pink slip. It has taken me less than a week to reduce it all to several boxes of bits. The frame will be going off to be sandblasted and powder coated this week and then the rest of the clean up can begin in earnest. It will not be a resto to a standard of most on here rather a budget clean up that gets it looking neat and serviceable for some fun in the bush.

Photos are from the ebay listing, my shed now and a picture of what I hope it will look like when I am finished.

Cheers
Paul

[pokey]

easy bike to live with. hope you enjoy the rebuild process and riding the finished project.

[80-85 husky]

I cant believe its still got the stock muffler...I threw an old ts muffler down the tip a year ago and had to get a fork lift to get it into the trailer.... they must weigh 10 kgs.. giant block of cast iron with an alloy plate riveted to it.... get an alloy one as quick as you can!

[Doc]

except for the rear indicators and paint it looks to be original.  I don't have any complaints about mine..rides well   

[SON]

It appears to be the early Power Reed model not the Full Reed Power Valved 2nd model as per the Suzuki photo.
So Gut the Expansion Chamber, replace the brick muffler,
Machine the Cylinder Head,
LT 250 RF Carb,
Rear shock needs good quality 10w suspension fluid with 200psi of Nitrogen
Forks need new progressive springs
If you want to get inside the engine inlet port and piston cutaway have some free HP but will shorten piston life

[nelpd96]

It appears to be the early Power Reed model not the Full Reed Power Valved 2nd model as per the Suzuki photo.
So Gut the Expansion Chamber, replace the brick muffler,
Machine the Cylinder Head,
LT 250 RF Carb,
Rear shock needs good quality 10w suspension fluid with 200psi of Nitrogen
Forks need new progressive springs
If you want to get inside the engine inlet port and piston cutaway have some free HP but will shorten piston life

That is just the sort of information that I was hoping for 

Overall the bike is very original which is one of the reasons that I bought it. Everything is complete and it was been maintained pretty well but with 34,000km on it as you can expect it is a little tired.

It is the early model with the reeds in the case and no power valve. I realise that the photo is from a later model but it was the best photo that I could find of a black one.

The LT250R has the same reed set up so I have already ordered a set of Boysen reeds to replace the ones that are in there which are quite old as well as a gasket set and wheel bearings.

I will be pulling down the top end for a clean up and to set the squish properly as well as matching the transfer ports between the barrel and case. I will widen the exhaust port a little and depending on where the exhaust port duration is sitting I might have a look at changing the pipe. You can get a FMF fatty for an early LT250R which has the same side exit exhaust so a pipe and a carb might be on the agenda.

I have the fork seals and stuff ready to go but with the progressive springs do you know what rate they are? I was wondering if I would not be better off with some linear springs to make it more predicable on the dirt. I have not tried giving Terry a call to see what they have at Shock Treatment but I know I can get either from evil bay. Have you played with emulators for the forks or is not worth the trouble?

Thanks guys I look forward to learning more about the bike.

[nelpd96]

Just as a side note as well about the LT250 carby. I think mine already has the big one on it. I just ducked out to the shed and it is 34mm throat size on the one that it in there now so I think that should be ok for the power that I am chasing I might just need to play with the jetting.

Cheers
Paul

[SON]

I think I still have an exchange  machined head but finding it might be hard at the moment,
Talk to the suspension gurus they will have fixed one before
The stock specs of the expansion chamber are ok, you just have to gut it
I was at the LA SX in 84 when Suzuki launched the Quadracer to the world, my mate Allen Knowles (CT Racing) built Gary Dentons Quads so we had all those secrets and pipes
In the end a gutted stock TS pipe worked fine
The big mod was the porting
Usual exhaust port mods then
Dropping the inlet port by 4 to 7mm
Cutting the piston inlet skirt by up to 4mm
Certainly crazy stuff back in the day but these were race motors constantly rebuilt
Remember this engine has heavy flywheels (counter balancers) so we lighten ignition flywheels as well
The quad carb is 2 mm larger and bolts straight on don't bore the old diffuser carb it's not worth the hassle (Carb should have a part number on the side like 19A)

[Andrew L]

I just bought one last week for vinduro as well, I actually started bidding on the black one you bought (sorry probably pushed the price up a bit) mine also came with a spare bike for bits Ive pulled the good one down to paint the frame and repair a few dodgy bits, I rode a later one years ago when they were new and thought it went ok for what I want from it.

[80-85 husky]

can anyone put a dollar value on that list of modifications?

[nelpd96]

Mavman looks good. Hopefully we might be able to start getting some info together about these things and what works. I might have a play with the piston skirt and things before I do the top end to see what sort of difference it makes along with the exhaust changes.

Son
What would be a decent source for a silencer mine is rusted out so will need replacement anyway?

[Hardo]

Looking good Paul... you have certainly not wasted any time hooking in and pulling that apart!!

It seems just like 2 days ago we were emailing each other about buying Darran's PE175 !

I also had a TS250 X in the 80's. I think from memory it was an 85 model (power valve model?). It was a great bike. I put an Answer muffler on it.

Keep us informed on your progress...
 

[LWC82PE]

If you look on ebay germany you can find fork springs specific for this model

http://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_odkw=TS250+gabelfedern&_osacat=0&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313&_nkw=TS250+gabelfedern+suzuki&_sacat=0&_from=R40

WP also do springs but they are linearrate of 2.9nm #9931.0006.A
another option is to use XL600 springs  #9931.0005.A which are 3.4nm but are 630mm long instead of the above TS springs which are 640mm. Same spring OD of 31mm though. Since KTM handle WP you can order those through any KTM dealer

The Wirth and Wilbers springs might be Progressive? Also i think Ikon and Hagon list springs  for TS too.

There are also off the shelf shocks available for the TS250 from Wilbers and a few other brands too probably

Look at the single shocks here

http://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_odkw=ts+250+federbein+suzuki&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xts+250+federbeine+suzuki&_nkw=ts+250+federbeine+suzuki&_sacat=0

Like always shop around, you can probably find those parts cheaper off ebay.

HPF Racing (Horse Power Factory) In Adelaide use to sell alloy mufflers for this model. I believe they are still in business and might have the pattern still call them on (08) 8349 4606

Also i reckon a few Euro brands probably still make a muffler for them. Try DEP pipes in UK or maybe Arrow?. Also check the ebay euro sites and search for muffler/silence in another language and i reckon you may find something.

[nelpd96]

Hardo I hope to have it finished before you and Darran are down in August but I will see how I go.

LW, that XL600 spring sounds pretty good actually as from what I can gather I probably need something around the 4.0nm mark but the 3.4 with some new spacers for a little extra pre-load should be a good thing.

SON, I have stripped the rear shock and cleaned it all up but I have come up short on the "how much oil" part and what is the best way to get it all back in there  I kind of just assumed (bad idea I know) that you would unscrew the top of the remote canister pour in "XX" ml of oil and draw it into the shock before putting the lid back on getting all the air out and then taking it down to the local shop to get the 200 psi pumped in there. I guess the alternate is to just drop the shock down to the local lads and get them to do it but I would prefer to do it myself so I can learn something in the process.

So far the linkage bearings are coming up a treat but I am up for some new head stem bearings which I will sort while I am getting the frame power coated. It is all getting dropped off to AA Sandblasting tomorrow so making some progress.

What are the DC silencers like as they seem to have a pretty good range for the older bikes??

[Andrew L]

After sand blasting check the frame for cracks just above the pivot point for the upper suspension linkage they can crack there just above the gusset.