Bike looks nice and clean, too bad the engine is shot.  

Gerry:

Yeah, I will do some initial work to see if the existing engine is able to be fixed reasonably.  Spare parts are pretty cheap on eBay, and if I needed cylinders and pistons the could be obtained for $ 100 or so.  New rings and valve seals and gaskets would obviously be a smart thing to install while it is apart.

I will remove some body work, then do a compression check before I pull the engine out of the frame.  I may also see if there is any way to peek down the spark plug hole and see the cylinder walls.  If I find low compression I will pull the motor, then pull the head and take a look.

It would be nice if I could repar the existing engine affordably.

Dave

I was able to work on this a bit yesterday.  I tried to pressurize the coolant system.....and it would not hold a pressure or vacuum - so there is a coolant leak somewhere.  I did not want add water at this point - just in case the leak is a cylinder gasket I didn't want to be pushing water in the cylinders.

Then I did a compression check....and got nearly nothing on either cylinder.  There is either a big leak somewhere - or the cam is not turning.

The next thing to do is pull the cam cover and see what is going on in there, then the head and cylinders. I did buy the spare engine...so I can just transplant that if this engine is not salvageable.  Then....order the Blue Collar Bobber kit.

Dave

Well this morning at 7:00 AM, I began the process of putting this into the bike.



Our church is out on a camping trip, and we didn't have our service this week, so I just kept working.  I had remove the "tupperware" (body parts) a couple of weeks ago - so by 9:00 AM I had gotten this far:




It really is pretty easy to get the engine out of this bike - there are 3 wire connectors, 3 engine mount bolts, a couple of radiator hoses, etc.  The Savage engine probably comes out faster - but for a twin this one is easy and the engine just drops out the bottom.

Because of the process of cleaning the carbs, cleaning up the frame a bit, changing the oil, adding anti-freeze, a break for lunch....I didn't get it running until about 3 PM.  Then I had to go get a battery as the one in it decided to be weak...and in the couple of hours it needed to charge after I filled it.....I mounted the tuppeware, aired up the tires, and cleaned up the tools and garage.  About 6PM I went for a 40 mile ride down by the Ohio River.  I stopped and took a photo at what used to be a lock on the Ohio River - before they put in the dams and big locks on the river.




I must be really easy to please, as I like the bike.  It doesn't have a bunch of torque like the Savage - but if you get the revs up it goes really well.  It sounds like a normal bike up to about 7,500 rpm - but then by 9,000 rpm it is coming on strong.  If you keep the revs between 7K and 10K.....it has as much power as the Savage.  I thought I would find that irritating - but once you are up at highway speeds the wind noise drowns the engine out....and it just cruises along.  It could cruise at 60 - 70 all day long.  One fellow on the Ninja 250 forum has over 100,000 miles on his bike.  He replaced the original engine at 87,000 miles as the cam chain had stretched so much the tensioner would no longer take up the slack (sound familiar), and you cannot replace the cam chain on that bike without splitting the cases...so he just bought a used engine.

No...I am not giving up my Savage....but this is a fun bike!  If this was the only bike I was able to have......it would be fine.  So far I have $ 875 invested.  It is going to need some tires.....the ones on it appear to be the original ones and  are 12 years old and have 9,700 miles on them.  Not having much torque seems to wear the front and rear tires at about the same rate!

Dave

Serowbot wrote on 08/10/14 at 18:31:22:



It was a long day!

The bike is not as pristine as it looks in the photo.  The exhaust system and trim has surface rust, and the bike was dropped on the right side.   The fairing is cracked about shin level  - but the crack is not wide and is taped together for the moment.  It is in pretty good condition as far as 12 years old 250 Ninja's go....they are either very well cared for.....or very well trashed.  A lot of the bikes have been converted to a "street fighter"......which basically means they damaged the fairing and took it off!


So....time to save up for the Blue Collar Bobbar Cafe kit.

And.......the front brake on this bike is great.  It really makes the Savage brake seem weak.


Dave

This is about what I have in mind for a look....with a black seat.

I think the front tire is too big....not sure if I can do the tire "delete" in the kit.....I suspect I will end up with a tire I don't use.

Dave

Over the 2 summers that I have ridden this bike - I have grown to really like it.  It is the easiest bike I have when I need to run up hardware store......and if there is a threat of rain I don't care if the thing gets wet or dirty, and it does a reasonable job of keeping me dry.  I have taken the little Ninja the Dragon area twice, and although it is not great at accelerating briskly out of steep uphill twisties (unless you downshift 3 gears as you come out of the corner)....and it doesn't like to hit tar snakes while you are leaned over.  I have ridden the bike for all day rides and it is really pretty comfortable......I am 5'-8" and 170 pounds and it would most likely not be a good bike for anybody too much bigger than I am.

I am not a fan of the Sport Bike look - so I have begun the installation of the Blue Collar Bobber kit to make the bike a Cafe' bike.  The kit is very nicely designed, the instructions are very clear and you can use the CD in a laptop computer and go right along withe the work he shows you on the CD.  The fit and paint on the supplied parts is excellent.

I have removed the bodywork, cut the frame and grafted on (bolts and epoxy) the new frame rails and installed the base for the seat.  The kit does not require any welding or special tools, and the kit comes with a hacksaw, file and wire crimping pliers so that you only need wrenches and screwdrivers to make the kit work.  While I had it apart this far I took the opportunity to replace the rubber connectors between the air box and carbs as these were getting a bit stiff and hard to work with, and I also replaced the aged and stiff fuel, vacuum and vent lines on the carb.



While working on the bike I noticed the silver swingarm and rear shock were a bit rusty (the bike must have been ridden when there was salt on the roads before I got it), and I read on the website that the rear shock from the 2008 - 2012 model was an upgrade....so I bought a really nice one from a 2012 on eBay.  I then took the swingarm off, cleaned it up, and powder coated it black as that will look better on the Cafe than the silver color would (I think they used silver to look like the aluminum ones that are on the more expensive sport bikes).  My goal is not to make it a show bike - but the swingarm did need some attention while I had the back of the bike apart.







The bike has more than 12,000 miles on the chain and sprockets, and they look pretty good.  According to the Ninja website the chain/sprockets are good for 20-25K miles....but you have to remove the swingarm to replace the chain - and they are pretty cheap so I most likely will throw a new chain on while I have things apart.