'77 CR250 -getting it original

[Houredout401]

Hello! Long-time dirt bike nut who mainly played around with Japanese bikes. Always wanted a husky showpiece, and realizing life is short, I jumped in a few days ago, buying a '77 CR250 that had been mostly restored. I took a chance as I had to buy it on the internet, and I am a complete novice at Huskys. Motor had been professionally rebuilt, and seller had reciepts to prove it. Tank is absolutely pristine and gorgeous, as is the pipe and seat. Carb was changed to Mikuni and I think I will leave it that way. I want to take the resto to the next level and there are some things I want to address, and this seemed like a great place to start.

1. Reference pictures? Cant seem to find them. There was reference to a cycle world book covering 77-84's but cant seem to find a copy (they have older and newer years, of course!)

2. Getting the correct bolts/fasteners. Appears many bolts were replaced with stainless allen heads. How do I tell what the orignal bolts were and was there a typical finish, like Cad or Zinc?

3. Handlebar mounts. The ones on the bike are angled, and appear to have some sort of rubber bushing. They wiggle back and forth - not sure if they are worn or were damaged during shipping. Was this set-up original, and if so I assume the wiggle problem is caused by worn rubber bushings?

4. Shocks have a large black spring and small blue spring - was that an original set up?

5. Sloppy brake pedal that moves side to side and looks like it causes the brake arm to rub on swingarm. Im thinking there is a worn bushing? Or were they all sloppy from the start?

 

[ruwfo]

Hello! Long-time dirt bike nut who mainly played around with Japanese bikes. Always wanted a husky showpiece, and realizing life is short, I jumped in a few days ago, buying a '77 CR250 that had been mostly restored. I took a chance as I had to buy it on the internet, and I am a complete novice at Huskys. Motor had been professionally rebuilt, and seller had reciepts to prove it. Tank is absolutely pristine and gorgeous, as is the pipe and seat. Carb was changed to Mikuni and I think I will leave it that way. I want to take the resto to the next level and there are some things I want to address, and this seemed like a great place to start.

1. Reference pictures? Cant seem to find them. There was reference to a cycle world book covering 77-84's but cant seem to find a copy (they have older and newer years, of course!)

2. Getting the correct bolts/fasteners. Appears many bolts were replaced with stainless allen heads. How do I tell what the orignal bolts were and was there a typical finish, like Cad or Zinc?

3. Handlebar mounts. The ones on the bike are angled, and appear to have some sort of rubber bushing. They wiggle back and forth - not sure if they are worn or were damaged during shipping. Was this set-up original, and if so I assume the wiggle problem is caused by worn rubber bushings?

4. Shocks have a large black spring and small blue spring - was that an original set up?

5. Sloppy brake pedal that moves side to side and looks like it causes the brake arm to rub on swingarm. Im thinking there is a worn bushing? Or were they all sloppy from the start?

1) Here's a few ref pics. Shocks on this bike are NOT stock.

2) Stainless allen heads are the way to go, if there shiny (chrome), then they make look, a little funny

3) Rubber bushing are shot.

4) Girling shocks would have been stock, probably long be tossed as they were NOT rebuildable

5) bushing shot

Welcome ... the 77 250CR is great bike..

Husky John

 

[disonny]

As far as the fasteners go, I think straight head screws were original. All my husky's have them. As far as coating? Not sure but I think zinc.
Handle bar mounts sound right, but like ruwfo said, bushings are probably bad. You will have to hunt for shocks if you want original. The bushings on my bike are bronze or brass. Good luck with it, husky's are a great bike

 

[Ron]

Here's my 77 250CR for reference, I love mine too. I also have a 79 390CR and prefer the smaller chassis of the ML frame. I have a copy of the Cycle World on Husqvarna 1977- 1984 doesn't say much about the 77 250CR. Also have Dirt Bike magazine Jan 77, it has a test on the 77 250CR Mikkola Replica.

 

[Bill502]

Bolt heads on early Huskies said Bufo on them.

 

[Ron]

I switched mine to a Mikuni and won't be going back either. But if your interested in really making it original, I have the complete Bing set up available.

 

[Houredout401]

As far as the fasteners go, I think straight head screws were original. All my husky's have them. As far as coating? Not sure but I think zinc.
Handle bar mounts sound right, but like ruwfo said, bushings are probably bad. You will have to hunt for shocks if you want original. The bushings on my bike are bronze or brass. Good luck with it, husky's are a great bike

You mean slotted screws?

 

[Houredout401]

1) Here's a few ref pics. Shocks on this bike are NOT stock.

2) Stainless allen heads are the way to go, if there shiny (chrome), then they make look, a little funny

3) Rubber bushing are shot.

4) Girling shocks would have been stock, probably long be tossed as they were NOT rebuildable

5) bushing shot

Welcome ... the 77 250CR is great bike..

Husky JohnView attachment 34646View attachment 34647

Thanks for pics - was your seat recovered? My seat has a smooth covering -looks like the seat on the 390 in your other pic, your 250 appears to have bumps with piping?

