Vintage Dirt Bike Q & A

Hello everyone, I'm new to this site. I've been viewing this site for years and It looks to have good info so I knew it would only be a matter of time before I joined.
I have a '79 Elsinore that is stock except for Progressive shocks. I think I might want to race it at the evo motocross. I would be in the amature/40 & over class. I bought what I think are 1982 showa forks off a CR480 from a bike wecking yard on line that I would like to put on the '79 bike. They are 43mm with 15 position clickers on the bottom of the sliders only. Are they '82?
I started to rebuild them and ran into a couple of problems and even more questions, so I hope you all can help me out. I got one fork dis-assembled, but I can't get the valve un-screwed from the cartrige tube of the other. I tried using a wood broom stick, but it still spins. Any other suggestions?
The first leg that is now dis-assemble looks like it might have been altered. First, the cartige tube looks like one of the 2 holes in the top of the tube has been filled and re-drilled witha small 5/64 hole. Also 2 of the 4 holes on the bottom of the tube have been filled. One more thing. The clicker valve looks like it is missing the top portion. Is this normal? The reason I ask, is because I would also like your opinion on spring size. I am a 285 pounds.

Thank you all,

Rick

If you have 15 "clicks" they are 1983 Showa forks. (The 1982 forks were Kayaba and had 3 "clicks" of compression adjustment.) Depending on what lower triple clamp you have, you may be able to transplant the steerer tube from your 1979 bike, or you will need to add a spacer under the top clamp because the later steerer is a bit longer.

At 285lbs you will definitely need stiffer springs than stock. I am 185lbs and ended up with .46 kg/mm springs. I got mine via Race Tech but I think their springs are from Eibach. Their part # is 996.XXX.1 where XXX is the spring rate. The heaviest appears to be 0.47 kg/mm.

Damping-wise I went with Race Tech emulators which are additional valves that float in the fork above the stock damping rod and under the (cut-down) spring. This may be the way for you to go if the stock compression adjustment will not accommodate your weight.

BTW, I use a broom stick to hold the damping rod, but an impact wrench on the allen bolt.

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Michael Stiles
1979 Honda CR250R Elsinore | 2006 Husqvarna SM510R | 2007 Service Honda CR500R-AF

Thank you for the info. Sure helps to know what forks I'm working with.