250-500cc '96 WXC 250 build/restoration

literally 5 minutes here and there...

plastics cleaned up the best i care to (removed spray paint & decals, scraped off oxidation with a razor, quick wet sand with 600, ran a heat gun over them). they look good enough. i'm missing the right side number plate.

just rebuild forks, brakes, swap tires (Pirelli MT43 'trials' rear, IRC something or another front), re-pack silencer... and it'll be almost ready to go

you could dry washing off those bars!
Looking good hope she appreciates all the love and time spent on her.

the bars are WIDE... roughly 3" wider than the YZ bars on the bike next to it. i'm going to ride it first and decide, but i'll likely be trimming them down a bit.


edit: just walked out into the garage, got snagged by the wide bars... pulled them off, wacked 'em down to 28.5"




so far, my list of complaints about this bike are minimal:

• lack of available translucent tank
• oem plastics availability is naught

but on the plus side, it's got a 6 speed. makes up for a lot right there.

Looks good, bet it gonna handle better than the rigid sporty & don't forget,....the shifter is on the left.

the sporty handles awesome... as long as you've got real low expectations of handling. fun bike, though.

shifter: yeah, the husky has it on the wrong side... like most of my other bikes.

The tank holds 3.2 gallons way bigger than most stock tanks these days.

my 93 and 99 360's hold that, they were true off road built

Your 93 was supposed to hold 3.4 !

oh, how I despise mounting dirtbike tires...

pirelli MT43, stolen off of one of my other bikes...

haven't really had much time to deal with the Husky lately, but as the kids are itching to start riding in areas that aren't our back yard i got some more done.

new fork seals
re-sealed the front caliper and master cylinder
trued the front wheel (EVERY spoke was loose)
mounted a Kenda on the front

and since OEM plastics are unobtainable and DC is spendy... a 5 gallon bucket, shears, a heat gun, and 10 minutes i've got this. 10 more minutes and a few holes: it'll be good enough for me. free side panel :


right now it starts with 4 to 5 kicks, cold. side note: effing terrible kick starter that does not lend itself well to kicking on a stand

Kick backwards not down, bit of a technique to it too, crank past compression choke on and swift beast of a buckaroo donkey kick starts mine 1-2 kick.

not sure what kind of picture hosting thing you got goin, cant see your pic.
juicy is correct, just a different style to kicking these..

took the hosted photo down and uploaded one instead... google photos don't seem to work for everyone

kicking isn't bad at all... only sucks to kick when the bike is on a maintenance stand (starts slipping off).

nice job on the panels, pretty good for being homemade!

thanks! it'll look better after a bit more forming...
plus I'm going to crash anyway. I'm good at falling off

when do you start production

Yup thats actually very good considering its just a bucket!
Fair play man i like it, im good at almost hitting every tree i pass its like im target fixated on them untill i see the next one and thats what saves me from the previous lol.

time to ride! i arranged some time today and tomorrow with the wifey, where i'll be taking the kids out on their bikes.

get the Husky off the stand... all together...

adjust clutch and BANG. the end snapped off. brand new Motion Pro cable.
ok. try soldering the end on... no go. fuck it. cut a new end out of steel and weld it on. ok, that's not going anywhere.

kick... kick... kick... kick... KICKBACK. knee hit the throttle and broke the throttle. smashed it.
ok. had a spare throttle. put it on.

kick... IT'S RUNNING.
let it warm up a bit.
pull clutch, hold brake and put it in 1st. slowly release the clutch, kinda knowing what might happen:

IT'S RUNNING BACKWARDS. that huuuuge kickback made me think it may be way too advanced.
ok. off with the stator cover. look for the screws on the ignition plate.... except fuuuuuuck. one is a bolt. never gonna get a socket in there.
ok. off with the flywheel, noting that the ignition plate doesn't look very advanced.

see where my day is going, so far? yeah. by now it's too late to load up the bikes and head to the OHV area & i'm thinking about throwing rocks at this thing.

dig into it further...

both ignition plate screws: case is stripped.
ok. bust out the drill and taps. decide on 1/4-20. drill & tap. realize i don't have any 1/4-20 screws. fuck.
ok, find a pair of 1/4-20 allen cap screws after searching for 30 minutes. fine. that'll work a treat.

reason for way too advanced: broken woodruff key on the crank.
damnit. it's 7pm now. i don't have a woodruff key this size. hardware store is closed until monday. don't feel like making one right now.

i'll make a woodruff key in the morning, throw it together and see if it's running right. if not, i'll throw some tires on my Yamaha and take that out.




can see the broken woodruff key to the right of the flywheel:

dont throw rocks at it, not the bikes fault. it is frustrating when things dont go correctly, but it happens sometimes with engines. it takes time (which no one has a ton of) but it pays to go through the motor well. set it up right instead of hoping.

may want to lap the flywheel and torque the nut to prevent future shearings. you can run it without a key as well, they are just a timing reference. they dont really hold anything.

lapped the flywheel/crank... made a woodruff key...
no spark.

left it for a while... remembered that the stator may not be plugged in

plugged it in.
kicked about a bazillion times.
decided it was flooded.
WOT, kick a dozen times. Fired up! HOLY SHIT IT FIRED UP!

put it in gear... slowly let out the clutch... stalled.

and i think it lurched backwards when it stalled.

tried starting it again, with no love.

i'm stubborn so i'll keep at it here and there... but it's tempting to roll it back into storage and get something shiny to fill its spot.