 

[Ron]

I had bought a seat cover on ebay for a 75 Husky that looked correct but turned out to be to short.
The seller had me send him my old cover and he made a duplicate that fits perfect. He sells them for the 77 now..
The cover does have piping on the rear seam but the pleating is heat embossed like the original seat.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HUSQVARNA-C...Parts_Accessories&hash=item41630342d9&vxp=mtr

 

[310huskyTE]

Hello! Long-time dirt bike nut who mainly played around with Japanese bikes. Always wanted a husky showpiece, and realizing life is short, I jumped in a few days ago, buying a '77 CR250 that had been mostly restored. I took a chance as I had to buy it on the internet, and I am a complete novice at Huskys. Motor had been professionally rebuilt, and seller had reciepts to prove it. Tank is absolutely pristine and gorgeous, as is the pipe and seat. Carb was changed to Mikuni and I think I will leave it that way. I want to take the resto to the next level and there are some things I want to address, and this seemed like a great place to start.

1. Reference pictures? Cant seem to find them. There was reference to a cycle world book covering 77-84's but cant seem to find a copy (they have older and newer years, of course!)
* you should be able to get good reference photos from the good people from Cafe Husky, i will post up some pics of my 78 CR 250.

2. Getting the correct bolts/fasteners. Appears many bolts were replaced with stainless allen heads. How do I tell what the orignal bolts were and was there a typical finish, like Cad or Zinc?
* i'm pretty sure the originals were Zinc and as already said they have BUFO written on the bolt head and nos bolts are rare as rocking horse crap!!
for all the motor bolts i bought a stainless bolt kit from www.stainlesscycle.com and they look really good, much better than the originals.
You can also get reproduction 6 and 8 mm red or blue flanged nylock nuts and zinc plated 8mm nylock nuts from an ebay store called classic metal restoration. he also has heaps of other reproduction parts, i've bought heaps of stuff from him and he is fantastic to deal with and his products are awesome!!

3. Handlebar mounts. The ones on the bike are angled, and appear to have some sort of rubber bushing. They wiggle back and forth - not sure if they are worn or were damaged during shipping. Was this set-up original, and if so I assume the wiggle problem is caused by worn rubber bushings?
* i had the same problem after putting my bike back together after stripping it right down for resto work. Turns out i picked up the wrong mounting hardware, the rubber bushes were fine but the metal bush that goes through the rubbers in the top clamp was from a 79 to 84 model bike, which is a few millimetres longer than the 78 and earlier models. i'm tipping thats your problem put the correct metal bushes in and your bars will be tighter than a nuns …..

4. Shocks have a large black spring and small blue spring - was that an original set up?
* thats the correct spring setup, but someone a little more educated than me will have to comment on the correct colour.
mine has large black spring and a small gold spring

5. Sloppy brake pedal that moves side to side and looks like it causes the brake arm to rub on swingarm. Im thinking there is a worn bushing? Or were they all sloppy from the start?
* Not sloppy from the start, your bushes are worn out!!

 

[310huskyTE]

 

[310huskyTE]

 

[310huskyTE]

 

[troy deck]

View attachment 34697View attachment 34698View attachment 34699View attachment 34700

odang

 

[dartyppyt]

Slotted screws are called cheese head screws. They are available thru Fastenal.

 

[Houredout401]

Pics are very helpful thanks. So now that I have had a closer look, on my CR250, ther are two holes in the frame where the tank bolt goes. At first I was thinking the wrong tank was on the bike, but In several of the pictures above, I can clearly see an extra hole near the tank. (Ron's pic.). I was starting to thin i had a franken bike.

Next issue is the p.o. zip tied the rear of the tanks where there is supposed to be a rubber strap. The proper strap appears to have two metal hooks - do those hook around each other, or where onthe frame should the tank strap hook?

 

[Houredout401]

3. Handlebar mounts. The ones on the bike are angled, and appear to have some sort of rubber bushing. They wiggle back and forth - not sure if they are worn or were damaged during shipping. Was this set-up original, and if so I assume the wiggle problem is caused by worn rubber bushings?
* i had the same problem after putting my bike back together after stripping it right down for resto work. Turns out i picked up the wrong mounting hardware, the rubber bushes were fine but the metal bush that goes through the rubbers in the top clamp was from a 79 to 84 model bike, which is a few millimetres longer than the 78 and earlier models. i'm tipping thats your problem put the correct metal bushes in and your bars will be tighter than a nuns …..
I am having trouble locating these. I do see some out there for the '79 and up - could I just cut down the inner metal bushing, or is it a different diameter?

 

[Ron]

I also have a large steel OR gas tank that I run sometimes. It uses the same mounting hole as the smaller alloy CR tank. I have know idea what the other hole is for.
I found a smaller diameter bungee cord for mine and just hook the ends together.
The bars should have upper and lower bushings with a sleeve. The sleeve in my 77 measures 1-1/2" end to end. I'm sure you could cut onr down without any problem.

 

[Houredout401]

So here are the shocks - would you say these were original - cant find any markings on them. Seems I was fooled by the nice shiny tank on this bike, every time I look closely I notice a worn bushing or other shortcuts. When I took off shocks, I noticed a collection of franken bushings to make up for either incorreclty sized bolts, or wallowed mounting holes, yet they still rattled. Where would you guys go with this - aftermarket shock, or try to come up with some replacement bushings?

 

[justintendo]

they look like progressive suspension shocks..