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PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2016 4:11 pm 
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Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2015 4:03 pm
Posts: 14
Thanks again for all of your nice and competent tips and statements. Meanwhile I took the Elsie completely apart and was surprised by some means or other. Good thing is that mostly all the parts are there and original! Otherwise I found one badly repaired crack in the frame as well as some already welded damages to the crankcase and one crack in the upper rear mounting area. Also the drained oil had a silvery shine ... seems the engine will take more attention than expected. Brings me back to doggers question about the "after work plan": that is really the core point. And I wish I could answer it that easy! Most of all I want to pay attention to a correct rebuild in terms of a worth-keeping resto. Second I want to still have the opportunity to bring it to life, e.g. for some classic or histo event. Until those awakenings it should collect some dust – That's fine by me. I hope I can soon come up with some detailed photos of the progress ...

By the way and as a result of my research: we had the discussion about the point cover and kicker some posts above. I just found my left crankcase cover (the one with the pimple in the middle) on a parts source defining it as a: CR250M ELSINORE 1973 CR250MK0 USA. Have a look: http://www.cmsnl.com/honda-cr250m-elsin ... ml#results

Markus

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PostPosted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 4:02 pm 
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Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2006 10:00 pm
Posts: 313
Location: CA
I think you have the right attitude and expectations for this resto. Setbacks like cracked frame and engine cases were some of the "pulling your hair out" moments I was talking about in my previous post.
Again this goes back to your ultimate goal. If you want a "numbers matching" Elsie you will have to repair rather than replace those problems which can be a real PITB depending on the "fix" the PO did.
Conversely, If all you want is a real nice resto that you can be proud to own and ride on occasion, decent used replacement cases and even frames turn up on Craigs list and Ebay on a regular basis. If
you find replacements from the same year (73 vs 74), it won't even have much effect on the value to a collector if you ever decide to sell it, so keep that option in mind. Don't sweat the "silvery shine"
in the oil too much. These engine share the tranny oil with the clutch and Aluminum clutch plates shill Aluminum when used so it's normal to have that kind of contamination. I still recommend a total
engine tear down and rebuild replacing all the bearings, seals, springs, circlips and any parts that are out of spec.

Here's a picture of the correct ignition cover and kick starter for your bike:

Image

Image

By the way here's a picture of what I started with to show you it can always be worse:

Image

Here's a more recent picture:

Image

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1973 CR250M
1979 CR250R
1993 CR250R
2008 CR500R
2009 CR250R


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 08, 2016 5:32 pm 
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Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2015 4:03 pm
Posts: 14
Man, that is really a nice one :!: I just visited your photobucket source to have an eye on all the pics of that beauty. Is your frame painted or powdercoated? Looks very sweet! I really hope that I can come close to this, but I guess mine will end up with that little bit more of a "used look". As you said I will build up the bike as nice as I can right now, and the rest will come up during the upcoming months or years. I just shopped another carb housing for the Elsie, because mine showed some bad JB-Weld repaired cracks when disassembling ... surprise!

Again I have to say: As a newbie to this "iconic" theme, I really appreciate your support! Believe it or not, but at the moment I just sit there every night with the laptop on my knees and soaking up all kinds of information. I have gone trough original restos and customizations of several XT500 Yamahas, a TT600 Yamaha and a CB550 Honda, and the main differences I figured out are: a) the availiability of parts (there are catalogues ...). and b) the pricing for parts.

Overall, compared with the CR250M, e.g. the XT500 world is much like a kind of happy LEGOland ...

Markus

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PostPosted: Tue Jan 12, 2016 5:32 pm 
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Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2006 10:00 pm
Posts: 313
Location: CA
Thanks Markus. The frame is powder coated, when I started the project I had every intention of riding and maybe even racing the bike. Powder coating seemed like a good idea from
a durability standpoint. I also went through several carburetors along with lots of NOS and used carb bits to end up with one good one.

I have restored my share of late 60s to late 70s Japanese street and dual purpose bikes and have found the parts availability is generally better than pure off road bikes. I think this
goes back to sales volume and expected "life span" of those bikes. The average CR125M is not going to last as long as a CB77 Super Hawk, or sell in near as great of numbers, both
dictate how many spares are produced during the production run.

My focus lately has been on later model CRs (late 90s to early 00s), and I'm already running into NLA parts from Honda. The latest casualty are the case halves for the CR500. This
engine was produced until 2001 so the parts pipeline is 15 years old and already running out. On the other hand I can still buy OE engine cases for a 1991 GL1500 - a 25 year old
parts pipeline that's still going strong.

Welcome to our world.

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1973 CR250M
1979 CR250R
1993 CR250R
2008 CR500R
2009 CR250R


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 5:21 pm 
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Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2015 4:03 pm
Posts: 14
Of course you´re right with the correlation of sales volume troughout the production years and long term parts availability. That´s definitely my lesson I have to learn :shock: Anyway: the first (well paid) parts and parcels are on their way to germany ... Regarding the frame: Although I made good experiences with powdercoating, I decided the frame to be painted, because I think this might be more original and maybe could turn out as a crucial point in matters of keeping the value ... in the end a thing of philosophy.

But apart from that there still is one issue that is of burning importance to me (and brings that thread back to topic in some way :D ): who turned that badly dented tank of yours to that beauty? J. Abbate?

Markus

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 10:43 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2004 8:51 pm
Posts: 136
Location: Gilbert, AZ
Here in the SW, the 500 cases get beat up really bad from paddle tires at the dunes and cinder hills.
You can probably blame my buddies and I for the depleted stock. ;)

Rick


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PostPosted: Sat Feb 27, 2016 5:03 pm 
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Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2015 4:03 pm
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Good news: the tank is on its way to a specialist to be magically transformed to its dentless archetype. I will post photos of the results!!

While preparing the paint shop for the upcoming challenge, I have some questions regarding the sidecovers:
Decals: will they simply be placed on to the top the final silver/clear cote or will they be sealed by the clear cote layer? What is the correct way to do it?
Green number plate: is it done the same way as the green area on the tank, means that the dull green is painted on top of the clear cote?

Thanks for your help and patience
Markus

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 3:52 pm 
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Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2006 10:00 pm
Posts: 313
Location: CA
The correct way to do it is decals on top of the clear coat. That's the way they came from Honda.
As for the number plates. I don't clear the area where the numbers go. I mask that oval off and
clear the rest. I suppose you could spray the matte green over clear as long as you hit the area
with a Scotchbrite pad before applying the paint.

Image

Quote:
You can probably blame my buddies and I for the depleted stock.

That and the big demands for all things 500. They're still selling like hotcakes.

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1973 CR250M
1979 CR250R
1993 CR250R
2008 CR500R
2009 CR250R


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 10, 2016 3:23 pm 
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Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2015 4:03 pm
Posts: 14
Got my dentless tank back last morning.
Here ist what it looked like before:
Attachment:
before_1.JPG
before_1.JPG [ 132.63 KiB | Viewed 5245 times ]
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before_2.JPG [ 143.69 KiB | Viewed 5245 times ]

And here are some shots of the actual condition.
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after_2.JPG [ 409.89 KiB | Viewed 5245 times ]
Attachment:
after_3.JPG
after_3.JPG [ 585.21 KiB | Viewed 5245 times ]

I´m really happy with the result. Now to the next steps ...
Markus

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PostPosted: Mon Jul 11, 2016 2:34 pm 
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16 weeks later: it was a hard journey but finally the job is done. I wasn´t sure about the matte grade of the green and how much I should grind the polished sides. After a long research and a trial-and-error step It now really came out great!


Attachments:
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IMG_9641.JPG [ 642.35 KiB | Viewed 5064 times ]
IMG_9639.JPG
IMG_9639.JPG [ 212.58 KiB | Viewed 5064 times ]

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PostPosted: Mon Jul 11, 2016 4:06 pm 
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Joined: Sun Sep 15, 2013 2:44 pm
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A thing of friggin beauty!!


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